President Joe Biden awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to 19 former and current politicians, activists, actors, and athletes Friday at the White House, a ceremony Biden referred to as one of his favorite events of the year.
Biden notably bestowed the nation’s highest civilian honor on political allies, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC), former Vice President Al Gore, and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who ran against Biden in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary.
The president posthumously honored civil rights leader Medgar Wiley Ever, multisport athlete Jim Thorpe, and former New Jersey Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg, whom Biden served with in the Senate.
Friday’s honorees also featured two female “firsts,” Michelle Yeoh, the first Asian woman to win the Academy Award for best actress, and Ellen Ochoa, the first Hispanic woman to travel to
Read more…
