The United States President Barack Obama on 16 November 2015 announced the names of 17 individuals who will receive 2015 Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honour.
The list includes the name of American professional baseball catcher, manager and coach Yogi Berra (posthumous), and American director, producer and screenwriter Steven Spielberg.
The 17 individuals come from the fields of music, politics, sports, public health and space travel.
Other recipients of the award include:
• Willie Mays, the legendary baseball player
• Billy Frank, Jr. (posthumous), a longtime Native American activist
• Minoru Yasui (posthumous), a Japanese-American lawyer and activist
• Gloria and Emilio Estefan, the Cuban-born wife and husband team behind the band Miami Sound Machine
• Shirley Chisholm (posthumous), an educator and seven-term Congresswoman
• Bonnie Carroll, a life-long public servant
• Lee Hamilton, a member of the U.S. Homeland Security Advisory Council
• Katherine G. Johnson, an American physicist, space scientist and mathematician
• Barbara Mikulski, a senior United States Senator from Maryland
• Itzhak Perlman, an Israeli-American violinist, conductor, and pedagogue
• William Ruckelshaus, an American attorney and former U.S. government official
• Stephen Sondheim, an American composer and lyricist
• Barbra Streisand, an American singer, songwriter, actress, director and filmmaker
• James Taylor, an American singer-songwriter and guitarist
About Presidential Medal of Freedom
• The Presidential Medal of Freedom is an award bestowed by the President of the United States.
• It is awarded for a meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavour.
• The medal was established by President Truman in 1945 to recognize notable service in the war.
• In 1963, President Kennedy reintroduced it as an honour for distinguished civilian service in peacetime.
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