quote:President George W. Bush today announced recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Nation's highest civil award. The award was established by President Truman in 1945 to recognize civilians for their service during World War II, and it was reinstated by President Kennedy in 1963 to honor distinguished service. President Bush will honor these recipients at a White House ceremony on Wednesday, June 23, 2004.
The recipients are:
Robert L. Bartley
Edward W. Brooke
Doris Day
Vartan Gregorian
Gilbert M. Grosvenor
Gordon B. Hinckley
John Paul II
Este Lauder
Arnold Palmer
Arnall Patz
Norman Podhoretz
Walter B. Wriston
From Doctors, to Actors, to Golfers, to Relegious leaders, this is pretty cool.
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Yeah, it's nice to finally be able to reference the Pope and Doris Day in the same sentence, or to be able to point out that, no matter what anyone else says, Gordon Hinckley was at least as important as Estee Lauder.
Then again, Queen Elizabeth's turned knighthood into a mockery of the concept, too, so who am I to be curmudgeonly about this?