In addition to filmmaker Spielberg and singer and Oscar-winner Streisand, Obama introduced the Presidential Medal of Freedom to musicians Gloria and Emilio Estefan, singer James Taylor, composer Stephen Sondheim and violinist Itzhak Perlman.
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Also honored were Bonnie Carroll for her work with military families, Maryland Democratic Senator Barbara Mikulski, former Indiana Democratic Representative Lee Hamilton and former Environmental Protection Agency head William Ruckelshaus.
President Obama awarded the Medal of Freedom on Tuesday to 17 people from varying backgrounds, from entertainers to scientists, who left an indelible mark on American history.
“We celebrate artists, public servants and two legends from America’s pastime”, Obama said, the latter comment referring to Berra and fellow baseball Hall of Fame member Willie Mays.
“Film has always been the greatest way for me to unburden myself of my demons and to therefore cast my demons on you”, he said earlier this month while presenting his Cold War thriller “Bridge of Spies” in Berlin. Most of Mays’s career came with the NY and San Francisco Giants.
His Yogi Berra Museum & Learning Center is on the campus of Montclair State University in Little Falls.
President Obama will give the Medal of Freedom to Katherine, Willie, Babs and fourteen others at the White House on November 24.
Mikulski was responsible for the passage of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which was the first law President Obama signed after he was elected into office. They’re American folk heroes, contributors to society who went beyond the superlatives of their industry to not only become something more, but also to inspire others to do the same. Of Taylor, he stated the singer might flip an area right into a front room.
Posthumous honors to baseball coach Yogi Berra, congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, Native American advocate Billy Frank Jr., and civil rights lawyer Minoru Yasui.
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“If you can’t imitate him, don’t copy him.”
