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HISTORY AND INFORMATION OF THE PRESIDENTIAL MEDAL OF FREEDOM
The Award
Creation
Selecting Recipients
The Certificate
The Medal and Accompanying Insignia
Wearing the Medal
THE AWARD
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is America's highest civilian award and, among all American honors, it ranks second to only the Congressional Medal of Honor the nation's highest military award. This great honor is reserved for individuals the President deems to have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors. Though it may be awarded for singular acts of momentous import, it is generally conferred only for a lifetime of service or at the conclusion of a distinguished career.
The award is "given only after careful thought, always sparingly so as not to debase its currency." In the thirty years from the award's creation by President Kennedy through the close of the Bush administration, three hundred recipients were accorded this high honor. Of these three hundred recipients, only Ellsworth Bunker was twice awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Since then, Colin Powell (who received the award from President Bush ) was awarded a second Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Clinton.
CREATION
The idea of an annual National Honors List had been a topic of discussion for some time when, on November 28, 1962, the Gallup organization released the results of an opinion poll on the topic. In the poll, Americans were asked if they thought it would be a good idea to establish a National Honors List to recognize individuals for outstanding contributions in the arts, science, letters, education, religion, community service, and other similar endeavors. The pollsters found overwhelming support for the idea among Americans at all levels of educational attainment and in all age groups. They also found support among big majorities of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents.
On February 22, 1963, less than three months after the poll was released, President Kennedy issued an Executive Order creating the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He created it by renaming and redesigning a previous award the Medal of Freedom and by broadening its scope to include persons who had made especially meritorious contributions "in all forms of endeavor that are touched with the public interest." The new award was to be presented in two degrees, the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction (the higher degree), and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
SELECTING RECIPIENTS
President Kennedy not only changed the name, design, and scope of the prior award, he also changed the process by which recipients were selected. In the past, the President, Service Secretaries, and the Secretary of State had been permitted to award the Medal of Freedom. However, President Kennedy declared that only the President could award the Presidential Medal of Freedom in either of its degrees. The Distinguished Civilian Service Awards Board was charged with nominating individuals to receive the award. Nevertheless, the President remained free to confer the award on persons not nominated by the Board and to reject its nominees. In 1970, President Nixon abolished the Board and its nominating role. Heads of DoD components or officials of the Office of the Secretary of Defense at the level of Assistant Secretary or above shall submit nominations with full justification to the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Force Management & Policy) (ASD)(FM&P)) who will recommend to the Secretary whether the nomination should be referred to the President. ASD(FM&P) maintains records on all recommendations and their disposition.
THE CERTIFICATE
Each recipient receives a certificate signed by the President. The certificate contains a citation formally detailing the achievements for which the President is recognizing the individual. The President determines what the citation will say for each award. Due to space limitations on the face of the certificate, the citations are usually seventy words or less.
THE MEDAL AND ACCOMPANYING INSIGNIA
Each recipient receives a walnut presentation case. The case is lined with silver gray plush and white satin and contains the medal, a silver miniature medal, a ribbon bar, and a silver lapel emblem or bow. A silver disk containing the arms of the President of the United States is inset on the cover of the case. Production of presentation sets is very limited and, if the medal (or other insignia) is lost, it cannot be replaced.
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is a five-pointed white star set on a red pentagon. A gold eagle is displayed between each pair of the star's points. In the center of the white star is a blue disc. The disc is edged with gold and bears a constellation of thirteen gold stars. The back of the medal is engraved with a serial number. The medal is in the form of a two-inch pendant suspended from a ribbon.
On those rare occasions when the Presidential Medal of Freedom is awarded with distinction, the medal is in the form of a three-inch star and is accompanied by a three and three-eighths inch wide sash and rosette of freedom blue (edged with white), a miniature gold medal, a ribbon bar, and a gold lapel emblem or bow.
WEARING THE MEDAL
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is worn as a pendant suspended from a freedom blue neck ribbon (edged with white) when worn by men and by women in uniform. When worn by women in civilian dress, the medal is suspended from a bow pinned above the left breast.
The Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction is worn with the sash over the right shoulder and the star pinned above the left breast. The rosette is fastened to the sash at the left hip (at the crossing of the sash).
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Medal History
