President Barack Obama plans to recognize 21 people with the Presidential Medal of Freedom next week, and the list of recipients is completely star-studded.
The Presidential Medal of Freedom recognises people who have made “especially meritorious contributions” to the US, the White House said.
President Barack Obama will honour the 21 people at a ceremony on Tuesday.
Tom Hanks, Robert De Niro, Ellen DeGeneres, Bruce Springsteen, Cicely Tyson, Lorne Michaels, Robert Redford, and Diana Ross are those set to be honored from the entertainment field while the sports recipients include Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Vin Scully.
The group of honorees is rounded out by architect Frank Gehry, designer Maya Lin, philanthropists Bill and Melinda Gates, polymath physicist Richard Garwin, attorney Newt Minow, mathematician and computer scientist Margaret H. Hamilton, and Eduardo Padrón, president of Miami Dade College in Florida.
Posthumous awards will be given to Rear Admiral Grace Hopper and Blackfeet Tribal community leader Elouise Cobell.
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