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1964 Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipients
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1964 Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipients
Remarks at the Presentation of the Presidential Medal of freedom Posthumously to Herbert H. Lehman
January 28, 1964
Mr. Secretary, Mrs. Lehman, members of the family, and friends of Herbert Lehman, ladies and gentlemen:
In December, one of my first and most rewarding acts was to confer the Presidential Medal of freedom for distinguished achievements on 33 individuals. The brilliance of that occasion was marred by the absence of two men: John Kennedy, who conceived and planned these new civil honors, and Herbert Lehman, whose death in New York occurred just minutes before his departure to Washington to receive this award from a grateful Nation.
Today it is altogether fitting that in special ceremony we present Herbert Lehman's Medal of freedom to the one person who shared his life and his hopes, his triumphs and his disappointments, who was always with him in sunshine and in sorrow. Edith Lehman was the indispensable companion. When the days were dark or the mornings seemed far away, Edith Lehman was always there. No one knows this better than the friends of Herbert Lehman who are gathered here today.
The Nation is diminished when a patriot dies. Senator Lehman was an unusual man. He believed in the worth of the human being. He rejoiced and he agonized in the cause of freedom. He was civilized and calm when all around him were confused. He did not accept the view of the grey-minded and the doom-hangers that the corrupted currents of this world would overwhelm us.
He believed, as Aristotle had said, that excellence is much labored for by the race of man. He believed in the goodness and the rightness of the individual citizen and in that arena he fought his long fight. What a happy legacy he leaves to his family and to his State and to his Nation, an estate that will always endure, for it consists of love and loyalty for his country.
Under Secretary of State George W. Ball: Mr. President, the citation.
THE PRESIDENT [reading]. "The President of the United States of America awards this Presidential Medal of freedom to Herbert H. Lehman, citizen and statesman. He has used wisdom and compassion as the tools of government and he has made politics the highest form of public service. The White House, Washington, D.C."
[At this point Mrs. Lehman responded briefly. She thanked the President for the tribute to her husband and said that "the knowledge that the medal was coming to him added a great deal to his last hours of life." The President then resumed speaking. ]
There is nothing more I can add except this: Senator Lehman was a most unusual man and a most thoughtful person. And when I was hovering between life and death, he made it possible for me to be here today. He got up in the Senate one morning, the first time a Senator had so arisen since 1789, and offered a Senate resolution that the Senate pray for my recovery. And it was just at the time when I needed every prayer I could get. And his prayers were answered.
Thank you.
NOTE: The ceremony was held at 11 a.m. in the Cabinet Room at the White House. The President's opening words "Mr. Secretary" referred to George W. Ball, Under Secretary of State.
Statement by the President Upon Making Public the Names of the 1964 Recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom
July 4, 1964
THESE individuals add distinction to this high award. Each person we honor has previously honored his fellow man by setting for himself a standard of excellence only he was able to achieve.
Collectively, they have made man's world safe, his physical body more durable, his mind broader, his leisure more delightful, his standard of living higher, and his dignity important.
They are creators; we are the beneficiaries.
NOTE: The statement is part of a White House release announcing the President's selection of the 1964 recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civil honor the President of the United States can bestow. For the names of the recipients and for the President's remarks upon presenting the awards, see Item 568.
The Presidential Medal of Freedom was established by President Kennedy on February 22, 1963 (Executive Order :11085, 28 F.R. 1759; 3 CFR, 1959-1963 Comp., p. 719- See also "Public Papers of the Presidents, John F. Kennedy 1963," Item 76). The awards are given for "exceptionally meritorious contributions to the security or national interest of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors." The 1963 awards were presented by President Johnson on December 6, 1963 (see Item 27, above).
Remarks at the Presentation of the 1964 Presidential Medal of Freedom Awards
September 14, 1964
OTHER peoples in other lands have marked their history through the years by moments of glory and war, and moments of greatness in power over empires and dominions.
Our experience in our own history has been quite different. Our glory is peace, not war. Our greatness is in people, not power. Our genius for 188 years has been the excellence of individuals.
The history of America is a history of outstanding achievement by outstanding individuals-inventors and enterprisers, thinkers and doers, creators and constructors.
Our society today is a changing society, changing from rural values to urban values, from manual labor to mental labor, from scarcity to abundance, from provincial horizons to cosmopolitan horizons. Yet, as our society changes, the value of the individual is unchanging. Our trust must and does continue to rest upon the individual who envisions more, aspires to more, and who achieves more for all of us.
What America is to be, America will be, because of our trust in and of the individual and of his capacity for excellence. Only those who doubt the individual can be dubious of America's survival and success in this century of contest. This belief is mine. It was this conviction that led President Kennedy to the establishment of the Medal of Freedom as our highest civilian honor for outstanding individuals--citizens who share an extra measure of individual excellence in the mainstream of our well-being and our advancement. On the talents of such citizens rests the future of our American civilization, for it is from the genius of the few that we enrich the greatness of the many.
All Americans are proud, as I am proud, to salute today the great Americans here before me. Their lives and their works have made freedom stronger for all of us in our time.
[The President spoke at the close of the presentation ceremony. Under Secretary of State George W. Ball, Chairman of the Distinguished Civilian Service Awards Board, introduced the recipients, and the President presented the awards and read the citations, as follows:]
Mr. Ball: Mr. Dean Acheson.
THE PRESIDENT. An architect of the defense and growth of a flourishing Atlantic community, his moral resolve and intellectual grasp have placed all free men in his debt.
Mr. Ball: Dr. Detlev W. Bronk.
THE PRESIDENT. Scientist and leader of scholars, his vision and untiring efforts have advanced science education and helped forge an enduring link between Government and the scientific community.
Mr. Ball: Mr. Aaron Copland.
THE PRESIDENT. Masterful composer and gifted teacher, his music echoes our American experience and speaks expressively to an international audience.
Mr. Ball: Mr. Willem de Kooning.
THE PRESIDENT. Artist and teacher, he has adventured into a new range of artistic vision and opened bold pathways to our experience of the world.
Mr. Ball: Mr. Walter Disney.
THE PRESIDENT. Artist and impresario, in the course of entertaining an age, he has created an American folklore.
Mr. Ball: Prof. J. Frank Dobie.
THE PRESIDENT. Folklorist, teacher, writer, he has recaptured the treasure of our rich regional heritage in the Southwest from the conquistadores to the cowboys.
Mr. Ball: Dr. Lena F. Edwards.
THE PRESIDENT. Physician and humanitarian, she has applied her medical skills and compassionate understanding to the women and children of our migratory work force.
Mr. Ball: Mr. Thomas Stearns Eliot.
THE PRESIDENT. Poet and critic, he has fused intelligence and imagination, tradition and innovation, bringing to the world a new sense of the possibilities for order in a revolutionary time.
Mr. Ball: Dr. John W. Gardner.
THE PRESIDENT. Guardian and critic of American education, he has inspired our schools and colleges toward his own goal of increasing excellence.
Mr. Ball: The Reverend Theodore M. Hesburgh.
THE PRESIDENT. Educator and humanitarian, he has inspired a generation of students and given of his wisdom in the struggle for the rights of man.
Mr. Ball: Mr. Clarence L. Johnson.
THE PRESIDENT. Aeronautical engineer, his genius for conceiving unique airframes and his technical management skills contribute mightily to the Nation's security by creating aircraft of daring design with unmatched rapidity and effectiveness.
Mr. Ball: Mr. Frederick Kappel.
THE PRESIDENT. A creative leader of business, he synthesizes the skills of management with a farsighted appreciation of how technology and communications may better serve our country.
Mr. Ball: Miss Helen Keller.
THE PRESIDENT. An example of courage to all mankind, she has devoted her life to illuminating the dark world of the blind and the handicapped.
Mr. Ball: Mr. John L. Lewis.
THE PRESIDENT. Eloquent spokesman of labor, he has given voice to. the aspirations of the industrial workers of the country and led the cause of free trade unions within a healthy system of free enterprise.
Mr. Ball: Mr. Walter Lippmann.
THE PRESIDENT. Profound interpreter of his country and the affairs of the world, he has enlarged the horizons of public thinking for more than five decades through the power of measured reason and detached perspective.
Mr. Ball: Mr. Alfred Lunt and Miss Lynn Fontainne.
THE PRESIDENT. A luminous partnership of artistic talents and personal devotion they have brilliantly enlivened and enriched the American stage.
Mr. Ball: Mr. Ralph McGill.
THE PRESIDENT. Editor and journalist, he has courageously sounded the voice of reason, moderation, and progress during a period of contemporary revolution.
Mr. Ball: Prof. Samuel Eliot Morison.
THE PRESIDENT. Scholar and sailor, this amphibious historian has combined a life of action and literary craftsmanship to lead two generations of Americans on countless voyages of discovery.
Mr. Ball: Mr. Lewis Mumford.
THE PRESIDENT. In the name of sanity, he has constantly worked to rescue and extend the qualities of urban life that will preserve and stimulate the humane spirit of western civilization.
Mr. Ball: Mr. Edward R. Murrow.
THE PRESIDENT. A pioneer in education through mass communication, he has brought to all his endeavors the conviction that truth and personal integrity are the ultimate persuaders of men and nations.
Mr. Ball: Dr. Reinhold Niebuhr.
THE PRESIDENT. Theologian, teacher, social philosopher, he has invoked the ancient insights of Christianity to illuminate the experience and fortify the will of the modern age.
Mr. Ball: Miss Leontyne Price.
THE PRESIDENT. A voice of stirring power and rare beauty, her singing has brought delight to her land and to all those who treasure musical values.
Mr. Ball: Mr. A. Philip Randolph.
THE PRESIDENT. Trade unionist and citizen, through four decades of challenge and achievement he has led his people and his nation in the great forward march of freedom.
Mr. Ball: Mr. Carl Sandburg.
THE PRESIDENT. Son Of the prairie, he has helped the Nation and the world to comprehend and share in the great affirmation of American life, asserting always, and in the face of disaster no less than triumph, The People.
Mr. Ball: Mr. John Steinbeck.
THE PRESIDENT. A writer of worldwide influence, he has helped America to understand herself by finding universal themes in the experience of men and women everywhere.
Mr. Ball: Dr. Helen B. Taussig.
THE PRESIDENT. Physician, physiologist, and embryologist, her fundamental concepts have made possible the modern surgery of the heart which enables countless children to lead productive lives.
Mr. Ball: Mr. Carl Vinson.
THE PRESIDENT. Master legislative captain, helmsman, and navigator, his fixed star has always been the national interest.
Mr. Ball: Mr. Thomas J. Watson, Jr.
THE PRESIDENT. A business statesman who combined distinction in private life with a cheerful acceptance of countless public duties placed on him by a grateful government.
Mr. Ball: Dr. Paul Dudley White.
THE PRESIDENT. Physician, humanist, and teacher, he has led the way toward a greater knowledge of heart disease and the promotion of international understanding through scientific medicine.
NOTE: The ceremony was held at noon in the East Room at the White House. The awards presented to Dean Acheson, former Secretary of State, Edward R. Murrow, former Director of the United States Information Agency, and Carl Vinson, U.S. Representative from Georgia, were medals of "special distinction for Government service." Mr. Acheson responded to the President's remarks on behalf of all the recipients.
The Presidential Medal of Freedom , established by Executive Order 11085 (28 F.R. 1759; 3 CFR, 1958-1963 Comp., p. 719) is the highest civil honor conferred by the President for service in peacetime. The names of the 30 winners of the 1964 awards were first made public on July 4 (see Item 447). For the 1963 ceremony see Item 27.
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Medal History
