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Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient Gilbert Grosvenor
11distinguished individuals to receive Medal of Freedom at the White House
Gilbert M. Grosvenor
President George W. Bush will award the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor on Wednesday June 23, 2004, to Mormon Church President Gordon B. Hinckley, actress Doris Day, golfer Arnold Palmer, politician Edward Brooke, historian Vartan Gregorian, National Geographic Society Chairman Gilbert Grosvenor, cosmetics mogul Estee Lauder, actress Rita Moreno, ophthalmology researcher Arnall Patz, journalist Norman Podhoretz and economist and banker Walter Wriston the White House announced Friday.
They will join Pope John Paul II and journalist Robert Bartley as 2004 recipients.
President Truman established the award in 1945 to honor civilian contributions during World War II. It was reinstated by President Kennedy in 1963 to recognize distinguished peacetime service. The medal has been conferred on roughly 400 individuals since its introduction.
Bush will present the medals at a White House ceremony on Wednesday, although the president delivered the award to the pope during a visit to the Vatican earlier this month.
Honorees are recommended to the president by a Distinguished Civilian Service Awards Board. Past recipients include former presidents, astronauts, entertainers, scientists, religious leaders and victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Gilbert M. Grosvenor with President George W. Bush, after Mr. Bush awarded
Mr. Grosvenor the Presidential Medal of Freedom
Gilbert M. Grosvenor, chairman of the National Geographic Society (NGS), was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in a White House ceremony on June 23, 2004. The medal is the nation’s highest civilian award, and recognizes achievement in public service in science and education, entertainment, the arts, athletics, business, and other fields.
In presenting the award to Grosvenor, President Bush said, “On a January night in 1888, a group of men, meeting not far from the White House, founded the National Geographic Society. In the years since, the society has flourished, thanks, in large part, to a family named Grosvenor. Gilbert Melville Grosvenor is the fifth generation of his family to hold the title, President of the Society. As chairman of the society's board of trustees, and earlier as president, he has maintained the excellent standards and reputation that we rightly associate with the National Geographic.
Gil has also furthered the society's mission of protecting land and wildlife, teaching young people about geography and instilling in readers a respect for other cultures and nations of the world. We honor him today for his good stewardship of a great American institution."
Grosvenor was one of eleven recipients of the medal during the East Room ceremony. Other honorees included Doris Day, Vartan Gregorian, Estee Lauder, Rita Moreno, and Arnold Palmer. Grosvenor’s formal citation accompanying the award read: “Through his half century of work at the National Geographic Society, Gilbert Melville Grosvenor has helped make the world’s history, culture, and societies more accessible for all. As an accomplished journalist and the fifth generation of his family to serve as President of the Society, he has sustained a proud legacy of integrity and excellence. The United States honors Gilbert Melville Grosvenor for his lifetime of promoting exploration, research, and geography education.”
Grosvenor plans to permanently display the medal at National Geographic headquarters in downtown Washington, DC.
National Geographic Society Chairman Gilbert M. Grosvenor
Gilbert M. Grosvenor is chairman of the National Geographic Society’s Board of Trustees, its Education Foundation and its wholly owned subsidiary National Geographic Ventures. He retired June 1, 1996, as president of the Society, the fifth generation of his family to serve in that position. The Geographic greatly broadened its reach during Grosvenor’s tenure as president. Mr. Grosvenor is a director or trustee of numerous foundations and corporations, including the Conservation Fund; Chevy Chase Bank; Ethyl Corp.; The Jason Foundation; Marriott International Inc.; Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International; Wildlife Conservation Society; National Wildflower Research Center, and Federal City Council (Washington). He also is a member of the Board of Visitors of Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment; Chairman Emeritus of the Foundation Board of the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf; former Vice Chairman, President’s Commission on Americans Outdoors; and former member of the President’s Commission on Environmental Quality.
National Geographic's Gilbert Grosvenor with his wife Elsie May and their son, Melville Bell.
CREDIT: "Elsie May and Gilbert H. Grosvenor, three-quarter length portrait, seated, facing front holding their son, Melville Bell." The Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers, Gilbert H. Grosvenor Collection, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress.
National Geographic President Gilbert H. Grosvenor Was Born October 28, 1875
When you look at the exotic photographs in a National Geographic magazine, do they make you wonder about the world?
The magazine was a plain-covered journal when it first started. The beautiful photographs became part of the journal after Gilbert H. Grosvenor (pronounced "GROVE-nor") became editor-in-chief for the publication in 1903. In 1920, Grosvenor took on a second role as president of the National Geographic Society, which publishes the magazine. Born in Turkey on October 28, 1875, Grosvenor is credited with transforming National Geographic into a world-renowned monthly magazine.
With the money earned from the magazine, the society was able to explore previously unknown worlds, then introduce them to millions of people. Where did the society go on its explorations? Under Grosvenor's guidance, scientific expeditions and research projects traveled as far as the North Pole with Commodore Robert Peary in 1909, and as deep as the ocean when William Beebe made his record-setting undersea descent in 1934.
Today, the National Geographic Society is the largest nonprofit scientific and educational organization of its kind. Grosvenor cared a great deal about conservation and the protection of wildlife, and both causes are the subject of many of the current programs and educational materials offered by the society.
Next time you pick up a National Geographic, see if you can find a world that you never knew existed. Happy exploring!
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Medal History
