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Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient John H. Johnson
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Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient John H. Johnson
John H. Johnson receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom
from President William Jefferson Clinton September 9th, 1996
Rosa Parks, John H. Johnson, Morris Udall among Medal of Freedom honorees
WASHINGTON (Sep 9, 1996 1:11 p.m. EDT) -- Calling it "the highest honor our nation can bestow on a citizen," President Clinton presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom today to 11 people including a man of God, a presidential press secretary, a former congressman, and a civil rights pioneer.
Two of the recipients were not at the ceremony. The president said Rosa Parks, whose refusal to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Ala., bus helped spark the civil rights movement, was delayed. And former Rep. Morris K. Udall, an Arizona congressman for 30 years, now suffering from Parkinson's disease, was represented by his son.
"We are honoring renewed faith in the freedom that has brought this nation this far and the freedom that will sustain us into the next century," Clinton said. "The 11 men and women we honor today have raised the practice of freedom to new heights."
Those honored were:
--Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, of Chicago, one of the most prominent Catholic priests in the country, who announced last month that doctors expect him to die within a year from pancreatic cancer.
--James Brady, who had been on the job as Ronald Reagan's press secretary just over two months in 1981 when he was critically wounded in John Hinckley's attack on the president. Brady and his wife, Sarah, have been leaders in the fight for gun control.
--Millard Fuller, who founded Habitat for Humanity, which has built more than 50,000 homes for poor families.
--David Alan Hamburg, a psychiatrist and president of the Carnegie Foundation who has influenced policy makers and lobbied for family legislation.
--John H. Johnson , who founded Ebony and Jet magazines and has been called the most influential black publisher in American history. He was honored for breaking negative stereotypes and building self-respect in the black community.
--Eugene M. Lang, who adopted a sixth-grade class and paid the tuition of anyone who went to college, and created the "I have a Dream" Foundation.
--Jan Nowak-Jezioranski, who risked his life as a member of the Polish underground during World War II.
--Antonia Pantoja, who has devoted her life to promoting community development.
--Ginetta Sagan, a member of the World War II Italian resistance who has devoted her life to human rights abuses around the world.
President Bill Clinton presenting the Presidential Medal of Freedom
to John H. Johnson, publisher of Ebony and Jet Magazine
Publisher John H. Johnson who founded Ebony and Jet magazines and has been called the most influential black publisher in American history has been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He was honored for breaking negative stereotypes and building self-respect in the black community.
Johnson is the founder, publisher, chairman and CEO of the Johnson Publishing Company Inc., Chicago, Ill., the largest black-owned publishing company in the world.
Johnson is one of American's most successful entrepreneurs. A self-made man, his company is the publisher of Ebony. Through faith, self-confidence and a positive mental attitude, Johnson turned Ebony into the nation's number one African American oriented magazine with a circulation of 1.7 million and a monthly readership of 11 million. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor the nation can bestow on a citizen, from President Bill Clinton in 1996.
Johnson was born a descendant of slaves in Arkansas City, Ark., in 1918. His mother, Gertrude Johnson Williams, worked as a domestic and a levee cook to raise the money to move to the family to Chicago. At the time, no high schools for blacks existed in Arkansas City. Johnson repeated the eighth grade in Arkansas rather than end his education.
In Chicago, Johnson graduated from DuSable High School where he was on the honor roll, served as senior class president, editor of the newspaper, and yearbook editor. Among his classmates were Nat King Cole, Redd Foxx and future entrepreneur William Abernathy. When Chicago youths made fun of Johnson's speech, he would stand in front of his mirror at home and practice speaking correctly.
Because of his accomplishments, Johnson was invited to speak at a Chicago Urban League event. There African American businessman Harry Pace noticed Johnson, offering him a scholarship and a job at Pace's company, Supreme Life Insurance Company.
He started Johnson Publishing in 1942 with a $500 loan against his mother's furniture. He got the idea for Negro Digest, the forerunner of Ebony, while selecting articles for Pace to keep abreast of current events of interest to blacks. The company has a book division and also publishes Jet magazine, the number one black news weekly with a readership of over eight million. It employs more than 2,600 people with sales of over $388 million. Johnson Publishing owns Fashion Fair Cosmetics, the number one makeup and skin care company for women of color around the world and Supreme Beauty products, hair care for men and women. The company is involved in television production and produces the Ebony Fashion Fair, the world's largest traveling fashion show, which has donated over $47 million to charity. The show visits more than 200 cities in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean.
The Johnson family is active in many charities, including the United Negro College Fund and the Boys and Girls Clubs of America.
In 1971, Johnson Publishing moved to its new 11-story headquarters on Chicago's fashionable Michigan Avenue, becoming the first black-owned business to be located in the Loop.
Johnson presently serves on the boards of directors of Dillard's Inc., and he has served on the boards of First Commercial Bank, Little Rock; Dial Corporation; Zenith Radio Corporation; and Chrysler Corporation.
Among the many awards he had received is the NAACP's coveted Spingarn Medal for the highest and most achievements by an African American in 1965. That same year, he was one of 12 Americans who received the Horatio Alger Award. Johnson also has received the USC Journalism Alumni Association's Distinguished Achievement Award in 1969, Black Journalists' Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987 and The Wall Street Journal/Dow Jones Entrepreneurial Excellence Award in 1993. In 1982, he was the first black named to the Forbes' list of the 400 wealthiest Americans.
Most recently he was honored with the 2001 Arkansas Business Hall of Fame Award sponsored through the Sam M. Walton College of Business of the University of Arkansas. In 2002, he received the Vanguard Award and The Trumpet Award.
Also among Johnson's many accomplishments is service to the United States. In 1957 he accompanied Vice President Richard M. Nixon on a special goodwill tour to nine African countries and again in 1959 he accompanied Vice President Nixon to Russia and Poland. In1961 Johnson was appointed by President John F. Kennedy as Special U.S. Ambassador to the Independence Ceremonies of the Ivory Coast; and in 1963 he was appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson as Special United States Ambassador to the Independence Ceremonies of Kenya. In 1966 he was appointed by President Johnson to the National Selective Service Commission. In 1970 he was appointed by President Nixon as a member of the President's Commission for the Observance of the 25th Anniversary of the United Nations.
Mr. Johnson also represents the 2nd event on 50 Events That Changed Black America
November 1, 1942 - John H. Johnson, editor of Supreme Life Insurance Company newsletter, organizes Johnson Publishing Company and publishes first issue of Negro Digest.
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Medal History
