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Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient Paul Dudley White
DR. PAUL DUDLEY WHITE M.D.
Awarded by
President Lyndon B. Johnson
September 14, 1964
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.
Biography
June 6, 1886 - October 31, 1973
More than any other man in medical history, Dr. Paul Dudley White was influential in bringing to realization our present progressive era in cardiovascular medicine. Through his indefatigable travels, his countless lectures , and his voluminous writings, Dr. White succeeded in focusing national and international attention on cardiovascular problems and on the vital need for public and professional support of programs to combat ailments of the heart and blood vessels. In many of these efforts, he acted as a "catalyst" in bringing different factions, disciplines, and even countries together to enable them to work together and improve our understanding of cardiology.
Dr. White characterized his intern days of 1912 as "The Dark Ages just before the dawn of the Golden Age in medicine." Few men contributed more in bringing this Golden Age to full fruition. It was he who introduced the first electrocardiograph to this country ... who paved the way for the specialty practice of cardiology ... and who was a leader in establishing the American Heart Association as a professional voluntary health agency. He was considered the activating force and leading spokesman for international cooperation in the cardiovascular field.
As a clinician, Dr. White's primary concern has always been for his patients. One of his pupils recalls that when he taught, "He not only listens to the heart, he listens to you." Gifted with a truly adventurous scientific mind, unbounded by space or spirit, he will be considered America's and the world's foremost "Ambassador of Cardiovascular Medicine."
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Medal History
