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Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient Vartan Gregorian
11distinguished individuals to receive Medal of Freedom at the White House
Vartan Gregorian
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.
Vartan Gregorian
Vartan Gregorian, president of Carnegie Corporation of New York, discussed his new autobiography, The Road to Home: My Life and Times (Simon & Schuster, 2003), at the Library of Congress Monday, May 19, 2003 in Washington, D.C.
In June 1997, Gregorian became the 12th president of Carnegie Corporation of New York, the grant-making institution founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1911. Previously, he was the president of Brown University for nine years and served as president of the New York Public Library from 1981 until 1989. Born to Armenian parents in Tabriz, Iran, Gregorian attended elementary and secondary school in Iran and Lebanon, respectively. Majoring in history and the humanities, he entered Stanford University in 1956 and graduated with honors in 1958. He earned a Ph.D. from Stanford in 1964.
Gregorian’s publications include The Emergence of Modern Afghanistan: Politics of Reform and Modernization, 1880-1946 (Stanford University Press, 1969) and Islam: a Mosaic, not a Monolith (Brookings Institution Press, 2003). He is the recipient of numerous fellowships and honors. In 1998, President Clinton awarded him the National Humanities Medal.
Vartan Gregorian discussed his new autobiography, The Road to Home: My Life and Times - CyberLC
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Medal History
