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Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient Walter H. Annenberg
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Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient Walter H. Annenberg
1908 - 2002
WALTER HUBERT ANNENBERG
Awarded by
President Ronald Reagan
May 12, 1986
Following a brilliant career in publishing and pioneering the use of television for educational purposes, Walter Hubert Annenberg was in 1969 appointed Ambassador to the Court of St. James, where he served with extraordinary diligence, bringing the government and the people of the United States and United Kingdom closer together. Since returning to private life, Walter Annenberg has devoted himself to the development of higher education and has provided support to countless institutions. Today our nation repays his lifetime of achievement with its gratitude.
Walter H. Annenberg , 1908-2002, enjoyed a challenging career as an editor and publisher, broadcaster, diplomat and philanthropist.
A Milwaukee native, he was graduated from The Peddie School, Hightstown, New Jersey and attended the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He entered the family publishing business in Philadelphia where he became President of Triangle Publications, Inc. in 1940 and, subsequently, Chairman of the Board.
While serving as Editor and Publisher of The Philadelphia Inquirer, Annenberg saw the need for a publication for teenage girls and in 1944, established Seventeen Magazine. In 1953, as a result of his belief that television's growth would create a demand for more information on the part of viewers, he established TV Guide as a national publication.
Under Annenberg's initiative, Triangle Publications bought a radio station in the early 1940's in Philadelphia and built a VHF television station which was one of the first TV stations owned by a publishing house. The radio-TV division of Triangle grew to include six AM and six FM radio stations, and six TV stations. The Philadelphia station pioneered a number of broadcasting concepts, among which was Annenberg's decision to present educational programming via television. This resulted in a series of educational programs that ran for more than a decade. In 1951, Annenberg became an early awardee of the prestigious Alfred I. DuPont Award for pioneering education via television. He was also given the Marshall Field Award in 1958. In 1983, he received the Ralph Lowell Medal for "outstanding contribution to public television."
A man with a deep interest in education, he founded The Annenberg School for Communication at The University of Pennsylvania in 1958 and The Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California in 1971. In 1983, The Annenberg Schools established The Washington Program in Communications Policy Studies in response to growing awareness that difficult government and industry problems were emerging in the rapidly changing telecommunications fields.
Annenberg was named Ambassador to the Court of St. James's in 1969 and served in Great Britain until October 30, 1974. In 1970, Triangle sold The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News, and in 1971, the radio and television stations. All remaining Annenberg publications were sold October 31, 1988.
A founder-trustee and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, California, Annenberg also served as Trustee of the Eisenhower Exchange Fellowships and the Winston Churchill Traveling Fellowships. He was Emeritus Trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, The University of Pennsylvania and The Peddie School.
He has received honorary degrees from The University of Pennsylvania, Temple University, Elizabethtown College, University of Notre Dame, The University of Southern California, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Northwestern University, Howard University, Brown University, Brandeis University and Harvard, among others.
Annenberg was named Honorary Knight Commander, Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II. and received numerous other foreign honors including Honorary Bencher of the Middle Temple; Honorary Old Etonian; Patron of the Churchill Archives Centre at Churchill College, Cambridge; and Finland's "Order of the Lion" presented to him by President Kekkonen of Finland. He was also named Officer of the French Legion of Honor, and presented with the Order of Merit of the Republic of Italy.
In 1983, he received the Gold Medal of the Pennsylvania Society. He was voted Magazine Publisher of the Year by the Magazine Publishers Association in 1984, and on June 29, l984, received an American Academy of Achievement Award. Also in 1984, he was presented the Bob Hope Five-Star Award at Valley Forge Military Academy. In May of 1986, President Reagan awarded Mr. Annenberg the Medal of Freedom, saluting him for pioneering in the use of educational material via television. He also received the Swan Award from the Art Museum in Nashville, Tennessee; and in addition, he was the recipient of the Linus Pauling Medal for Humanitarianism in San Francisco in November of 1986, and the Dwight D. Eisenhower Medal for Leadership and Service. In 1987, he was one of the alumni elected to the Wharton School Hall of Fame by vote of the School's students. In May of 1989, he received a personal George Foster Peabody Award, and in May of 1990, he received the William Penn Award from the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, and a Wagner Medal for Public Service from the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University. The Locust Club of Philadelphia presented him with their Achievement Award in November of 1990, and he was accorded Town & Country magazine's Generous American Award in December, 1990. In January, 1991, Annenberg was given the Alumni Award of Merit from the University of Pennsylvania. Later in that year, the United Negro College Fund honored him with the Frederick D. Patterson Award. And in June, 1992, he was inducted into the Broadcast Pioneers Hall of Fame. Colonial Williamsburg awarded him the Churchill Bell in June of 1993. A further honor was bestowed on him in October of 1993 when the National Endowment of the Arts awarded him the National Medal of Arts. Also in October of 1993, he was given the Benjamin Franklin Award for Distinguished Public Service by the American Philosophical Society. In June of 1994, he was presented with the Philadelphia Award and in September of that year, the American Legion honored him with their Distinguished Service Medal. The Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters conferred their Gold Medal Award on Mr. Annenberg in October, 1994. Also in October of 1994, he received the Dwight D. Eisenhower Medal - Service to Democracy Award of the American Assembly and the University of Pennsylvania Medal for Distinguished Achievement. He received the Architect of Peace Award from the Nixon Center for Peace and Freedom in April of 1995.
Peabody College at Vanderbilt University saluted him with the first George Peabody Education Philanthropy Award in May of 1995, and in June, he was presented with the 1995 Thomas Jefferson Award for Outstanding Public Service by a Private Citizen. Annenberg was the first recipient of the Steven J. Ross/Time Warner Technology Award which was given him in April, 1996 for his contribution to the communication industry and his educational philanthropy. Pope John Paul II appointed him Knight Commander of the Order of Saint Gregory the Great in June, 1998. He was a recipient of the World Class Philadelphians Award in November, 1998 for his support of the city and his positive representation of it. The National Constitution Center presented him with the "We the People Award" in May of 1999 for best exemplifying the qualities of active citizenship envisioned by our nation's Founders. He was awarded by The Public Education Network the 1999 Crossing the River Jordan Award in recognition of his uncommon vision, dedication and generosity toward the education of America's children. In July of 2000, Annenberg was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Arts in London.
He was a member of the Associated Press, the American Society of Newspaper Editors, International Press Institute, National Press Club, Overseas Press Club, American Newspaper Publishers Association, Sigma Delta Chi, the International Arts-Medicine Association, and the Inter-American Press Association. A former Commander of the United States Naval Reserve, Annenberg also was a member of the Navy League of the U.S.
He was a member of The American Philosophical Society, the oldest learned Society in the United States and founded by Benjamin Franklin in 1743, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. For additional information visit the Annenberg Foundation
Walter Annenberg, TV Guide publisher, dies at 94
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Medal History
