Biden to Award Medal of Freedom to Simon Biles, John McCain, Steve Jobs, and Others

WASHINGTON–President Joe Biden will present the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, to 17 people, including actor Denzel Washington, gymnast Simone Biles, Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs, and the late John McCain, the Arizona Republican with whom Biden served in the U.S. Senate.

Biden includes deceased and living honorees in his honors list. Next week, he will be presenting the medals to the White House.

The 17 medal recipients are:

–Simone Biles. Biles, who won 32 Olympic medals and World Championship golds, is America’s most decorated gymnast.

–Sandra Lindsay. Lindsay is a New York nurse who received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccinations in the United States on live television in December 2020.

–John McCain. McCain was an Arizona representative in both the Houses of Congress. He was also the Republican presidential nominee for 2008.. In 2018., he died from brain cancer.

–Denzel Washington. Washington, an actor, director, and producer who has won two Oscars. Washington has won a Tony Award, two Golden Globes, and the Cecil B. DeMille lifetime achievement award.

–Sister Simone Campbell. Campbell, a Sister of Social Service member and a former Executive Director of NETWORK, a Catholic organization for social justice, is a past president of Sister of Social Service.

–Julieta Garcia. Garcia served as the University of Texas at Brownsville’s former president.

–Gabrielle Giffords. Giffords, a former U.S. House Member from Arizona was wounded in his head during a constituent event held in Tucson in January 2011.

–Fred Gray. Gray represented Rosa Parks and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peoples (NAACP) as well as Martin Luther King Jr .

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–Steve Jobs. Jobs, who was also the chief executive and co-founder of Apple Inc., died in 2011. In 2011. he died.

–Father Alexander Karloutsos. Karloutsos serves as Archbishop Demetrios in America’s assistant.

–Khizr Khan. Khan, a Gold Star father and son of an Army officer was killed in Iraq.

–Diane Nash. Nash was a founder member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.

–Megan Rapinoe. Rapinoe, an Olympic gold medalist is a two-time women’s World Cup soccer champion.

–Alan Simpson. Simpon, a former U.S. Senator from Wyoming.

–Richard Trumka. Trumka had been president of the 12.5 million-member AFL-CIO for more than a decade at the time of his August 2021 death. Trumka was also a former president of United Mine Workers.

–Wilma Vaught. Vaught, a brigadier-general, is among the most decorated female soldiers in U.S. history. Vaught was the only female general in the Armed Forces when she retired in 1985,.

–Raul Yzaguirre. Yzaguirre was president and CEO of the National Council of La Raza for 30 years. Under Obama, he was the U.S. Ambassador to Dominican Republic.