After the Health Care Summit, President Obama had one more item on his plate: the presentation of the National Medals of the Arts and Humanities at the White House. The recipients were selected in 2009 and received their medals yesterday (February 25). This ceremony was postponed due to the shooting at Fort Hunt. The National Medal is the highest national honor an individual can receive in their field. There were 20 recipients for 2009:
For the Arts
Bob Dylan (composer/musician)
Clint Eastwood (actor/director)
Frank Stella (artist)
Jessye Norman (soprano)
Maya Lin (architect)
Milton Glaser (architect)
Joseph P. Riley, Jr. (Mayor, Charleston, SC)
Michael Tilson Thomas (conductor)
John Williams (composer/conductor)
Rita Moreno (actress/dancer)
For the Humanities
Elie Wiesel (Nobel Laureate, writer)
Robert A. Caro (“The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Path to Power, Means of Ascent and Master of the Senate”)
Annette Gordon-Reed (“The Hemingses of Monticello”)
David Levering Lewis (“W.E.B. Du Bois: The Fight for Equality and the American Century, 1919-1963”)
William H. McNeill (“Plagues and Peoples”)
Theodore Sorensen (speechwriter and lawer)
Philippe de Montebello (former director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Albert H. Small (philanthropist)
Two deserving institutions were honored:
The Oberlin Conservatory of Music (I think I know how this got on the list)
The School of American Ballet
Read the recap by Jackie Trescott on the WashingtonPost.com. Or just go to the video.