2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom

The White House press release announces the 16 recipients of the Medal of Freedom. The medal is awarded to individuals who make an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.

Nancy Goodman Brinker - founder of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the world's leading breast cancer grass roots organization

Pedro José Greer, Jr. - founder of Camillus Health Concern, an agency that provides medical care to over 10,000 homeless patients

Stephen Hawking - the internationally recognized theoretical physicist

Jack Kemp - former professional football player, Congressman, HUD Secretary and Republican Nominee for Vice President. Kemp died in May of this year

Sen. Edward Kennedy - US Senator for 46 years on leading advocate for health care reform

Billie Jean King - former professional tennis player and champion of gender equality

Rev. Joseph Lowery - leader in the US civil rights movement

Joe Medicine Crow - High Bird - the last living Plains Indian war chief

Harvey Milk - the first openly gay elected official form a major city in the US. Milk was shot and killed in 1978

Sandra Day O'Connor - first woman to sit on the US Supreme Court. O'Connor retired in 2006

Sidney Poitier - first African American to be nominated and win a Best Actor Academy Award

Chita Rivera - entertainer, first Hispanic recipient of the Kennedy Center Honor

Janet Davison Rowley - human geneticist and first scientist to identify a chromosomal translocation as the cause of leukemia and other cancers

Desmond Tutu - Anglican Archbishop and leading anti-apartheid activist in South Africa

Muhammad Yunus - global leader in anti-poverty efforts, pioneered the use of "micro-loans" to provide credit to poor individuals without collateral