Former President Bill Clinton will be honored in Washington, D.C., later this year as a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, President Barack Obama announced Thursday.
Considered the nation's highest civilian honor, the medal is awarded to "individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors," according to a statement by the White House.
The award was established 50 years ago by former President John F. Kennedy and has since been awarded to more than 500 recipients, according to the statement.
Before he became the 42nd U.S. president, Clinton served as Arkansas' attorney general from 1977-79 and governor from 1979-81 and 1983-92. After his two-term presidency, he established the Clinton Foundation to further economic, environmental and health initiatives. In 2010, he partnered with former President George W. Bush to form the Clinton-Bush Haiti Fund.
Read more in Friday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Others who will receive the medal:
• Oprah Winfrey, American broadcaster, actress and activist whose philanthropic efforts have been focused largely on education and creating opportunities for women and girls, in the U.S. and Africa.
• Daniel Inouye, former senator from Hawaii, World War II veteran and the first Japanese American in Congress. Inouye will receive the award posthumously.
• Ben Bradlee, former executive editor of the Washington Post who oversaw the newspaper's coverage of Watergate.
• Sally Ride, the first American woman to fly in space. Ride will receive the award posthumously.
• Richard Lugar, former senator from Indiana who worked to reduce the global nuclear threat.
• Gloria Steinem, writer and prominent women's rights activist.
• Ernie Banks, baseball player who hit more than 500 home runs and played 19 seasons with the Chicago Cubs.
• Bayard Rustin, civil- and gay-rights activist and adviser to Martin Luther King Jr. Rustin will receive the award posthumously.
• Daniel Kahneman, psychologist who won the Nobel Prize in Economics.
• Loretta Lynn, country music singer.
• Maria Molina, chemist and environmental scientist who won the Nobel Prize in chemistry.
• Arturo Sandoval, Grammy-winning jazz musician who was born in Cuba and defected to the U.S.
• Dean Smith, head coach of University of North Carolina's basketball team for 36 years.
• Patricia Wald, first woman appointed to U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and became the court's chief judge.
• C.T. Vivian, civil-rights leader and minister.
