{"id":30688,"date":"2011-02-21T03:51:54","date_gmt":"2011-02-21T01:51:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turkishforum.com.tr\/en\/content\/?p=30688"},"modified":"2014-01-06T01:06:05","modified_gmt":"2014-01-05T23:06:05","slug":"elder-bush-receives-medal-of-freedom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/2011\/02\/21\/elder-bush-receives-medal-of-freedom\/","title":{"rendered":"Elder Bush Receives Medal of Freedom"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Doug Mills\/The New York Times - President Obama and former President George Bush at Tuesday\u2019s White House ceremony.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By\u00a0MICHAEL D. SHEAR<\/p>\n

The patriarch of the Bush family dynasty stood in the White House he once led, a bit unsteady but with a large smile on his face, and accepted the nation\u2019s highest civilian honor from President Obama on Tuesday.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In an East Room ceremony, former President George Bush<\/span>, 86, received the 2010 Medal of Freedom, part of a group of 15 Americans who Mr. Obama hailed for their contributions to the arts, politics, public service, sports and activism.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis life is a testament that public service is a noble calling,\u201d Mr. Obama said of the 41st president before tying the blue-and-white ribbon and medal around his neck. \u201cLike the remarkable Barbara Bush, his humility and his decency reflects the very best of the American spirit. This is a gentleman.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two men \u2014 separated by political party and philosophy \u2014 shared a knowing glance as Mr. Obama paid homage to what he said was Mr. Bush\u2019s nearly 70 years of service to his country. The president credited Mr. Bush with reducing nuclear weapons, ousting Iraq\u2019s Saddam Hussein from Kuwait and helping to guide the end of the cold war.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then, just to cap it off, well into his 80s, he decides to jump out of airplanes,\u201d Mr. Obama said, referring to Mr. Bush\u2019s late-in-life parachute jumping.<\/p>\n

Among the perks of the presidency, perhaps none is less controversial or more appealing to the occupant of the Oval Office than the annual role of conferring the Medal of Freedom.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow you know why I like this day so much,\u201d Mr. Obama told the audience of invited guests at the end of the event. \u201cI know people try to observe decorum when they are here in the White House. But I\u2019d welcome everybody to stand and acknowledge these extraordinary men and women.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among those honored were people who played significant roles in shaping American or global history and culture. Only one is deceased \u2014 Tom Little, a humanitarian who was killed by the Taliban in Afghanistan as he helped provide vision care to people there.<\/p>\n

Angela Merkel, the chancellor of Germany, was honored by Mr. Obama for being what he called \u201can inspiration\u201d to people around the world. <\/strong>She did not attend the ceremony, but Mr. Obama said he would present the award to her on her next visit to Washington.<\/p>\n

The rest received their awards in person Tuesday afternoon.<\/p>\n

Mr. Obama lauded Stan Musial, the baseball legend, by recounting his becoming the first athlete to make $100,000 a year. \u201cEven more shocking,\u201d the president said, \u201che asked for a pay cut when he didn\u2019t perform up to his own expectations. You can imagine that happening today.\u201d<\/p>\n

The president honored Bill Russell, the legendary Boston Celtics basketball player, as \u201csomeone who stood up for the rights and dignity of all men,\u201d and the poet Maya Angelou as a \u201cvoice that has spoken to millions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among those to receive the award Tuesday from Mr. Obama was one of the world\u2019s richest men, Warren E. Buffett. But the president also lauded those who have worked on behalf of equality for the poor and struggling, including and John J. Sweeney, who for more than a decade led the A.F.L-C.I.O., and Representative John Lewis, Democrat of Georgia, who helped lead the civil rights movement in America.<\/p>\n

\u201cTime and again, he faced down death so that all of us could share equally,\u201d Mr. Obama said of Mr. Lewis, whom he called \u201cthe conscience of the Congress.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition, the medal went to\u00a0Yo-Yo Ma, one of the world\u2019s best cellists; Sylvia Mendez, a civil rights activist of Mexican descent; Jean Kennedy Smith, the sister of the former president and the former ambassador to Ireland; Gerda Weissmann Klein, a Holocaust survivor; Jasper Johns, the American artist; and John H. Adams, who co-founded the environmental group National Resources Defense Council.<\/p>\n

This post has been revised to reflect the following correction:<\/em><\/p>\n

Correction: February 15, 2011<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

An earlier version incorrectly described Jean Kennedy Smith; she is the sister, not the brother, of President Kennedy.<\/em><\/p>\n

thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com<\/span>, February 15, 2011<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0MICHAEL D. SHEAR The patriarch of the Bush family dynasty stood in the White House he once led, a bit unsteady but with a large smile on his face, and accepted the nation\u2019s highest civilian honor from President Obama on Tuesday. In an East Room ceremony, former President George Bush, 86, received the 2010 Medal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":30689,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[2271,3520],"class_list":["post-30688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-usa","tag-george-bush","tag-merkel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30688\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}