美国国务院国际信息局《美国参考》Jane Morse从华盛顿报道，欧巴马总统日前向13名对国家和世界作出非凡贡献的人士颁发了自由勋章。

自由勋章是美国总统向平民（非军人）授予的最高荣誉，用于表彰对美国的安全或国家利益、世界和平、文化或其他重要公共和民间事业作出卓越贡献的个人。

欧巴马5月29日在白宫的颁奖仪式上说：“这些人士与众不同的是他们对这么多的人产生了令人难以置信的影响。”

他说，获奖者“以他们的话语打动我们，以他们的行动激励我们”。

欧巴马称这些获奖者“每个人都是我心目中的英雄。......站在这个讲台上的每个人都深深地影响了我的人生。......他们的影响将继续在后代中传承。”

这次总统自由勋章的获得者为：

马德琳·奥尔布赖特（Madeleine Albright)——第一位担任美国国务卿的妇女，从1997年至2001年间担任该职。从1993年到1997年，她是美国常驻合国代表。她目前担任全国民主研究所（National Democratic Institute)所长和杜鲁门奖学金基金会（Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation)主席。

约翰·杜尔（John Doar)——20世纪60年代领导联邦政府的民权保护工作，曾担任负责司法部民权司的助理司法部长一职。总统说，杜尔“为民权事业奠定了基础。 ......他让民权运动有理由不向当权者屈服”。

鲍勃·迪伦（Bob Dylan)——20世纪最有影响力的美国音乐家之一，迪伦的作品对20世纪60年代的民权运动有相当大的影响，并在过去50年里对美国文化产生了重大影响。

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鲍勃•迪伦在演出

 

 

威廉·弗格(William Foege)——医生和流行病学家，弗格在20世纪70年代领导一项

努力，成功地根除了天花。1977年，他被任命为疾病控制和预防中心主任，并与同事一起，在1984年成立了帮助儿童生存工作组（Task Force for Child Survival)。

约翰·格伦（John Glenn）——1962年，格伦成为第一位绕地球飞行的美国人。1998年，他77岁那年成为太空飞行最年长的人。他还曾担任建筑师和美国参议员，提议通过了《1978年不扩散法》（1978 Non-proliferation Act）。

戈登·平林（Gordon Hirabayashi)——卒于2012年1月2日，他在二战期间公开反抗强迫搬迁和关押日裔美国人。平林被西雅图美国联邦地区法院判处违抗排除令和违反宵禁，平林不服判决，一直上诉到美国最高法院，但该院于1943年判其败诉。第二次世界大战后和他被关押期间，平林获得了社会学博士学位，并成为一名教授。1987年，他的判决被美国第9巡回法院推翻。总统说，美国因为有像平林这样的公民站出来维护自己的权利而变得更好。

多洛雷斯·韦尔塔（Dolores Huerta)——她和塞萨尔·查韦斯（Cesar Chavez)于1962年共同创办了全国农场工人协会（National Farmworkers Association)，该组织后来成为美国农场工人联合会（United Farm Workers of America)。由于她的影响，加利福尼亚州通过了《1975农业工人关系法》，并规定农场工人有权享有残障保险。

贾恩·卡尔斯基（Jan Karski)——卡尔斯基在第二次世界大战期间为波兰地下支队（Polish Underground）的军官，第一个向全世界亲身讲述了大屠杀。在《一个秘密国家的故事》（Story of a Secret State）一书中，他描述了他的经历。战后，他移居美国，成为美国公民，并在乔治敦大学外交学院任教。他于2002年去世。

朱丽叶·戈登·洛（Juliette Gordon Low)——生于1860年，于1912年创立女童子军。该组织致力于教导女童自力更生和培养全面的能力。女童子军自1912年创立以来，已成长为美国最大的女童教育机构，有超过5000万会员。

托妮·莫里森（Toni Morrison)——莫里森是美国最著名的小说家之一，著名作品有《所罗门之歌》（Song of Solomon)、《爵士乐》(Jazz）和《宠儿》（Beloved），《亲爱的》为她赢得了1988年普利策奖。1993年，她成为第一位获得诺贝尔奖的非裔妇女。欧巴马说，莫里森的散文“增加了我们道德和情感的强度”。

西蒙·佩雷斯（Shimon Pares)——佩雷斯是以色列安全和和平的积极倡导者，2007年当选为以色列第9任总统。他和以色列总理拉宾（Yitzhak Rabin)及巴解组织执委会主席阿拉法特（Yasser Arafat)一起荣获1994年诺贝尔和平奖，表彰他作为外长在中东和谈期间的努力并促成了奥斯陆协定（Oslo Accord）的签署。欧巴马说，佩雷斯“对中东和平事业的贡献超过任何在世的人”。

约翰·保罗·史蒂文斯（John Paul Stevens)——美国最高法院历史上任期第三长的大法官，2010年退休。史蒂文斯的工作在法律领域留下了永久的印记，特别是在民权、宪法第一修正案、死刑、行政法和分权等领域。

派特·萨米特（Pat Summitt)——萨米特是美国获胜率最高的大学体育教练。在篮球场之外，她一直为抗击阿尔茨海默氏病（俗称“老年痴呆症”）而呼吁。

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Madeleine Albright

Washington — President Obama awarded the Medal of Freedom to 13 people who have made extraordinary contributions to the county and the world.

The Medal of Freedom is the nation’s highest civilian honor, presented 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.

“What sets these men and women apart,” Obama said at the White House awards ceremony May 29, "is the incredible impact they’ve had on so many people.”

The honorees, he said, “have moved us with their words and inspired us with their actions.”

Obama called the honorees “my heroes individually. ... Everybody on this stage has impacted my life in profound ways. ... Their impact will continue for generations to come.”

The Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients are:

Madeleine Albright – The first woman to hold the position of U.S. secretary of state, she served from 1997 to 2001. From 1993 to 1997, she was the U.S. representative to the United Nations. She chairs the National Democratic Institute and is president of the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation.

John Doar – Leader of federal efforts to protect civil rights during the 1960s, he served as assistant attorney general in charge of the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice. Doar, the president said, “laid the groundwork for civil rights. ... He gave the civil rights movement reason not to give up on those in power.”

Bob Dylan – One of the most influential American musicians of the 20th century, Dylan’s work had considerable influence on the civil rights movement of the 1960s and has had significant impact on American culture over the past five decades.

 

William Foege – A physician and epidemiologist, Foege helped lead the successful campaign to eradicate smallpox in the 1970s. He was appointed director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 1977 and, with colleagues, founded the Task Force for Child Survival in 1984.

John Glenn – In 1962, Glen became the first American to orbit the Earth. In 1998, he became the oldest person to visit space at the age of 77. In between he served as a U.S. senator and was an architect and sponsor of the 1978 Nonproliferation Act.

Gordon Hirabayashi – Hirabayashi, who died on January 2, 2012, openly defied the forced relocation and internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. Convicted by the U.S. Federal District Court in Seattle of defying the exclusion order and violating curfew, Hirabayashi appealed his conviction all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled against him in 1943. Following World War II and his time in prison, Hirabayashi obtained his doctoral degree in sociology and became a professor. In 1987, his conviction was overturned by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The United States, the president said, is better off for citizens like Hirabayashi who are willing to stand up for their rights.

Dolores Huerta – With Cesar Chavez, Huerta co-founded the National Farmworkers Association in 1962, which later became the United Farm Workers of America. She was influential in securing the passage of California’s Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975 and disability insurance for farm workers in California.

Jan Karski – Karski served as an officer in the Polish Underground during World War II and carried the first eyewitness accounts of the Holocaust to the world. He described his experiences in his book Story of a Secret State. After the war he immigrated to the United States, became a U.S. citizen and taught as a professor at Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service. He died in 2002.

Juliette Gordon Low – Born in 1860, Low founded the Girl Scouts in 1912. The organization strives to teach girls self-reliance and resourcefulness. Since 1912, the Girl Scouts has grown into the largest educational organization for girls and has had more than 50 million members.

Toni Morrison – One of America’s most celebrated novelists, Morrison is renowned for works such as Song of Solomon, Jazz, and Beloved, for which she won a Pulitzer Prize in 1988. She became the first African-American woman to win a Nobel Prize in 1993. Morrison’s prose, Obama said, “gives us moral and emotional intensity.”

Shimon Peres – An ardent advocate for Israel's security and for peace, Peres was elected the ninth president of Israel in 2007. Along with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, Peres won the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize for his work as foreign minister during the Middle East peace talks that led to the Oslo Accords. Peres, Obama said, “has done more for the cause of peace in the Middle East than anybody alive.”

John Paul Stevens – The third longest-serving justice in the U.S. Supreme Court’s history when he retired in 2010, Stevens’ work has left a lasting imprint on the law in areas such as civil rights, the First Amendment, the death penalty, administrative law, and the separation of powers.

Pat Summitt – Summitt is the all-time winningest college sports coach in the United States. Off the basketball court, she has been a spokesperson against Alzheimer's disease.