Who should win the Presidential Medal of Freedom? – Yahoo Finance

I cant imagine being president of the United States is very much fun. Lyndon Johnson, a particularly aggrieved occupant of that office, said it best. Twice.

Being president is like being a jackass in a hailstorm. There's nothing to do but to stand there and take it. And: If one morning I walked on top of the water across the Potomac River, the headline that afternoon would read: President Can't Swim. Double ouch.

Theres some pleasure in the presidency though riding in Air Force One and the White House movie theater come to mind but I think the coolest part has to be awarding the nations highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

You may not know that much about the PMOF. Even though it's a huge deal, its a bit under the radar, so let me tell you about it. First of all, if you have never seen it, the medal itself is quite eye-catching. Pretty cool, right?

Now lets look at who is eligible to receive the award, which is actually rather loosey-goosey. The Presidential Medal of Freedom is an award given by the president for especially meritorious contribution to (1) the security or national interests of the United States, or (2) world peace, or (3) cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.

The decision is the presidents alone. They dont need to consult with anybody, says E. Fletcher McClellan, a professor of political science at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania, whose research focuses in part on the Presidential Medal of Freedom. I know there's mention of civilian boards and things like that. [But] this has become more of an in-house White House staffing project.

Its typically given to Americans, like Joe DiMaggio, Maya Angelou and Henry Kissinger, but can be given to foreigners such as Angela Merkel, Desmond Tutu and Stephen Hawking. And yes, many businesspeople have received PMOFs, (more on that below).

The award was established by President Kennedy though he was assassinated before he could confer any. Tragically then, Kennedy was in the first class of recipients given by LBJ (who was later bestowed with the award posthumously by Jimmy Carter).

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President Donald Trump awards the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Tiger Woods during a ceremony in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, Monday, May 6, 2019. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

There are two levels of the PMOF, regular and with distinction with the latter having only been given to 27 or about 4% of the 654 awardees since 1963. You can even win twice, though only two people have; Colin Powell once with distinction. The other double winner for some ungodly reason was Ellsworth Bunker, the hawkish ambassador to South Vietnam from 1967 to 1973, both times with distinction even. (Talk about overkill.)

Some other PMOF facts. Every president since Kennedy has received a medal except Nixon, George W. Bush and Barack Obama. You have to figure the latter two will be tabbed sooner rather than later. (As for Nixon, he could be like Pete Rose and the Baseball Hall of Fame, right?) Biden already got his btw, with distinction, from Obama while he was the vice president.

Five members of the Kennedy clan have been awarded PMOFs, while a sixth, Jackie Kennedy, was one of the very few to turn the award down along with Bill Belichick and Dolly Parton, who has declined twice! Then theres Bill Cosby, who won a medal in 2002. Later there was talk of rescinding it, but that didnt appear to go anywhere.

And yes, besides politicians, actors, artists, athletes and scientists, a good number of businesspeople have been honored. (See if you can guess which president picked each one.) Warren Buffett, Bill and Melinda Gates, Roger Penske, Arthur Laffer, Miriam Adelson, Alan Greenspan, Walter Wriston, Estee Lauder, Dave Thomas, Gordon Moore, Peter Drucker, John Kenneth Galbraith, James E. Burke, Edgar Bronfman, David Rockefeller, Lew Wasserman, James Rouse and Sam Walton. (Walton was in one of my favorite classes, 1992, along with Ella Fitzgerald, Ted Williams, Johnny Carson, Richard Petty, I.M. Pei and Audrey Hepburn.)

Some other business recipients are: David Packard, Ed DeBartolo, Justin Dart, An Wang, Walter Annenberg, Lil and DeWitt Wallace, Arthur Krock, and Walt Disney.

President Barack Obama, accompanied by Melinda Gates, left, presents the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Bill Gates, center, during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House, Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2016, in Washington. Obama is recognizing 21 Americans with the nation's highest civilian award, including giants of the entertainment industry, sports legends, activists and innovators. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Historically the award has been fairly non-partisan. George W. Bush gave awards to Katharine Graham and Donna Shalala. Obama mostly did left-leaning awardees but also made awards to George H.W. Bush, Sandra Day OConnor, Robert Gates, Richard Lugar and William Ruckelshaus. Trump, however, did not cross the aisle, awarding mostly to GOP politicians, supporters and athletes.

Joe Biden has yet to give out any PMOFs. I am a little bit surprised, says McClellan. Obviously, his first year was extremely busy. Maybe hes waiting for the right time. We might not see it until the end of this year. Im surprised too. As one of only two living recipients of the medal with distinction along with Buzz Aldrin I just think its Bidens kind of thing.

So who would I pick if I were president? (Scary thought.) I have a million ideas for non-business people; Dionne Warwick, Josh Bell, Michelle Kwan, Tommy Caldwell, Ellen Ochoa, Willie Nelson, Snoop, (maybe not Martha Stewart), Jennifer Doudna, Ringo, etc., but I want to focus a bit on businesspeople.

With apologies to Jeff Bezos, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Eric Schmidt, and others, I think big tech is mostly off the list for now, (especially Zuckerberg and Musk.) But I would make an exception for the late Steve Jobs, and what about Tim Cook in the same year even? (Or would that tick Tim off, always being in the shadow of?)

Outside Silicon Valley there are plenty of other candidates. How about Ken Chenault or Mary Barra? What about Charlie Munger? (Maybe too ornery.) Jamie Dimon or Ann Fudge? How about Herb Kelleher (posthumously) and his flyboy pal Gordon Bethune? Theres Howard Schultz, Dick Parsons, Ralph Lauren, Ted Turner, Paul Allen (posthumously) and Mike Bloomberg. (Who would you pick?)

I have an idea: How about a second one for Warren Buffett this time with distinction. Too much? If Ellsworth Bunker can win two, why the heck not?

This article was featured in a Saturday edition of the Morning Brief on February 19, 2022. Get the Morning Brief sent directly to your inbox every Monday to Friday by 6:30 a.m. ET. Subscribe

Andy Serwer is editor-in-chief of Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter: @serwer

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Who should win the Presidential Medal of Freedom? - Yahoo Finance