Obama presented the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, to 13 men and women in a White House ceremony Tuesday afternoon.



View Photo Gallery: President Obama honors a diverse group of political and cultural icons, including former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, author Toni Morrison and rock legend Bob Dylan, with the Medal of Freedom at the White House.

Here are the honorees, who meet the criteria for having 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.”

Madeleine Albright, the first female Secretary of State.

John Doar, former assistant attorney general who was involved in many notable civil rights cases in Mississippi in the 1960s.

Bob Dylan, musician and 11-time Grammy winner.

Dr. William Foege, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who led efforts to eradicate smallpox.

John Glenn, the astronaut who was the first American to orbit the earth in 1962 and later became a U.S. senator from Ohio.

Gordon Hirabayashi, who died in January, was a student in the 1940s when he opposed the internment orders for Japanese Americans during World War II.



United Farm Workers co-founder Dolores Huerta (Paul Sakuma/Associated Press)

Jan Karski, who died in 2000, was a Polish Underground officer during World War II and was among the first witnesses to share accounts of the Holocaust with the world.

Juliette Gordon Low, who died in 1927, founded the Girl Scouts in 1912.

Toni Morrison, Pulitzer Prize winning author who was the first African-American woman to win a Nobel Prize.

Shimon Peres, former president of Israel. Peres will not be present for the ceremony.

John Paul Stevens, former Supreme Court Justice.

Pat Summitt, former University of Tennessee women’s basketball coach and the all-time winningest leader among NCAA basketball coaches.

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