Medal of Freedom Recipients 2010 Honored Today

President Barack Obama and the First Lady honored the 15 recipients of the 2010 Medal of Freedom on Tuesday. The Medal of Freedom is the nation’s highest civilian honor, and is presented to people who have made important contributions to U.S. national security, world peace, culture or other significant public or private endeavors.

The recipients were announced in November 2010 and they are:

— Angela Merkel, German Chancellor

— John H. Adams, co-founder of Natural Resources Defense Council

— Maya Angelou, poet and author

— Jasper Johns, artist

— Gerda Weissmann Klein, Holocaust survivor and author

— Dr. Tom Little (posthumous), optometrist murdered on humanitarian mission in Afghanistan

— Sylvia Mendez, civil rights activist of Mexican and Puerto Rican descent

— Stan Musial, Hall of Fame baseball player

— Bill Russell, professional basketball player and first African American to coach in the NBA

— Jean Kennedy Smith, founder of VSA, a non-profit organization that promotes the artistic talents of people with disabilities

— John J. Sweeney, President Emeritus of the AFL-CIO

You can watch the events live from whitehouse.gov.