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Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is the
National Basketball Association's all-time leading scorer who helped lead the
Los Angeles Lakers to five championships and the Milwaukee Bucks to another.
During his career, Abdul-Jabbar was a six-time NBA Most Valuable Player and a
19-time NBA All-Star. Before joining the NBA, he was a star player at UCLA,
leading the Bruins to three consecutive championships. In addition to his
legendary basketball career, Abdul-Jabbar has been an outspoken advocate for
social justice.
Elouise Cobell (posthumous)
Elouise Cobell was a
Blackfeet Tribal community leader and an advocate for Native American
self-determination and financial independence. She used her expertise in
accounting to champion a lawsuit that resulted in a historic settlement,
restoring tribal homelands to her beloved Blackfeet Nation and many other
tribes, and in so doing, inspired a new generation of Native Americans to fight
for the rights of others. Cobell helped found the Native American Bank, served
as director of the Native American Community Development Corporation, and
inspired Native American women to seek leadership roles in their communities.
Ellen DeGeneres
Ellen DeGeneres is an award-winning comedian who has
hosted her popular daytime talk show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, since 2003 with
her trademarked humor, humility, and optimism. In 2003 Ellen lent her voice to a
forgetful but unforgettable little fish named Dory in Finding Nemo. She reprised
her role again in 2016 with the hugely successful Finding Dory. Ellen also
hosted the Academy Awards twice, in 2007 and 2014. In 1997, after coming out
herself, DeGeneres made TV history when her character on Ellen revealed she was
a lesbian. In her work and in her life, she has been a passionate advocate for
equality and fairness.
Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro has brought to
life some of the most memorable roles in American film during a career that
spans five decades. His first major film roles were in the sports drama Bang the
Drum Slowly and Martin Scorsese's crime film Mean Streets. He is a seven-time
Academy Award nominee and two-time Oscar winner, and is also a Kennedy Center
honoree.
Richard Garwin
Richard Garwin is a polymath physicist who
earned a Ph.D. under Enrico Fermi at age 21 and subsequently made pioneering
contributions to U.S. defense and intelligence technologies, low-temperature and
nuclear physics, detection of gravitational radiation, magnetic resonance
imaging (MRI), computer systems, laser printing, and nuclear arms control and
nonproliferation. He directed Applied Research at IBM's Thomas J. Watson
Research Center and taught at the University of Chicago, Columbia University,
and Harvard University. The author of 500 technical papers and a winner of the
National Medal of Science, Garwin holds 47 U.S. patents, and has advised
numerous administrations.
Bill and Melinda Gates
Bill and Melinda
Gates established the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2000 to help all people
lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, the foundation focuses
on improving people's health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out
of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, the mission is to ensure
that all people—especially those with the fewest resources—have access to the
opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. The Gates Foundation has
provided more than $36 billion in grants since its inception.
Frank Gehry
Frank Gehry is one of the world's leading architects, whose works have helped
define contemporary architecture. His best-known buildings include the Walt
Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, the Dancing House in Prague, and the
Guggenheim Museum building in Bilbao, Spain.
Margaret H. Hamilton
Margaret H. Hamilton led the team that created the on-board flight software for
NASA's Apollo command modules and lunar modules. A mathematician and computer
scientist who started her own software company, Hamilton contributed to concepts
of asynchronous software, priority scheduling and priority displays, and
human-in-the-loop decision capability, which set the foundation for modern,
ultra-reliable software design and engineering.
Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks is
one of the Nation's finest actors and filmmakers. He has been nominated for the
Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role five times, and received the
award for his work in Philadelphia and Forrest Gump. Those roles and countless
others, including in Apollo 13, Saving Private Ryan, and Cast Away, have left an
indelible mark on American film. Off screen, as an advocate, Hanks has advocated
for social and environmental justice, and for our veterans and their families.
Grace Hopper (posthumous)
Rear Admiral Grace Hopper, known as
“Amazing Grace” and “the first lady of software,” was at the forefront of
computers and programming development from the 1940s through the 1980s. Hopper's
work helped make coding languages more practical and accessible, and she created
the first compiler, which translates source code from one language into another.
She taught mathematics as an associate professor at Vassar College before
joining the United States Naval Reserve as a lieutenant (junior grade) during
World War II, where she became one of the first programmers of the Harvard Mark
I computer and began her lifelong leadership role in the field of computer
science.
Michael Jordan
Michael Jordan is one of the greatest athletes
of all time. Jordan played 15 seasons in the NBA for the Chicago Bulls and
Washington Wizards; he is currently a principal owner and chairman of the
Charlotte Hornets. During his career, he won six championships, five Most
Valuable Player awards, and appeared in 14 All-Star games.
Maya Lin
Maya Lin is an artist and designer who is known for her work in sculpture and
landscape art. She designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. and
since then has pursued a celebrated career in both art and architecture. A
committed environmentalist, Lin is currently working on a multi-sited
artwork/memorial, What is Missing? bringing awareness to the planet's loss of
habitat and biodiversity.
Lorne Michaels
Lorne Michaels is a producer
and screenwriter, best known for creating and producing Saturday Night Live,
which has run continuously for more than 40 years. In addition, Michaels has
also produced The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Late Night with Seth
Meyers, and 30 Rock, among other popular, award-winning shows. He has won 13
Emmy Awards over the course of his lengthy career.
Newt Minow
Newt
Minow is an attorney with a long and distinguished career in public life. After
serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, Minow served as a Supreme Court
clerk and counsel to the Governor of Illinois. In 1961, President Kennedy
selected Minow, then 34, to serve as Chairman of the Federal Communications
Committee (FCC), where he helped shape the future of American television and was
a vigorous advocate for broadcasting that promoted the public interest. In the
five decades since leaving the FCC, Minow has maintained a prominent private law
practice while devoting himself to numerous public and charitable causes.
Eduardo Padron
Eduardo Padron is the President of Miami Dade College
(MDC), one of the largest institutions of higher education in the United States.
During his more than four decade career, President Padron has been a national
voice for access and inclusion. He has worked to ensure all students have access
to high quality, affordable education. He has championed innovative teaching and
learning strategies making MDC a national model of excellence.
Robert
Redford
Robert Redford is an actor, director, producer, businessman, and
environmentalist. In 1981, he founded the Sundance Institute to advance the work
of independent filmmakers and storytellers throughout the world, including
through its annual Sundance Film Festival. He has received an Academy Award for
Best Director and for Lifetime Achievement. Redford has directed or starred in
numerous motion pictures, including The Candidate, All the President's Men, Quiz
Show, and A River Runs Through It.
Diana Ross
Diana Ross has had an
iconic career spanning more than 50 years within the entertainment industry in
music, film, television, theater, and fashion. Diana Ross is an Academy Award
nominee, inductee into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and recipient of the Grammy
Awards highest honor, the Lifetime Achievement Award. Ross was a recipient of
the 2007 Kennedy Center Honors. Diana Ross's greatest legacy is her five
wonderful children.
Vin Scully
Vin Scully is a broadcaster who, for 67
seasons, was the voice of the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers. In Southern
California, where generations of fans have grown up listening to Dodger
baseball, Scully's voice is known as the "soundtrack to summer." In 1988, he was
inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Scully's signature voice
brought to life key moments in baseball history, including perfect games by
Sandy Koufax and Don Larsen, Kirk Gibson's home run in the 1988 World Series,
and Hank Aaron's record-breaking 715th home run.
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen is a singer, songwriter, and bandleader. More than five
decades ago, he bought a guitar and learned how to make it talk. Since then, the
stories he has told, in lyrics and epic live concert performances, have helped
shape American music and have challenged us to realize the American dream.
Springsteen is a Kennedy Center honoree and he and the E Street Band he leads
have each been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Cicely
Tyson
Cicely Tyson has performed on the stage, on television, and on the
silver screen. She has won two Emmy Awards and a Tony Award, and is known for
her performances in Sounder, The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, and The
Help. In 2013, she returned to the stage with The Trip to the Bountiful, and was
awarded the Tony Award for best leading actress. Tyson received the Kennedy
Center Honors in 2015.
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Recipients | Presidential Civilian
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