page_title: List of Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients
section_title: Foreign statesmen and stateswomen
hierarchical_section_title: List of Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients / Politics and government / Foreign statesmen and stateswomen
caption_attribution_description: English: President Bush presents the Presidential Medal of Freedom to former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the East Room of the White House.
context_page_description: This is a partial list of recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, listed chronologically within the aspect of life in which each recipient is or was renowned, though grouping recipients in respective categories is for convenience of the reader, as the award itself is not categorized by particular discipline.
  The Presidential Medal of Freedom is awarded by the president of the United States "for especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, or world peace, or cultural or other significant public or private endeavors". Honorees are selected by the president or recommended to them by the Distinguished Civilian Service Awards Board.
  Typically the medal is bestowed upon the recipient by the sitting president who has chosen them. However, the first recipients selected by President John F. Kennedy before his assassination were formally awarded by his successor in office, Lyndon B. Johnson.
  President Barack Obama awarded 123 medals, the most ever, followed by President Ronald Reagan with 102 medal recipients.
  Two people, Ellsworth Bunker and Colin Powell, are two-time recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
caption: Margaret Thatcher, 1991
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