Richard Lugar Awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom

Sen. Dick Lugar ’54 was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, on November 20, 2013, by President Obama, who praised Dick  for being a pragmatic voice in a time of “unrelenting partisanship.”

“Dick Lugar’s decency, his commitment to bipartisan problem solving, stand as a model of what public service ought to be,” Obama said during a ceremony at the White House.

Dick was one of 16 Americans given the Presidential Medal of Freedom, an honor for those who have made significant contributions to national security, world peace or cultural developments.

Dick is one of two of this year’s Medal of Freedom award winners with close Pembroke connections. President Bill Clinton (a former student of Pembroke’s legendary politics don Zbigniew Pelczynski) was also honored.