He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award, by President
Barack Obama, in a live televised ceremony held in the East Room of the White House, on November 22, 2016, along with twenty other recipients, the the largest, and final Medal of Freedom ceremony of Obama's presidency. At this ceremony, the twenty-one recipients, in alphabetical order, included:
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar,
Elouise Cobell (posthumous award given to her son),
Ellen DeGeneres,
Robert De Niro,
Richard Garwin,
Bill Gates,
Melinda Gates,
Frank Gehry,
Margaret Hamilton (as Margaret H. Hamilton),
Tom Hanks, Rear Admiral
Grace Hopper (posthumous award given to her niece),
Michael Jordan,
Maya Lin,
Lorne Michaels,
Newton Minow,
Eduardo Padron (as Eduardo Padrón),
Robert Redford,
Diana Ross,
Vin Scully,
Bruce Springsteen, and
Cicely Tyson.
