Bush Awards Medal of Freedom to B.B. King
By Caren Bohan
Reuters
WASHINGTON (Dec. 15) - Legendary blues musician B.B. King , former Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky and historian David McCullough were among those awarded the Medal of Freedom on Friday by President George W. Bush.
Bush lauded King for overcoming his hardscrabble childhood in the South to become one of the world's greatest blues guitarists and singers. King was living alone by the time he was 9 and picked cotton for 35 cents a day, Bush recalled.
"It has been said that when John Lennon was asked to name his great ambition, he said, 'to play the guitar like B.B. King ,"' Bush said. "Many musicians have had that same goal but nobody has ever been able to match the skill, or copy the sound of The King of the Blues."
The Medal of Freedom is the nation's highest civilian award.
At a ceremony in the White House East Room, Bush also praised Sharansky -- whose writings on democracy are said to have influenced Bush -- as someone who has led a "life of courage and conviction. Born to a Jewish family in Ukraine, Sharansky was accused of treason by the Soviets and imprisoned for 10 years.
He later emigrated to Israel, where he became a prominent political figure known for his hawkish views.
Bush is said to have drawn inspiration for his agenda of spreading democracy in the Middle East from Sharansky's book, "The Case for Democracy," which argues that free societies are crucial to international stability. As a measure of his interest in the book, Bush invited Sharansky for a meeting just after his 2004 re-election.
"Natan reminds us that every soul carries the desire to live in freedom and that freedom has a unique power to lift up nations, transform regions, and secure a future for peace," Bush said.
Bush also has shown interest lately in the biographies of past presidents, especially that of Harry Truman, whose struggle against communism at the start of the Cold War has been compared by Bush to the war against terrorism.
Truman left office deeply unpopular because of the Korean War but has been viewed favorably by history. Some in the White House have encouraged the notion that Bush's own legacy will be similarly redeemed, despite the huge toll the Iraq war has taken on him politically.
McCullough is noted in particular for his biographies of Truman and John Adams.
Others honored with the Medal of Freedom were former Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta, the late baseball player John "Buck" O'Neil, columnist William Safire, Nobel Prize-winning scientist Joshua Lederberg, British historian Paul Johnson, Xavier University President Norman Francis and literacy volunteer Ruth Colvin.
Bush lauded King for overcoming his hardscrabble childhood in the South to become one of the world's greatest blues guitarists and singers. King was living alone by the time he was 9 and picked cotton for 35 cents a day, Bush recalled.
"It has been said that when John Lennon was asked to name his great ambition, he said, 'to play the guitar like B.B. King ,"' Bush said. "Many musicians have had that same goal but nobody has ever been able to match the skill, or copy the sound of The King of the Blues."
The Medal of Freedom is the nation's highest civilian award.
At a ceremony in the White House East Room, Bush also praised Sharansky -- whose writings on democracy are said to have influenced Bush -- as someone who has led a "life of courage and conviction. Born to a Jewish family in Ukraine, Sharansky was accused of treason by the Soviets and imprisoned for 10 years.
He later emigrated to Israel, where he became a prominent political figure known for his hawkish views.
Bush is said to have drawn inspiration for his agenda of spreading democracy in the Middle East from Sharansky's book, "The Case for Democracy," which argues that free societies are crucial to international stability. As a measure of his interest in the book, Bush invited Sharansky for a meeting just after his 2004 re-election.
"Natan reminds us that every soul carries the desire to live in freedom and that freedom has a unique power to lift up nations, transform regions, and secure a future for peace," Bush said.
Bush also has shown interest lately in the biographies of past presidents, especially that of Harry Truman, whose struggle against communism at the start of the Cold War has been compared by Bush to the war against terrorism.
Truman left office deeply unpopular because of the Korean War but has been viewed favorably by history. Some in the White House have encouraged the notion that Bush's own legacy will be similarly redeemed, despite the huge toll the Iraq war has taken on him politically.
McCullough is noted in particular for his biographies of Truman and John Adams.
Others honored with the Medal of Freedom were former Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta, the late baseball player John "Buck" O'Neil, columnist William Safire, Nobel Prize-winning scientist Joshua Lederberg, British historian Paul Johnson, Xavier University President Norman Francis and literacy volunteer Ruth Colvin.
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