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hello all from the newshound, when i saw this headline, i thought, hmm, that name sounds familiar!! janet -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rosa Parks, Morris Udall among Medal of Freedom honorees -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 1996 Nando.net Copyright 1996 The Associated Press WASHINGTON (Sep 9, 1996 1:11 p.m. EDT) -- Calling it "the highest honor our nation can bestow on a citizen," President Clinton presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom today to 11 people including a man of God, a presidential press secretary, a former congressman, and a civil rights pioneer. Two of the recipients were not at the ceremony. The president said Rosa Parks, whose refusal to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Ala., bus helped spark the civil rights movement, was delayed. And former Rep. Morris K. Udall, an Arizona congressman for 30 years, now suffering from Parkinson's disease, was represented by his son. "We are honoring renewed faith in the freedom that has brought this nation this far and the freedom that will sustain us into the next century," Clinton said. "The 11 men and women we honor today have raised the practice of freedom to new heights." Those honored were: --Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, of Chicago, one of the most prominent Catholic priests in the country, who announced last month that doctors expect him to die within a year from pancreatic cancer. --James Brady, who had been on the job as Ronald Reagan's press secretary just over two months in 1981 when he was critically wounded in John Hinckley's attack on the president. Brady and his wife, Sarah, have been leaders in the fight for gun control. --Millard Fuller, who founded Habitat for Humanity, which has built more than 50,000 homes for poor families. --David Alan Hamburg, a psychiatrist and president of the Carnegie Foundation who has influenced policy makers and lobbied for family legislation. --John H. Johnson, who founded Ebony and Jet magazines and has been called the most influential black publisher in American history. He was honored for breaking negative stereotypes and building self-respect in the black community. --Eugene M. Lang, who adopted a sixth-grade class and paid the tuition of anyone who went to college, and created the "I have a Dream" Foundation. --Jan Nowak-Jezioranski, who risked his life as a member of the Polish underground during World War II. --Antonia Pantoja, who has devoted her life to promoting community development. --Ginetta Sagan, a member of the World War II Italian resistance who has devoted her life to human rights abuses around the world. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- [log in to unmask]