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Elizabeth Dole, former senator from NC, to receive Presidential Medal of Freedom
By Hannah Leyva,
2024-05-03
WASHINGTON, D.C. (WNCN) — Elizabeth Dole, the first woman to represent North Carolina in the United States Senate, will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
The Salisbury native will be one of nineteen receiving the honor from President Joe Biden Friday at the White House.
Dole, who graduated from Duke University with a political science degree in 1958 before eventually earning her law degree from Harvard, had a long political career. Prior to being elected to the Senate in 2002, she also served as commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission during Richard Nixon’s administration, Secretary of Transportation during the Ronald Reagan administration and Secretary of Labor under George H.W. Bush’s administration. She was also president of the American Red Cross for most of the 1990s.
Elizabeth Dole was married to Bob Dole, the longtime senator from Kansas who ran for Republican presidential nomination three times, from 1975 until his death in 2021.
Other Friday recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, include current U.S. House of Representatives members James Clyburn and Nancy Pelosi, former vice president Al Gore, businessman and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, legendary daytime talk show host Phil Donahue, seven-time Olympic gold medalist swimmer Katie Ledecky and Michelle Yeoh, the first Asian to win the Oscar for Best Actress.
Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipients — May 3, 2024
Michael Bloomberg — businessman and three-term New York City mayor
Gregory Boyle — Jesuit Catholic priest who founded Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles
James Clyburn — Democratic U.S. House Representative from South Carolina
Elizabeth Dole — former Republican U.S. Senator from North Carolina
Phil Donahue — journalist and daytime television talk show pioneer
Medgar Evers (posthumous) — fought against segregation in Mississippi, murdered in 1963
Al Gore — former Democratic Vice President, U.S. Senator and U.S. House Representative
Clarence B. Jones — civil rights activist and lawyer who helped draft Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech
John Kerry — Vietnam veteran and former U.S. Secretary of State and Democratic U.S. Senator
Frank Lautenburg (posthumous) — five-term Democratic U.S. Senator from New Jersey who died in 2013
Katie Ledecky — seven-time Olympic gold medalist in swimming, most decorated female swimmer of all time
Opal Lee — educator and activist who helped make Juneteenth a federally recognized holiday
Ellen Ochoa — first Hispanic woman in space, second female director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center
Nancy Pelosi — Democratic U.S. House Representative from California, 52nd Speaker of the House
Jane Rigby — astronomer, chief scientist of world’s most powerful telescope
Teresa Romero — president of the United Farm Workers, first Latina to be president of a national union in the U.S.
Judy Shepard — co-founder of the Matthew Shepard Foundation, organization championing LGBTQ rights created in honor of her murdered son
Jim Thorpe — multi-sport star athlete and first Native American to win an Olympic gold medal who died in 1953
Michelle Yeoh — longtime actress who recently became first Asian to win the Oscar for Best Actress
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