16 days into a political career that has spanned a half-century, President Biden on Saturday bestowed one of the nation’s highest honors on key members of the political, financial and celebrity establishment of which he has long been a part .
President-elect Donald J. Trump will replace Mr. Biden on January 20, determined to continue his assault on what he has long called “the swamp.” In 2016, Mr. Trump pledged to wage war against establishment members of both parties who, he said, had “reaped the rewards of government while the people bore the cost.”
But on Saturday, Mr. Biden awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to 18 peopleincluding some of the brightest lights of the old guard that Mr. Trump wants to tear down. In doing so, the 82-year-old president is sending an unequivocal message of support for a democratic order that he believes is threatened by Mr. Trump’s re-election.
“Let us remember that our sacred effort continues, and to continue, as my mother would say, we must keep the faith,” he told the crowd in the East Room of the White House at the end of the ceremony. .
Among those receiving the award were Hillary Clinton, the former first lady, senator and secretary of state whom Mr. Trump threatened to jail and who received a standing ovation on Saturday; Robert F. Kennedy, the assassinated senator whose son kissed Mr. Trump; and George Romney, the late father of former Senator Mitt Romney, the Utah Republican who repeatedly rejected Mr. Trump’s actions and philosophy. The younger Mr. Romney accepted the award on Saturday. Mr. Kennedy’s medal was accepted by his daughter, Kerry Kennedy.
As many presidents have done with the Medal of Freedom, Mr. Biden also honored some of his party’s most prolific fundraisers, including the man who ranks highest among Democratic donors: George Soros, the billionaire liberal activist whom Republicans have portrayed as the party’s evil puppet master.
They also included media executive and cultural figure Anna Wintour, who put first lady Jill Biden on the cover of Vogue twice in the past four years, while reject Melania Trump during her husband’s presidency. Ms Wintour is one of the fashion industry’s top fundraisers, having hosted events for Mr Biden’s re-election campaign in London and Paris last year.
Mr. Biden also recognized artists, musicians, sports figures, philanthropists and others who have contributed to society, including singer Bono; actor Michael J. Fox; basketball legend Earvin Johnson, known as Magic; and investor David M. Rubenstein.
The 19th person chosen to receive the award — soccer megastar Lionel Messi — did not attend the ceremony or send a representative to accept it on his behalf due to a scheduling conflict, according to the White House.
“As cultural icons, dignified statesmen, humanitarians, rock stars, sports stars, you feed the hungry, you give hope to the suffering, and you create the signs and sounds of our movements and our memories,” Mr. Biden said.
All modern presidents have awarded the medal to those they consider deserving, often as they leave the political scene for good and sometimes with an ideological bent. Historians see this as a final use of the presidential megaphone to tell Americans: He is the one we should admire and emulate.
After Mr. Trump’s victory in 2016, President Barack Obama presented the medal to NBA star Michael Jordan, actors Tom Hanks and Robert De Niro and others. Earlier, Mr. Obama presented the award to Mr. Biden, who had been his vice president.
Four years later, as Mr. Trump left office, he presented the medal to two professional golfers, an Olympic athlete and Representatives Devin Nunes of California and Jim Jordan of Ohio, two of his staunchest Republican loyalists in the Congress.
But Mr. Biden’s use of presidential prerogative appears to be more precise than that of some of his predecessors.
His decision to posthumously present the medal to Mr. Kennedy could be interpreted as a rebuke to Mr. Kennedy’s son, a member of perhaps the country’s most famous Democratic family. Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s decision to support Mr. Trump during the campaign — despite denunciations from most of those close to him — contributed to Mr. Trump choosing him to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
The White House noted that the elder Mr. Romney, a Republican, had served as chairman and president of American Motors Corporation and later served as governor of Michigan and secretary of Housing and Urban Development. But he was also the father of young Mr. Romney, the only Republican to vote twice to convict Mr. Trump after his two impeachments.
Mr. Romney’s award echoes Mr. Biden’s decision this week to award the Presidential Citizens Medalone of the nation’s highest civilian honors, to Representative Liz Cheney, who led the effort to hold Mr. Trump accountable for his actions during the 2021 storming of the Capitol.
The two awards from a Democratic president to prominent Republicans gave Mr. Biden the kind of public relations shock that has been reserved mostly for Mr. Trump since the election.
The same cannot be said of Mr. Soros. By awarding him the medal, Mr. Biden recognizes the importance of the investor and philanthropist to the Democratic Party. It’s something that many in Mr. Biden’s party are reluctant to do, fearing that Mr. Trump and other Republicans will use it as evidence of the conspiratorial control they claim to exercise.
But Mr. Biden appears willing to ignore that concern. After weeks in which Mr. Trump introduced Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, as a member of his entourage, Mr. Biden seemed to want to say: We have our billionaires, too.
Mr. Soros has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on progressive politics since the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, which unleashed a torrent of money into politics, from corporations and the wealthy who run them. Mr. Soros and his family crucially stood by Mr. Biden immediately after Mr. Biden’s disastrous debate performance last year.
The White House’s description of Mr. Soros during the ceremony was more sedate, focusing on his creation of the Open Society Foundation.
“He settled in America as he became an investor and philanthropist supporting the key pillars of open societies: rights and justice, fairness and equality, freedom today and in the future,” a presenter said. “His inspiring generosity reminds us all of our ability and obligation to resist abuses of power and to be guardians of democracy and all people who aspire to freedom.”
Mr. Soros did not attend the ceremony; the medal was accepted by his son, Alex Soros.
Other major benefactors included Tim Gill, a software entrepreneur who is among the gay community’s most prominent donors, working to promote LGBTQ rights first in his home state of Colorado and then abroad. national scale. He gave $355,000 to the Biden Victory Fund during the 2020 race.
Here are the other medalists on Saturday:
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Ralph Lauren, the fashion designer
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Bill Nye, the television personality better known as “Science Guy”
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José Andrés, chef and founder of World Central Kitchen
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Ashton B. Carter, former Secretary of Defense who died in 2022
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Jane Goodall, the primatologist whose work with primates expanded understanding of human evolution
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Fannie Lou Hamer, a racial justice activist who helped lay the groundwork for the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and died in 1977.
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George Stevens Jr., founder of the American Film Institute and creator of the Kennedy Center Honors
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Denzel Washington, actor
Theodore Schleifer reports contributed.