President Biden on Thursday awarded the Medal of Freedom to 17 recipients, including his late friend Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and athletes Simone Biles and Megan Rapinoe.
“This is America,” Biden said after awarding the medals to the recipients at the White House, to applause from the audience.
The president spoke about McCain last during the event, sharing details about their close relationship from across the aisle.
“We agreed on a lot more things than we disagreed on”, Biden said. “I never stopped admiring John. I never said a negative thing about him in my life.”
The president recalled when he was on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and McCain was the committee’s Navy liaison. He said they traveled the world together, but they never talked about two things: McCain’s imprisonment in Vietnam or the death of Biden’s first wife and daughter.
“I’m the guy who encouraged John to go home and run for office, for real,” he said, referring to McCain’s 2008 presidential run. “I knew what incredible courage, intellect and conscience he had.”
Olympic gymnast Biles, 25, made history as the youngest person to receive the Medal of Freedom. Olympic soccer player Rapinoe also made history as the first soccer player to receive the honor.
Biden gave the award posthumously to Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple, and said Jobs had “character defined by what we leave on this earth when our time comes.”
Biden called former Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.), who is a gun violence survivor, one of the most courageous people he has ever known. He added that Giffords, who founded the gun violence prevention group Giffords, is “proof that we will not grow numb to the epidemic of gun violence in this nation.”
Another former colleague of Biden, former Sen. Alan Simpson (R-Wyo.), also received the award.
“We need more of your spirit back in the United States Senate on both sides of the aisle,” Biden said.
“He a great hugger!” Simpson said of Biden when he received his medal.
Actor Denzel Washington, who was set to receive the award, was not at the event, but the president said he would be giving the medal to him at later date.
Other awardees included gold star father Khizr Khan, whose Medal of Freedom, Biden added, can rest next to his son’s Bronze Star and Purple Heart, and late AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, about whom the president said, “No one did more work for American workers than he did.”
Additionally, Sandra Lindsay, a nurse who was the first American to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, received the award.
“If there are any angels in heaven, they’re all nurses, male and female,” Biden said.
Other awardees included Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee founding member Diane Nash, Brig. Gen. Wilma Vaught, civil rights advocate Raúl Yzaguirre, and civil rights attorney Fred Gray.
Additionally, Sisters of Social Service member Simone Campbell, former University of Texas at Brownsville President Julieta García, and former Vicar General of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America Alexander Karloutsos received medals.