Juliette Gordon Low, American founder of the Girl Scouts, is another of the posthumous honorees. Along with the establishment of the American group, she is credited with creating a Girl Guides troop for girls working in factories in Scotland. The Girl Guides helped the young women set up a small business, enabling them to take money home to their families while avoiding the unhealthy working conditions of the factories. Jan Karski, the third and final posthumous recipient of the Medal of Freedom, served as an officer in the Polish Underground during World War II. Karski provided one of the first eyewitness accounts of the Holocaust to the world. Madeleine Albright served as the first female U.S. secretary of state from 1997-2001 under President Bill Clinton. While in office, she worked to expand NATO and helped lead the alliance’s campaign against terror and ethnic cleansing in the Balkans, pursued peace in the Middle East and Africa, sought to reduce the dangerous spread of nuclear weapons and was a champion of democracy, human rights and good governance across the globe. Bob Dylan’s poetic lyrics worked considerable influence on the civil rights movement in the 1960s and is still very influential in American culture today. Dolores Huerta is a civil rights, workers and women’s advocate. With Cesar Chavez, she co-founded the National Farmworkers Association in 1962, which later became the United Farm Workers of America. Huerta has served as a community activist and a political organizer and was influential in securing the passage of California’s Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975 and disability insurance for farm workers in California.

Presidential Medal of Freedom ceremony

Presidential Medal of Freedom ceremony

Presidential Medal of Freedom ceremony

Presidential Medal of Freedom ceremony

Presidential Medal of Freedom ceremony

Presidential Medal of Freedom ceremony

Presidential Medal of Freedom ceremony

Presidential Medal of Freedom ceremony

Presidential Medal of Freedom ceremony

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