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The Miami Herald is reporting that Gloria and Emilio Estefan will be among the 17 recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom award, the United States’ highest civilian honor.
Though an official White House announcement of the nominees has yet to come, and is expected later this afternoon, the Herald says a source tipped them off to the Estefans’ impending honor. The other recipients include Bonnie Carroll, Lee Hamilton, Katherine G. Johnson, Willie Mays, Barbara Mikulski, Itzhak Perlman, William Ruckelshaus, Stephen Sondheim, Steven Spielberg, Barbra Streisand, and James Taylor.
Yogi Berra, Shirley Chisholm, Billy Frank, Jr., and Minoru Yasui will be recognized posthumously. The ceremony will take place Tuesday, November 24, at the White House.
There’s a photo of a very proud and, I suspect, emotional JT receiving his medal in this CBS Evening News piece. Click here to see photo and article
James Taylor on being a Medal of Freedom recipient
James Taylor
CBS NewsWASHINGTON — President Obama awarded the Medal of Freedom to an incredible array of great Americans on Tuesday. People like Barbra Streisand, Stephen Sondheim, Yogi Berra, Willie Mays, and Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman in Congress.
Seventeen people who changed America for the better.
They’ve enriched our lives with music, thrilled us on the field, and made movies leap off the screen.
James Taylor was one of the recipients, honored for his fifty years of exploring life through music.
“The issues that still compel me are still the same ones,” Taylor told CBS News. “Songs are like puzzles that you fit together, that you find the pieces that fit with each other, and often it’s a surprise that takes you.”
Taylor said he’ll continue to play and make music as long as he is able.
“It’s hard to believe that I’m closer to the end than the beginning. I’ll carry on as long as there seems to be support for it.”
Because, in the words of another one of today’s honorees Yogi Berra, “it ain’t over till it’s over.”
And as the great Yankee catcher also said, “you can observe a lot by just watching.”
It was precious. Pres Obama spoke first, explaining why each person was recieving the award. He said James is a friend,and blamed that on James,for all of the years, 4 decades, of him telling us “you just call out my name”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUxrd-WBY84 10 minutes into it is when Pres Obama talks about James.
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