President Joe Biden named Michael J. Fox and Denzel Washington among 19 recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom on January 4, 2025, and presented the medals at the White House that day. Biden called it his final time bestowing the honor as president. The White House cited Fox’s acting career and advocacy for Parkinson’s research, and Washington’s work as an actor, director and producer and his long-standing role with Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Washington’s appearance in the 2025 cohort needs a chronology note: a Congressional Research Service recipient list also records him in 2022.
Who did Biden give the Medal of Freedom to?
The White House announced 19 recipients on January 4, 2025, and held the presentation ceremony at the White House the same day. It describes the Presidential Medal of Freedom as the nation’s highest civilian honor, recognizing contributions to the prosperity, values or security of the United States, world peace, or other significant societal, public or private endeavors. The White House announcement, reproduced by The American Presidency Project, lists:
- José Andrés
- Bono
- Ash Carter, posthumously
- Hillary Rodham Clinton
- Michael J. Fox
- Tim Gill
- Jane Goodall
- Fannie Lou Hamer, posthumously
- Earvin “Magic” Johnson
- Robert Francis Kennedy, posthumously
- Ralph Lauren
- Lionel Messi
- William Sanford Nye (Bill Nye)
- George W. Romney, posthumously
- David M. Rubenstein
- George Soros
- George Stevens Jr.
- Denzel Washington
- Anna Wintour
Four names were marked posthumous: Carter, Hamer, Kennedy and Romney. Biden acknowledged the deceased honorees and their families in his ceremony remarks.
Why did Michael J. Fox receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom?
The White House cited Fox’s acting career and his advocacy for Parkinson’s disease research and development. Its January 2025 announcement credited him with five Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards and a Grammy Award. These are the White House’s stated biographical details, not a separate assessment of the award’s criteria.
The citation, reproduced by the Michael J. Fox Foundation, praised him as “one of the most beloved actors of our time with remarkable wit and charm” and recognized his advocacy for people with Parkinson’s disease. It said his work advances treatments that bring researchers closer to a cure.
Fox said the recognition was “humbling” and one he “could never have anticipated.” He added that he shared it with “the patients, families and researchers who have brought us closer than ever to ending Parkinson’s disease once and for all,” according to the foundation’s account.
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Why was Denzel Washington included?
The White House cited Washington’s work as an actor, director and producer, as well as his service as National Spokesman for Boys & Girls Clubs of America for more than 25 years. The January 2025 announcement credited him with two Academy Awards, a Tony Award, two Golden Globes and the 2016 Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award.
Washington’s earlier award listing
Washington was already listed as a recipient in the Congressional Research Service’s 2022 table, where a note says the medal was known to have been awarded “with distinction.” Yet the White House also named him in the 2025 group, and AP documented him at the January 4 ceremony. The available records establish both entries but do not explain why he appeared again; they do not support treating 2025 as his first Medal of Freedom recognition or speculating about the reason for the repeat appearance. Congressional Research Service recipient table · AP coverage of the ceremony
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Biden presented the medals on January 4, 2025, in what he described as his final time bestowing the honor as president. In the official ceremony transcript, he called the Medal of Freedom “our Nation’s highest civilian honor” and praised a group that had helped shape the culture and cause of America.
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