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Theodore Roosevelt® Distinguished Service Medal Recipients

2011

Edmund and Sylvia Jukes Morris
Edmund, Pulitzer prize winning of author of three-volume biography of TR, and Sylvia, author of biography of Edith Kermit Roosevelt: Portrait of a First Lady

2006

Colonel George E. “Bud” Day, US Air Force, (Ret)

Served in and was a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War. During a military career spanning 34 years, received nearly 70 decorations, more than 50 for combat. Recipient of the Medal of Honor

2005

John Allen Gable, PhD
Executive Director, Theodore Roosevelt Association, 1974-2005; founder and editor Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal; distinguished scholar of Theodore Roosevelt’s life, legacy and times

2004

The Honorable Mark Odom Hatfield
U.S. Senator (R-Ore.) for 30 years; Governor of Oregon, 1959-1967

2003

Ambassador William J. vanden Heuvel
Chairman, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute; Former Deputy U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations; U.S. Representative to the European Office of the United Nations

2002

Crew of the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71)
Recognized for its role in Operation Enduring Freedom, involving 159 days at sea without touching land, and traveling 60,000 nautical miles. The 5,500+ member crew worked 12 hour days, with one day off duty per month

2001

Stephen E. Ambrose
Eminent historian of American history; historic preservationist; founder of the Eisenhower Center for American Studies at the University of New Orleans and the National D-Day Museum

1998

The Honorable George H.W. Bush
41st President of the United States with long-standing career in public service; World War II veteran

Barbara Bush
First Lady of the United States (1989-93); literacy advocate

1996

David McCullough
Pulitzer Prize-winning author, historian, narrator and lecturer. Chronicled TR’s early life in Mornings on Horseback, for which he received the National Book Award

1995

John F. Lehman, Jr.
U.S. Secretary of the Navy, 1981-87

1992

Rio Roosevelt Expedition of 1992
Group of explorers lead by TR’s great-grandson, Tweed Roosevelt, which retraced the route of TR’s 1913-14 River of Doubt (Rio Davuda) expedition

1991

Eugene Pleasants Odum
Ecologist; educator; advocate for preservation of wetlands; author, Fundamentals of Ecology

1990

The Honorable Hamilton Fish
U.S Representative (R-NY) 1920-1945; Major in 369th Negro Infantry Regiment in World War I; New York State Assembly (Progressive Party) 1913-15

Paul H. Nitze
U.S. Ambassador-at-Large and Arms Control Negotiator; Secretary of the Navy; Deputy Secretary of Defense

Tom Wolfe
Best-selling author, social critic, artist

1985

Norman Vincent Peale
Influential minister, broadcaster, syndicated columnist, author of best-selling The Power of Positive Thinking; recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom

Major General Charles Elwood “Chuck” Yeager
US Air Force (Ret); 36-year military career; noted test pilot and first aviator to break the sound barrier, World War II veteran; recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom

1983

Edward L. Beach
Highly decorated U.S. Navy submarine officer and best-selling author of Run Silent, Run Deep; commanded USS Triton in 1960 in first submerged circumnavigation of the globe

Philip C. Habib
Career U.S. Diplomat who served in delegation to Vietnam Peace Talks 1968-71; Under Secretary of State 1976-78; and Personal Representative of the President in the Middle East

1981-83

Harold and Sheila Schafer
Harold, a noted North Dakota businessman and philanthropist who founded the Gold Seal Company and later established and with Sheila expanded the Theodore Roosevelt Medora Foundation to preserve TR’s heritage in North Dakota

1977

Ethel Roosevelt Derby
Daughter of Theodore Roosevelt and long-standing member of the TRA; instrumental in preserving Sagamore Hill and honoring TR’s legacy; American Red Cross leader; American Museum of Natural History Trustee

1973

The Honorable Leonard W. Hall
U.S. Representative (R-NY) 1939-53; Chairman of Republican National Committee 1953-57

1967

Arthur Kantrowitz
Scientist, educator, engineer; holder of 21 patents; pioneer in fluid mechanics and gas dynamics

William Walsh, MD

Founder of Project HOPE, a nonprofit program that provides medical training, health education and humanitarian assistance around the world
Roy Wilkins

Prominent civil rights activist and leader of the NAACP from 1955-1977; Recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom

1966

Wallace K. Harrison
Architect; co-designed Rockefeller Center; directed design of United Nations Headquarters, Metropolitan Opera Lincoln Center, Empire State Plaza in Albany

Henry Viscardi, Jr.
Business executive; pioneer provider of business and employment opportunities for the physically challenged

1965

Richard K. Mellon
Chairman of Mellon National Bank 1946-66; led urban renewal efforts in Pittsburgh

Robert D. Murphy
Career U.S. diplomat and advisor to three presidents; assisted in planning the Allied landings in North Africa in World War II and senior political advisor to General Eisenhower for remainder of the war; later, U.S. Ambassador to Belgium and Japan

Conrad L. Wirth
33-year employee of the National Park Service, including Director from 1951-1964, during time when TRA gifted Sagamore Hill and TR Birthplace to the National Park Service

1964

Gilbert H. Grosvenor
Director (1899-1919) and President (1920-54) of the National Geographic Society; editor of National Geographic Magazine (1903-1954)

Harry L. Shapiro
Physical Anthropologist; Curator (1926-42) and Chairman (1942-70) of Anthropology at the American Museum of Natural History, originated the forensic system of anatomically identifying war dead

1963

Laurence S. Rockefeller
Conservationist and philanthropist; gave land to establish Virgin Islands National Park, St. John; developed Jackson Hole to encourage more widespread access to Grand Teton National Park

1962

Arthur H. Dean
Special Ambassador to Korea 1953-54; Chairman of U.S. delegation to United Nations Disarmament Conference 1961-62

John H. Glenn, Jr.
Highly decorated World War II and Korean War veteran, test pilot, first U.S. astronaut to orbit the earth

Stanley M. Isaacs
Manhattan borough president and New York City Council member

1961

Erwin D. Canham
Reporter and editor for Christian Science Monitor 1925-82; radio and television commentator

John J. McCloy
Assistant Secretary of War 1941-45; President of World Bank 1947-49; military governor of U.S. Occupation Zone and High Commissioner of Federal Republic of Germany 1949-52; Chairman of Chase Manhattan Bank 1955-60

Alan B. Shepard, Jr.
Rear Admiral and U.S. Navy Aviator; First U.S. astronaut to orbit in space

1960

Irving S. Olds
Chairman of U.S. Steel 1940-52

Jacques Piccard
Oceanographer; developer of bathyscaph; explored Challenger Deep section of Marianas Trench in bathyscaph Trieste

Lieutenant Don Walsh, U.S. Navy
Pilot of bathyscaph Trieste; explored Challenger Deep section of Marianas Trench

Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.
Son of Theodore Roosevelt; Highly decorated Army officer during World Wars I and II; Recipient of Medal of Honor for actions in the Allied landings in Normandy during World War II; Distinguished business and public service careers

1959

Horace Marden Albright
Conservationist; Director of National Park Service 1929-33; Superintendent of Yellowstone National Park 1919-29; Assistant Director of National Park Service 1917-19

Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.
U.S. Ambassador to United Nations 1953-60; U.S. Senator (R-MA) 1937-44, 1947-53

American Museum of Natural History
Institution co-founded by Theodore Roosevelt, Sr., father of President Theodore Roosevelt

1958

General Alfred M. Gruenther
Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, and commander of NATO 1953-56; Four-star general and principal planner of Allied invasions in North Africa and Italy during World War II,

Admiral Hyman G. Rickover
Four-start U.S. Navy Admiral; Directed the development of naval nuclear propulsion; considered father of the Nuclear Navy

1957

David E. Finley
Director of the National Gallery of Art 1938-56

Helen Rogers Reid
Publisher, Vice President (1922-47), President (1947-53) and Chairman (1953-55) of the New York Tribune

1956

Hermann Hagedorn
Poet; historian; TRA Director and Trustee 1919-57

Samuel Eliot Morison
Rear Admiral, U.S. Naval Reserves; Historian; Two-time Pulitzer Prizes honoree, for Admiral of the Ocean Sea John Paul Jones: A Sailor's Biography

Clarence B. Randall
Inland Steel Corporation executive 1925-56; led international development missions for Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy

1955

Arthur H. Compton
Physicist; directed work resulting in first atomic chain reaction; Nobel Prize Physics honoree, 1927

Thomas E. Dewey
Governor of New York State 1943-55; Republican nominee for President 1944, 1948

1954

Ralph J. Bunche
Political Scientist, Educator, Diplomat. Professor and Chair of Political Science, Howard University; various United Nations posts seeking Arab-Israeli peace, including chief negotiator leading to 1949 Armistice Agreements for which he received the Nobel Peace Prize 1950

Robert Frost
Poet

DeWitt and Lila Wallace
Founders of Readers’ Digest Association

 

   

1953

William Beebe
Curator of Ornithology, New York Zoological Society

Van Wyck Brooks
Essayist; biographer, historian. Pulitzer Prize recipient for Makers and Finders, a history of the development of American literature

1952

John Foster Dulles
U.S Secretary of State 1953-59; National Security Advisor to President-elect Eisenhower; U.S. Delegate to United Nations; Negotiated peace treaty with Japan

Fairfield Osborn
President of New York Zoological Society 1940-69

1951

Frederick M. Davenport
Chairman of Federal Personnel Council 1939-53; President of National Institute of Public Affairs 1934-49; U.S. Representative (R-NY) 1925-33

Lewis W. Douglas
Ambassador to Great Britain 1947-50; President (1940-47) and Chairman (1947-59) of Mutual Life Insurance Company; U.S. House (D-AZ) 1927-33

Frank C. Laubach
Educator and evangelical missionary in Africa, Asia, South America

1950

Warren R. Austin
U.S. Representative on United Nations Security Council 1946-53; U.S. Senate (R-VT) 1931-46;

Bernard M. Baruch
U.S. Representative to United Nations Atomic Energy Commission 1946; advisor on mobilization and post-war demobilization to President Franklin D. Roosevelt 1942-45; Chairman of War Industries Board 1918-19

Anne O’Hare McCormick
Journalist, New York Evening PostNew York Times; First woman honored with Pulitzer Prize, as Distinguished Foreign Correspondent 1937; U.S. Delegate to UNESCO Conferences 1946, 1948, 1949

General Lucius D. Clay
Four-star General, U.S. Army, Commander, U.S. forces in Europe and Military Governor of the U.S. Zone during Berlin Airlift 1948-49

David Hinshaw
Public relations counsel; Progressive Party activist 1912-14; TRA Trustee and Member of Executive Committee

J. Edgar Hoover
Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation 1924-72

1948

James B. Conant
Eminent research chemist; Professor of Chemistry and President of Harvard University; first U.S. Ambassador to West Germany

Millicent Carey McIntosh
Pioneering feminist, educator, administrator. Headmistress, Brearley School; President, Barnard College

Arthur H. Vandenberg
Delegate to United Nations 1945-46; U.S. Senator (R-MI) 1928-51

1947

General Omar N. Bradley
Five-star General, U.S. Army, Corps Commander in North Africa and Italy; Commander of Twelfth Army Group in France and Germany during World War II

Judge Learned Hand
U.S. Judge and influential judicial philosopher. U.S District Court 1909-24; US Court of Appeals, 2nd Circuit 1924-51

Jeremiah Milbank
Director of Metropolitan Life Insurance Company; Director of Boys’ Clubs of America

Arthur Hays Sulzberger
Publisher of New York Times 1935-61

1946

Irving Berlin
Composer and lyricist

General Dwight D. Eisenhower
34th President of the U.S.; President of Columbia University; Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, World War II

Admiral William F. Halsey
Commander, US Navy forces in South Pacific, World War II

General Douglas MacArthur
Supreme Allied Commander, Southwest Pacific Areas, World War II

Admiral Chester N. Nimitz
Commander-in-Chief of U.S. Forces in the Pacific, World War II

1945

Vannevar Bush
Engineer, inventor, science administrator. Chairman of National Defense Research Committee, World War II

The Honorable Cordell Hull
U.S. Secretary of State 1933-44; U.S. Senator (D-TN) 1931-33; U.S. Representative (D-TN) 1907-21, 1923-31; Nobel Peace Prize recipient 1945

General George C. Marshall
U.S. Secretary of State, Army Chief of Staff; General of the Army, Nobel Peace Prize Recipient

1943

Eleanor Robson Belmont
Stage actress; Prominent philanthropist and supporter of the arts

Jay Norwood “Ding” Darling
Two-time Pulitzer Prize winning editorial cartoonist; conservationist, Chief of U.S. Biological Survey 1934-35

Joseph C. Grew
Ambassador to Japan 1931-41; Ambassador to Turkey 1927-32; Under Secretary of State 1924-27

1942

Rufus M. Jones
Writer, editor, philosopher of religion; Quaker educator

Henry L. Stimson
Secretary of War 1911-13, 1940-45; Governor General of Philippines 1927-29; Secretary of State 1929-33

Booth Tarkington
Prolific novelist; playwright; two-time Pulitzer Prize recipient, for The Magnificent Ambersons and Alice Adams

1940

Grenville Clark
Chairman of National Emergency Committee for Selective Service 1940-41

Homer Folks
Sociologist, social welfare advocate; Commissioner of Public Charities for New York City

Chester H. Rowell
Editor and publisher of the Fresno (CA) Republican 1898-1920; Progressive Party National Committee 1912-16; editor of the San Francisco Chronicle 1932-39

1939

George Washington Carver
Botanist; Tuskegee Institute Professor 1896-1943

General Frank R. McCoy
Served in Spanish-American War; military aide to President Theodore Roosevelt 1906; Commander of 42nd "Rainbow" Division in World War I; diplomat; TRA President and Trustee

Carl Sandburg
Author; poet; three-time Pulitzer Prize honoree, two for poetry, and one for Abraham Lincoln: The War Years

1938

Carter Glass
US Senator (D-VA) 1920-46; Secretary of the Treasury 1918-20; author of Federal Reserve Act; US House (D-VA) 1902-18

Robert Moses
New York City and State official 1913-81

1937

James Hardy Dillard
Educator; advocate for African-American education

1936

Helen Keller
Humanitarian; Counselor on international relations for the American Foundation for the Blind

Anne Sullivan Macy
Educator; teacher; companion of Helen Keller; died October 20, 1936; her medal was accepted by Helen Keller

1935

Dr. William Hallock Park
Public health expert; Professor of Bacteriology and Hygiene at New York University 1897-1937

1934

William Allen White
Editor of the Emporia (KS) Daily and Weekly Gazette 1895-1944; historian

Judge Samuel Seabury
New York State Supreme Court 1906-14; New York Court of Appeals 1914-16; Democratic nominee for Governor 1916

1933

Stephen Vincent Benet
Novelist and Poet; Pulitzer Prize honoree (1929) for author of John Brown’s Body

1932

Robert Andrews Millikan
Physicist; educational leader; Nobel Prize recipient for Physics (1923)

1931

Benjamin Nathan Cardozo
Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court 1932-38; New York Court of Appeals 1914-32; New York State Supreme Court 1914-28

Hamlin Garland
Novelist; playwright; poet; essayist

C. Hart Merriam
Naturalist; Chief of U.S. Biological Survey 1885-1910; co-founder of National Geographic Society 1888

1930

Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd
Polar explorer; aviator

William Green
President, American Federation of Labor

Hastings Hornell Hart
Congregational minister; social worker in fields of correctional institutions, juvenile delinquency, welfare

1929

Herbert Putnam
Librarian of Congress 1899-1939

Owen Wister
Biographer; novelist; author of The Virginian

Owen D. Young
Chairman of General Electric 1922-39, 1942-44; Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York 1923-40

1928

Frank Michler Chapman
Associate Curator (1888-1908) and Curator (1908-45) of Ornithology, American Museum of Natural History

Charles Evans Hughes
Governor of New York State 1907-10; U.S. Supreme Court Justice 1910-16; Republican nominee for President 1916; Secretary of State 1921-25

Charles A. Lindbergh
First aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic 1927

1927

Herbert Hoover
Secretary of Commerce 1921-28; U.S. Food Administrator 1917-19; Chairman of Commission for Relief in Belgium 1915-19

John Bassett Moore
Judge of Permanent Court of International Justice 1921-28; U.S. diplomatic posts 1886-1923; Assistant Secretary of State 1886-91, 1898;

General of the Armies John J. Pershing
Commander of American Expeditionary Forces in Europe 1917-19

1926

Daniel Carter Beard
Writer; illustrator; founder of organizations which later became the Boy Scouts of America

Albert J. Beveridge
U.S. Senate (R-IN) 1899-1911; Chairman of Progressive Party Convention 1912; historian

Admiral William Sowden Sims
Naval aide to President Theodore Roosevelt; commander of U.S. Naval forces in Europe 1917-19

1925

Martha Berry
Educator; founder of Berry Schools for mountain children in Southern Appalachia

George Bird Grinnell
Naturalist; accompanied Custer’s Black Hills expedition 1874; negotiated Indian treaties; explored Yellowstone and Alaska; editor of Forest and Stream Magazine 1876-1911

Gifford Pinchot
Governor of Pennsylvania 1923-27, 1931-35; Chief of the U.S. Division of Forestry, 1898-1905; Chief of Forest Service 1898-1910

1924

Charles William Eliot
President of Harvard University 1869-1909

Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes
U.S. Supreme Court 1902-32; Massachusetts Supreme Court 1882-1902; 20th Massachusetts Volunteers 1861-64

Elihu Root
President of Carnegie Endowment for International Peace 1910-25; Leader of U.S. Diplomatic Mission to Russia 1917; Nobel Peace Prize Recipient, 1912; U.S. Senator (R-NY) 1909-15; Secretary of State 1905-09; Secretary of War 1899-1904

1923

Henry Fairfield Osborn
Paleontologist in field of mammalian and human evolution

Louisa Lee Schuyler
Social worker; philanthropist

General Leonard Wood
Governor General of the Philippines 1921; Army Chief of Staff 1910-14; Military Governor of Cuba 1899-1902; Commander of 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry (Rough Riders) 1898;

 




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