President Obama To Present Presidential Medals Of Freedom Today

Washington, DC (WIBX) - President Obama is expected to officially present the Presidential Medals of Freedom today.

The recipients come from a variety of backgrounds ranging from space exploration to scouting.

In alphabetical order, those being honored are:

Madeline Albright, former United States Secretary of State and representative to the United Nations.

John Doar, former Assistant Attorney General with the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice.

Bob Dylan, considered to be one of the most influential American musicians of the 20th century.

William Foege, former Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and co-founder of the Task Force for Child Survival.

John Glenn, former United States Senator, astronaut, and Marine, the first American to orbit the Earth.

Gordon Hirabayashi, a civil rights activist who defied the forced relocation and internment of Japanese Americans during World War II and, although his conviction was later overturned, was jailed for his defiance. His award is being presented posthumously.

Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the National Farmworkers Association and recipient of the Eleanor Roosevelt Award for Human Rights.

Jan Karski, provided some of the first eyewitness accounts of the Holocaust as a former courier in the Polish Underground during World War II.

Juliette Gordon Low, founder of the Girl Scouts one hundred years ago.

Toni Morrison, novelist and the first African American woman to win a Nobel Prize in 1993.

Shimon Peres, President of Israel and 1994 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.

John Paul Stevens, World War II veteran and former Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.

Pat Summitt, all-time winningest NCAA basketball coach and founder of the Pat Summitt Foundation.