The Board of Trustees of the U. S. Capitol Historical Society annually recognizes individuals and organizations that have advanced greater public understanding and appreciation for freedom as represented by the U. S. Capitol and Congress. The Society initiated its Freedom Award on September 17, 1993, the eve of the 200th anniversary of the laying of the U.S. Capitol cornerstone by George Washington in 1793. It is named for the statue that graces the Capitol’s dome.
This year’s Freedom Award ceremony will be held on Wednesday, October 7, 2009 at 5:30 PM .
The recipients of the Freedom Award will be Richard Baker, Ph.D. and the Honorable George McGovern.
Richard A. Baker directed the U.S. Senate Historical Office from its creation in 1975. An advocate of openness in government, he drafted the Senate’s first rules for access to its records at the National Archives, helped expand the agency’s Center for Legislative Archives and guided creation of the Advisory Committee on the Records of Congress, among other achievements. In honor of his retirement on September 1, 2009 the Senate unanimously designated Richard Baker as its first Historian Emeritus. Political scholar and USCHS trustee Norman Ornstein will introduce Dr. Baker.
George McGovern spent 22 years in the U.S. Congress during which he was instrumental in creating programs to alleviate hunger, including Food for Peace, the school lunch program and food stamps. After his participation in the 1972 presidential election as the Democratic nominee, he continued his leadership in the battle against world hunger as Ambassador to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome (1998), the first United Nations Global Ambassador on World Hunger (2001), and the recipient with his colleague U.S. Senator Robert Dole of the 2008 World Food Prize. Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD) and Frank Mankiewicz, McGovern’s 1972 presidential campaign manager and former press secretary to Robert Kennedy, will introduce Senator McGovern.
Past recipients of the Freedom Award include former Senator Howard Baker Jr., presented by Senator Robert Byrd, in 2008 and former House Speaker Tom Foley, presented by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in 2007.
Admission to the Freedom Award presentation is restricted to members only. A reception will follow immediately after the ceremony.
See C-Span coverage of the Freedom Award presentation.
