Hamilton, Ruckelshaus receive Presidential Medal of Freedom

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Tuesday gave the nation's highest civilian honor to two Hoosiers, a Democrat and a Republican, who he said rose above politics and party in devoting their lives to public service.

Former Rep. Lee Hamilton, Obama said, is widely admired on both sides of the aisle for his honesty, wisdom and consistent commitment to bipartisanship.

And Indianapolis native William D. Ruckelshaus set a “powerful precedent that protecting our environment is something we must come together and do as a country,” Obama said.

Hamilton and Ruckelshaus were among this year’s 17 recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which is given to those who have made significant contributions to national security, world peace or cultural developments.

Other recipients included baseball greats Yogi Berra and Willie Mays, director Steven Spielberg, entertainer Barbra Streisand, former Rep. Shirley Chisholm, and musicians Emilio Estefan, Gloria Estefan, Itzhak Perlman and James Taylor.

Hamilton said afterward that, as he sat on the stage in the East Room of the White House, he spent a good bit of time thinking: How in the world did I get in this company?

He called it a privilege to be part of the “extraordinary diversity of America” demonstrated at the ceremony.

“But I felt a little out of place with the baseball players and the entertainers — and really out of place with the mathematician,” he said.

Before the president draped the medal — a white star on a red pentagon hung on a blue ribbon — around Hamilton’s neck, a military aide proclaimed that Hamilton “played a pivotal role in developing solutions to some of the most complex challenges of our time.”

Obama said Hamilton helped guide the nation through the Cold War and “into a new era of American leadership.”

Lugar receives Presidential Medal of Freedom

While representing southeastern Indiana as a Democrat in the House from 1965 to 1999, Hamilton headed the foreign affairs and intelligence committees, as well as a special committee that investigated the Iran-Contra affair.

After choosing not to seek re-election, Hamilton headed the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars until 2010 and has been regularly tapped to lend his expertise to various national commissions.

“From serving as vice chair of the 9/11 commission to making Congress more effective, Lee remains a tireless public servant and a trusted adviser and friend to many — and I am proud to count myself among them,” Obama said.

Of all the achievements represented by the award, Hamilton said afterward that what he’s most pleased about is contributing to the “direction and the success of the country.”

“I had a seat at the table whenever I wanted it. I had a voice. And that’s all you can really expect,” he said. “I did it over a period of several decades. So that was pleasing as well.”

Ruckelshaus was honored for being the first (and later fifth) head of the Environmental Protection Agency and for being among those fired during Watergate as part of the "Saturday Night Massacre" for refusing President Richard Nixon’s order to fire special prosecutor Archibald Cox.

Obama, though, harked back to Ruckelshaus' early days as deputy attorney general of Indiana, working with the Indiana Board of Health to clean up the state’s air and water. Obama recounted how Ruckelshaus drove through Indiana in a pickup truck, taking samples from streams choked with dead fish.

“He called it 'a very good time,’ ” Obama said as the crowd laughed. “I think we have different definitions of 'a very good time.’ ”

As the first head of the EPA, Obama said, Ruckelshaus developed new clean air standards and banned the harmful pesticide DDT. He has worked in recent years from Washington state to protect Puget Sound and, Obama said, to urge fellow Republicans to join him in combating climate change.

Ruckelshaus said afterward that founding the EPA is the achievement he’s particularly proud of from his long career.

“That was something that badly needed fixing in the country,” he said. “While I certainly didn’t fix it all, we put them on a path to accomplish a lot.”

While in Washington this week, Ruckelshaus visited the EPA and talked to employees, some of whom arrived with him 45 years ago.

But as much as he had a share in the big improvements in the environment since then, Ruckelshaus said he was still humbled to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

“Never in my wildest dreams did I think it would happen to me,” he said. “It was terrific.”

Follow Star Washington Bureau reporter Maureen Groppe on Twitter: @mgroppe.