Congressional Gold Medal
Since the American Revolution, Congress has commissioned gold medals as its highest expression of national appreciation for distinguished achievements and contributions. Each medal honors a particular individual, institution, or event. Although the first recipients included citizens who participated in the American Revolution, the War of 1812 and the Mexican War, Congress broadened the scope of the medal to include actors, authors, entertainers, musicians, pioneers in aeronautics and space, explorers, lifesavers, notables in science and medicine, athletes, humanitarians, public servants, and foreign recipients.
All Congressional Gold Medal legislation must be cosponsored by at least two-thirds (290) of the Members of the House and the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee requires that at least 67 Senators must cosponsor any Congressional Gold Medal legislation before the committee will consider it.
Among the foreign recipients of the medal have been Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, Anatoly and Avital Shcharansky and Winston Churchill.
Adapted from: Congressional Gold Medal Recipients
Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives
| Recipient(s)
|
Date
of Approval |
Public
Law |
| George Washington |
Mar.
25, 1776 |
Continental
Congress |
| Major General Horatio Gates |
Nov.
4, 1777 |
Continental
Congress |
| Major General Anthony Wayne |
July
26, 1779 |
Continental
Congress |
| Major Henry Lee |
Sep.
24, 1779 |
Continental
Congress |
| Brigadier General Daniel Morgan |
Mar.
9, 1781 |
Continental
Congress |
| Major General Nathaniel Greene |
Oct.
29, 1781 |
Continental
Congress |
| John Paul Jones |
Oct.
16, 1787 |
Continental
Congress |
| Captain Thomas Truxtun |
Mar.
29, 1800 |
2
Stat. 87 |
| Commodore Edward Preble |
Mar.
3, 1805 |
2
Stat. 346-347 |
Captain Isaac Hull,
Captain Stephen Decatur, and
Captain Jacob Jones |
Jan.
29, 1813 |
2
Stat. 830 |
| Captain William Bainbridge |
Mar.
3, 1813 |
2
Stat. 831 |
Captain Oliver Hazard Perry and
Captain Jesse D. Elliott |
Jan.
6, 1814 |
3
Stat. 141 |
Lieutenant William Burrows and
Lieutenant Edward R. M'Call |
Jan.
6, 1814 |
3
Stat. 141-142 |
| Captain James Lawrence |
January
11, 1814 |
3
Stat. 142 |
Captain Thomas MacDonough,
Captain Robert Henly, and
Lieutenant Stephen Cassin |
October
20, 1814 |
3
Stat. 245-246 |
| Captain Lewis Warrington |
October
21, 1814 |
3
Stat. 246 |
| Captain Johnson Blakely |
November
3, 1814 |
3
Stat. 246-247 |
| Major General Jacob Brown |
November
3, 1814 |
3
Stat. 247 |
| Major General Winfield Scott |
November
3, 1814
March 9, 1848 |
3
Stat. 247
9 Stat. 333 |
Brigadier General Eleazar W. Ripley,
Brigadier General James Miller, and
Major General Peter B. Porter |
November
3, 1814 |
3
Stat. 247 |
| Major General Edmund P. Gaines |
November
3, 1814 |
3
Stat. 247 |
| Major General Alexander Macomb |
November
3, 1814 |
3
Stat. 247 |
| Major General Andrew Jackson |
February
27, 1815 |
3
Stat. 249 |
| Captain Charles Stewart |
February
22, 1816 |
3
Stat. 341 |
| Captain James Biddle |
February
22, 1816 |
3
Stat. 341 |
Major General William Henry Harrison
and
Governor Isaac Shelby |
April
4, 1818 |
3
Stat. 476 |
| Colonel George Croghan |
February
13, 1835 |
4
Stat. 792 |
| Major General Zachary Taylor |
July
16, 1846
March 2, 1847 |
9
Stat. 111
9 Stat. 206 |
| Rescuers of the Officers and Crew of the
U.S. Brig Somers |
March
3, 1847 |
9
Stat. 208 |
| Commander Duncan N. Ingraham |
August
4, 1854 |
10
Stat. 594-595 |
| Frederick A. Rose |
May
11, 1858 |
11
Stat. 369 |
| Major General Ulysses S. Grant |
December
17, 1863 |
13
Stat. 399 |
| Cornelius Vanderbilt |
January
28, 1864 |
13
Stat. 401 |
Captain Creighton,
Captain Low,
and Captain Stouffer |
July
26, 1866 |
14
Stat. 365-366 |
| Cyrus W. Field |
March
2, 1867 |
14
Stat. 574 |
| George Peabody |
March
16, 1867 |
15
Stat. 20 |
| George F. Robinson |
March
1, 1871 |
16
Stat. 704 |
| Captain Jared S. Crandall and Others |
February
24, 1873 |
17
Stat. 638 |
| John Horn, Jr. |
June
20, 1874
April 28, 1904 |
18
Stat. 573
33 Stat. 1684-1685 |
| John F. Slater |
February
5, 1883 |
22
Stat. 636 |
| Joseph Francis |
August
27, 1888 |
25
Stat. 1249 |
| Chief Engineer George Wallace Melville and
Others |
September
30, 1890 |
26
Stat. 552-553 |
| First Lieutenant Frank H. Newcomb |
May
3, 1900 |
31
Stat. 717 |
First Lieutenant David H. Jarvis
Second Lieutenant Ellsworth P. Bertholf
and Dr. Samuel J. Call |
June
28, 1902 |
32
Stat. 492 |
| Wright Brothers |
March
4, 1909 |
35
Stat. 1627 |
| Captain Arthur Henry Rostron |
July
6, 1912 |
37
Stat. 639 |
| Captain Paul H. Kreibohm and Others |
March
19, 1914 |
38
Stat. 769 |
Domicio da Gama,
Romulo S. Naon,
and Eduardo Suarez |
March
4, 1915 |
38
Stat. 1228 |
| Charles A. Lindbergh |
May
4, 1928 |
45
Stat. 490 |
Lincoln Ellsworth,
Roald Amundsen, and
Umberto Nobile |
May
29, 1928 |
45
Stat. 2026-2027 |
| Thomas A. Edison |
May
29, 1928 |
45
Stat. 1012 |
| First Successful Trans-Atlantic Flight |
February
9, 1929 |
45
Stat. 1158 |
| Major Walter Reed and Associates for Yellow
Fever Experimentations in Cuba |
February
28, 1929 |
45
Stat. 1409-1410 |
| Officers and Men of the Byrd Antartic Expedition |
May
23, 1930 |
46
Stat. 379 |
| Lincoln Ellsworth |
June
16, 1936 |
49
Stat. 2324 |
| George M. Cohan |
June
29, 1936 |
49
Stat. 2371 |
Mrs. Richard Aldrich and
Anna Bouligny |
June
20, 1938 |
52
Stat. 1365 |
| Howard Hughes |
August
7, 1939 |
53
Stat. 1525 |
| Reverend Francis X. Quinn |
August
10, 1939 |
53
Stat. 1533 |
| William Sinnott |
June
15, 1940 |
54
Stat. 1283 |
| Roland Boucher |
January
20, 1942 |
56
Stat. 1099-1100 |
George Catlett Marshall, General of the Army,
and
Fleet Admiral Ernest Joseph King |
March
22, 1946 |
60
Stat. 1134-1135 |
| John J. Pershing, General of the Armies of
the United States |
August
7, 1946 |
60
Stat. 1297-1298 |
| Brigadier General William Mitchell |
August
8, 1946 |
60
Stat. 1319 |
| Vice President Alben W. Barkley |
August
12, 1949 |
P.L.
81-221, 63 Stat. 599 |
| Irving Berlin |
July
16, 1954 |
P.L.
83-536, 68 Stat. A120 |
| Doctor Jonas E. Salk |
August
9, 1955 |
P.L.
84-297, 69 Stat. 589 |
| Surviving Veterans of the War Between the
States |
July
18, 1956 |
P.L.
84-730, 70 Stat. 577 |
| Rear Admiral Hyman George Rickover |
August
28, 1958 |
P.L.
85-826, 72 Stat. 985 |
| Doctor Robert H. Goddard |
September
16, 1959 |
P.L.
86-277, 73 Stat. 562-563 |
| Robert Frost |
September
13, 1960 |
P.L.
86-747, 74 Stat. 883 |
| Doctor Thomas Anthony Dooley III |
May
27, 1961 |
P.L.
87-42, 75 Stat. 87 |
| Bob Hope |
June
8, 1962 |
P.L.
87-478, 76 Stat. 93 |
| Sam Rayburn, Speaker of the House of Representatives |
September
26, 1962 |
P.L.
87-478, 76 Stat. 605 |
| Douglas MacArthur, General of the
Army |
October
9, 1962 |
P.L.
87-760, 76 Stat. 760 |
| Walt Disney |
May
24, 1968 |
P.L.
90-316, 82 Stat. 130-131 |
| Winston Churchill |
May
7, 1969 |
P.L.
91-12, 83 Stat. 8-9 |
| Roberto Walker Clemente |
May
14, 1973 |
P.L.
93-33, 87 Stat. 71 |
| Marian Anderson |
March
8, 1977 |
P.L.
95-9, 91 Stat. 19 |
| Lieutentant General Ira E. Eacker |
October
10, 1978 |
P.L.
95-438, 92 Stat. 1060 |
| Robert F. Kennedy |
November
1, 1978 |
P.L.
95-560, 92 Stat. 2142 |
| John Wayne |
May
26, 1979 |
P.L.
96-15, 93 Stat. 32 |
Ben Abruzzo,
Maxie Anderson, and
Larry Newman |
June
13, 1979 |
P.L.
96-20, 93 Stat. 45 |
| Hubert H. Humphrey |
June
13, 1979 |
P.L.
96-91, 93 Stat. 46 |
| American Red Cross |
December
12, 1979 |
P.L.
96-138, 93 Stat. 1063 |
| Ambassador Kenneth Taylor |
March
6, 1980 |
P.L.
96-201, 94 Stat. 79 |
| Simon Wiesenthal |
March
17, 1980 |
P.L.
96-211, 94 Stat. 101 |
| Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands |
March
22, 1982 |
P.L.
97-158, 96 Stat. 18-19 |
| Admiral Hyman George Rickover |
June
23, 1982 |
P.L.
97-201, 96 Stat. 126-127 |
| Fred Waring |
August
26, 1982 |
P.L.
97-246, 96 Stat. 315-316 |
| Joe Louis |
August
26, 1982 |
P.L.
97-246, 96 Stat. 315-316 |
| Louis L'Amour |
August
26, 1982 |
P.L.
97-246, 96 Stat. 315-316 |
| Leo J. Ryan |
November
18, 1983 |
P.L.
98-159, 97 Stat. 992 |
| Danny Thomas |
November
29, 1983 |
P.L.
98-172, 97 Stat. 1119-1120 |
| Harry S. Truman |
May
8, 1984 |
P.L.
98-278, 98 Stat. 173-175 |
| Lady Bird Johnson |
May
8, 1984 |
P.L.
98-278, 98 Stat. 173-175 |
| Elie Wiesel |
May
8, 1984 |
P.L.
98-278, 98 Stat. 173-175 |
| Roy Wilkins |
May
17, 1984 |
P.L.
98-285, 98 Stat. 186 |
| George and Ira Gershwin |
August
9, 1985 |
P.L.
99-86, 99 Stat. 288-289 |
| Anatoly and Avital Shcharansky |
May
13, 1986 |
P.L.
99-298, 100 Stat. 432-433 |
| Harry Chapin |
May
20, 1986 |
P.L.
99-311, 100 Stat. 464 |
| Aaron Copland |
September
23, 1986 |
P.L.
99-418, Stat. 952-953 |
| Mary Lasker |
December
24, 1987 |
P.L.
100-210, 101 Stat. 1441 |
| Jesse Owens |
September
20, 1988 |
P.L.
100-437, 102 Stat. 1717 |
| Andrew Wyeth |
November
9, 1988 |
P.L.
100-639, 102 Stat. 3331-3332 |
| Laurence Spelman Rockefeller |
May
17, 1990 |
P.L.
101-296, 104 Stat. 197-199 |
| General Matthew B. Ridgeway |
November
5, 1990 |
P.L.
101-510, 104 Stat. 1720-1721 |
| General H. Norman Schwarzkopf |
April
23, 1991 |
P.L.
102-32; 105 Stat. 175-176 |
| General Colin Powell |
April
23, 1991 |
P.L.
102-33; 105 Stat. 177-178 |
| Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson |
November
2, 1994 |
P.L.
103-457, 108 Stat. 4799-4800 |
| Ruth and Billy Graham |
February
13, 1996 |
P.L.
104-111, 110 Stat. 772-773 |
| Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra |
May
14, 1997 |
P.L.
105-14, 111 Stat. 32-33 |
| Mother Teresa of Calcutta |
June
2, 1997 |
P.L.
105-16, 111 Stat. 35-36 |
| Ecumentical Patriarch Bartholomew |
October
6, 1997 |
P.L.
105-51, 111 Stat. 117-1171 |
| Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela |
July
29, 1998 |
P.L.
105-215, 112 Stat. 895-896 |
| Little Rock Nine |
October
21, 1998 |
P.L.
105-277, 112 Stat. 2681-597 |
| Gerald R. and Betty Ford |
October
21, 1998 |
P.L.
105-277, 112 Stat. 2681-598 |
| Rosa Parks |
May
4, 1999 |
P.L.
106-26, 113 Stat. 50-51 |
| Theodore M. Hesburgh |
December
9, 1999 |
P.L.
106-153, 113 Stat. 1733-1734 |
| John Cardinal O'Connor |
March
3, 2000 |
P.L.
106-175, 114 Stat. 20-21 |
| Charles M. Schulz |
June 20, 2000 |
P.L. 106-225, 114 Stat.
457-458 |
| Pope John Paul II |
July 27, 2000 |
P.L. 106-250, 114 Stat.
622-623 |
| Ronald and Nancy Reagan |
July 27, 2000 |
P.L. 106-251, 114 Stat.
624-625 |
| Navajo Code Talkers |
December 21, 2000 |
P.L. 106-554, 114 Stat.
2763 |
| General Henry H. Shelton |
January 16, 2002 |
P.L. 107-127, 115 Stat. 2405-2406
|
| Dr. Dorothy Height |
March 24, 2004 |
P.L. 108-162, 117 Stat. 2017-2019
|
Source: Congressional Research Service
|
