PRESIDENTIAL MEDAL FOR MERIT

(Redirected from Medal for Merit)
The 'Presidential Medal for Merit' is one of the highest civilian decoration of the United States, awarded by the President of the United States to civilians for exceptionally meritorious conduct. It was created by Executive Order 9637--Medal for Merit on October 3, 1945, later amended and restated by Executive Order 9857A of May 27, 1947. At the time, it was the highest award available to civilians. Created during World War II, and mostly awarded to civilians who contributed to that war, the medal has not been awarded since 1952.
Civilians who rendered exceptional service after the proclamation of an emergency by the President on September 8, 1939 were eligible to receive the medal. Foreigners of any nation who assisted in the war efforts of the United Nations (as existing on July 20, 1942, which is not the present UN) were also eligible. Proposals were considered by the Medal for Merit Board, numbering three members appointed by the President, of whom one was appointed by the President as Chairman of the Board. The medal cannot be awarded for any action relating to the prosecution of World War II subsequent to the cessation of hostilities (as proclaimed by Proclamation No. 2714 of December 31, 1946), and no proposal for an award for such services could be submitted after June 30, 1947.

Contents

Some recipients

External links

Some recipients

★ Hugh L. Dryden

★ Hendrik Wade Bode

★ Granville Conway (July 16, 1947)

★ Edgar Sengier

★ Elmira Bears Wickenden

★ Bob Hope

★ Frederick Emmons Terman

★ William Frederick Durand

★ Dr. Ivan A. Getting

★ Raymond D. Mindlin

★ Leroy Randle Grumman

★ Alfred Lee Loomis

★ Dr. Brian O’Brien

★ Irving Berlin (1945)

★ Rudolph Forster (June 16, 1945)

★ Henry Morgenthau (December 12, 1945)

★ Ralph K. Davies (December 12, 1945)

★ William Beverly Murphy (1946)

★ Alexander Alexandrovich Novikov, Chief Marshal of Aviation of the Soviet Union (1944)

★ J. Robert Oppenheimer (1946)

★ Charles Allen Thomas (January 30, 1946)

★ William F. Friedman (1946)

★ Cyril Stanley Smith (1946)

★ Jerome Clarke Hunsaker (1946)

★ Kaufman Thuma Keller (1946)

★ David Luke Hopkins (1946)

★ Dr. Theodore von Kármán (1946)

★ Sir William Stephenson (1946)

★ W. A. Harriman (1946)

★ Byron Price (January 15, 1946)

★ Samuel I. Rosenman (January 24, 1946)

★ J. Edgar Hoover (March 8, 1946)

★ John Monroe Johnson (March 8, 1946)

★ John J. Pelley (March 8, 1946)

★ Julius A. Krug (May 1, 1946)

★ William D. Pawley (May 13, 1946)

★ Paul V. McNutt (November 27, 1946)

★ George W. Merck (1946)

★ Philip McCord Morse (December 1946)

★ John von Neumann (1947)

★ Joseph Desch (1947)

★ Edward F. Knipling (1947)

★ Cordell Hull (April 15, 1947)

★ John Wesley Snyder (May 14, 1947)

★ Dean Acheson (June 30, 1947)

★ David K. Niles (August 20, 1947)

★ Louis Johnson (October 1, 1947)

★ Fred M. Vinson (October 3, 1947)

★ Dr. Bruce Sage (1948)

★ James Gilbert Baker (1948)

★ George William Lewis (1948)

★ Dr. James Gilbert Baker (1948)

★ Dr. Robert F. Rinehart (1948)

★ Paul E. Klopsteg (1948)

★ Leason H. Adams (1948)

★ James Augustine Shannon (1948)

★ Dr. Smith J. DeFrance (1948)

★ Linus Carl Pauling (February 2, 1948)

★ Vannevar Bush (May 27, 1948)

★ Dr. Clarence N. Hickman (June 22, 1948)

★ Myron C. Taylor (December 20, 1948)

★ Eric Johnston (1947)

★ John Muccio

External links

★ NARA - Federal Register - Executive Order 9637--Medal for Merit

★ United State Code: Title 10 - Armed Forces: Subtitle A - General Military Law: Part II - Personnel: Chapter 57 - Decorations and Awards: Sec. 1122. Medal for Merit: award

★ Picture of certificate attached to Medal for Merit issued by President Truman to Linus Carl Pauling

★ Picture of Medal of Merit