Former Sen. Lugar gets nation’s highest civilian honor

By Jacie Shoaf
TheStatehouseFile.com

INDIANAPOLIS – President Barack Obama on Wednesday presented former U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana with the Presidential Medal of Freedom – the nation’s highest civilian award – during a ceremony at the White House.

Former U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar on Wednesday received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Photo by Darron Cummings, AP photo pool

Lugar, who represented Indiana in the Senate for more than three decades, “put country above party and self to forge bipartisan consensus,” according to the White House.

“Our nation and our world are safer because of this statesman,” Obama said in his speech. “And in a time of unrelenting partisanship, Dick Lugar’s decency, his commitment to bipartisan problem-solving, stand as a model of what public service ought to be.”

This awards program marks the 50th anniversary of former president John F. Kennedy’s establishment of the Presidential Medal of Freedom Award. Obama handed out awards to 16 Americans on Wednesday.

Lugar – who lost in last year’s GOP primary to Richard Mourdock, who then lost to Democrat Joe Donnelly – served in the Senate for 36 years. He also served two terms as Indianapolis mayor and won the chamber’s inaugural government leader award in 1990.

Since his election defeat, Lugar, 81, has become president of the Lugar Center in Washington D.C. and remains active in energy and national security issues.

Jacie Shoaf is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.