The Presidential Citizens Medal is an award bestowed by the

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...

. It is the second-highest

civilian award This list of civil awards and decorations is a partial index to articles about notable civil awards and decorations. It excludes Law enforcement awards and honors and ecclesiastical decorations, which are covered by separate lists. See :Civil aw ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and is second only to the

Presidential Medal of Freedom The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award of the United States, along with the Congressional Gold Medal. It is an award bestowed by the president of the United States to recognize people who have made "an especially merito ...

. Established by

executive order In the United States, an executive order is a directive by the president of the United States that manages operations of the federal government. The legal or constitutional basis for executive orders has multiple sources. Article Two of th ...

on November 13, 1969, by President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

, it recognizes an individual "who has performed exemplary deeds or services for his or her country or fellow citizens." Only United States citizens are eligible for the medal, which may be awarded posthumously. The medal is a disc of gilt and enamel, based on the

Seal of the President of the United States The seal of the president of the United States is used to mark correspondence from the president of the United States to the U.S. Congress, and is also used as a symbol of the presidency itself. The central design, based on the Great Seal of the ...

, with the eagle surrounded by a wreath of leaves. The medal is suspended on a ribbon, dark blue with a light blue central stripe and white edge stripes.

Recipients

Hubert Dickey Ballantine and Martin Mathews were jointly awarded the 1981 Citizens Medal as founders of the Mathews-Dickey Boy's Club. The teachers Rachel Davino, Anne Marie Murphy, Lauren Rousseau, and Victoria Soto and school administrators Mary Sherlach and Dawn Hochsprung, who perished in the

Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting occurred on December 14, 2012, in Newtown, Connecticut, United States, when 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot and killed 26 people. Twenty of the victims were children between six and seven years old, and t ...

defending their students, were jointly awarded the 2012 Citizens Medal posthumously.

References

External links

*
The White House - Presidential Citizens Medal Criteria
* ttp://www.librarything.com/commonknowledge/search.php?q=Presidential+Citizens+Medal&f=4&exact=1 Library Thing - Presidential Citizens Medal{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090210215324/http://www.librarything.com/commonknowledge/search.php?q=Presidential+Citizens+Medal&f=4&exact=1 , date=2009-02-10 Civil awards and decorations of the United States Presidential Citizens Medal recipients Awards established in 1969 1969 establishments in the United States

Recipients

See also

References

External links