
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, August 9, 1994                   TAG: 9408090099
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

CLINTON AWARDS TOP MEDAL TO 9

President Clinton awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, to nine Americans on Monday, including House Minority Leader Bob Michel, civil rights crusaders Barbara Jordan and Dorothy Height, and newspaper cartoonist Herbert Block. Presiding over an awards ceremony in the East Room, Clinton said the recipients of the ``embody the best of what we mean by the term American citizen.''

The recipients:

Block, better known by his pen name, Herblock, has contributed cartoons to the Washington Post editorial page since 1946, the year Clinton was born.

The late Cesar Chavez, founder of the United Farm Workers of America and one of the most influential labor leaders of the century.

Arthur Flemming, who served under every president from Franklin Roosevelt to Ronald Reagan, including a stint as secretary of health, education and welfare. He is a longtime advocate of health care reform.

James Grant, executive director of UNICEF, who once led a relief convoy into the besieged city of Sarajevo after brokering a cease-fire.

Height, a civil rights activist, pioneer in the Young Women's Christian Association and National Council of Negro Women and crusader for women's rights.

Jordan, a former congresswoman who is a professor and civil rights champion. She teaches at the University of Texas.

Lane Kirkland, president of the AFL-CIO.

Michel, a Republican congressman who is retiring after representing a district that includes Peoria, Ill., since 1957.

Robert Sargent Shriver, who helped President Kennedy establish the Peace Corps.

by CNB