Bill Clinton has been tapped to receive the annual Harry S. Truman Good Neighbor Award, the
Kansas City Star reports.
The former president has a “remarkable record of public service,” said Karl Zobrist, who heads the Harry S. Truman Good Neighbor Award Foundation.
“The accomplishments of his presidency are numerous, from peace-keeping efforts in the Balkans and the Middle East and the expansion of international trade to unprecedented economic prosperity and welfare reform at home.”
The prestigious award, which will be presented to Clinton on May 8 at a ceremony in Kansas City, was created in 1973 and is given out on or close to Truman’s birthday anniversary.
Past recipients include Gerald Ford, Nelson Rockefeller, Barry Goldwater, Sandra Day O’Connor, Walter Cronkite, Bob Dole, Buzz Aldrin, Norman Schwarzkopf, Tip O’Neill, Jonas Salk, Tom Clancy, David McCullough, and Gary Sinise.
The award is presented to those who “promote the qualities of good citizenship, patriotism, public service, courage, self-reliance, and related virtues’’ of Truman, who was the nation's commander in chief from 1945 to 1953.
Truman, born in the Missouri town of Lamar in 1884, was the nation's 33rd president, serving from 1945 to 1953. He was also a U.S. senator for 10 years. He died in 1972 at the age of 88.
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