Biden honors fellow Syracuse University alum Aaron Sorkin with medal

President Joe Biden will honor fellow Syracuse University alumnus Aaron Sorkin and others at the White House today, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts both announced.
Biden will honor 19 people with National Humanities Medals and 20 others with the National Medals of Arts on Monday afternoon in a private ceremony at the East Room. Honorees include Sorkin, late TV chef Anthony Bourdain, documentarian Ken Burns, actor LeVar Burton, rapper Missy Elliott, rapper-actress Queen Latifah, actress Eva Longoria, singer-actress Idina Menzel, singer Selena Quintanilla, and filmmakers Spike Lee and Steven Spielberg.
Sorkin will receive a National Humanities Medal recognizing his work, which includes the Oscar-winning screenplay for “The Social Network” and multiple Emmys for “The West Wing.” His film, TV and theater credits also include “The Newsroom,” “A Few Good Men,” “Moneyball,” “The Trial of the Chicago 7,″ “Molly’s Game” and “The American President.”
Sorkin, a 1983 graduate of Syracuse University, visited the White House last month with the cast of “The West Wing” to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the television series about White House staff. Biden, a 1968 graduate of SU’s College of Law, is the first Syracuse University alumnus to be elected president.
Sorkin made headlines in July when he compared Biden to the fictional President Jed Bartlet (played by Martin Sheen), who hid his multiple sclerosis (MS) diagnosis from the public while running for re-election. Sorkin urged Democrats to nominate Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, instead of Biden to face Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump in the 2024 election; Biden dropped out of the race hours later and Sorkin endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, who became the Democratic presidential nominee.
The National Humanities Medal honors an individual or organization whose work has deepened the nation’s understanding of the human experience, broadened citizens’ engagement with history or literature, or helped preserve and expand Americans’ access to cultural resources. Since 1996, 225 individuals and organizations have been awarded humanities medals, including this year’s honorees.
The National Medals of Arts, the highest award given to artists and arts patrons by the president, is awarded to individuals or groups who “are deserving of special recognition by reason of their outstanding contributions to the excellence, growth, support and availability of the arts in the United States.” More than 300 people have received the National Medal of Arts since 1985.
Monday’s presentation of awards will include recipients for 2022 and 2023 honors together. The last ceremony for National Medals of Arts and Humanities was held in March 2023, according to Deadline.
The presentation will be followed by a reception at 5:30 p.m. with remarks by President Biden, First Lady Dr. Jill Biden, NEA Chair Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD, and NEH Chair Shelly C. Lowe (Navajo). The remarks will be livestreamed at whitehouse.gov/live.
2022 National Humanities Medal recipients:
2023 National Humanities Medal recipients:
2022 National Medal of Arts recipients:
2023 National Medal of Arts recipients:
For more information, visit neh.gov and arts.gov.