WASHINGTON, DC.- President Barack Obama presented
the 2009 National Humanities Medals to eight Americans for their outstanding
achievements in history, literature, cultural philanthropy, and museum
leadership. Medals were given to historians Robert A. Caro, Annette
Gordon-Reed, David Levering Lewis, and William H. McNeill; museum director
Philippe de Montebello; philanthropist Albert H. Small; author Theodore C.
Sorensen; and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel.