Track and field star Jesse Owens received the Presidential Medal of Freedom 45 years ago this week on August 5, 1976. President Ford presented him with the nation’s highest civilian honor 40 years after his record setting performance at the 1936 Summer Olympics.
Held in Berlin, Adolf Hitler intended to use the 1936 Games to promote the Nazi regime and its ideas of Aryan superiority. The U.S. Men’s Track and Field team proved him wrong with five Black athletes earning eight gold medals. Jesse Owens won four of them, making him the most successful athlete at those Olympics. He came in first individually in the 100 meters sprint, 200 meters sprint, and long jump before anchoring the 4x100 meters relay team that set a new world record.
“Giants like Jesse Owens show us why politics will never defeat the Olympic spirit,” President Ford said when presenting the Medal of Freedom. “His character, his achievements have continued to inspire Americans as they did the whole world in 1936.”
The full citation read: “To Jesse Owens, athlete, humanitarian, speaker, author – a master of the spirit as well as the mechanics of sport. He is a winner who knows that winning is not everything. He has shared with others his courage, his dedication to the highest ideals of sportsmanship. His achievements have shown us all the promise of America and his faith in America has inspired countless others to do their best for themselves and for their country.”
Image: President Gerald Ford and Jesse Owens during the Presentation of the Presidential Medal of Freedom in the East Garden of the White House, 8/5/1976 (B0973-14 / National Archives Identifier 7062576)
