Medal of Freedom: 15 Receive America's Highest Civilian Honor

Boston Celtic great Bill Russell shares a laugh with the President as Mr. Obama reaches up to award him the Medal of Freedom

From one President to another: George H.W. Bush was one of 15 people awarded the Medal of Freedom in the White House today.

Poet, professor, author and civil rights activist Maya Angelou receives the Medal of Freedom from President Obama.

Congressman and civil rights giant John Lewis received America's highest civilian honor.

Investor, economist, and business mogul Warren Buffett is honored by the President.

The President Emeritus of the AFL-CIO, John J. Sweeney, receives the Medal of Freedom.

Other honorees: German Chancellor Angela Merkel; co-founder of the Natural Resourses Defense Council John H. Adams; thought-provoking 1950s artist Jasper Johns; Holocaust survivor and author Gerda Weissmann Klein; Dr. Tom Little, who was murdered by the Taliban in Badakhshan, Afghanistan while providing eye-care to remote villages; world-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma; civil rights activist Sylvia Mendez; founder of the non-profit children's art organization VSA, Jean Kennedy Smith.