Dwight D. Eisenhower photo

Letter to John Foster Dulles Awarding Him the Medal of Freedom, and Accompanying Citation

May 20, 1959

[Released May 20, 1959. Dated May 19, 1959]

Dear Foster:

It is an honor and a privilege to award you this Medal of Freedom. Inadequate though it is to express my gratitude and the gratitude of the Nation you have served so well, it does stand as a small token of the affection and esteem that the people of America and of the world hold for you and your tireless efforts on behalf of freedom.

With warm regard,
As ever,
D.E.

CITATION TO ACCOMPANY THE AWARD OF
THE MEDAL OF FREEDOM
TO
JOHN FOSTER DULLES

TO JOHN FOSTER DULLES for contributions of the highest order to the security of the United States and to the peace of the world.

During more thin six years as Secretary of State, in a time of international stress and national peril, he met problems of the gravest import with wisdom, judgment and courage. Tirelessly striving for the ideal of peace, he has steadfastly insisted that true peace can exist only with justice.

He worked and lived in the conviction that freedom will prosper only as men are willing to devote the same supreme endeavor to the waging of peace that they have given to the works of war. No man could do more than John Foster Dulles to exemplify this belief. His faith and his vision inspire all who love freedom.

He has served his country well. His belief in the ideals of America has been deep and strong. Those ideals will be kept secure so long as our country has men of the mold of John Foster Dulles.

In recognition of a lifetime of service to his country, and in profound gratitude, I deem it a high privilege to award him the Medal of Freedom.

DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER

Note: The President's letter and the medal and citation were delivered personally to Mrs. Dulles for her husband at Walter Reed Hospital by the President's son, Maj. John S. D. Eisenhower, Assistant Staff Secretary in the White House Office.

Dwight D. Eisenhower, Letter to John Foster Dulles Awarding Him the Medal of Freedom, and Accompanying Citation Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/234900

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