Biden to Award Steve Jobs With Presidential Medal of Freedom
President Biden is awarding Apple co-founder Steve Jobs with a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom for his contributions to technology.
Jobs will be among 17 people who will receive the country’s highest civilian honor during a July 7 ceremony. “These seventeen Americans demonstrate the power of possibilities and embody the soul of the nation —hard work, perseverance, and faith,” the Biden administration said in Friday’s announcement(Opens in a new window).
In Jobs' case, the Biden administration pointed to his work as CEO at both Apple and the animation studio Pixar, which Jobs once owned. “His vision, imagination and creativity led to inventions that have, and continue to, change the way the world communicates, as well as transforming the computer, music, film and wireless industries,” the White House said.
The medal arrives over 10 years after Jobs' death due to pancreatic cancer. Jobs founded Apple back in 1976 with co-founder Steve Wozniak. The company then went on to revolutionize personal computing by introducing the first Apple and Macintosh computers.
Years later, Jobs then launched the iPod, which would pave the way for the iPhone, Apple’s biggest-selling product ever. The device kicked off an era of touch-screen-based smartphones, which have since become central to people’s lives.
In receiving the medal posthumously, Jobs will join friend and rival Bill Gates, who was also awarded the honor back in 2016 along with his then-wife Melinda French Gates. Other individuals who will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom on July 7 include gymnast Simone Biles, actor Denzel Washington, and, in another posthumous award, US Senator John McCain.
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