In a ceremony in the East Room of the White House, President Reagan presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Ambassador Walter Annenberg, Coach Earl Blaik, Senator Barry Goldwater, Actress Helen Hayes, General Matthew B. Ridgway, Journalist Vermont Royster, and Dr. Albert Sabin. These were his remarks that day:
“Well, thank you all for being here. Nancy and I want to welcome you all to the White House for this happy occasion. 
On days like this and at lunches like this, I find myself looking up and thinking what a wonderful job I have. We’re here today to present the Medal of Freedom to seven Americans. This medal is the highest civilian honor our nation can bestow. And I’ve always thought it highly significant that we call it not the Medal of Talent or the Medal of Valor or the Medal of Courage or Genius but the Medal of Freedom. I think that says a lot about our values and what we honor and what we love.
“Freedom is important to all of us. As someone who spent many years making speeches, I have quoted many definitions of freedom—some very moving and eloquent. But I’ve always liked George Orwell’s blunt and unadorned statement. He said, “Freedom is the right to say no.” There’s something kind of happily rebellious about that definitions and I thought of it this morning because I decided this year’s recipients of the Medal of Freedom are distinguished by this. You’re a group of happy rebels. In your careers and in the way you have lived your lives, you’ve all said no—a most emphatic no—to mediocrity, to averageness, to timidity. You’ve said no to the rules of the game and the regulations of the day. You’ve said no to the conventional wisdom, no to the merely adequate, no to the limits and limitations on yourselves and others.
“But it’s probably true that there is little point to freedom unless it’s accompanied by a big yes! And each of you has uttered a resounding Whitmanesque yes to many things—to excellence and risk and reach, to courage and the untried and the supposedly impossible. You’ve rebelled against the artificial and embraced the authentic. You’ve achieved a great deal. And your creativity itself has been life-affirming, for creation is a profoundly faithful act, an act that says, “I trust in the future, and I trust in life itself.”
“You’re all originals. You’ve all made America better—a better place—and you’ve made it seem a better place in the eyes of the people of the world. And this today is just our way of saying thanks…
“There’s nothing to add to achievements such as these, and no praise that can add any more luster to these great names. May I say to you simply, to all of you, thank you just for being, for doing what you’ve done and what you do. And thank you all, and God bless you.”