Bob Dylan Will Receive Presidential Medal of Freedom

Songwriter to be honored for influence on American culture

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Bob Dylan performs during the 17th Annual Critics' Choice Movie Awards held at the Hollywood Palladium.

Christopher Polk/Getty Images for VH1

By Rolling Stone

April 27, 2012 3:15 PM ET

Bob Dylan will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the New York Times reports. The songwriter will be given the highest civilian honor awarded by the United States along with author Toni Morrison, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, astronaut John Glenn and former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens.
Dylan was praised as one of the "most influential American musicians of the 20th century" in a statement about the honor released by the White House. The White House also acknowledged that Dylan had "considerable influence on the civil rights movement of the 1960s and has had significant impact on American culture over the past five decades."
Dylan was previously honored with a National Medal of Arts in 2009.

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