Reagan Presents Freedom Medals to Sabin, 6 Others

President Reagan, acting on behalf of “a proud nation and a grateful world,” today presented the nation’s highest civilian award to Albert Sabin, developer of the oral polio vaccine. Six other Americans also were honored.

In an East Room ceremony, Reagan presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Sabin, actress Helen Hayes, Sen. Barry Goldwater (R-Ariz.), World War II commander and later Vietnam war critic Matthew Ridgway, West Point football coach Earl (Red) Blaik, journalist Vermont Royster, and former ambassador and publisher Walter H. Annenberg.

“From an early age Sabin devoted his life to medicine and by the 1950s his research had resulted in a breakthrough,” the citation said. “In the years since, the Sabin vaccine has helped to make dramatic advances against the scourge of poliomyelitis.”