WASHINGTON 9 July 2000 Sapa-DPA
South Africa's former president Nelson Mandela and Spanish tenor Placido Domingo were among 12 people honoured Tuesday by George W. Bush with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States's highest civilian award.
Bush said that Mandela, who did not attend the White House ceremony, had humbled powerful representatives of the former apartheid regime with an immense moral stature that "has made Nelson Mandela perhaps the most revered statesman of our time".
Domingo was also away, performing in Japan with the Washington Opera, which he serves as artistic director. His three sons accepted the medal on his behalf.
Also honoured were Nancy Reagan, wife of former president Ronald Reagan, comedian Bill Cosby, a pioneer among African-Americans on television, and the late Washington Post publisher Katherine Graham.
The award recognizes individuals who have made "an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, or to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavours", said Bush.