*EPF412 11/18/2004
President Bush Honors Arts, Humanities Medalists
(White House ceremony salutes 14 individuals, two organizations) (570)

By Michael J. Bandler
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- Literature, choreography, music, art and other flights of fancy were the themes of the moment in the Oval Office of the White House November 17, as President Bush honored 14 individuals and two organizations with the National Medal of Arts and the National Humanities Medal.

Eight medals were awarded in each category.

Ray Bradbury, whose novels Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles have enthralled readers worldwide for decades, heads the list of recipients of the 2004 medal of arts.

Also Included in this group are:

-- Carlisle Floyd, composer of works such as Susannah and Of Mice and Men that have created a felicitous bridge between opera and musical theater;

-- Twyla Tharp, choreographer of quirky, sometimes edgy yet invariably distinctive modern dance pieces and founder of her own troupe;

-- Anthony Hecht, the late poet, whose work frequently mirrored the somber and sobering aspects of the 20th century;

-- Frederick Hart, the late figurative sculptor whose works include a haunting bronze depiction of three soldiers at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington;

-- Vincent Scully, the renowned architectural historian and Yale University professor who has used his scholarship and criticism not only to enhance architecture but also city planning and urban design;

-- John Ruthven, the wildlife artist and naturalist who has been called a "20th-century Audubon;" and

-- The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the New York City-based patron of the performing and fine arts, higher education and public affairs.

Individual recipients of this year's National Humanities Medal represent a range of education and thought. They include:

-- Madeleine L'Engle, known for such evocative children's books as A Wrinkle In Time and A Swiftly Tilting Planet;

-- Gertrude Himmelfarb, who has distinguished herself over the years as an academician and an incisive commentator on culture and society;

-- Art critic, magazine editor and author Hilton Kramer, who has engaged readers and fueled debate through his passion and breadth of knowledge;

-- Marva Collins, a native of the state of Alabama during the segregation era who became a leader in educational advancement and development for all children in Chicago and across the United States;

-- Harvey Mansfield, professor of government and political philosophy at Harvard University, who has written on a wide range of topics related to the theories and practices of government;

-- Shelby Steele of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University in California, who in the course of numerous articles and books has reflected broadly on race relations, multiculturalism, identity politics and American social culture in general; and

-- John Searle of the University of California at Berkeley, who has devoted most of his career to developing what he terms theories of intentionality and consciousness.

One Humanities Medal was presented to an organization: the United States Capitol Historical Society, the nonprofit, nonpartisan educational unit created in 1962 to promote, through exhibitions and articles, the history of the U.S. Capitol building and the U.S. Congress.

At the ceremony in his office, the president was joined by the first lady, Laura Bush; Dana Gioia, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts; Bruce Cole, chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities; and Lynne Cheney, former chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities and the wife of Vice President Dick Cheney. Representatives of the endowments and the White House select the recipients each year, with suggestions from the public.

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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