Sagamore of the Wabash Award Was Created During the Term of Governor Ralph Gates, Who Served from 1945 to 1949
Sagamore of the Wabash by Jeffrey Graf Reference Services Department Herman B Wells Library Indiana University Libraries - Bloomington The French Republic rewards merit most notably with grades of membership in the Legion of Honor, originally created by Napoleon for worthies of his empire. In Britain the sovereign can choose from a range of honors to acknowledge service or accomplishment. Although the Most Noble Order of the Garter is reserved for the happy few, a simple knighthood might be an appropriate reward. Within the royal gift, too, is recognition in the form of a life peerage or even av hereditary title. On the other side of the Atlantic the American president has available the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States’ highest civilian honor. In case a potential honoree does not quite measure up to that distinction, there is a second-highest civilian honor, the Presidential Citizen’s Medal. Not to be outdone by the executive branch, the Congress created the Congressional Gold Medal, its highest award. Like nations, professional societies, institutes, universities, associations, businesses, museums, clubs, fraternal groups, and other organizations pay tribute to the meritorious. Such entities, devoted to all kinds of endeavor from the fine arts to professional sports, present scrolls, plaques, medals, trophies, certificates, keys to the city and other tokens of esteem to their laureates. County fairs award blue ribbons; the Kennel Club chooses Best in Show. Athletes compete for the gold and silver and bronze or the Stanley and Davis and Ryder cups. For mathematicians there is the Fields Medal; in the same intellectual realm, there are the Nobel Prizes.
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