Posted on: January 4, 2025, 04:19h.
Last updated on: January 4, 2025, 04:19h.
Hungarian-born hedge fund manager and philanthropist George Soros is the latest political megadonor to be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Soros, the Republican Party’s enemy No. 1 for his donating of more than $32 billion to the Open Society Foundations, a network founded by the 94-year-old dedicated to promoting liberal ideology and Democrats who embrace such principles, was bestowed the Presidential Medal of Freedom this afternoon in the East Room of the White House by President Joe Biden.
Soros’ son, Alexander, accepted the award on his father’s behalf. Alexander assumed control of his father’s philanthropic empire in June 2023.
As an immigrant who found freedom and prosperity in America, I am deeply moved by this honor,” the elder Soros said in a statement.
Soros survived the Nazi occupation of Hungary by fleeing to the United Kingdom in 1949. He studied at the London School of Economics before setting up his first hedge fund, Double Eagle, in 1969.
Known as “The Man Who Broke the Bank of England” by short-selling $10 billion worth of pounds sterling, which made him a $1 billion profit during the UK’s 1992 Black Wednesday currency crisis, Soros used the windfall as seed money for Soros Fund Management, which he founded in New York City in 1970.
Soros Fund Management went on the become one of the most successful hedge funds in Wall Street history with a 20% annual rate of return over four decades.
Soros has been among the Democratic Party’s largest donors in elections dating back to the mid-1990s. His receiving of the highest civilian honor by Biden caused an uproar among GOP loyalists.
Biden said he was recognizing the billionaire for his continued focus on “global initiatives that strengthen democracy, human rights, education, and social justice. While Republicans opposed the recognition, it certainly isn’t rare for a president to give the Presidential Medal of Freedom to a major party donor.
In November 2018, President Donald Trump awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Dr. Miriam Adelson for her founding two research centers committed to fighting substance abuse and establishing the Adelson Medical Research Foundation. Trump also recognized her for being a “committed member of the American Jewish community” by supporting Jewish schools, Holocaust memorial organizations, the Israel Defense Forces, and Birthright Israel.
Dr. Adelson is the widow of Sheldon Adelson, the late founder, chairman, and CEO of Las Vegas Sands. The Adelsons, the world’s wealthiest casino tycoons, were Trump’s largest campaign donors in 2016, 2020, and 2024.
President John F. Kennedy established the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963 through an executive order. The commander-in-chief can give the medal to “any person recommended to the president for the award of the medal or any person selected by the president upon his own initiative.”
It is unclear if Biden was recommended to award Soros the medal or if it was on his own accord.
Along with Soros, Biden gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, famed chef José Andrés, who has five restaurants in Las Vegas, and frontman Bono, whose U2 opened up the Strip’s newest attraction, the Sphere, in September 2023.
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