Music icon Bob Dylan, former astronaut and Ohio Senator John Glenn and Israeli President Shimon Peres are among 13 men and women President Barack Obama has chosen to receive the Medal of Freedom. 
 
 The awards were announced today and will be presented in the late spring, the White House said in a statement. 
 
 Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, author Toni Morrison and former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens also are among those being honored for “especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.” 
 
 Other recipients include John Doar, a lawyer who played key roles in the civil rights era and Watergate investigation; epidemiologist William Foege; farmworker organizer Dolores Huerta; and Pat Summitt, the former University of Tennessee women’s basketball coach and Alzheimer’s patient advocate whose award was announced earlier this month by the White House. 
 
 Posthumous honorees include Girl Scouts founder Juliette Gordon Low; Jan Karski, who gave eyewitness accounts of the Holocaust to government officials; and Gordon Hirabayashi, who protested Japanese-American internment during World War II. 
 
 Obama, in a statement, said the honorees have “challenged us, they’ve inspired us, and they’ve made the world a better place.” 
 
 To contact the reporter on this story: Margaret Talev in Washington at mtalev@bloomberg.net 
 
 To contact the editor responsible for this story: Steven Komarow at skomarow1@bloomberg.net ||||| Associated Press Bob Dylan performing in L.A. in January 2012. 
 
 Bob Dylan may have a better shot than ever at getting a Nobel Prize, now that President Obama has announced he will receive a Presidential Medal of Freedom. 
 
 The movement has been building for the past few years. Dylan has won 11 Grammys – including a Lifetime Achievement Award (in 1991) — an Oscar and a Pulitzer Prize. France even named Dylan a Commandeur dans l’Ordre des Art et des Lettres. 
 
 To his supporters, the Nobel is the lone citation that has eluded Dylan, who turns 71 next month. 
 
 Characteristically, Dylan has seldom commented on the possibility. In a July 2001 press conference in Rome, a European journalist suggested that Dylan could win a Nobel. Dylan acknowledged: “I hear about that, but who would that put me in the company of?” 
 
 When a reporter at the Rome news conference mentioned that a Pulitzer would put Dylan in the category of Ernest Hemingway, Dylan shrugged it off, noting, “I play (music),” intimating that people like Hemingway were more traditional writers of distinction. 
 
 Perhaps President Obama’s seal of approval will put Dylan over the top. 
 
 The other Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients are: Madeleine Albright, the former Secretary of State; John Doar, a legendary public servant and civil rights leader during the 1960s; William Foege, a physician and epidemiologist who helped eradicate smallpox in the 1970s; former astronaut and U.S. Senator John Glenn; Gordon Hirabayashi, who defied the relocation and internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II; Dolores Huerta, a civil rights, workers and women’s advocate who worked closely with Cesar Chavez; Jan Karski, who served as an officer in the Polish Underground during World War II; Juliette Gordon Low, who founded the Girl Scouts in 1912; Toni Morrison, one of the great American novelists; Shimon Peres, an advocate for Israel’s security and for peace; John Paul Stevens, an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1975 to 2010, and Pat Summitt, a widely respected college basketball coach. 
 
 Jon Friedman is the author of “Forget About Today: Bob Dylan’s Genius for (Re)invention, Shunning the Naysayers and Creating a Personal Revolution,” which Penguin will publish in August. 
 
 For the latest entertainment news Follow @WSJSpeakeasy ||||| An early but undated publicity photo of Bob Dylan in New York City from his autobiography, "Chronicles Volume One." (Simon & Schuster via Associated Press / ) 
 
 WASHINGTON -- The White House has announced this year’s recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. The list of 13 honorees includes musician Bob Dylan, writer Toni Morrison, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Shimon Peres. 
 
 "These extraordinary honorees come from different backgrounds and different walks of life, but each of them has made a lasting contribution to the life of our nation," President Obama said in a statement. "They’ve challenged us, they've inspired us, and they've made the world a better place. I look forward to recognizing them with this award." 
 
 The awards will be presented at White House ceremony later this spring. Here's the full list, with biographies provided by the White House: 
 
 Madeleine Albright, the first woman to lead the State Department, served under President Clinton. 
 
 
 
 
 
 John Doar, the assistant attorney general in charge of civil rights cases during the 1960s. Doer obtained convictions in several high-profile cases and led the effort to enforce the Voting Rights Act of 1965. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Bob Dylan, songwriter, poet and musician. Dylan has won almost every other major award, including a Commandeur dans l'Ordre des Art et des Lettres, a Pulitzer Prize Special Citation and the 2009 National Medal of Arts. 
 
 
 
 
 
 William Foege, physician and epidemiologist. Foege helped lead the effort to eradicate smallpox in the 1970s . 
 
 
 
 
 
 John Glenn, a former Democratic senator from Ohio, was the third American in space and the first to orbit the Earth. Glenn returned to space in 1998 at age 77. 
 
 
 
 
 
 John Glenn, a former Democratic senator from Ohio, was the third American in space and the first to orbit the Earth. Glenn returned to space in 1998 at age 77. Gordon Hirabayashi, who mounted a legal challenge to the forced relocation and internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. Hirabayashi lost his case and served time in prison. His conviction was overturned in 1987. Hirabayashi died in January. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Dolores Huerta, a civil rights, labor and women's advocate, is a co-founder of the National Farmworkers Assn., which later became United Farm Workers of America. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Jan Karski served as an officer in the Polish Underground during World War II and provided among the first eyewitness accounts of the Holocaust to the world. Born in 1914, Karski became a U.S. citizen in 1954 and died in 2000. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Juliette Gordon Low, founder of the Girl Scouts, now the largest education organization for girls with more than 50 million members. The Girl Scouts is celebrating its 100th anniversary. Low died in 1927. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Toni Morrison, author of "Song of Solomon," "Jazz" and "Beloved," for which she won a Pulitzer Prize in 1988. In 1993, Morrison was the first African American woman to win a Nobel Prize. 
 
 
 
 
 
 "Song of Solomon," "Jazz" and "Beloved," for which she won a Pulitzer Prize in 1988. In 1993, Morrison was the first African American woman to win a Nobel Prize. Shimon Peres, the ninth president of Israel. Peres won the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize for his work as foreign minister during the Middle East peace talks that led to the Oslo Accords. 
 
 
 
 
 
 John Paul Stevens, who retired from the Supreme Court in 2010. Stevens was nominated to the court by President Ford. He was a veteran of World War II, in which he served as a naval intelligence officer and was awarded the Bronze Star. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Pat Summitt, who has more wins than any men's or women's coach in NCAA history, and who stepped down from her post as the women's basketball coach at the University of Tennessee this month. Summitt, who was diagnosed last year with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, has been an advocate for Alzheimer's research. Summitt led the Lady Vols to eight NCAA national championships, second only to John Wooden's 10 titles as the men's basketball coach at UCLA. 
 
 kathleen.hennessey@latimes.com
– Bob Dylan will get the nation's highest civilian honor later this spring, reports Bloomberg. Dylan, 70, will be one of 13 recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He's already got scores of Grammys, an Oscar, and a Pulitzer, and the Wall Street Journal's Speakeasy blog can't help but wonder: Is a Nobel next? Other recipients this year include John Glenn, Pat Summitt, Madeleine Albright, Toni Morrison, Shimon Peres, and the Supreme Court's John Paul Stevens. The Los Angeles Times has the full list, along with brief bios.