Nine Years Ago Today: When President Obama Honored Robert Redford with the Nation’s Highest Civilian Award 🌟

President Barack Obama awarded Robert Redford the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, in 2016.

President Obama praised Redford not just for his charisma on screen, but for his commitment to truth, integrity, and progress in the world beyond Hollywood.

When The Candidate wins his race in the iconic 1972 film of the same name, which continues, by the way, for those of you who haven’t seen it, and many of you are too young — perhaps the best movie about what politics is actually like, ever. He famously asks his campaign manager the reflective and revealing question: “What do we do now?” And like the man he played in that movie, Robert Redford has figured it out and applied his talent and charm to achieve success.

Remarks by the President at Presentation of the Presidential Medal of Freedom

We admire Bob not just for his remarkable acting, but for having figured out what to do next. He created a platform for independent filmmakers with the Sundance Institute.

He has supported our National Parks and our natural resources as one of the foremost conservationists of our generation.

He’s given his unmatched charisma to unforgettable characters like Roy Hobbs, Nathan Muir, and of course the Sundance Kid, entertaining us for more than half a century.

As an actor, director, producer, and as an advocate, he has not stopped — and apparently drives so fast that he had breakfast in Napa and dinner in Salt Lake. (Laughter.) At 80 years young, Robert Redford has no plans to slow down