President Obama awarded Bob Dylan the Medal of Freedom at the White House this afternoon, along with former astronaut Senator John Glenn, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and 10 others. Always the rock star, he didn't forget his favorite pair of shades while accepting the nation's highest civilian honor.
As the Daily Beast points out, only 29 musicians have received the honor since 1963 — one year after the singer released his first album with Columbia Records. President Obama commended Dylan for "re-defining not just what music sounded like, but the message it carried and how it made people feel." He said, "Today everybody from Bruce Springsteen to U2 owes Bob a debt of gratitude. There is not a bigger giant in the history of American music."