President Bush honors Dr. Michael E. DeBakey and commemorates his many life accomplishments and contributions to the nation with the Congressional Gold Medal at the United States Capitol Rotunda on April 23, 2008.

The Congressional Gold Medal is the highest civilian award which may be bestowed by the United States Congress. Each Congressional Gold Medal is individually designed to reflect the accomplishments of the recipient. Public law also authorizes the United States Mint to produce and sell bronze reproductions of the medal.

Dr. DeBakey has been the recipient of many notably worldwide honors. In 1969 he received the nation’s highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, from President Lyndon B. Johnson. In 1987 President Ronald Reagan presented him with the Presidential Medal of Science, which is given to recognize outstanding contributions to knowledge in the physical, biological, mathematical, engineering sciences and social and behavioral sciences.

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The Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee (CCAC) has their next public meeting Jan. 15. CCAC’s main responsibility is to review themes and design proposals for circulating coinage, commemorative coins, bullion coinage, Congressional Gold Medals and other medals.

It’s for this purpose they’ll next meet. According to the announcement, their main objectives in the meeting will be to:

• Review design candidates for the reverse (tails) of the fourth one-cent circulating coin in the 2009 Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial One-Cent Coin series

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