| Recipient | Year | Notes | Notable as | Ref. |
| Eubie Blake | 1981 | | Jazz Pianist & Composer | |
| Ella Grasso | † | 83rd Governor of Connecticut & Member of the U.S. House of Representatives | |
| Bryce Harlow | | Counselor to the President | |
| Walter Judd | | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives | |
| Morris I. Leibman | | Civilian Aide-At-Large to the United States Army & Partner at Sidley Austin | |
| Tex Thornton | | Founder of Litton Industries | |
| Philip Habib | 1982 | | 9th Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs & 9th U.S. Ambassador to Korea | |
| Kate Smith | | Singer & Actor | |
| George Balanchine | 1983 | | Ballet Choreographer & Co-founder of the New York City Ballet | |
| Clare Boothe Luce | | Ambassador to Italy & Member of the U.S. House of Representatives | |
| Bear Bryant | † | College Football Player & Head Coach of the University of Alabama Football Team | |
| James Burnham | | Political Theorist, Philosopher, Chair of the Philosophy Department at New York University & Leader of the American Conservative Movement | |
| James E. Cheek | | President of Howard University | |
| Buckminster Fuller | | Architect, Systems Theorist, Inventor, Philosopher & Futurist | |
| Billy Graham | | Evangelist, Ordained Southern Baptist Minister & President of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association | |
| Eric Hoffer | | Moral and Social Philosopher | |
| Jacob Javits | | United States Senator from New York & 58th Attorney General of New York | |
| Dumas Malone | | Pulitzer Prize Winning Historian & Biographer | |
| Mabel Mercer | | Cabaret Singer | |
| Simon Ramo | | Engineer considered to be the Father of the Intercontinental Ballistic Missile | |
| Howard Baker | 1984 | | United States Senator from Tennessee | |
| Pierre Baruzy | | French boxing champion, industrialist, and WWII resistance member who saved Allied airmen. | |
| James Cagney | | Actor, Dancer & 6th President of the Screen Actors Guild | |
| Whittaker Chambers | † | Journalist for Time Magazine, Senior Editor at National Review & Key Witness against the Ware Group during the Hiss Case for Perjury | |
| Leo Cherne | | Head of the International Rescue Committee & Chair of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board | |
| Terence Cooke | † | Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church & Archbishop of New York | |
| Denton Cooley | | Heart and Cardiothoracic Surgeon & Founder and Surgeon-In-Chief of The Texas Heart Institute who performed the first Artificial Heart Implantation | |
| Tennessee Ernie Ford | | Country and Western Singer | |
| Héctor García | | Physician, World War II Veteran, Civil Rights Advocate & Founder of the American GI Forum | |
| Andrew Goodpaster | | United States Army General, Supreme Allied Commander Europe & Commander in Chief of the United States European Command | |
| Henry M. Jackson | † | United States Senator from Washington & Member of the U.S. House of Representatives | |
| Lincoln Kirstein | | Writer, Impresario, Philanthropist & Co-founder of the New York City Ballet | |
| Louis L'Amour | | Novelist & Short Story Writer | |
| Joseph Luns | | 5th Secretary General of NATO & Minister of Foreign Affairs | |
| Norman Vincent Peale | | Protestant Clergyman, Pastor of Marble Collegiate Church, New York & Author who popularized the concept of Positive Thinking | |
| Jackie Robinson | † | Professional Baseball Player & Civil Rights Advocate | |
| Carlos P. Romulo | | President of the United Nations General Assembly & Co-founder of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines | |
| Anwar el-Sadat | † | 3rd President of Egypt | |
| Eunice Kennedy Shriver | | | Philanthropist & Founder of the Special Olympics | |
| Count Basie | 1985 | † | Jazz Pianist, Composer & Bandleader of the Count Basie Orchestra | |
| Albert Coady Wedemeyer | | United States Army Commander, General & Member of the War Planning Board which formulated plans for the Invasion of Normandy during World War II | |
| Jacques Cousteau | | French Naval Officer, Oceanographer & Co-Inventor of the Aqua-Lung | |
| Jerome H. Holland | † | President of Delaware State College, 9th President of Hampton University & U.S. Ambassador to Sweden | |
| Sidney Hook | | Philosopher of the Pragmatist School | |
| Jeane Kirkpatrick | | 16th U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations | |
| George Low | † | 14th President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute & 4th Deputy Administrator of NASA | |
| Paul Nitze | | 12th United States Deputy Secretary of Defense & 58th United States Secretary of the Navy | |
| Frank Reynolds | † | Television Journalist for CBS and ABC News | |
| Frank Sinatra | | Singer & Actor | |
