Who was nominated for the Congressional Gold Medal in 2023?
GovTrack Insider staff writer Jesse Rifkin
Could this be the first year in 18 years that Congress doesn’t vote to bestow anyone the Congressional Gold Medal?
The last year when Congress awarded no new Congressional Gold Medal recipient was 2005. Yet as of this writing in mid-December, Congress has not done so in 2023.
While the murdered black teenager Emmett Till and his civil rights activist mother Mamie Till-Mobley were jointly and posthumously awarded the medal back on January 5, Congress had technically passed the measure in December 2022.
And while Congress held a ceremony in December 2023 to award Larry Doby, the second black Major League Baseball player in 1947 after only Jackie Robinson, the official congressional vote was all the way back in 2018.
Here are five of the most interesting Congressional Gold Medal nominations introduced in 2023. Whether they will pass in 2024, or in any future year, only time will tell.
Major Taylor
A century before Lance Armstrong or Greg LeMond, there was Major Taylor. In 1899, Taylor became the first U.S. black athlete to claim the world championship in any sport, winning the one-mile sprint at the World Cycling Track Championships.
He also conducted himself with dignity while facing racial prejudice at home, paving the way for subsequent famous black athlete pioneers: 33 years before Jesse Owens won the Olympic track-and-field gold medal at the 1932 Olympics, 48 years before Jackie Robinson’s 1947 Major League Baseball debut.
Unable to support himself financially after his cycling days, Taylor died destitute and impoverished in Chicago.
Chicago’s own Rep. Jonathan Jackson (D-IL1) nominated Taylor for the Congressional Gold Medal in December.
“It is without question that Marshall ‘Major’ Taylor was a man before his time, a stellar athlete, a leader in the field of cycling, and a trailblazer,” Rep. Jackson said in a press release. “I believe it is fitting that Congress award the ‘world’s fastest man’ one of our nation’s most prestigious honors.”
The bill has attracted 32 bipartisan cosponsors: 28 Democrats and four Republicans.
Jim Lovell
In April 1970, Lovell was serving as commander of Apollo 13 — the intended third crewed spaceflight to the moon — when an oxygen tank ruptured while the vehicle was in outer space. Lovell reported the news with his iconic line to Texas-based mission control: “Houston, we’ve had a problem.”
Keeping calm amid a potentially fatal situation, with the entire world watching on television, Lovell forever gave up his personal dream of landing on the moon to return both himself and his two fellow astronauts safely to earth.
Later that same month, President Richard Nixon awarded Lovell the Presidential Medal of Freedom, along with the mission’s other two astronauts Fred Haise and Jack Swigert. (Nixon also awarded a collective Presidential Medal of Freedom to the entire mission’s operations team.)
Tom Hanks portrayed Lovell in the 1995 film Apollo 13.
Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL10) nominated the 95-year-old Lovell for the Congressional Gold Medal on April 17, the 53rd anniversary of the mission’s safe return to earth.
“Captain Jim Lovell is an American hero whose bravery still serves as incredible inspiration to all the world more than five decades later,” Rep. Schneider said in a press release. “Lovell’s career as an astronaut, where he commanded the historic Apollo 13 mission, displays his abundant determination, leadership, and strength. This Congressional Gold Medal would be a small thanks to Captain Lovell for his fearlessness and uniquely American ingenuity.”
The measure has not yet attracted any cosponsors.
Michael Collazo and Rex Engelbert
On March 27, an armed shooter entered Nashville elementary school The Covenant School, which the 28-year-old assailant used to attend as a child. Although the shooter killed six people — three nine-year-old students plus three adults — Nashville police officers Michael Collazo and Rex Engelbert quickly arrived on the scene and killed the shooter, preventing further carnage.
The Nashville Police Department released the officers’ body cam footage publicly, attaining millions of views on YouTube.
Tennessee’s own Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN5) nominated Collazo and Engelbert for the Congressional Gold Medal on March 30, three days after the attack.
“The losses of Hallie Scruggs, Evelyn Dieckhaus, William Kinney, Dr. Katherine Koonce, Mark Hill, and Cynthia Peak will be felt for the rest of our earthly lives,” Rep. Ogles said in a press release. “I applaud the swift and courageous action of MNPD Officers Engelbert and Collazo, which stopped the threat of further destruction and saved the lives of additional children and staff.”
The bill has attracted 18 cosponsors, all Republicans.
The actual legislative text itself appears to misspell Engelbert’s surname, switching the fourth and fifth letters to make “Englebert.”
Everett Alvarez, Jr.
In 1964, Navy pilot Everett Alvarez’s plane was shot down over North Vietnam. Captured and beaten, he remained trapped as a prisoner of war for eight years and seven months until his release, marking one of the longest duration POWs in American history.
Rep. Jimmy Panetta (D-CA19) nominated the 85-year-old Alvarez for the Congressional Gold Medal in the House in February, followed by Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) nominating him in the Senate in March.
“In the face of severe mistreatment during his captivity in the Vietnam War, including torture and starvation, [Alvarez] served, sacrificed, and set an example for fellow POWs, inspiring them to return home with honor,” Rep. Panetta said in a press release. “Through his bravery, sacrifices, and immense contributions to our country, [Alvarez] has demonstrated what it means to be a patriot.”
“Commander Alvarez is an American hero and remains a source of hope and encouragement for the other prisoners of war during his time in Vietnam,” Sen. Padilla said in a separate press release. “Commander Alvarez’s unwavering courage and bravery in the face of cruel torture and isolation deserves the highest recognition in Congress.”
The House version has attracted 76 bipartisan cosponsors: 58 Democrats and 18 Republicans. In addition to its Democratic lead sponsor, the Senate version has attracted one Republican cosponsor: Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY).
All slaves from 1619 to 1865
Occasionally throughout American history, a Congressional Gold Medal has been bestowed on a group of people: a World War II jungle warfare unit nicknamed Merrill’s Marauders, members of the U.S. Antarctic Expedition of 1939–1941, the Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights marchers of 1965, or the U.S. Capitol Police after 2021’s January 6th riot.
But none of those groups of dozens, hundreds, or thousands would match the millions of people who would be collectively awarded the medal under this bill.
On February 28, the final day of Black History Month, Rep. Al Green (D-TX9) collectively nominated every enslaved person in American history, from the first known ones in 1619 to the institution’s demise in 1865.
“A Confederate soldier, more than one, were awarded a Congressional Gold Medal in 1956,” Rep. Green said in a House floor speech. “What Congress did for the soldier enslavers, it should do for the enslaved.”
Rep. Green is correct: 91 years after the conflict ended, Congress bestowed the medal on “surviving veterans of the War Between the States,” also known as the Civil War — regardless of whether those veterans fought for the Union or Confederacy.
The current bill has attracted 123 cosponsors, all Democrats.
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This article was written by GovTrack Insider staff writer Jesse Rifkin.
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