The U.S. president who awarded Spielberg the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015 was Barack Obama.
Obama presented Spielberg with the nation’s highest civilian honor at a White House ceremony on November 24, 2015. The award recognized Spielberg’s extraordinary contributions to American culture through filmmaking, as well as his humanitarian and educational work.
Spielberg’s career includes landmark films such as Jaws, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan, and Lincoln. His honors before 2015 included multiple Academy Awards, the Kennedy Center Honor, and the AFI Life Achievement Award.
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is distinct from the National Medal of Arts, another major U.S. cultural honor Spielberg received later, in 2023. The other names in the choices—Joe Biden, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton—were not the president who presented Spielberg’s 2015 medal.