President Gerald Ford presented Georgia O'Keeffe with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Ford gave O'Keeffe the award in 1977, during his presidency. The Presidential Medal of Freedom honors people who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, or cultural and other significant public endeavors.
O'Keeffe's selection recognized her importance in American art. By then, her work had moved from early abstract experiments to a wide-ranging career that included flowers, urban architecture, landscapes, and bones. Her paintings had helped define a distinctly American form of modernism and had made her one of the country's best-known artists.
The president is sometimes confused because O'Keeffe also received other honors in later years. She received the National Medal of Arts in 1985, under President Ronald Reagan. That later award does not change the fact that Gerald Ford presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977.