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Archon Benjamin Hooks Receives Presidential Medal of Freedom

On November 5, 2007, in a ceremony at the White House, Archon Benjamin Hooks, of counsel in our Memphis office, received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor that a President can bestow.

This is the text of President Bush's remarks:

Brotherhood is perhaps the greatest theme in the life and character of Dr. Benjamin Hooks. The man has always had what his friend Dr. King called the strength to love. As a civil rights activist, public servant, and minister of the Gospel, Dr. Hooks has extended the hand of fellowship throughout his years. It was not an always thing -- easy thing to do. But it was always the right thing to do.
Benjamin Hooks grew up in a segregated South, where economic advantages, and even common courtesies, were often denied to African Americans. In the Army during World War II, he guarded European prisoners of war held in the United States. When it was time to get something to eat, whites-only restaurants would serve the prisoners, but not Sergeant Hooks. After the war he wanted to study law, but not a single law school in Tennessee would admit a black man. So he went to DePaul University in Chicago, then came back home, determined to "break down that segregation, to end those days."
He became a lawyer, and in time was also an ordained Baptist minister. He joined the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and was an early crusader in that great movement. He also rose in the legal profession, becoming the first African American ever to serve as a judge of the Tennessee Criminal Court. He was named to the Federal Communications Commission by President Nixon. The nation best remembers Benjamin Hooks as the leader of the NAACP. For 15 years, Dr. Hooks was a calm yet forceful voice for fairness, opportunity, and personal responsibility. He never tired or faltered in demanding that our nation live up to its founding ideals of liberty and equality. His testimony had special power -- for the words that he spoke, and for the example that he set as a man of decency and rectitude.
It's been a great journey, and he's traveled with a good and gracious woman at his side, Frances Hooks. They're a wonderful team. They've been married for 56 years.
Dr. Hooks once said, "You've got to believe that tomorrow somehow can be, and will be, better than today." Because he had that belief, because he held on to it, because he acted upon it, an old order has passed away. And all Americans can be grateful for the good works and the good life of Benjamin L. Hooks.

The Presidential Medal of Freedom citation read:

Benjamin L. Hooks. As a minister, lawyer, judge, and public servant, Benjamin Hooks has dedicated his life to equal justice under law. A pioneer of the Civil Rights movement and a leader of the NAACP, he fought to extend the full promise of America to all its citizens, and he battled injustice with civility, grace, and a generous spirit. His efforts have helped bring our nation closer to its founding ideals. The United States honors Benjamin Hooks: champion of equality, opportunity, and justice.

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