The medal was awarded by President George W. Bush in a White House East Room ceremony today (Thursday, November 15, 2007). The president was joined by First Lady Laura Bush; Mrs. Lynne Cheney; Dana Gioia, chairperson, National Endowment for the Arts; Bruce Cole, chairperson, National Endowment for the Humanities; and recipients of the National Medal of Arts, who also received their honors at the event.
The National Humanities Medal, first awarded in 1989 as the Charles Frankel Prize, and then as The National Humanities Medal, since 1997, honors individuals and organizations whose work has deepened the nation's understanding of the humanities, broadened citizens' engagement with the humanities, or helped preserve and expand America's access to important humanities resources.
PROFESSOR RICHARD PIPES was honored along with scholars, historians, and others who have made significant and lasting contributions to the humanities.
David was a former Polish intelligence operative, who served in the 1960s-1980s and was a double agent for the CIA from 1973 until his arrest in 1987 by then-communist Poland on charges of espionage. Dastych was released from prison in 1990 after the fall of communism and in the years since has voluntarily helped Western intelligence services with tracking the nuclear proliferation black market in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. After a serious injury in 1994 confined him to a wheelchair, Dastych began a second career as an investigative journalist covering terrorism, intelligence and organized crime.