As the year draws to an end, Donald Trump has scored many firsts as president of the United States. Most of them are bad, unprecedented, and unbecoming to the office.
But there is one glaring difference between Trump so far and the last 70 years’ worth of presidents. Trump has not awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom.
The Medal of Freedom was established by Harry Truman in 1945. Dwight Eisenhower was less enthusiastic (he gave out a handful). But in 1961 John F. Kennedy revived the medal, and every president since then– even Richard Nixon– handed out annual medals in a ceremony.
Gerald Ford was only president for two years, but he awarded 28 different people with the Medal of Honor.
Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush held annual ceremonies.
Bill Clinton was a big fan of the Medal of Freedom, and so was George W. Bush. It didn’t matter which political office was in power. Honorees cut across parties. They came from the arts, sciences, sports, business and politics.
President Obama really loved the Medal of Freedom.
Ford said: The Presidential Medal of Freedom recognizes individuals who have made “an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, or to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.”
But Trump has so divided the country and devalued arts and sciences, 2017 marks the first time there have been no Presidential medals of freedom.
Indeed, the entire remaining Presidential arts and humanities council left over from President Obama resigned last summer after Trump’s incendiary comments about the Charlottesville protests.
Additionally, the White House website– www.whitehouse.gov– has no section for the arts, humanities, or sciences. The original Presidential arts and humanities council was established by Ronald Reagan in 1982. But of course, if Trump announced such a council, no one would join it except Scott Baio and Ted Nugent. And to whom would they give awards? Trump has evinced no interest in any kind of arts during his entire life– with the exception of golf.

Disney– in the process of buying Fox– may have some other things to worry about. A Scientology group in Orlando, Florida used their type face– called Waltfont–and other art images specific to Disney on invitation to cult members.
The Disney type face– which was based on Walt Disney’s signature– is trademarked but versions of it exist all over the web for free. The one pictured to the right is called Waltograph.
Plus, Disney World is in Orlando, and the company may not be thrilled if this causes confusion.
Now Deadline is reporting that Milstein plans to shut down, renovate and restore the theaters. But Milstein doesn’t say if he’s giving it back to the Talbots for independent films or letting someone else run it or whatever. I think the Milsteins panicked when their names and pictures suddenly became public. There have been so many cases of landlords shutting businesses and mollifying protesters by saying they’d come back later. It rarely happens.
Anyone who was alive in 1985 will remember F. Murray Abraham’s thundering intonation as composer Antonio Salieri torturing and taunting poor Wolfie Mozart (Tom Hulce) in the Oscar winning “Amadeus.” And though Abraham and Hulce have each worked a lot in the 32 years hence, they have rarely if ever been seen together since.
Hulce, who was nominated for Best Actor, is now producing. He’s credited on Michael Mayer’s upcoming film of Chekhov’s “The Seagull” starring the MMI night’s honoree Annette Bening along with Saoirse Ronan, Elisabeth Moss, and Brian Dennehy.