Ken Burns to Receive the 2026 Dwight D. Eisenhower Medal for Leadership and Service

Documentary filmmaker honored for his inspiring work celebrating American history, culture and civic life

PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 13, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Eisenhower Fellowships (EF) today announced that documentary filmmaker Ken Burns will be awarded the 2026 Dwight D. Eisenhower Medal for Leadership and Service in recognition of his extraordinary contributions to public understanding of American history, culture and civic life as the nation celebrates the 250th anniversary of its founding.

The Eisenhower Medal annually honors the legacy of President Dwight D. Eisenhower by recognizing individuals who embody his commitment to leadership, service and the advancement of international understanding across borders and cultures.

Eisenhower Fellowships Chairman, former U.S. Secretary of Defense Dr. Robert M. Gates, will present the prestigious medal to Burns at EF's Annual Awards Dinner on May 13, 2026 at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.

"Ken Burns has dedicated his life's work to document the story of America, in all its inspiring glory and heartbreaking tragedies, in a way that brings us closer to understanding who we are as a people," Dr. Gates said. "His artistry and commitment to public service through storytelling make him a worthy recipient of this honor as our nation prepares to celebrate its 250th birthday."

Over a career spanning more than four decades, Burns has created some of the most acclaimed and widely viewed historical documentaries ever produced. From The Civil War,Baseball, and Jazz to The Vietnam War,The U.S. and the Holocaust and The War (his film on World War II) to his upcoming landmark six-part documentary, The American Revolution, scheduled to premiere November 16, Burns's films have brought America's epic story to millions of viewers worldwide.

Dr. Gates noted that many of Burns's extraordinary productions resonate deeply with EF through their relevance to the organization's work and mission. In addition to his films about major armed conflicts and inflection points in American history, his biographies of Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Mark Twain, Jackie Robinson, Ernest Hemingway and other notable historical figures take viewers deeply inside the complex dimensions of some of the forces and people that have helped shape our nation.

In all of these, Dr. Gates said, "with his powerful depictions of the burdens of leadership and moral struggle, Ken Burns has honored President Eisenhower and his legacy: a soldier-turned-statesman weary of war who believed in the power of people-to-people exchanges and envisioned a world more peaceful, prosperous and just."

Previous winners of the prestigious Eisenhower Medal include former EF Chairmen and Secretaries of State General Colin L. Powell and Henry Kissinger, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, business leaders and philanthropists Melinda French Gates and David Rubenstein, the international group Doctors without Borders, filmmaker Steven Spielberg, late Washington Post Publisher Katherine Graham, late U.S. Sen. John McCain, former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet and many other distinguished leaders from around the world. The full list of honorees can be found here.

Media Contact: Katherine Leventhal
Director, Global Network Programs 
Email: [email protected]

Eisenhower Fellowships is an independent, nongovernmental, nonpartisan nonprofit, one of the world's premier international leadership exchange organizations. Founded in 1953 as a birthday present to President Eisenhower his first year in the White House by a group of Philadelphia businessmen friends, EF has brought to the United States or sent overseas on individualized fellowships more than 2,700 leaders of all professional fields from 118 countries to advance its mission.

SOURCE Eisenhower Fellowships