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Robert H. Smith Receives National Humanities Medal
 Robert H. Smith ’50 was honored with the prestigious National Humanities
Medal for 2008 for his philanthropic contributions to the humanities. Smith
received his award from President George W. Bush during a ceremony at the White
House East Room on November 17, 2008. In total, nine distinguished Americans,
one museum, and a philanthropic foundation were honored for their exemplary
contributions to the humanities and were recognized for their scholarship,
literary works, philanthropy, and preservation efforts.
Smith was recognized “for his profoundly wise stewardship and generous
support of our nation’s premiere institutions of historical, artistic, and
cultural heritage. He has been a farsighted benefactor and a civic leader for
all seasons.”
Smith has supported significant projects at James Madison’s family plantation
Montpelier in Virginia, Benjamin Franklin’s London townhouse, Thomas Jefferson’s
beloved Monticello, George Washington’s Mount Vernon, and Abraham Lincoln’s
summer cottage retreat in Washington, D.C. He is dedicated to making them
accessible to the public and his emphasis is on education and outreach, whether
through visitor centers, scholarly resources, or professional development for
teachers. He is also a former president of the National Gallery of Art, has
provided major gifts to the Mayo Clinic for Alzheimer’s disease research, to
Johns Hopkins to research the prevention of blindness, and to the Hebrew
University in Jerusalem for an initiative to end world hunger.
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