Distinguished Eagle Scout Award

Created in 1969, the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award is the only distinguished service recognition that depends on one's association with Scouting as a youth. The recipient must have attained the Eagle Scout rank a minimum of 25 years before his nomination, and over those years he must have rendered outstanding service to others.

Award recipients have included 38th President Gerald R. Ford; former astronaut Neil Armstrong; cartoonist Milton Caniff; late actor Ozzie Nelson; H. Ross Perot, founder of Electronic Data Systems and The Perot Group; United States Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld; retired General William C. Westmoreland; retired Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt Jr.; Senator Richard G. Lugar; film director Steven Spielberg; former FBI Director William S. Sessions; former United States Representative J. J. Pickle; Donald F. Wright, senior vice president of the Times Mirror Co.; and former Secretary of Education Lamar Alexander.