Margaret Sanger Awards
The Margaret Sanger Award was an honor awarded annually by the Planned Parenthood Federation of America from 1966 to 2015. Created to honor the legacy of Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, it is the Federation's highest honor. It is given to individuals to recognize excellence and leadership in the reproductive health and rights movement. Although it is identified as an annual award, it hasn't been given out and since 2015. National award recipients 1960s 1966 The first Sanger awards were given in 1966 under four categories, Human Rights, Medicine, Leadership and Service, on the 50th anniversary of Planned Parenthood's founding. The award in human rights was presented to Martin Luther King Jr. who was unable to attend due to critical work on his Chicago Freedom Movement; his wife, Coretta Scott King, received the award on his behalf. Carl G. Hartman was awarded with the award in medicine for his research that led to the discovery of basic principles of birth control methods. He was also unable to be present to receive it due to illness. Betty Mary Goetting was the third person to receive the National Margaret Sanger Award for her work in promoting birth control in El Paso, Texas. Lyndon Baines Johnson, then president, received the award in World Leadership for his "vigorous and far-sighted leadership" in implementing a national family planning policy. He sent his labor secretary, Willard Wirtz, to receive it on his behalf. The final award was presented to William Draper for service in voluntary family planning, he was the only recipient who was present to receive the award. 1967 Philanthropist John D. Rockefeller III won the Sanger Award in World Leadership. His recognition underscored his being instrumental in organizing the first World Population Conference as well as his founding of the Population Council. 1968 Ernest Gruening received the Margaret Sanger Award in World Leadership. At the time he was a Democratic U.S. Senator from Alaska. 1969 Hugh Mackintosh Foot, also known as Lord Caradon, was given the Margaret Sanger Award in World Leadership for his "farsighted leadership in the area of international family planning and population issues". At the time, he was the British ambassador to the United Nations. Lord Caradon was a well known supporter of Planned Parenthood, free contraceptives and sex education in schools. 1970s 1970 Then a Democratic U.S. Senator from Maryland, Joseph D. Tydings received the Margaret Sanger award in 1970 for "activities related to population and birth control." Tydings was known as a strong proponent for access to reproductive health care having had introducing fifteen bills towards this goal. He also promoted gearing foreign aid to promote reproductive care access. 1971 The 1971 Margaret Sanger Award was presented to Louis M. Hellman for service in the field of voluntary family planning. A physician, at the time of his receiving the award he was the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Population Affairs in the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. He was known for his actions in 1958 when he