Newsmakers

Author ROBERT CARO ’57 and artist FRANK STELLA ’58 were among the 20 National Medal of the Arts and National Humanities Medal recipients honored by President Barack Obama at the White House Feb. 25. Caro, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, received the humanities medal. He is best known for his biographies of President Lyndon B. Johnson and New York master builder Robert Moses. Stella, a recipient of the arts medal, was honored for what the award citation called “sophisticated visual experiments” that earned him a reputation as “one of the world’s most innovative painters and sculptors.” In remarks at the presentation, Obama called Stella a “legend” and said he was “mesmerized” as a 22-year-old when he read Caro’s biography of Moses, The Power Broker. “I’m sure it helped to shape how I think about politics,” Obama said.