Mitch Daniels Awarded 2024 Medal for Distinguished Public Service

Mitch Daniels is the recipient of the 2024 Gerald R. Ford Medal for Distinguished Public Service. The medal was presented by Mike Ford, former chair of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation, and Roger Porter, Foundation trustee, in Grand Rapids on June 3, 2024.

The Merits of Mitch Daniels

For more than half a century, Governor Mitch Daniels has transformed every arena of public service that he has entered. His service has left a mark in the legislative and executive branches of the federal government, business, state government, and higher education. In every endeavor, his leadership has embraced qualities that merit admiration and that build trust between citizens and those who serve them.

The son of Mitchell and Dorothy Daniels, Mitch Daniels was born in Monongahela, Pennsylvania, in April 1949. His family moved to Indiana, the state he considers home, when he was ten. A gifted student, he earned his bachelor’s degree from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and his Juris Doctor from Georgetown University.

Mitch Daniels’s first great mentor was Richard Lugar, who championed the consolidation of the City of Indianapolis and Marion County. Daniels rose to be his chief of staff and followed Lugar to Washington when he was elected a U.S. Senator. During a decade in Washington, Daniels went on to serve in the Reagan White House as Director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs and as Director of the Office of Political Affairs before returning to Indianapolis to lead the Hudson Institute, the state’s most influential think tank.

In 1990 he spent a decade with Eli Lilly, the state’s largest corporation, rising to Senior Vice President for Corporate Strategy and Policy. In 2001 Daniels returned to Washington as Director of the Office of Management and Budget. He was confirmed by the Senate 100-0, and served in the Cabinet of President George W. Bush before returning to Indiana. Running for Governor, Daniels won his first campaign for elective office and secured a second term with the largest vote for any elected official in the state’s history. As Governor, he reduced taxes, rebuilt infrastructure, and enhanced education.

Upon completing his second term as Governor, Daniels was selected as the 12th President of Purdue University, building an academic powerhouse and resisting any tuition or board rate increases during the decade of his service.

Throughout his lengthy and remarkable career, Mitch Daniels has demonstrated the personal and professional qualities President Gerald R. Ford embodied—integrity, courage, patriotism, sound judgment, and strength of character—all of which qualify him for the Gerald R. Ford Medal for Distinguished Public Service.

Watch the Awards Ceremony

The award begins around 49 minutes.