Obama honors Barbra Streisand, Steven Spielberg

US President Barack Obama recognized 17 Americans with the nation's highest civilian award Tuesday, including giants of the entertainment industry such as Barbra Streisand and Steven Spielberg, baseball legends Willie Mays and Yogi Berra, and politicians, activists and government innovators, the AP reports.

In addition to filmmaker Spielberg and singer and Oscar-winner Streisand, Obama presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom to musicians Gloria and Emilio Estefan, singer James Taylor, composer Stephen Sondheim and violinist Itzhak Perlman.

Mays was among the first African-American players in Major League Baseball. Berra, who died in September, was a Yankee great at catcher, an 18-time All-Star and 10-time World Series champion.

The politicians getting the honor are Democrats: Sen. Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, who has championed equal pay and women's health during her 44 years of public service; former Rep. Lee Hamilton from Indiana, a longtime advocate of American national security and international relations; and the late Rep. Shirley Chisholm from New York. Chisholm was the first African-American woman elected to Congress and a founding member of what would become the Congressional Black Caucus.

"Today we celebrate some extraordinary people: innovators, artists and leaders who contribute to America's strength as a nation," Obama said.

Of Hamilton, Obama said he helped guide the nation through the Cold War and had a consistent commitment to bipartisanship. Of Berra, the president said he was born to play baseball but noted that he also served in World War II. Of Taylor, he said the singer could turn an arena into a living room. Mays, he said, was such a giant that it allowed "someone like me" to consider running for president.