Jackie Robinson Congressional Gold Medal

Sports Network - Fifty-eight years after breaking the color barrier in Major League Baseball, President Bush honored Jackie Robinson, posthumously on Wednesday with a Congressional Gold Medal. The award, the highest honor Congress can give a civilian, was given to Robinson's widow, Rachel Robinson, during a ceremony in the Capitol rotunda.

"He always fought for what he called 'first-class citizenship.' That's an interesting phrase, isn't it -- 'first-class citizenship.' Not second-class, not third-class -- first-class citizenship for all," Bush said. "As John Kerry mentioned, it started in the Army. Obviously, it really manifested itself on the baseball field. After all, it was Branch Rickey who said he was looking for a man to cross the color line who could play baseball and had the character necessary to do so. Jackie Robinson had both. And that's why we're honoring him today."