Joe Biden Pays Tribute To Norman Lear: “A Transformational Force In American Culture”
06.12.2023 - 23:45
/ deadline.com
President Joe Biden paid tribute to Norman Lear, the pioneering writer, producer and director who died on Tuesday at age 101.
Biden called Lear a “transformational force in American culture” whose shows “redefined television with courage, conscience, and humor, opening our nation’s eyes and often our hearts.”
Lear was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Bill Clinton in 1999. At the time, Clinton said that Lear “held up a mirror to American society and changed the way we look at it.”
Biden also noted Lear’s decades of political advocacy, saying that he “fought directly for free speech, a woman’s right to choose, the environment, voting rights, and more.”
Biden’s complete statement is below:
Norman Lear was a transformational force in American culture, whose trailblazing shows redefined television with courage, conscience, and humor, opening our nation’s eyes and often our hearts.
The cast of characters he created painted a fuller picture of America – capturing our hopes and hardships, everyday moments of fear and resilience. From Archie Bunker and George Jefferson to the casts of “Good Times” and “One Day at a Time,” his characters became fixtures in tens of millions of American lives, often reminding us of family or neighbors. We loved them, disagreed with them, grew with them, rooted for them, and in the process, changed the way we see ourselves.
Norman left college for the Army during World War II, flying 52 missions in Europe, and he never forgot the lessons he learned there defending democracy and freedom. Arriving in Hollywood at the dawn of television, he helped to shape the birth of a medium that defined American culture, using it to advance our national conversation. Throughout his over-75-year