The ceremony was as diverse as it was star-studded with Michael Jordan, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Hanks, Robert De Niro lining a stage in the East Room of the White House alongside architect Frank Gehry, computer scientist Margaret Hamilton, and sculpture and landscape artist Maya Lin. President Obama seemed to get a kick out of awarding what he called a "really good class" of recipients on Tuesday afternoon, cracking jokes about Jordan who he called "more than a meme" and Abdul-Jabbar's performance in the cult-classic Airplane.

After facing trouble at the gate after forgetting her ID, television personality Ellen DeGeneres appeared overwhelmed with emotion when receiving her medal of freedom from the President, the nation's highest civilian honor. The president, who has awarded more medals of freedom than any of his predecessors, also touched on the personal nature of his final awards ceremony, saying each of the recipients had had a profound impact on his life.