Ben Bradlee, center, with Carl Bernstein, left, and Bob Woodward, right, in 2005. (Photo by Brad Barket/Getty Images)

Ben Bradlee, perhaps the most famed executive editor of the Washington Post, will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The announcement comes just days after that paper was sold to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.

A release from the White House called Bradlee “the most respected newsmen of his generation.”

During his tenure as executive editor of The Washington Post, Mr. Bradlee oversaw coverage of the Watergate scandal, successfully challenged the Federal Government over the right to publish the Pentagon Papers, and guided the newspaper through some of its most challenging moments. He also served in the Navy during World War II.

In a phone interview with the paper he once led (from his home in the Hamptons with Sally Quinn, naturally), Bradlee said, “What more can a man get? I feel terribly honored. What does a person do to deserve this kind of prize?”

Other recipients of this year’s Medal of Freedom include Cubs player Ernie Banks, former President Bill Clinton, psychologist Daniel Kahneman, former Senator Richard Lugar, musician Loretta Lynn, Nobel Prize winner Mario Molina, jazz musician Arturo Sandoval, former University of North Carolina basketball team coach Dean Smith, feminist leader Gloria Steinem, minister and author Cordy Tindell “C.T.” Vivian, judge Patricia Wald and media maven Oprah Winfrey. Posthumous honors will be given to former Senator Daniel Inouye, astronaut Sally Ride and civil rights activist Bayard Rustin.