Stump the German

[Wild Bill]

Mies van der Rohe

[Eva Elisabeth]

Kudos, Bill, you stumped me that much that I'll skip the 2nd part of the question.
It was actually the first ceremony, and it was Lyndon B. Johnson who chose "with great care by himself" who received the medal on December 6, 1963. Here's a transcript:
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=26165

Maria Ludwig Michael Mies van der Rohe (1886 - 1969) was one of the pioneering masters of modern architecture and is often associated with his quotation of "less is more".
   
From 1930 until 1933 he was the last director of the Bauhaus art school which was closed under pressure from the Nazi regime. When the Nazis rejected his style as not "German" in character, he left Germany reluctantly in 1937 as he saw his opportunity for any future building commissions vanish, and accepted an offer to head the department of architecture of the newly established Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) in Chicago.

Three of his buildings in Illinois (all in the U.S. National Register of Historic Places) are:
- Crown Hall:
   
...which is the home of the College of Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago;
- Farnsworth House (1945-51):
   
...a one-room weekend retreat in a once-rural setting south of the city of Plano, Illinois. The house was commissioned by Dr. Edith Farnsworth, a prominent Chicago nephrologist, as a place where she could engage in her hobbies: playing the violin, translating poetry, and enjoying nature; and
- 860–880 Lake Shore Drive (1949-51):
   
...a twin pair of glass-and-steel apartment towers on N. Lake Shore Drive along Lake Michigan in the Streeterville neighborhood of Chicago.

Mies also designed modern furniture pieces that have become popular classics, such as the Barcelona chair (1929, left), and the cantilever cane chair (1927):
       
This finally is the house in Aachen where he was born (in Steinkaulstr. 29):
   
For further info, please go here: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_Mies_van_der_Rohe

[tblunk]

[quote='Eva Elisabeth' pid='36454' dateline='1407079684']
Kudos, Bill, you stumped me that much that I'll skip the 2nd part of the question.
It was actually the first ceremony, and it was Lyndon B. Johnson who chose "with great care by himself" who received the medal on December 6, 1963. Here's a transcript:
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=26165

Actually, in this case, the recipients were chosen by Kennedy, but awarded by Johnson.

[Eva Elisabeth]

Ops, thank you, tblunk!!! How embarrassing, I'm sorry, and I can't even come up with a flimsy excuse...thanks for reading that carefully!!

[Eva Elisabeth]

Who are these gentlemen, and what links them?
       

[RJNorton]

Daniel Green Burner and William F. Berry? It was at the Lincoln-Berry store that Burner said Lincoln lifted the 44-gallon whisky barrel?

[Eva Elisabeth]

Wow, that is a smart guess and connection, Roger! I'm sorry, these are not Burner and Berry, but indeed
Hint #1: they have to do with a recent forum topic.

[Eva Elisabeth]

Hint #2: I consider this question quite a challenge, especially for those from the north. Southerners might be in advantage.

---

(You may ask yes/no - questions.)

[RJNorton]

William Littlepage and Edward W. Halbach?

[Eva Elisabeth]

Wow, you stumped me again with an amazing guess! Very smart! But I'm sorry, this doesn't have to do with the Dahlgren Raid.
Hint #3: These men haven't been mentioned by name, maybe it's easier to approach by getting the topic first (and then, if need be, research).

[Eva Elisabeth]

Hint #4: Maybe "current" thread would have been more accurate than "recent" thread.
Hint #5: The gentleman on the left was an artist who was born in Germany and emigrated to the United States in 1849, at the time of the CW he lived in Alabama. The gentleman on the right represented South Carolina in United States House of Representatives as well as in the Confederate House of Representatives.

[Eva Elisabeth]

Last hint: This has to do with flags.

[RJNorton]

Ok, Eva, I think the second gentleman is William Porcher Miles, but I don't have any idea of either the first gentleman or the flag connection. Can I get partial credit?

[tblunk]

Miles is, I think, correct. He designed a flag. Nicola Marschall is the other guy, I think. He designed the original Confederate flag.

[Eva Elisabeth]

Kudos, excellent teamwork, Roger and Tom!!!

For all the Germans and other foreigners coming across the thread that are as unknowledgeable as I was on the flag history (credit to wiki):

Nicola Marschall (1829 - 1917), son of a wealthy Prussian family of tobacco merchants, supported the Confederate cause during the American Civil War, and designed the original Confederate flag, the Stars and Bars, as well as the official grey uniform of the Confederate army.

Mary Clay Lockett, wife of Marion attorney Napoleon Lockett, requested Marschall to take part in the competition to create a new flag to represent the Confederate States of America. Marschall's flag was first raised in Montgomery, Alabama on March 4, 1861.

William Porcher Miles (1822 -1899), while serving in the Confederate Provisional Congress, chaired the "Committee on the Flag and Seal," which adopted the "Stars and Bars" flag as the national flag of the Confederacy. Miles opposed this selection because, he felt, it too much resembled, as supporters of it admitted, the old Stars and Stripes. Miles argued:

"There is no propriety in retaining the ensign of a government which, in the opinion of the States composing this Confederacy, had become so oppressive and injurious to their interests as to require their separation from it. It is idle to talk of 'keeping' the flag of the United States when we have voluntarily seceded from them."

Miles favored his own design, which, although rejected by the committee, eventually became the Confederate (Battle) Flag.

Due to the heated debate on the different personal perceptions of what the Confederate flag represented and represents today, I wanted to find out more on what the original meaning was, and if the flag was or derrived from anything that had been a symbol for southern culture and heritage prior to secession. I found this fascinating website:
http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Conf..._Flag#its1

Roger and Tom, you win George Balanchine's 1958 choreography "Stars and Stripes" (on John Philip Sousa's music) which Russian-born Balanchine ("founder" of American ballet) created as salute to his adoptive country:
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=soaHshlFBNI