Not long ago one of the leading French magazines made a startling and completely serious proposal: that Walt Disney be awarded the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize. At about the same time an equally startling and equally serious movement was launched in California: to make Disney the rapid-transit czar of Los Angeles. The 62-year-old Disney, a noted turf kicker of the Gary Cooper school, modestly disassociated himself from both of these suggestions. A few weeks later, however, came the most unexpected honor of them all. President Johnson awarded Disney the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest decoration the United States Government can bestow on a civilian.
All this seems to show how far you can go by being an irascible, stubborn nonconformist, completely out of step with the rest of the entertainment world. For Disney - who fits none of the molds - dominates his industry in a way that no other man does today.
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