Appendix

The Raymon Magsaysay Award Foundation

Ramon Magsaysay was President of the Philippines from 1953 two 1957. Tragically his brief political career ended when he was killed in airplane crash in September, 1957. His presidency was notable for a legislative program based upon his deeply felt commitment to participatory democracy, elimination of corruption from public life, and meaningful agrarian reform including land redistribution and peasant relocation. Time Magazine called him a leader “who has won an unchallenged reputation for honesty."

To many people throughout Asia and the United States he was a symbol of constructive political leadership, and the Rockefeller brothers, with Don McLean as their chief representative, were instrumental in establishing the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation.  Awards were  o be made annually in each of five categories - International Understanding, Government Service, Public Service, Community Leadership, and Journalism, Literature, and Creative Communication Arts. The first awards were made in 1958. 

Over the years a number of notable individuals have received the Award - including Mother teresa, the Dalai Lama, Chiang Monlin, James Y.T. Yen, Satyajit Ray, Mochtar Lubus, Amitabha Chowdhury, Tarzie Vittachi,  Shigeharu Matsumoto, Soejatmoko, and Saburo Okita. However, most of the award winners have been individuals who have worked quietly, and often obscurely, to secure human betterment and progress.