U.S. President George W. Bush (5th r) participates in a photo-op with the recipients of the 2006 National Humanities Medals in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, on November 9, 2006. Recipients include, from left to right, Historian of Religion Mark Noll; Classicist Mary Lefkowitz; Biographer Meryle Secrest; Middle East Studies Scholar Bernard Lewis; John Raisian, Senior Fellow and Director Of the Hoover Institution; first lady Laura Bush; Translator and Classicist Robert Fagles, Historian Nickolas Davatzes; the president; Historian Kevin Starr; Fouad Ajami, Middle Eastern Studies Scholar; Economist James Buchanan; and NEA Chairman Bruce Cole. (UPI Photo/Kevin Dietsch)