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In early 2013, dozens of prominent leftists urged President Barack Obama to award, posthumously, the Presidential Medal of Freedom to the late Fred Ross Sr., a Saul Alinsky-trained radical who mentored both Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta. Among those who exhorted Obama to honor Ross were: Karen Bass, Xavier Becerra, Kim Bobo, Heather Booth, Barbara Boxer, Michael Capuano, William Lacy Clay, Rosa Delauro, Maria Echaveste, Sam Farr, Diane Feinstein, Raúl Grijalva, Kamala Harris, Roger Hickey, Mike Honda, Mazie Hirono, Dolores Huerta, Benjamin Jealous, Barbara Lee, Alan Lowenthal, Ben Ray Lujan, Michelle Lujan-Grisham, Jim McGovern, Grace Napolitano, Nancy Pelosi, Frances Fox Piven, Charles Rangel, Robert Reich, Lucille Roybal-Allard, Jan Schakowsky, Martin Sheen, Albio Sires, Hilda Solis, Mark Takano, Juan Vargas, Antonio Villaraigosa, and Maxine Waters.