This Day in Missouri History March 17, 1992: Onetime Columbia resident Sam Walton, receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Walton’s receipt of the medal o from President George H.W. Bush on St. Paddy’s Day was quite appropriate: Walton certainly had the luck o’ the Irish – and that legendary pot o’ gold, too! 

The Hickman High School and Mizzou alum founded Walmart in 1962, and by 1985 had become the richest man in America. 

Walton had an estimated net worth of $8.6 billion (approximately $15 billion in today’s money) at the time of his death on April 5, 1992, just a short time after he was honored by the President. 

Based upon content from the book Missouri 365: This Day in Missouri History by John W. Brown, broadcaster and Missouri historian. Get your copy at Reedy Press.

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