Photograph of George Lucas, Gene Jankowski, Steven Spielberg, Jean Picker Firstenberg, President Bush, Charlton Heston, Martin Scorsese, and David Wolper

American Idols: AFI 25th Anniversary Celebration (1989)

In 1967, the American Film Institute (AFI) was created to train the next generation of filmmakers and to preserve America’s fast-disappearing film heritage. AFI immediately became a gathering place and point of focus and coordination for leading artists and educators who supported film and television as an art form.

Two years earlier, in 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed legislation in the White House Rose Garden creating the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), saying:

We will create an American Film Institute that will bring together leading artists of the film industry, outstanding educators, and young men and women who wish to pursue this 20th century art form as their life’s work.

In 1973, AFI’s Board of Trustees established the AFI Life Achievement Award. Over the past 30 years, members of the entertainment community have recognized this award as the highest honor given for a career in film. Past honorees include Billy Wilder, Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Capra, Barbara Stanwyck, Jack Nicholson, Gregory Peck, Sidney Poitier, Harrison Ford, Tom Hanks, and Robert De Niro.

In September 1989, President George Bush hosted “Back to the Rose Garden,” AFI’s 25th anniversary celebration in Washington, DC, saying:

For almost a quarter century, the American Film Institute has nurtured and celebrated the art of the moving image. In doing so, it has had an immense impact on the mind and soul of America.

The gala event was attended by hundreds of prominent Americans, including members of Congress and the diplomatic corps, leaders from the worlds of business and academia, and top figures from the entertainment and creative community. Pictured at the gala (above) are George Lucas, Gene Jankowski, Steven Spielberg, AFI director and CEO Jean Picker Firstenberg, President Bush, Charlton Heston, Martin Scorsese, and David Wolper.

The legacy continues in June as the name of another American idol – Meryl Streep – is added to the distinguished list of AFI Life Achievement Award honorees.