He was best known for being a representative of the folk music genre through his first 4 albums. That's a significant contribution, wouldn't you say? Then the British invasion came to North America, and that changed things. You had to change with it or start losing a very large part of your audience. Dylan moved very quickly with that change, probably because he was ready to, and also because he had already played electric music in high school rock bands he was in during his teens, before he got into acoustic folk and blues...therefore he was familiar with the rock band mode.

Pete Seeger and Joan Baez would indeed be worthy recipients of the Medal of Freedom, but that doesn't mean they'll get it.