Not to be confused with the Golden Fleece Award (for which they prize money is disbursed beforehand)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Fleece_Award

Haven't we all had bosses who were socially adept but fully inept otherwise, who would laugh and scoff at anything they couldn't understand? Proxmire is just another such figure.

The Golden Fleece award was a shameful disgrace for the presenters and their supporters, a bunch of ignorant fools, and should be taken as a badge of honor for the recipients, most of whom did excellent and important work.