BOSTON, USA
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is among five people named Thursday as recipients of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for acting to protect democracy.
Zelenskyy was chosen because
of the way he has “marshaled the spirit, patriotism and untiring sacrifice of
the Ukrainian people in a life-or-death fight for their country,” as Russia
pours in troops and assaults cities and towns, the John F. Kennedy Library
Foundation said.
The foundation said four U.S.
officials were chosen for standing up for free and fair elections, as the
system is challenged in ways it has never been before.
They are: Republican U.S. Rep.
Liz Cheney of Wyoming, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, Arizona
House Speaker Rusty Bowers and Fulton County, Georgia, elections worker Wandrea
“Shaye” Moss.
Caroline Kennedy and her son,
Jack Schlossberg, will present the awards May 22 at the John F. Kennedy
Presidential Library in Boston. The award was created by the family of the late
president to honor public figures who risk their careers by embracing unpopular
positions for the greater good, and is named after Kennedy’s 1957 Pulitzer
Prize-winning book, “Profiles in Courage.”
“There is no more important
issue facing our country, and the world, today than the fight for democracy,”
Kennedy said in a statement. “The war in Ukraine has shown the world that we
can’t take freedom for granted, and the courage of our elected officials in the
U.S. reminds us that as citizens we each have a responsibility to protect our
democracy and exercise our fundamental right to vote.”
Cheney
chaired the Republican House Conference before being ousted from her
post last year because of her unrelenting criticism of former President Donald
Trump and statements blaming him for the violence at the U.S. Capitol on Jan.
6, 2021.
The foundation said Cheney
“broke with most in her party, urged fidelity to the Constitution, and stood
her ground with honor and conviction,” and that she has remained a “consistent
and courageous voice in defense of democracy.”
Michigan was one of the
battleground states where Trump allies demanded further review of the 2020
election. Benson defended the certification of the results.
Protestors showed up at her home one evening in December 2020, angry about what they incorrectly said was voter fraud leading to Trump’s loss. The foundation said Benson defended the will of Michigan voters, repeatedly refused to back down from fulfilling the duties of her office and continues to speak out about the risks to free and fair elections.
Bowers,
a Republican, broke ranks with many in his party in December 2020 when
he rejected a request from Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani for the Arizona
Legislature to step in and replace electors legally pledged for Joe Biden with
others who would support Trump.
The foundation said Bowers
made a “decision of conscience,” for which he endured persistent harassment and
intimidation tactics from Trump supporters, and he acted again to protect the
integrity of Arizona elections by stopping a wide-ranging election bill that
would eliminate nearly all forms of early voting and require ballots to be
counted by hand, though
Republicans are still trying to pass these changes.
Moss has worked for the Fulton
County elections department since 2012 and supervised the absentee ballot
operation during the 2020 election. Trump
allies falsely claimed she engaged in ballot fraud. The foundation said
“despite the onslaught of random, undeserved and malicious attacks,” Moss
continues to do the “hard and unseen work to run our democracy.” - AP
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