Liz Cheney The Recipient of the ‘2022 Profile in Courage Award’

Congresswoman Liz Cheney was recently named a recipient of the '2022 Profile in Courage Award,' for her role in 'defending democracy at home and abroad.'

Get our free mobile app

The award was given by the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation and, for the first time ever, she was among five individuals that received the award.

Cheney was in good company, as other recipients include Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as well as Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, Arizona House Speaker Russell 'Rusty' Bowers, and Wandrea 'Shaye' Moss, an Elections Department employee in Fulton County, Georgia.

"Prior to the election in 2020, Representative Liz Cheney was elected by her colleagues to be chair of the House Republican Conference, making her the third-ranking Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives, and the highest-ranking Republican woman in the history of the House," the JFK Foundation Library wrote. "She has been one of the most conservative members within the Republican Conference.  After the election, however, when President Trump falsely claimed that the election was stolen, she repeatedly called on the President to respect the rulings of the courts and his oath of office, and to publicly support the peaceful transfer of power. When the President instead rejected the lawful, certified outcome of the election, she broke with most in her party, urged fidelity to the Constitution, and stood her ground with honor and conviction."

Doing so put her directly in the crosshairs of former president Donald Trump and many of his followers. She was censured by the Wyoming Republican Party and continues to draw the ire of Trump supporters and fellow Republicans.

"Cheney received numerous death threats after casting her vote in favor of impeachment, and yet refused to take the politically expedient course that most of her party embraced," the foundation wrote. "Because she would not remain silent or ignore the events of January 6th, Cheney's congressional colleagues stripped her of her leadership position in the GOP caucus. She now serves as the Vice Chair of the Select Committee investigating the January 6 insurrection, and remains a consistent and courageous voice in defense of democracy."

After learning that she would be a recipient of the award, Cheney released a statement commending President Kennedy, as well as Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

"I’m grateful to the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation for this tremendous honor and for their commitment to freedom and democracy," Cheney stated. "In his Inaugural address in 1961, President Kennedy said, 'In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger.’ Today, we stand at another hour of maximum danger in the cause of freedom. The war between Russia and Ukraine is a battle of good vs. evil, freedom vs. tyranny. President Zelensky and the Ukrainian people are teaching a new generation of Americans what our founding fathers learned first-hand: absolute and uncompromising courage in the face of tyranny."

Then, Cheney referenced her current ongoing battle as the Vice-Chair of the House Committee Selected to Investigate the January 6th Attack.

"In America, we have also seen how fragile our democratic institutions can be, and we have learned that they do not defend themselves," Cheney said. "We – each one of us – must do that.  If we do not stand for truth, the rule of law and our Constitution, if we set aside our founding principles for the politics of the moment, the miracle of our constitutional republic will slip away."

Cheney then acknowledged her friend Charles Krauthammer, a political columnist who died in 2018.

"As my friend said, 'The lesson of our history is that the task of merely maintaining strong and sturdy the structures of a constitutional order is unending, the continuing and ceaseless work of every generation.' All Americans, regardless of party affiliation, should hold this principle sacred."