Former Vice President Mike Pence said Sunday while receiving the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award that January 6, 2021, “became a triumph of freedom” because Congress returned to do its constitutional duty after the attack on the Capitol.
“Our institutions held that day, not because of any one person, but because leaders in both political parties, Republicans and Democrats, did their duties,” the former vice president said while receiving the award for putting his life and career on the line in rejecting President Donald Trump’s pressure to overturn the 2020 election. “So I came tonight to give credit where credit is due, but also to say in these divided times, in these anxious days, I know in my heart that we will find our way forward as one nation.”
Pence refused when Trump repeatedly pressured him to overturn the results of the 2020 election, fraying the relationship between the two men. Pence was presiding as Congress counted Electoral College votes to certify Joe Biden’s victory when Trump supporters stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021. The vice president, his wife, Karen; and his daughter, Charlotte, remained in the Capitol while police beat back the rioters, and Pence later oversaw the election’s certification.
“January 6 was a tragic day,” Pence said Sunday. “But it became a triumph of freedom. And history will record that our institutions held.”
After leaving office, Pence ran against Trump for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination. The former vice president dropped out of the race about three months before the first votes were cast after struggling to gain traction in a party that had largely abandoned the Reagan-inspired conservative principles Pence represents and remained loyal to his former boss.
Pence on Sunday didn’t address Trump’s decision, after returning to power earlier this year, to pardon more than 1,000 people charged in the Capitol attack and commute the sentences of others. Trump described those charged for their actions as “hostages.”
The former vice president did briefly allude to differences with Trump’s current administration on tariffs, its approach to Ukraine, and the president’s moves to withdraw from international organizations and downsize America’s role in the world.
“Now people who know me know I’m a conservative, but I’m not in a bad mood about it. I believe in a strong defense, limited government, the right to life, and I’m going to go out on a limb and say that might put me in the minority in this room,” Pence told those gathered at Kennedy’s presidential library in Boston.
“But I also have differences with members of my own party, on spending and tariffs, and my belief that America is the leader of the free world and must continue to stand with Ukraine until the Russian invasion is repelled and a just and lasting peace is secured,” Pence said.
Kennedy’s daughter, Caroline Kennedy, and grandson Jack Schlossberg presented the award.
“At the time, I thought Vice President Pence was just doing his job,” Caroline Kennedy said. “Only later did I realize that his act of courage saved our government and warned us about what could happen and is happening right now.”
Schlossberg said Pence put the nation’s interests before his own and “saved America that day.”
Pence has long said former President Kennedy was his childhood hero and his inspiration to go into public service. He said Kennedy’s funeral is one of his earliest memories.
“To be here tonight, bearing witness to a journey that President Kennedy helped inspire in my small life is more meaningful than I can possibly express,” he said.
Pence also said he felt “profoundly unworthy” to receive the award. He credited two aides who advised him in the lead-up to January 6, 2021, as well as his wife and daughter, who remained in the Capitol with him. And he praised the US Capitol Police.
“When I think of that fateful day four years ago, the only heroes I saw were wearing uniforms,” Pence said.
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