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Ukraine's Zelensky gets John F. Kennedy award for defending democracy

Four US officials also chosen for standing up for free and fair elections

Published: Thu 21 Apr 2022, 7:36 PM

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is among five people named Thursday as recipients of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for acting to protect democracy.

Zelensky was chosen because of the way he has “marshalled 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 US 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 honour 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.”



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