On Sunday, former Vice President Mike Pence received the JFK Profile in Courage Award in Boston, Massachusetts.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00And now it is my honor to welcome Vice President Mike Pence to the stage to receive the 2025 Profile and Courage Award.
01:20Ambassador Caroline Kennedy and Jack, thank you so much for those overly generous words.
01:26And to all of you for that warm welcome.
01:28I must tell you, Caroline and Jack, your father and grandfather, has been a hero of mine since my youth.
01:37And to be associated in any way with President Kennedy's legacy, with his ideals, is a distinguished...
01:46It's a distinction that I will cherish for the rest of my life.
01:55I must confess to a little bit of anxiety about coming tonight.
02:09Karen and I thought we might just be a category of two.
02:21But then we heard that David Letterman would be here, and so there would be three Hoosiers in the room.
02:27And so I want to thank you all for the warm welcome.
02:30But honestly, to those gathered here tonight, Governor Healey, the other governors, including my dear friend, Governor Charlie Baker, his wife, Lauren.
02:43The Taoiseach Varadkar, Senator Markey, Senator Dodd, the congressmen that are present, the members of the Library Foundation, all the distinguished guests tonight.
02:53Let me say, I am profoundly humbled by this recognition and deeply honored by your presence here tonight.
03:02You know, one of the earliest memories I have as a boy in a small town in southern Indiana was sitting on the floor of our living room.
03:12On the carpet, watching our black and white television, as the caisson and the click-clop of the horses sounded, carried the body of our fallen president to Arlington National Cemetery.
03:30I remember it to this day.
03:34Above that television hung a picture of the Pope.
03:39And of John F. Kennedy.
03:47It was President Kennedy's eloquence and example that first inspired me to believe that public service was a noble calling.
03:55So 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.
04:09It was a great honor to serve as your vice president through all the history that we made.
04:24But the truth is, I feel profoundly unworthy to be associated with this award or the Americans enshrined in President Kennedy's storybook.
04:35When I think of that fateful day four years ago, the only heroes I saw were wearing uniforms.
04:42And while I cannot see myself among those noteworthy Americans in the President's book, I will say that the words of John Quincy Adams spoke to my heart.
05:02And page 30, where he wrote in his diary that he had prayed, in his words, that the spirit from whom every good and perfect gift might enable him to render an essential service to the country and to never be governed in his public conduct by any consideration other than duty.
05:28I will always believe, by God's grace, I did my duty that day to support the peaceful transfer of power under the Constitution of the United States of America.
05:47The Bible says he keeps his oath even when it hurts.
06:17I know something about that.
06:23So in accepting this award, I hope you permit me to give honor and glory to the one who gave me grace and strength to see that day through, my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
06:36Secondly, we have a saying back in Indiana.
06:40And when you see a box turtle on a fence post, one thing you know for sure, he had help getting there.
06:48So I want to share this recognition tonight with some very special people.
06:55First and foremost, my beloved wife and our former Second Lady, Karen Pence.
07:02She's as strong as she is beautiful.
07:12And I've been on Team Karen for 40 years.
07:16Caroline, I'm grateful that you mentioned that history should record that along with our daughter, Karen refused to leave the Capitol that day as well.
07:32Thank you for your service to America every day of our lives together.
07:37I love you.
07:42And secondly, to our brave daughter, Charlotte, and her husband, Navy Lieutenant Henry Bond.
07:50To our Marine Corps son, Major Michael Pence, and his wife, Sarah.
07:57To our daughter, Audrey Pence Tominelli, and her husband, Dan.
08:03Thank you, guys, for your steadfast love and for being at my side every day that we served, including that day.
08:13And to our entire family back home in Indiana.
08:24And I remember my late father, a Korean War veteran named Ed Pence.
08:30And to my first-generation Irish-American mother.
08:36Ninety-two years young, watching at home.
08:45Thanks for teaching me to love this country as much as you do, Mom.
08:49I love you.
08:57And to three men who stood by me through that fateful day,
09:01including my brother, Congressman Greg Pence.
09:05And two remarkably principled men who are joining us here tonight with their spouses.
09:14My former chief of staff, Mark Short, my general counsel, Greg Jacob, stood in the pocket in those fateful days and never wavered.
09:27If history remembers any of our service, I pray history will remember your indispensable counsel and courage during those fateful days in the life of our nation.
09:40And finally, I want to thank the people of Indiana and America, not just for the privilege to serve and for your prayers, but for the words of encouragement over the last four years.
10:06People speaking a word of gratitude from every political background that I've heard over and over again, including through this special evening.
10:25Thank you all.
10:26It was my great honor to serve you.
10:28Every public servant in America takes the same oath.
10:40I hope I've been to.
10:43I want to thank you all for that.
10:47And unfortunately we're speaking for you.
10:48Okay.
10:49And today, I'm your son.
10:50Today, I'm your son.
10:51I hope you owe you a great honor to come up with me.
10:52Thank you all.
10:53You saw your son.
10:54You're your son.
10:55You're he's been a bad man.
10:56You're telling me, you're my son.
10:57You're my son.
10:58You're my son.
10:59You're my son.
11:00And you're the niets.
11:01without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion.
11:05And you pledge to well and faithfully discharge the duties
11:08of the office of which you're about to enter.
11:14And it ends with a prayer.
11:18So help me God.
11:23My Marine Corps son once reminded me,
11:26Dad, you took the same oath I took.
11:28Nothing else matters.
11:34January 6th was a tragic day,
11:37but it became a triumph of freedom.
11:42And history will record that our institutions held
11:45when, after law enforcement secured the Capitol,
11:50leaders in both chambers, in both political parties,
11:54reconvened the very same day
11:57and finished democracy's work under the Constitution.
12:07Winston Churchill once said,
12:09when great forces are on the move in the world,
12:11we learn that we are spirits, not animals.
12:14There's something going on in time and space
12:16and beyond time and space.
12:18Whether we like it or not spells duty.
12:25Our institutions held that day,
12:26not because of any one person,
12:29but because leaders in both political parties,
12:32Republicans and Democrats,
12:34did their duty.
12:35So I came tonight to give credit where credit is due.
12:42But also to say in these divided times,
12:45in these anxious days,
12:47I know in my heart that we will find our way forward
12:52as one nation.
12:53Now, people who know me know I'm a conservative,
13:00but I'm not in a bad mood about it.
13:07I believe in a strong defense,
13:09limited government, the right to life,
13:10and I'm going to go out on a limb
13:12and say that might put me in the minority in this realm.
13:14But I also have differences with members of my own party
13:19on spending and tariffs
13:21and my belief that America is the leader of the free world
13:26and must continue to stand with Ukraine
13:30until the Russian invasion is repelled
13:34and a just and lasting peace is secure.
13:37So we all have our differences.
14:01But I will always believe
14:02that there is more that unites us in this country
14:04than could ever divide us.
14:07Sometimes I tell people,
14:09you get 15 miles out of Washington, D.C.,
14:12the people in this country
14:13actually get along pretty well.
14:17Because at the end of the day,
14:18for most Americans,
14:19it's about our families,
14:21it's about our kids,
14:23about our grandkids.
14:27Karen and I just learned this weekend
14:30that we're going to have a new grandson
14:32come this fall.
14:34That makes five.
14:37Americans long just to make an honest living,
14:41to live, to work, to worship,
14:43according to the dictates of their conscience.
14:46But to forge a future together,
14:49we have to find common ground.
14:56And I hope in some small way,
14:58my presence here tonight is a reminder
15:01that whatever differences we may have as Americans,
15:07the Constitution is the common ground
15:09on which we stand.
15:21It's what binds us together across time
15:23and across generations.
15:25It levels every barrier of race
15:26and creed and religion.
15:30It's what makes us one people,
15:32one family.
15:35And I believe the Constitution
15:36is the foundation on which we can forge
15:40a future of security and prosperity
15:42for all of the American people.
15:44And as I stand before you tonight,
15:48deeply humbled by this honor,
15:50I want to assure you that
15:52I know we will forge that future.
15:57For I have faith.
16:01You know, in all my travels
16:02as your Vice President
16:04and as a Governor
16:07and a Congressman,
16:08I've seen the American people
16:11in good times and bad.
16:14Farmers, factory workers,
16:16doctors, and nurses
16:17rising to the challenge
16:20to make a living,
16:21to love their neighbors.
16:24I've also seen our people
16:25in the wake of tragedy,
16:28hurricanes, wildfires,
16:31and losses of human origin.
16:34And I am convinced
16:37that the American people
16:41are the most faithful,
16:43resilient, hardworking,
16:46generous, and patriotic people
16:48the world has ever known.
16:55I have faith
16:56in the countless Americans
16:57who make this country work every day.
17:00And so should you.
17:02People who get up every morning,
17:04put in an honest day's work,
17:05look after their families,
17:07do the right thing
17:07when nobody's watching,
17:09and never get a chance
17:10for a night like this.
17:15I want you to know we see you.
17:19We honor you.
17:21And we know you are the ones
17:23that make America great
17:25and always will.
17:34And I have that other kind
17:37of faith as well.
17:40Above the mantle in our home
17:41since before our first
17:43successful election
17:4425 years ago,
17:47there's a framed parchment
17:48Karen gave me.
17:51There's the words
17:52of the prophet Jeremiah
17:53and reads,
17:55for I know the plans
17:56I have for you.
17:58Plans to prosper you
18:00and not to harm you.
18:02Plans to give you
18:02a hope and a future.
18:06God is not done
18:07with America yet.
18:10And I believe
18:11with all my heart
18:12if we'll turn our hearts
18:16to him,
18:18as President Kennedy said,
18:21ask his blessing
18:22and help
18:23make his work
18:25on Earth our own.
18:29America's best days
18:31are yet to come.
18:34So help us God.
18:37Thank you for this honor.
18:39May God bless the memory
18:40of President John F. Kennedy
18:42and God bless you all.
19:10God bless you all.