President Donald Trump on Tuesday posthumously awarded America’s highest civilian honor to Charlie Kirk, the assassinated activist who inspired a generation of young conservatives and helped push the nation’s politics further toward conservatism.
The ceremony coincided with what would have been Kirk’s 32nd birthday. It comes just over a month after the Turning Point USA founder was fatally shot while speaking to a crowd at Utah Valley University.
In a sign of Kirk’s close ties to the administration, he is the first recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom in Trump’s second term.
The president also spoke at Kirk’s memorial in September, calling him a “great American hero” and “martyr” for freedom, while Vice President J.D. Vance accompanied his body home to Arizona on Air Force Two along with Kirk’s widow, Erika.
Watch the event here:
Trump wrote in a social media post hours before the event that he was moving the ceremony from the White House’s East Room to the Rose Garden to accommodate a crowd he said would be “so big and enthusiastic.”
The Presidential Medal of Freedom was established by President John F. Kennedy in 1963 for individuals making exceptional contributions to the country’s security or national interests, or to world peace, or being responsible for significant cultural endeavors or public and private initiatives.
Tuesday’s event followed Trump’s return to the U.S. in the pre-dawn hours after a whirlwind trip to Israel and Egypt to celebrate a cease-fire agreement in Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza that his administration was instrumental in brokering.
Trump has awarded a string of presidential medals going back to his first term, including to golf legend Tiger Woods, ex-football coach Lou Holtz, and conservative economist Arthur Laffer, as well as to Yankees Hall of Fame closer Mariano Rivera and conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh, the latter of which came during the 2020 State of the Union.
He awarded posthumous medals to Babe Ruth and Elvis Presley.
This term, Trump has also announced his intentions to award the medals to Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor and a close former adviser, and to Ben Carson, who served as Trump’s first-term secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
Kirk founded Turning Point USA in 2012. Trump has praised Kirk as one of the key reasons he was re-elected.
The Western Journal has reviewed this Associated Press story and may have altered it prior to publication to ensure that it meets our editorial standards.
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