BOSTON, MA – Former Vice President Mike Pence was recognized Sunday night for his actions against his then-boss President Donald Trump on January 6, 2021.
Pence received the profile of John F. Kennedy with the Courage Award for honoring Trump’s demands to throw away the results of the 2020 presidential election and instead refused to oversee Congressional certification for President Joe Biden’s election college victory.
“Vice President Pence put his life and family career on the line to carry out his constitutional responsibility. His actions maintain the basic democratic principle of free and fair elections, and we are proud to honor him.”
When accepting the annual awards, Pence emphasized that it was “a distinction between what I cherish for the rest of my life.”
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Former Vice President Mike Pence has admitted his staff to speak after receiving John F. Kennedy’s profile at the Courage Award at a ceremony at the JFK Library in Boston on Sunday, May 4, 2025. (AP photo/Robert F. Bucati)
And pointed out his actions on January 6th, the former vice president said, “I believe that that day I have always fulfilled my duties by God’s grace.”
In a digital interview with Fox News minutes after the awards ceremony, Pence said: “In my last four years of travel across the country, I am deeply humbled by how many Americans have come near me, robbed me of the points that encouraged us and supported us.
Pence, now 65, was Indiana governor in 2016 when Trump nominated him as his running mate. For four years, Pence served as Trump’s loyal vice president during his first term as president at the White House.
However, on January 6, 2021, everything was changed, including those chanting right-wing extremists (Mike Pence) — stormed the US Capitol with the aim of overseeing Congressional certifications, which were overseen by Pence as part of his constitutional duties as vice president of Biden’s election college victory.
The attack on the Capitol came shortly after Trump spoke to a massive rally of supporters near the White House about proven claims that the 2020 election was “equipped” for a massive “voter fraud.”
Pence has long described violent attacks on the Capitol as stigmatizing to “tragic” and “millions of people who supported our cause across the country.” He emphasized that he did “the right thing” and fulfilled his “duty under the Constitution.” He also pointed out multiple times that he and Trump “never make eye contact that day.”
In this January 6th, 2021 photo, protesters loyal to President Donald Trump will storm the Capitol in Washington, DC (AP Photo/John Minkiro)
Pence, his family and top aides were rushed and moved by a secret service agent as the rioters roamed the Capitol hall, but Trump in a social media post claimed that “Mike Pence had no courage to do what he had to do to protect our country and our constitution.”
Pence refused the Secret Service’s advice to escape from the Capitol and after the rioters were eventually taken out of the Capitol, he resumed his constitutional role in overseeing the Congress Certification Certification Certification.
The former vice president repeatedly rebutted Trump’s claim that it could overturn the outcome of the presidential election. Nevertheless, hardcore Trump loyalists have never forgiven Pence, whom they consider to be a traitor, for their refusal to support the president’s repeated efforts to overturn the 2020 election outcome.
Former Vice President Mike Pence officially announced his candidacy for Ankeny, Iowa, on June 7, 2023 (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)
In June 2023, Pence launched his own presidential campaign, joining a large challenger of Trump’s challengers for a 2024 GOP nomination, becoming the first running companion to face the former boss for over 80 years.
Pence ran on a traditional, conservative platform, framing the Republican future against what he called the rise of party’s “populism.”
Among the slim Republican anti-Trump bases, Pence praised his courage during his attacks on the Capitol and was often thanked Town Hall during his standing campaign against Trump.
Pence regularly campaigned in key early voting states in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, but his White House bid never took off. Having struggled with polls and fundraising, he halted his campaign just four and a half months after declaring his candidacy.
Former Vice President Mike Pence will speak after receiving the John F. Kenney Profile Award at the JFK Library in Boston, Massachusetts on May 4, 2025.
The Profile in Courage Award was named after the late John F. Kennedy book published in 1957 before he became president.
The award honors civil servants who take a principled position despite potential political or personal consequences. Among the previous winners were former Presidents Barack Obama, George HW Bush and Gerald Ford.
Jack Schlossberg, the grandson of JFK who introduced the former vice president at the awards ceremony, said Pence “saved America that day.”
Former Vice President Mike Pence is standing second from the right with his wife, Karen Pence. He will be awarded at a ceremony at the JFK Library in Boston on Sunday, May 4, 2025, on the profile of John F. Kennedy of Courage by Jack Schlossberg and his mother, Caroline Kennedy. (AP photo/Robert F. Bucati)
Caroline Kennedy praised the former vice president and pointed out her “political differences” and Pence, but emphasized that “political courage is not outdated in the United States.”
And Pence, a well-known financial and social conservative, joked about speaking in front of a Democratic-controlled audience, saying he was “a minority in this room.”
After dropping his own bid for the White House, Pence refused to support Trump, even after Trump closed out his GOP nomination last spring, but congratulated his former running mate after his victory last November.
Trump and Pence were seen shaking hands at the funeral of former President Jimmy Carter in early January.
Trump, Pence shakes handshakes at Carter’s funeral at first public meeting since resignation
Former Vice President Al Gore (left) watches shaking hands with then-President Donald Trump and President Donald Trump before the state funeral for the late President Jimmy Carter at Washington National Cathedral in Washington, DC on January 9, 2025.
Pence has so far emerged as a Republican critic of a rare voice against Trump during his presidential second mission tour at the White House.
He criticised Trump’s controversial, massive tariff implementation on America’s biggest trading partner, initially causing a massive stock market sale, raising concerns about rising inflation and a recession talk.
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He also criticized the president’s longstanding restraint on American foreign policy, urging Trump to stand with his longtime international allies.
Pence’s public advocacy group to advance American freedom led the country’s health agency in opposition to the appointment of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Paul Steinhauser is a political reporter based in New Hampshire.
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