Press Releases | Oct, 16 2019
WASHINGTON – On Oct. 30, 2019, the LBJ Foundation will award its most prestigious honor, the LBJ Liberty & Justice for All Award, to the Hon. Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives.
One of the most consequential political figures of her generation, Pelosi made history in 2007 when she was elected the first woman to serve as Speaker of the House. Pelosi made history again in January 2019 when she regained her position as second-in-line to the presidency, the first person to be renamed Speaker in over half a century.
Larry Temple, chairman of the LBJ Foundation, said: "For more than three decades, Nancy Pelosi has shown herself to be one of the most consequential congressional leaders since LBJ himself wielded power as the Senate Majority Leader. Speaker Pelosi embodies the beliefs that President Johnson held dear—that our mission in public service is to serve the common good and provide opportunity to all."
The LBJ Liberty & Justice for All Award will be held Wednesday, Oct. 30 at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington. Judy Woodruff, anchor and managing editor of PBS NewsHour, will serve as emcee, and the Hon. Ben Barnes will serve as event chair. Vice Chairs are the Hon. Lloyd Hand and Cappy McGarr.
"Just as LBJ was the master of the Senate, Speaker Pelosi has shown herself to be a master of the House," said Ben Barnes, who also serves as vice chairman of the LBJ Foundation.
Prominent guests expected to attend include Rep. John Lewis (D-GA); Luci Baines Johnson and Lynda Johnson Robb, daughters of President Johnson; and senior congressional leaders.
The Hon. Nancy Pelosi
Nancy Pelosi comes from a strong family tradition of public service. Her late father, Thomas D'Alesandro Jr., served as Mayor of Baltimore for 12 years, after representing the city for five terms in Congress. Her brother, Thomas D'Alesandro III, also served as Mayor of Baltimore.
But Pelosi has forged her own path in Congress. Among her many accomplishments, she led the House passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in early 2009 to create and save millions of American jobs and provide a tax cut to 95 percent of working Americans. Speaker Pelosi was the architect of the landmark Affordable Care Act, which has guaranteed protections for all Americans with preexisting medical conditions, ended annual and lifetime limits on health coverage, and provided affordable health coverage for tens of millions more Americans.
Speaker Pelosi also led the Congress in passing strong Wall Street reforms to rein in big banks and protect consumers, and the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, which expands educational opportunities and reforms the financial aid system to save billions of taxpayer dollars. Additional key legislation passed into law include the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to restore the ability of women and all workers to access our judicial system to fight pay discrimination; legislation to provide health care for 11 million American children; national service legislation; hate crimes legislation; an increase in the minimum wage for the first time in 10 years; the largest college aid expansion since the GI bill, and a new GI education bill for veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. As Speaker, Pelosi has made the climate crisis her flagship issue, enacting comprehensive energy legislation that raised vehicle fuel efficiency standards for the first time in 32 years.
LBJ Liberty & Justice for All Award
The LBJ Liberty & Justice for All Award honors the vision of Lyndon Baines Johnson's presidency and the transformative laws that gave it life: a belief that every citizen should enjoy the "full blessings of American life." President Johnson devoted his life to creating a nation where every American had the opportunity to succeed. His legislative achievements have helped to shape modern America. They include: the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, the Fair Housing Act of 1968, federal aid to education, freedom of information, and the creation of Head Start, Medicare, Medicaid, Job Corps, PBS and NPR, the National Endowments for the Arts and the Humanities, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The LBJ Foundation created the Liberty & Justice for All Award to honor individuals who exemplify President Johnson's commitment to foster liberty and justice as an endemic part of the American promise. Previous recipients include President Jimmy Carter, President George H. W. Bush, Sen. John McCain, Rep. John Lewis, Rep. John Dingell, Sen. Carl Levin, Rep. James Clyburn, former Attorney General Eric Holder, and philanthropist David Rubenstein. Proceeds from this year's event will benefit The LBJ School of Public Affairs, which will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2020. www.lbjaward.org
LBJ Foundation
The LBJ Foundation is a nonprofit organization created by President and Mrs. Johnson to support the LBJ Presidential Library and The LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin. The Foundation provides support to the Library that enhances quality programming, expands educational outreach and exhibits, and administers grants for researchers and scholars. The Foundation supports the LBJ School in the outstanding education that it provides its graduate students in public policy and governmental affairs. www.lbjfoundation.org
