WEST POINT – The Association of Graduates at West Point will present their Thayer Award to Elizabeth Dole during ceremonies on Thursday, September 21.
Dole has served as a US senator, a cabinet member for two presidential administrations, and the president of the American Red Cross.
She became interested in public service as the assistant to the secretary of Health, Education and Welfare in 1967.
Dole was the first woman to be appointed US Secretary of Transportation, as well as the first woman to have served as the head of a branch of the US military.
In 2000, she became the first female candidate for presidential nomination under a major political party, and became the first woman to represent North Carolina in the US Senate two years later.
“I have been inspired by so many of the accomplished servant leaders who have also accepted this award, including my late husband, Bob Dole, just as I continue to be inspired by the bravery and determination of the young Americans who join West Point’s alumni each year, this rising generation of Army leaders,” Dole said.
Past recipients of the Thayer award, established in honor of Col. Sylvanus Thauer, “Fdather of the Military Academy,” include Dwight D. Eisenhower, Douglas MacArthur, Bob Hope, Neil Armstrong, Barbara Jordon, Walter Cronkite, Tom Brokaw, Colin Powell, Madeleine Albright, Henry Kissinger and former President George W. Bush. Last year’s recipient was philanthropist Ken Fisher.
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