Trump Posthumously Awards Charlie Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Accepted by His Widow at the White House Rose Garden
On October 14, 2025, at the White House in Washington, D.C., President Donald Trump posthumously awarded conservative activist Charlie Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, at a Rose Garden ceremony, with Kirk's widow Erika Kirk accepting the medal on his behalf; the day would have been Kirk's 32nd birthday. Introducing the award, Trump called Kirk a "fearless warrior for liberty" and said he had raced back from his Middle East trip, landing at the White House around 3 a.m., rather than move the ceremony.
Kirk, a co-founder of the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA, was shot and killed on September 10, 2025, while speaking at Utah Valley University in Utah, at age 31. A military aide reading the citation said the United States honors Kirk as "a martyr for truth and freedom." Accepting the medal, Erika Kirk said President Trump had given her husband "the best birthday gift he could ever have."
The same day, Trump signed a proclamation designating October 14, 2025, as a National Day of Remembrance for Charlie Kirk. The proclamation says Kirk was assassinated on the afternoon of September 10 in a campus courtyard, describes him as a father, a husband and a titan of the American conservative movement, and calls on Americans to assemble in their places of worship to pay homage to his memory and to pray for peace, truth and justice across the country.
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian honor given by the U.S. government, presented to people who have made an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to other significant public or private endeavors. Related: Charlie Kirk Fatally Shot While Speaking at Utah Valley University; Governor Calls It a Political Assassination
(Source: The White House)
Source: The White House
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：特朗普2025年10月14日在白宫玫瑰园把总统自由勋章交给 Erika Kirk，两人共同注视勋章盒。白宫，公共领域，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: President Trump presents the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Erika Kirk in the White House Rose Garden on October 14, 2025, as they look at the medal case together. The White House, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
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- 2025-10-14Trump Posthumously Awards Charlie Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Accepted by His Widow at the White House Rose GardenThis story
