Former U.S. Senator Joe Manchin III of West Virginia received the James Madison Award for Distinguished Public Service on Saturday afternoon from the American Whig-Cliosophic Society.
Whig-Clio hosted a ceremony in McCosh Hall 10, which seats about 350, in front of an audience of 70 students, faculty, parents, and staff.
The event recognized Manchin III for more than four decades in public life. He served as West Virginia’s governor from 2005 to 2010, before being elected to the Senate from 2010 to 2025. Up until he left the Hill in 2024, he was West Virginia’s only congressional Democrat.
Past recipients of the award include former Supreme Court Justices Earl Warren and Antonin Scalia, President Jimmy Carter, General Mark Milley ’80, former Prime Minister of Israel Golda Meir, and Senator Ted Cruz ’92.
Samuel Kligman ’26, president of Whig-Clio, opened the event’s proceedings by reaffirming the University’s commitment to freedom of expression, emphasizing that the James Madison Ward “lies at the heart of our [the society’s] mission to honor those who dedicated their lives to the betterment of society.”
Following Kligman, Whig-Clio Vice President Khoa Sands ’26 introduced Manchin, describing him as “a public servant who has never shied away from bipartisanship, even in an increasingly polarized era.” Sands also highlighted Mancin’s “devotion to both environmental sustainability and economic growth”.
In his acceptance speech, Manchin told the audience his understanding of public service grew from the values instilled in him by the community of his hometown, Farmington, W.Va.
“When I think about public service, I don’t think about Washington, D.C., the Senate, or Congress, or any other political arena. I think about my old town,” Manchin said. “I want you to think about where you came from, because you are who you are because of where you were raised. That’s been my North Star.”
Manchin also attributed much of his political outlook to his grandparents, immigrants from the Czech Republic who owned a small grocery store. He reflected on one of his grandmother’s aphorisms: “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”
The former senator mixed humor with reflection, calling his West Virginia upbringing “privileged,” because he was “born to a loving family.”
In his last years in the Senate during the Biden administration, Manchin was the most conservative member of the Democrats’ fragile caucus. With only 50 Democratic votes, Manchin’s defection was enough to sink any bill.
Manchin was also a staunch defender of the filibuster, a procedural threshold in the Senate that effectively requires a bill to have 60 votes to pass. On Saturday, Manchin defended his decision to preserve the filibuster, referencing a 2021 opinion he published in the Washington Post.
“I guarantee on the life of my children and grandchildren, I’ll never vote to get rid of the filibuster,” he said. “That’s how much I believe in checks and balances,” he said.
Additionally, Manchin called for sweeping institutional reforms, including term limits for both chambers of Congress.
“Senators shouldn’t be there longer than two, six-year terms. Congress should be capped at 12 years total, and the president should serve one six-year term,” Manchin said. “A president should never run for re-election. Do your job from the first day as commander in chief to the last day. And the Supreme Court should be one 18-year term period.”
Manchin had previously articulated this position during his last year in the Senate.
During a question-and-answer session, students and other attendees probed Manchin on issues ranging from energy policy to gun violence.
In response to a question on balancing environmental goals with economic livelihoods, Manchin said there must be “a balance” between the two. Addressing the current national debate over fuel sources sometimes framed as a “war on coal,” Manchin told the audience the Obama administration had set clean energy benchmarks the country “couldn’t hit because the technology wasn’t there.”
Manchin expressed his belief that increasing focus on renewable energy could have profound consequences on coal industry employment.
“You’re driving people out of their job, and you’re not replacing it with anything,” Manchin said. “You can’t leave people behind, especially those who have a historical background of bringing this country to where it is.”
He pointed to his work on the Inflation Reduction Act as an example of that balance.
“I knew that we could produce the energy that we needed better, using fossil [fuels], and cleaner than ever’s been used in the world today,” he said.
After the question and answer session, Manchin was greeted with warm applause and joined attendees for a reception in the Whig Hall lounge.
In an interview with the ‘Prince’ following the event, Kligman spoke more about the significance of the award, which is traditionally given to an individual “who has dedicated their life and their career to public service.”
Sands, who coordinated much of the event, said it took “many months of work with the University and with the Whig-Clio trustees.” He expressed gratitude to the University’s Office of Government Affairs for logistical support in bringing Manchin to campus.
“We try to give the award to people who serve as a model for students of what a life in public service looks like,” Kligman said.
Andrew Arthur is a staff News writer from London, England and is on general assignment.
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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