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Biden to honor Kennedy at Harvard

Posted by Foon Rhee, deputy national political editor December 1, 2008 09:33 AM

Vice president-elect Joe Biden, right after being at President-elect Barack Obama's side for his unveiling of his national security team this morning, will head for a special convocation at Harvard honoring Senator Edward M. Kennedy.

Biden will be representing Obama, who filled in for Kennedy at a commencement address at Wesleyan University in Connecticut earlier this year. Kennedy provided a key early endorsement for Obama, and also spoke at the Democratic National Convention, despite battling brain cancer.

Today's ceremony at Harvard will also feature university President Drew Faust and Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer as speakers, and musical performances by cellist Yo-Yo Ma and Harvard students. Kennedy will join an elite group who has received honorary degrees at special Harvard convocations, including George Washington, Andrew Jackson, James Monroe, Winston Churchill, and Nelson Mandela. Kennedy had been scheduled to receive the degree at Harvard's commencement last spring but could not attend because he was recuperating from brain surgery.

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