Biden honors former LI Rep. Carolyn McCarthy with Presidential Citizens Medal

WASHINGTON — Former Long Island Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, who served in the House for 18 years, was honored Thursday at the White House with the Presidential Citizens Medal.

McCarthy's granddaughter Grace McCarthy accepted the award from President Joe Biden on her grandmother's behalf at a ceremony that also honored 19 other recipients including former Rep. Liz Cheney (R- Wyo.) and former Sen. Bill Bradley (D-N.J.), a Basketball Hall of Famer with the New York Knicks. The White House said the medal "is awarded to citizens of the United States of America who have performed exemplary deeds of service for their country or their fellow citizens.”

The president, in a written statement, described McCarthy, a nurse turned gun control crusader, as someone who "had an instinct to heal and serve."

McCarthy, 80, first rose to national prominence as a gun control advocate after her husband, Dennis, was among six passengers killed during the December 1993 Long Island Rail Road shooting. Her son, Kevin, was among 19 passengers severely wounded, and the one-time nurse soon found herself as a national figure in the gun control movement.

She was elected to the House in 1997 to represent New York’s 4th Congressional District and would become a point person for House Democrats on gun control legislation during her time in office.

"When her husband and son were shot on a local commuter train, she became an advocate so persuasive that she was recruited to run for Congress," the White House said in a statement announcing the award. "She served 18 years, championing gun safety measures including improved background checks, as a citizen legislator devoted to protecting our Nation’s welfare."

McCarthy announced her retirement in January 2014, months after disclosing she had lung cancer and was receiving chemotherapy treatments.

"It was my time to go. It was my time to let new voices come in. It was my time to let someone else be the voice for my constituents," McCarthy told Newsday in an interview at the time.

McCarthy's daughter-in-law, Leslie, and McCarthy's brother and sister-in-law, Tom and Marita Cook, also attended the ceremony.

Leslie McCarthy, speaking to Newsday after the ceremony, said the former lawmaker tapped her granddaughter to accept the award in part because like Biden she is a graduate of the University of Delaware.

Asked how McCarthy was doing after years out of the spotlight, her brother told Newsday: "She's doing OK. She's hanging in there for her age. It's just too hard for her to travel right now."

Cook said he was proud to celebrate his sister, saying the recognition represented "everything she's gone through in life, and what she's done for New York and the country."

At the ceremony, Biden also commended Cheney and fellow medal recipient Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), who served as co-chairs of the U.S. House Select Committee on the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Cheney, a fierce critic of President-elect Donald Trump, and Thompson received a standing ovation from the audience.

"Our democracy begins and ends with the duties of citizenship," Biden said at the ceremony. "That's our work for the ages. That's what all of you — and I mean this — all of you embody."

By Laura Figueroa Hernandez

laura.figueroa@newsday.com@Laura_Figueroa

Laura Figueroa Hernandez is the White House correspondent and previously covered New York City politics and government. She joined Newsday in 2012 after covering state and local politics for The Miami Herald.