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SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR, the first woman to serve as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, has committed her life to principled service to this country and the rule of law. For the 24 years Justice O'Connor served on the Supreme Court, she sought sensible outcomes on a case-by-case basis, becoming the "swing vote" on some of the most notable cases of the last two decades. Forbes Magazine described her as the fourth most powerful woman in the United States and the sixth most powerful woman in the world. Justice O'Connor, also known as a pragmatic woman devoid of pretense considers herself one of nine votes on the Supreme Court.
Master of Ceremonies Bill Kurtis presents
the first Lincoln Leadership Prize to Justice Sandra Day O'Connor
at a gala dinner on October 28, 2006.
ABOUT THE PRIZE
The Right Hand of Lincoln
In April 1860, Lincoln agreed to have the sculptor Leonard Wells Volk create a life mask in his Chicago studio. When Lincoln received the presidential nomination a month later, Volk decided to sculpt a life size figure of Lincoln. Traveling to Springfield, Illinois, in June, Volk wished to make castings of Lincoln's hands for visual reference. As Volk recalled, "the right hand appeared swollen as compared with the left on account of excessive hand-shaking the evening before." He also related Lincoln's explanation for the scar "it is true that I did split rails, and one day, while I was sharpening a wedge on a log, the ax glanced and nearly took my thumb off." The wooden dowel in Lincoln's hand is actually the top of a broom handle. Lincoln's excessive hand-shaking made it painful to make a fist and the broom handle made the task of casting his right hand much easier. These elements — Lincoln's hand and something as common as a broom handle — combine to produce a very powerful visual image. Jawaharlal Nehru kept a bronze copy of the cast hand on his desk as a source of inspiration.
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