Senator Tammy Duckworth
First Thai Inductee, Recipient of the Purple Heart. Elected official and AAPI social justice leader
YEAR INDUCTED
2022
CATEGORY
Law & Policy
Senator Tammy Duckworth is the country’s second female Asian American senator, elected to the U.S. Senate in 2016 to represent Illinois’s Eighth Congressional District. She is an Iraq War Veteran, and former assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs who previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives for two terms. A Purple Heart recipient, Duckworth was among the first Army women to fly combat missions during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2004. She lost both legs when her helicopter was struck. Tammy Duckworth was born in Bangkok, Thailand, to a mother of Chinese heritage and a father of British descent who did refugee work for the United Nations. She earned her undergraduate degree at the University of Hawaii and a Master of Arts in International Affairs at George Washington University. Senator Duckworth and her husband, Bryan, have two daughters, Abigail and Maile.
HALL OF FAME ESSAY
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“Healing is always possible and the lowest moments can lead to the greatest heights.”
– TAMMY DUCKWORTH
