Historians will have a field day with you. What makes for good copy now makes for vivid history later. They might be business historians telling how from a one-room office you built the company whose fifteen thousand employees in seventy-three countries transformed the financial information industry and altered the very geography of the American workplace. They might be political historian analyzing your three-time election as a candidate from outside the usual categories to one of the most visible and most challenging positions in government. They might be historians of the urban renaissance noting how American cities regained their swagger. They might be medical historians marveling that there actually had once been a time when it was acceptable to smoke in public spaces. They might be historians of immigration citing your strong advocacy of policy reform. They might be historians of climate change noting your leadership of cities around the world in reducing their carbon footprints. They might be historians of philanthropy writing of the watershed moment when people for the first time pledged publically to give away more than half of their wealth. They might even be social historians pinpointing the moment when leaders of courage finally, we dearly hope, turned the tragic tide of gun violence. The one thing we are sure of, Mr. Mayor, is that we will be talking about you for a very long time to come.
I hereby declare you recipient of the honorary degree Doctor of Laws, entitled to all the rights, honors, and privileges appertaining thereto.
June 8, 2014