CAMBRIDGE, Mass - Sen. Edward Kennedy, battling a life-threatening form of brain cancer, received an honorary degree from Harvard University on Monday, joining an elite group that includes Nelson Mandela, Winston Churchill and George Washington.

“There is no other time that I would rather receive this honor than this year at this turning point in American history,” Kennedy told a packed crowd that included Vice President-elect Joe Biden in Harvard’s 1,166-seat Sanders Theatre after flashing a thumbs-up to loud applause.

The liberal giant and patriarch of America’s most storied political family was to have received the degree at a commencement ceremony last spring but was recuperating from brain surgery at the time.

“I am moved and deeply grateful to my university,” Kennedy said, noting that 100 years ago in September his father entered Harvard as a freshman to be followed by a new generation of Kennedys including his two assassinated brothers.

Kennedy, 76, quoted from slain President John Kennedy while defending the liberal politics that are a trademark of the Massachusetts’ Democrat since he entered Congress as the nation’s youngest senator at age 30 in 1962.

“I have often been called a liberal, and it usually was not meant to be a compliment. But I remember what my brother said about liberalism shortly before he was elected president.

“He said if by a liberal they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people, their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, their civil liberties, someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicion that grips us. If that is what they mean by liberal, I am proud to be a liberal,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy was expelled from Harvard College in the 1950s for cheating. He served two years in the Army and got his Harvard degree on a second try in 1956.

Kennedy had surgery on June 2 after being diagnosed with a type of malignant brain tumor that typically kills within three years. He returned to the Senate on Nov. 17 for the first time since July and pledged to work next year to expand health care for all Americans.

“He is a fierce fighter but an even fiercer friend,” said Harvard President Drew Faust. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer applauded Kennedy’s years of service. “Thank you for caring so much, about so many for so long,” he said.

 - Photo credit: Reuters/Brian Snyder (Kennedy waves to crowd)