Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) announced Thursday that the name of his one-time rival for the Democratic presidential nod, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), will be placed in nomination along with his at the Denver convention later this month.

In a joint statement released by the Obama and Clinton press offices, the Obama campaign said it encouraged the move to show unity in the party and to recognize the “historic race she ran” as the first viable female presidential contender.

Obama and Clinton fought bitterly for the Democratic party nomination, which all but concluded June 3 when Obama shored up enough pledged delegates to claim victory.

“I am convinced that honoring Senator Clinton’s historic campaign in this way will help us celebrate this defining moment in our history and bring the party together in a strong united fashion,” Obama said in the statement.

Speculation over how the former opponents would handle the upcoming convention has been growing in recent weeks after Clinton told a crowd of supporters that she believed it would be a healing moment to allow her name to placed in nomination along with Obama’s. In so doing, Clinton then suggested that her supporters could still have their voices heard before coming together as a party to get behind Obama’s general election campaign.

The Denver convention kicks off Aug. 25 and runs through Aug. 28, when Obama accepts the Democratic nod for president.