Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, vowing to heal wounds still festering from their White House scrap, have agreed to submit her name to a vote at this month's nominating convention.
The symbolic vote will allow the former first lady's supporters to have their say at the 25-28 August convention in Denver.
It is hoped that the party can move on to take the fight to Republican John McCain.
But it could also bring lingering tensions bubbling back to the fore, with pro-Clinton groups angered at her primary loss already planning to rally in Denver ahead of Senator Obama's coronation on 27 August.
The decision means that delegates in Denver will hold a roll-call vote to formally enter Mrs Clinton's achievement - she won nearly 18m primary votes - into the record.
The race ran all the way into June, and Senator Clinton came up just short in the delegate count as party grandees known as superdelegates rallied behind Barack Obama to be the Democratic champion for November's presidential election.
In a YouTube video from a California fundraiser last month, Mrs Clinton told her supporters that a roll-call vote would provide catharsis for the Democratic Party after its months-long nominating fight.
Hillary Clinton herself is due to address the convention in prime-time on 26 August.
Her husband, former president Bill Clinton, will speak on the next night, when the ballot takes place.
After the ballot, Mr Obama's vice presidential nominee is scheduled to address the delegates.
Hillary Clinton's billing the night before would appear to preclude her from being the VP pick and many of her more diehard supporters say the only way they will countenance voting for Mr Obama is with her on the ticket.
