Profiles in Courage

 

 

Profiles in Courage is a 1956 volume of short biographies describing acts of bravery and integrity by eight United States senators. The book, authored by 

John F. Kennedy with Ted Sorensen as a ghostwriter, profiles senators who defied the opinions of their party and constituents to do what they felt was right and suffered severe criticism and losses in popularity as a result.

 It begins with a quotation from Edmund Burke on the courage of the English statesman Charles James Fox, in his 1783 "attack upon the tyranny of the East India Company" in the House of Commons, and focuses on mid-19th-century antebellum America and the efforts of senators to delay the American Civil War. Profiles in Courage was widely celebrated and became a bestseller. It includes a foreword by Allan Nevins.

John F. Kennedy, then a U.S. senator, won the Pulitzer Prize for the work. However, in his 2008 autobiography, Kennedy's speechwriter Ted Sorensen, who was presumed as early as 1957 to be the book's ghostwriter, acknowledged that he "did a first draft of most chapters" and "helped choose the words of many of its sentences". Jules Davids, who was a history professor for Kennedy's wife Jacqueline when she was a student at Georgetown University, is also acknowledged to have made key contributions to the historical research and organizational planning for the book.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Profiles_in_Courage

 In 1990, Kennedy's family created the Profile in Courage Award to honor individuals who have acted with courage in the same vein as those profiled in the book. The book also served as the basis for an American historical anthology series of the same name that was telecast weekly on NBC from November 8, 1964, to May 9, 1965.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Profile_in_Courage_Award

The Profile in Courage Award was first awarded in 1990. The majority of the recipients are elected officials.

         

Although the Profile in Courage Award is a private award created by the Kennedy family, the federal government also has awards for people who displayed acts of courage.

Yesterday, President Biden awarded the Presidential Citizens Award to 20 people, including Liz Cheney and Bennie Thompson, both of whom served on the January 6 committee. The Presidential Citizens Award is the second highest award given by the government.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidential_Citizens_Medal

If you click on the link above, you can view all of the recipients of the award, and some of them were awarded after their death. Some of the people on the list are still alive, but have received death threats. Liz Cheney and Rusty Bowers are two examples.

The Presidential Citizens Medal is an award bestowed by the president of the United States. It is the second-highest civilian award in the United States and is second only to the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Established by executive order on November 13, 1969, by President Richard Nixon, it recognizes an individual "who has performed exemplary deeds or services for his or her country or fellow citizens." Only United States citizens are eligible for the medal, which may be awarded posthumously.

The medal is a disc of gilt and enamel, based on the seal of the president of the United States, with the eagle surrounded by a wreath of leaves. The medal is suspended on a ribbon, dark blue with a light blue central stripe and white edge stripes. Despite being a civilian award, it may be worn on some military uniforms.

In 1973, Roberto Clemente was the first person to receive the award due to his charity work. He died in a plane crash in 1972 while he was attempting to deliver aid to earthquake victims in Nicaragua.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidential_Medal_of_Freedom

The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award of the United States, alongside the Congressional Gold Medal. It is an award bestowed by decision of the president of the United States to "any person recommended to the President for award of the Medal or any person selected by the President upon his own initiative, and was created to recognize people who have made "an especially meritorious contribution to (1) the security or national interests of the United States, or (2) world peace, or (3) cultural or other significant public or private endeavors."

The award is not limited to U.S. citizens, and, while it is a civilian award, it can also be awarded to military personnel and worn on the uniform. It was established in 1963 by President John F. Kennedy, superseding the Medal of Freedom that was initially established by President Harry S. Truman in 1945 to honor civilian service.

President Barack Obama awarded 118 medals, the most of any president, followed by President Bill Clinton with 89 medal recipients. Two people, Ellsworth Bunker and Colin Powell, are two-time recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Colin Powell received his second award with Distinction, while Ellsworth Bunker was given both of his awards with Distinction

Since its creation in 1963, the award has gone to 652 people, and eight of them were U.S. Presidents.

2 of the people who were nominated by Donald Trump have declined the award:

Bill Belichick. coach of the New England Patriots, was offered the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Donald Trump, and initially accepted it, but changed his mind and turned down the medal after the January 6 United States Capitol attack.

Country musician Dolly Parton turned down the medal twice from Donald Trump. Parton said she turned it down the first time because her husband was ill, and the second time because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

For a lot of reasons, these are trying times for our country, and not everyone has the courage to do what is right for our country.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/04/us/politics/fear-trump.html

No president since has deployed fear quite like Donald J. Trump. Whether it is the prospect of a crime wave at the border with Mexico or nuclear war with North Korea, President Trump has persuaded his supporters that there is plenty to fear beyond fear itself.

In an interview as a presidential candidate in 2016 with Bob Woodward and Robert Costa of The Washington Post, Mr. Trump said, “Real power is — I don’t even want to use the word — fear.”

As president, he initially tried to intimidate some of the nation’s strongest allies, including Canada, Mexico, Britain, France and Germany, in trade talks. He demanded political loyalty from Republicans in Congress and drove several who bucked him from office, notably Senators Bob Corker and Jeff Flake. But as his presidency enters its third year, a less convenient truth is emerging: Few outside the Republican Party are afraid of him, and they may be less intimidated after the disastrous government shutdown.

The New York times article poster above was released in 2019, but it is still true today.

There are still plenty of people in Congress who are afraid of Trump, but the recent negotiations about a potential government shutdown have shown that there ARE people in congress who are still brave enough to protect us from Donald Trump, even if they never receive any awards for doing so.

That should be a source of comfort for all of us.