JFK's book: A lesson for senators to ponder

We’ve been getting a lot of email letters not just for the Christmas holidays but many comments about our previous articles. One faithful reader, Bobby Tordesillas asked me if I was able to read the book “Profiles of Courage” written by the late US President John F. Kennedy. Knowing that I’m a Kennedy fan, Bobby thought that I have read JFK’s book. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to read that book, but since Tordesillas has a copy, I asked him to re-read it and send me a letter to find out what the message JFK wanted to impart. So as promised, here’s Bobby Tordesillas’ letter.

“Dear Bobit, As the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Corona approaches, and the nation faces a crossroad between a stronger or a weaker democracy, this reminds me very much of the Pulitzer Prize winning book written by one of America’s greatest president, John F. Kennedy. The book is entitled “Profiles of Courage” and JFK wrote it while he was still a Senator and bedridden in the hospital.

The book was an inspiring narration of eight United States Senators, elected by JFK to personify grace under pressure. JFK wrote, “And these are the stories of the pressures experienced by eight United States Senators and grace with which they endured them — the risks to their careers, the unpopularity of their courses and the defamation of their characters” (p. 1 of Profiles of Courage) and may I add, even risk to their lives.

These senators faced up to the pressures from their fellow senators, pressures from their constituents and pressures from desires to be reelected while they were in pursuit of what they consider the right direction the nation should move to. They could have opted for a second best course of action or a politically happy compromise, but they didn’t.

In the process and because they chose to speak up, they were vilified by the majority of their fellow Senators, castigated by the media and even disowned by their own constituents. But because of the decisions they chose to make, their country’s democracy had become stronger and their nation greater. And history had judged them the better men. These heroes include, John Quincy Adams, Daniel Webster, Lucius Lamar, George Norris, Thomas Hart Benton, Sam Houston, Edmund G. Ross and Robert A. Taft.

John Quincy Adams for instance “gave up a promising Senatorial career to stand by the nation” (ibid). He firmly believed that the “magistrate is the servant not of his own desires, not even of the people, but of his God” (p. 37). He later became the Independent President of the United States. George Norris fought against the strong and often dictatorial leadership of his own party.

Daniel Webster, considered by some as one of the most talented figures in the congressional history of America, preferred to risk his career than risk the unity of the nation. He was viciously attacked by several newspapers but he would not back down and spoke impassionately for three hours for the noble cause of the union. John F. Kennedy said, “One man can make a difference and every man should try.”

This was illustrated no better than in the case of Edmund G. Ross, who saved President Andrew Johnson from impeachment by his singular vote. Because of this, his political career was over. Yet, “those political leaders who had bitterly denounced him in earlier years praised Ross for his stand against legislative mob rule. ‘But the firmness and courage of Senator Ross.’

“It was said, ‘The country was saved from calamity greater than war, while it consigned him to a political martyrdom, the most cruel in our history... Ross was the victim of wild flame of intolerance, which swept everything before it. He did his duty knowing that this meant his political death. He acted for his conscience and with lofty patriotism, regardless of what he knew must be the ruinous consequences to himself. He acted right.” (p. 122 to 123).

In spite of the fact that the book was written by JFK more than half a century ago (1956), his words still remain so apt for today’s politics. He wrote, “Today, the challenge of political courage looms larger than ever before. For our everyday life is becoming so saturated with the tremendous power of mass communications that any unpopular or unorthodox course arouses a storm of protests... Our political life is becoming so expensive, so mechanized and so dominated by professional politicians and public relations men that the idealist who dreams of independent statesmanship is rudely awakened by the necessities of election and accomplishments. Only a few end up as profiles in courage. We pray that we find similar profiles in courage in the Senate during the Impeachment trial. — Bobby Tordesillas

It’s not everyday that I would request a reader to come up with the story behind a book. But due to lack of time, Tordesillas did this for me and I’m grateful that I asked him and we hope that all our Senators would read this article and show the Filipino nation what true statesmanship is and why we need courageous men and women in our Philippine Senate.

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For e-mail responses to this article, write to [email protected] or [email protected]. His columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com.