Editing Profiles in Courage (section)

{{short description|Book by John F. Kennedy}}
{{use mdy dates|date=February 2021}}
{{Infobox book
| name             = Profiles in Courage
| image            = Profiles in Courage Front Cover (1956 first edition).jpg
| caption          = First edition
| author           = [[John F. Kennedy]]<br />[[Ted Sorensen]] ([[ghostwriter]])
| title_orig       =
| translator       =
| illustrator      =
| cover_artist     =
| country          =
| language         =
| series           =
| subject          = [[United States Senate|United States senators]]
| genre            = Biography
| publisher        = [[Harper & Brothers]]
| pub_date         = January 1, 1956<ref>{{cite news |last=Harris |first=John |date=December 26, 1955 |title=Globe Will Publish 'Profiles in Courage' |newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]] |page=1 }}</ref>
| media_type       =
| pages            = 272
| isbn =  978-0-06-095544-1
| oclc             =
| dewey            =
| congress         =
| preceded_by      = [[Why England Slept]]
| followed_by      = [[A Nation of Immigrants]]
}}

'''''Profiles in Courage''''' is a 1956 volume of short biographies describing acts of bravery and integrity by eight [[United States Senate|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 of Great Britain|House of Commons]], and focuses on mid-19th-century antebellum America and the efforts of senators to delay the [[American Civil War]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Frontispiece: Item 3 – Edmund Burke quotation, typescript |url=http://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/Archives/JFKPP-027-003.aspx |access-date=December 28, 2014 |publisher=Jfklibrary.org}}</ref> ''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 Biography or Autobiography|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".<ref name="Walls">{{cite book |last1=Walls |first1=Jeannette |title=Dish: The Inside Story on the World of Gossip |publisher=Avon Books, Inc., an Imprint of Harper Collins Publishers |year=2000 |isbn=0-380-97821-0 |location=New York |pages=29–35}}</ref><ref name="Her Story, Their Words: Behind the Scenes of the Best-Sellers" /><ref name="Who wrote that political memoir? No, who actually wrote it?" /> [[Jules Davids]], who was a history professor for Kennedy's wife [[Jacqueline Kennedy|Jacqueline]] when she was a student at George Washington University, is also acknowledged to have made key contributions to the historical research and organizational planning for the book.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1996/12/11/jules-davids-lauded-professor-of-diplomatic-history-dies-at-75/9673dff0-bce1-448a-9fb0-399a16639901/|title=Jules Davids, Lauded Professor Of Diplomatic History, Dies At 75|first=Richard|last=Pearson|newspaper=Washington Post|date=December 11, 1996|accessdate=April 22, 2023}}</ref><ref name=julesdavidletter>{{cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940CE4DA103FF93BA25753C1A961958260|title=An Old Letter Backs a Claim of Helping Kennedy Write 'Profiles'|first=Patricia|last=Cohen|work=New York Times|date=October 18, 1997|accessdate=April 22, 2023}}</ref>

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 [[Profiles in Courage (TV series)|same name]] that was telecast weekly on NBC from November 8, 1964, to May 9, 1965.