The Stories of How We Begin to Remember

If you know me, you know that I love John F. Kennedy. Nearly three years ago when I bought Profiles in Courage from a used bookstore, that was why. It was $5 and it was by JFK — a no-brainer. I finally got around to reading it in July, and I’m glad I waited. The timing was right. I read it almost entirely at the Starbucks just a couple of blocks away from the Capitol and the Supreme Court. Even then though, I felt hesitant writing about it. Then a month later, John McCain died. The phrase “political courage” appeared a number of times in articles that I read about him. I thought about writing then, but I didn’t. Today, Brett Kavanaugh was sworn in as our newest Supreme Court Justice, and now I have no choice but to write.   I was sitting at my desk at the American Historical Association when I got the CNN notification that Justice Anthony Kennedy was retiring, and I’m pretty sure I let out an audible “Oh no.” The midterms seemed so far away then, and after Justice Gorsuch...

These are some of the things I underlined while reading Profiles in Courage . The first three are from the introduction, written by Bobby Kennedy, and all the rest are quotes from JFK himself except where otherwise noted. If there is a lesson from the lives of men John Kennedy depicts in this book, if there is a lesson from his life and from his death, it is that in this world of ours none of us can afford to be lookers-on, the critics standing on the sidelines. At the time of the Cuban missile crisis last year, we discussed the possibility of war, a nuclear exchange, and talked about being killed -- the latter at that time seemed so unimportant, almost frivolous. The one matter which really was of concern to him and truly had meaning and made that time much more fearful than it would otherwise have been was the specter of the death of the children of this country and around the world -- the young people who had no part and knew nothing of the confrontation, but whose lives would b...