Political Courage

From the very beginning, Kennedy is clear that the purpose of his book is to present examples of political courage. He draws from the history of the U.S. Senate and the men of integrity who served there in the past. The first line of chapter one is, "This is a book about the most admirable of human virtues—courage." He adds toward the end of the chapter that the stories he relates in Profiles in Courage are worth remembering, as are:

the stories of other senators of courage—men whose abiding loyalty to their nation triumphed over all personal and political considerations, men who showed the real meaning of courage and a real faith in democracy, men who made the Senate of the United States something more than a mere collection of robots dutifully recording the views of the constituents, or a gathering of time-servers skilled...