32 pages • 1 hour read
John F. KennedyProfiles in Courage
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1955A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Part 3Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 3 Summary
Part 3 takes place in the decade following the conclusion of the Civil War. The country remains deeply divided between Republicans and Democrats over the administration and reintegration of the former Confederate states back into the Union. Although most of the former Confederate politicians and secessionists are no longer in office, the conflict along party lines has only intensified. In addition to this, Kennedy notes that the Senate has declined in stature in the postbellum period, in part due to the resurgence of the powers of the President, following Andrew Johnson's 1868 impeachment. However, Kennedy broadly judges the Senate as more materialistic and dissolute in character, yet nonetheless dominated by party politics and regional enmity. Kansas Republican Senator Edmund G. Ross' vote against President Andrew Johnson, a Democrat, represents an important example of political courage against both of these trends. Ross' decision proves to be a powerful example of conscience, in the face of political pressure. Despite his own strong opposition to President Johnson's policy and demeanor, Senator Ross comes to believe that the impeachment is politically-motivated; he refuses to vote to remove President Johnson from office. Consequently, Senator Ross is voted out of office for failing to go along with the designs of the Republican party.
Kennedy's next example of political courage is Senator Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar, a Mississippi Democrat. Nearly ten years following President Johnson's impeachment and near-removal from office, Southern Democrats urge Senator Lamar to vote along with a looser monetary policy based on silver; he refuses, citing its long-term viability. Senator Lamar's colleagues and constituents excoriate this decision, but he maintains that his duty in the Senate is to exercise his judgment, rather than be pressured into any decision. In speeches to his constituents, Senator Lamar likens his position in the Senate to a sailor in the "topmost mast"(160-61) of a ship: he can see more than they, but is ultimately their at their consent, and their trust.
Part 3 Analysis
Part 3 illustrates the range of pressures and influences that characterize the Senate as a legislative body, and detract from what Kennedy believes to be the source of true political courage: one's conscience. The bitterness of the postwar period, and its attendant partisanship and regionalism, provide context for Kennedy's examples. The image of the Senate clashes dramatically with Kennedy's ideal; party politics predominate, and the national interest is eschewed. The stories of Senators Ross and Lamar, however, illustrate Kennedy's own philosophical and political interest: himself a senator from Massachusetts, Kennedy's arguments and examples present an effort to speak to the same regional divide in contemporary American politics. In both the stories of Senator Ross and Senator Lamar, Southern politicians and the Democratic Party are treated with unprecedented sympathy; the issues of slavery, secession, and civil rights are downplayed significantly. While it can be argued that Kennedy's indifference to these issues is a critical blindspot, his main argument is different in focus: to argue that philosophical and policy positions—even positions concerning fundamental matters of justice—are trumped by a needed commitment to the principles of unity, process, and compromise. In essence, this line of argument contends that the readiness to talk is immediately more important than what is said. However, the reality of American political history provides a strong rebuttal to Kennedy's idealism: when one side retains the option for violence and secession, one's idealism becomes irrelevant. As Senators Ross and Lamar learned in their tenure in the Senate, though an individual senator is always obliged to do the right thing, the political system as a whole is not subject to any one man's ideals.
