"Profiles in Courage" by John F. Kennedy with a forward by Allan Nevins. Signed by John Kennedy, in blue ink, on the flyleaf. Published by Harper & Row Publishers, NY, 1955, 1956. Believed to be an early First Edition due to the publication dates. Hardcover edition with original dust jacket, in a protective mylar cover. Book in fine condition, with age toning along page edges. Dust jacket in good condition, with some creasing along edges and at spine; stains from tape residue on both inside flaps and back cover.

Written in 1955 by the then junior senator from the state of Massachusetts, John F. Kennedy's "Profiles in Courage" is Kennedy's 1957 Pulitzer Prize-winning book of short biographies describing acts of bravery and integrity by eight United States Senators. Kennedy's election to the House in 1946 and the Senate in 1952 gave him personal experience in dealing with the conflicting pressures that legislators face. When Kennedy took a leave of absence from the Senate in 1954 to recover from back surgery, it gave him the opportunity to study the topic of political courage. The project resulted in the publication of "Profiles in Courage," which focuses on the careers of eight Senators whom Kennedy felt had shown great courage under enormous pressure from their parties and their constituents. His own battles with physical pain and his experiences in World War II as a PT boat commander also gave him inspiration. The subjects of "Profiles in Courage" are John Quincy Adams, Daniel Webster, Thomas Hart Benton, Sam Houston, Edmund G. Ross, Lucius Lamar, George Norris, and Robert A. Taft.

Book in fine condition, with age toning along page edges. Dust jacket in good condition, with some creasing along edges and at spine; stains from tape residue on both inside flaps and back cover.