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JFK Library Selects Barack Obama for 2017 Profiles in Courage Award


The John F. Kennedy Library Foundation has selected Former PresidentBarack H. Obama to receive the 2017 Centennial John F.Kennedy Profile in Courage Award™ for his enduring commitment to democratic ideals and elevating the standard of political courage in a new century.

Ambassador Caroline Kennedy and her son, Jack Schlossberg, will present the award at a ceremony on May 7, 2017 at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum as part of the celebration of the 100th anniversary of President Kennedy’s birth.

In response to the news, former President Obama said: 

“It’s been more than half a century since John F. Kennedy asked us to cast aside our narrow self-interest and take up the chase of a greater ambition: our collective capacity to do big things, especially when it’s hard. It was a call to citizenship as true as the words of our founding and a conviction that helped guide me to public service as a younger man – a belief in the possibilities of our democracy and the power of what we, the people, can do together.

“Even today, amidst the noisy and too often trivial pursuits of the politics of our time, it’s a summons to service that rings as loudly as ever.  Part of that is thanks to an extraordinary family that continues to light the fire of imagination and plant the seed of noble ambition in the minds of each new generation of Americans.  Like so many Americans, I am grateful for the Kennedy family’s legacy of service.  And I am deeply humbled to receive the Profile in Courage Award.”

Ambassador Caroline Kennedy said: 

“President Kennedy called on a new generation of Americans to give their talents to the service of the country. With exceptional dignity and courage, President Obama has carried that torch into our own time, providing young people of all backgrounds with an example they can emulate in their own lives.”

“Faced with unrelenting political opposition, President Obama has embodied the definition of courage that my grandfather cites in the opening lines of Profiles in Courage: grace under pressure,” said Schlossberg. “Throughout his two terms in office, he represented all Americans with decency, integrity, and an unshakeable commitment to the greater good.”

The cermony is part of the Centennial celebration of President Kennedy's birth on May 29, 1917. 

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