Book Review: Profiles in Courage

I switched schools when I was in 4th grade. Not long after, I was called to the the principal's office. Not sure what I'd done, I walked to the school's administration office and waited nervously for my turn to see the big cheese, who also happened to be a family friend. What had I done? Why was I in trouble? When I was finally admitted to his office, the principal, Aaron Scholar, smiled at me and held up my most recent English test with a large red A emblazoned at the top. "Congratulations," he said, "I'm proud of you." A few years later, after writing profanity in a school book, I was again summoned to his office. Mr. Scholar waved his paddle in the air and told me to touch my toes. I closed my eyes and held my breath while waiting for the stinging blow. Instead, after a long pause, he said, "There's not much to hit. Now get out of here and don't do it again." Not long after that, for my 13th birthday, Mr. Scholar gave me a copy of John F. Kennedy's Profiles in Courage. It was a little over my head at the time, but I've come to cherish the book, which discusses such luminaries as John Quincy Adams, Daniel Webster and Sam Houston. The 1955 book won the Pulitzer Prize and helped propel Kennedy to the White House. With an inscription from my grade school principal, the book has an honored place on my bookshelf.

>>> READ THE OPENING PAGES OF PROFILES IN COURAGE HERE.