The 2025 John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award will go to former Vice President Michael Pence. The award, which will be presented Sunday night by President Kennedy’s daughter Caroline and her son, Jack Schlossberg, recognizes President Trump’s former vice president for putting his life and career on the line to ensure the constitutional transfer of power on January 6, 2021 according to the JFK Library Foundation.
Some JKF library and museum patrons weighed in on the choice. “What Mike Pence did to kind of push back on Donald Trump has been interesting and actually quite brave,” said Tim Bailey, who was visiting the library on Friday.
“Who else was on the list?” asked Cathleen Smith, who was also at the museum with a friend. “Let’s see the short list [of nominees]. Compared to who is he courageous?” she questioned. “Are you choosing him because he symbolizes what you want him to do or would we have chosen him?”
JFK Library Foundation Executive Director Rachel Flor says the award is presented annually to public servants who have made courageous decisions without regard for personal or professional consequences. The award is named after President Kennedy’s 1957 Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Profiles in Courage, which tells the stories of eight U.S. senators who risked their careers by taking principled stands for unpopular positions. Last year’s recipient was Kentucky’s Republican Secretary of State Michael Adams, who was awarded for “expanding voting rights and standing up for free and fair elections despite party opposition.” Other notable past recipients include Barack Obama, George H.W. Bush, John McCain and Nancy Pelosi.
UMass Boston political science professor Erin O’Brien said Pence’s action to certify the 2020 election was significant. “All of us remember images of individuals storming the Capitol after a free and fair election because they didn’t like the results,” O’Brien explained.
On January 6, 2021, The U.S. Capitol was attacked as the presidential election certification process was underway. “A lot of us remember the chants to hang Mike Pence when he was ushered away, mere hundred feet from some of these protestors,” she said. Pence remained at the Capitol, O’Brien said, and when the scene was cleared he resumed the election certification process. “January 6th was a real threat to the peaceful transfer of power.”
“It is a reminder that even when our politics feel endlessly divisive, we don’t actually have to agree on every policy issue to agree on the fundamental principles of our democracy,” said Flor. The recipients of the award are selected by a bipartisan committee of national, political and community leaders who look at a variety of topics each year according to Flor. “For the past several years, we’ve really focused on the issue of democracy itself,” she said. “I think if you look at the history of President Kennedy’s administration, above all, he stood for democracy. So that’s been a real focus of the committee in the past several years.”
O’Brien acknowledged there will always be skeptics when an award commemorates a politician’s actions. “If someone shows real political courage at the expense of their career, and in the moment, put their family at harm because they perceived it was best for the country, sign me up for that,” she said. “Maybe they didn’t act like that every day, but they did it when it really mattered and we can honor that.”
The award ceremony will be
streamed live
on Sunday, May 4, 2025 at 8:30 p.m.
