Profiles in Courage: Televisual History on the New Frontier

Abstract

Marcus | Profiles in Courage: Televisual History on the New Frontier Daniel Marcus Wayne State University Profiles in Courage: Televisual History on the New Frontier NBC's Profilesin Courage(1964-65) was situated within the discourse ofpragmatic moderate liberalism and the historiographyofanAmerican political leader, John F. Kennedy. 38 I Film & History Television as Historian | Special In-Depth Section The Presidential administration ofJohn F. Kennedy is widely seen as significantly expanding the interaction between White House politics and broadcast television. Kennedy's use oftelevision—to convey his personal qualities and political stands—culminated in the television adaptation of his book Profiles in Courage, which ran on the National Broadcasting Company during 1964-65. The docudrama series emerged in the context of the Kennedy Administration effort to resuscitate the tradition of "high-quality " television in the early 1960s, and corresponded to theories ofhistory associated with Kennedy's New Frontier. The series shared with other New Frontier texts the themes of the importance ofnational unity, political moderation, and the public display ofmoral courage and personal strength. In keeping with a belief that domestic ideological dilemmas had been resolved by the triumph of a pragmatic, moderate liberalism , the political theory ofArthur Schlesinger, Jr., Theodore Sorensen and others called for a politics of charisma, constructing a notion of citizens as individuated but undifferentiated spectators of the images of strong leaders. Such a view of history was easily translatable into televisual terms. Profiles in Courage constructed a pantheon of American heroes who dramatically displayed the judgment and fortitude needed to sway the nation's populace. The television version ofProfiles in Courage varied at times from Kennedy's book in its examination of the nation's racial past. The gains of the civil rights movement in the early 1960s made Kennedy's 1956 approach to racial issues, which had downplayed questions of racial justice, seem increasingly out ofstep with liberalism's activist, integrationist thinking in 1964-65. The political developments of the early 1960s made clear that not all domestic conflicts had been resolved, and the series producers struggled to come to grips with America's racial history, while maintaining Kennedy's preference for moderate positions. Other areas ofsocial conflict in American history, such as class differences and gender inequalities, were more easily effaced from the series' narratives; indeed, gender relationships in the programs tended to bolster the authority ofmale political figures, even as racial prerogatives were being explicitly questioned and explored. The Book (1956) The original Profiles in Courage told the stories of eight United States Senators who took principled political stands that threatened their careers, and gives shorter profiles to ten other politicians. Rumors circulated for many years that Theodore Sorensen had ghost-written the book for Kennedy, which both stoutly denied while Kennedy was alive. The book can be considered akin to Kennedy's speeches, written mostly by Sorensen, but reflecting Kennedy's own views and understandings.1 Five of the eight Senators treated at length were profiled for their stands surrounding the issues ofslavery , the Civil War, and Reconstruction. All five Senators wanted to mute sectional conflict, to seek compromise that would unify the nation. Kennedy's position was that the importance ofunity was paramount for the young nation, and that slavery was evil but could only be eradicated by and within the preservation of the Union. Once the Civil War was over, the North was obliged to rebuild the former Confederate states as full partners in America, and the Radical Republicans who wanted harsher treatment ofSouthern white society were destructive and dangerous. The historical study was published in 1956, became a best seller, and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in History in 1957. Profiles gave Kennedy aveneer ofintellectualism and seriousness that proved helpful to his 1960 campaign for the Presidency. As a child ofprivilege and fame, Kennedy's demonstration ofintellectual achievement served to strengthen his identity as an individual in his own right; as an Irish Catholic, his knowledge ofAmerican history placed his public persona more securely within what may have been considered by many voters as mainstream America. New Frontier Historiography The Kennedy Administration included historians and political scientists in prominent positions. The treatment ofhistory in both the print and television versions...