ZadekpediaProfiles in Courage is a book attributed to John F. Kennedy that is invoked repeatedly across episodes of The Bob Zadek Show as a reference point in discussions of impeachment, executive power, and political courage. Guests and host alike treat the book as a familiar cultural marker, citing it in connection with the 1868 impeachment of Andrew Johnson and, in one episode, proposing it as a gift for a governor who voluntarily relinquishes emergency powers.
Impeachment and the Johnson precedent
In an episode on whether America has become an elective monarchy, Frank H. Buckley raised the book in the context of the Senate vote required to remove a president. Buckley noted that John F. Kennedy wrote Profiles in Courage to celebrate the one senator who switched his vote to save the presidency, and added that in his view the senator was bribed and that Kennedy did not write the book—Ted Sorensen did Has America Become an “Elective Monarchy”? (2014). Buckley also observed that the two-thirds requirement for Senate removal has been met by a president of one party facing a Senate and House controlled by the other party only once in American history, in 1868, which Bob Zadek identified as the impeachment of Andrew Johnson Has America Become an “Elective Monarchy”? (2014).
Buckley argued for a simple majority rather than a two-thirds vote to remove a president, and stated that on Clinton the vote to remove in the Senate was 50-50. He suggested that but for the move from 50% to two-thirds, Al Gore would have cast the deciding vote in 1998 Has America Become an “Elective Monarchy”? (2014).
High crimes and misdemeanors
In a later episode on withholding judgment on impeachment, John Rothmann returned to the same historical episode. Rothmann said the charges against Andrew Johnson were fundamentally based on the Tenure of Office Act, which Congress passed in order to get him, and that Johnson was saved by one vote—the vote of Edmund Ross of Kansas—which Rothmann said can be read about in John F. Kennedy’s Profiles in Courage Withholding Judgment on Impeachment with John Rothmann (2020).
Rothmann also cited Gerald Ford, then House Minority Leader, who was asked what impeachment is and said it is whatever the House of Representatives says it is. Rothmann’s conclusion was that a crime is not necessary for impeachment, that you can impeach someone if you have the votes and convict in the Senate if you have the votes regardless of the merits, and that the process is political in every sense of the word Withholding Judgment on Impeachment with John Rothmann (2020). He stated that he believed Donald Trump abused his power and showed contempt of Congress, but that it only becomes a removable-from-office crime if the senators vote that way, and noted that Alan Dershowitz would argue in the Senate that the conduct does not rise to the level for which the president should—the excerpt breaks off there Withholding Judgment on Impeachment with John Rothmann (2020).
Executive power and emergency declarations
In an episode on what was called the mini-administrative state, Bob Zadek proposed giving a free copy of Profiles in Courage to the first governor who voluntarily says the legislature should do its job after an emergency declaration. Zadek framed this as a challenge, saying it has not happened and that power is almost never voluntarily released The Mini-Administrative State (2020). Glenn Roper responded that he was not aware of any governor who had rescinded emergency orders on the ground that the legislature had had enough time, and said he could not think of an example off the top of his head The Mini-Administrative State (2020).
Zadek described his own question as loaded and said he had been sandbagging Roper, stating that there is no such instance because power is only ceded under great pressure. He also said he recalled something in the low 20s of existing federal states of emergency going back 20 or 30 years The Mini-Administrative State (2020). Roper discussed a Pacific Legal Foundation case in Connecticut involving a client, Luis Ramirez, who owns a nail salon; the governor allowed hair salons to reopen but not nail salons, even though the governor’s own health and economic officials had categorized nail salons and hair salons as having the same risk profile The Mini-Administrative State (2020). Roper said the state moved to dismiss the complaint and that the litigation was ongoing, and that the state had not offered a scientific justification for the distinction The Mini-Administrative State (2020).
Across episodes: the book as recurring reference
Profiles in Courage appears in three of the four episodes: Buckley cites it in connection with the 1868 Johnson impeachment and the Edmund Ross vote, Rothmann cites it for the same episode and the same senator, and Zadek proposes it as a gift for a governor who returns emergency powers. The excerpts show no development in how the book is treated—it is invoked as a shared reference rather than analyzed—though the context shifts from impeachment to executive emergency power.