For Immediate Release: May 4, 2014
Further information: Rachel Flor (617) 514-1662, rachel.flor@jfklfoundation.org
Boston MA – Former President George H. W. Bush was presented the prestigious John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award™ today by Jack Schlossberg at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in recognition of the political courage he demonstrated when he agreed to a 1990 budget compromise that reversed his 1988 campaign pledge not to raise taxes and put his re-election prospects at risk. Bush’s granddaughter, Lauren Bush Lauren, accepted the award on behalf of the former President.
Paul W. Bridges, former mayor of Uvalda, Georgia, was also honored for risking his mayoral career with his decision to publicly oppose a controversial immigration law in Georgia.
“Today, we celebrate two courageous men and add them to the list of politicians who made difficult choices and in doing so acted on behalf of the greater good,” said Schlossberg. “When Mayor Bridges’ principled stand against Georgia’s anti-immigration bill was attacked by local and national anti-immigration groups bent on running him out of town, Uvalda became the unlikely stage for the national debate over immigration reform. Bridges lost support at home. Re-election became impossible. But, when his term ended his commitment to just and fair immigration reform did not, and despite his opponents’ best efforts, Uvalda is still his home.
“President Bush had promised Americans no new taxes during the 1988 presidential campaign and he was voted into office with that promise. But, he had also promised to serve his country, and he decided that was the promise he would keep. The 1990 budget compromise enacted responsible and desperately needed reforms at the expense of the president’s popularity and his chances for reelection. America’s gain was President Bush’s loss, and his decision to put country above party and political prospects makes him an example of a modern profile in courage that is all too rare.”
Click here to read full remarks by Jack Schlossberg.
George H. W. Bush, 41st President of the United States
In 1990, with the federal deficit at $200 billion and the Congressional Budget Office suggesting it could double, President Bush negotiated with congressional Democrats to enact a budget deal which included spending cuts and tax increases aimed at reducing the deficit by approximately $500 billion over the following five years. The 1990 bipartisan budget agreement set annual limits on discretionary spending by Congress on defense, domestic programs and international affairs. It also, for the first time, created “pay as you go” rules for entitlements and taxes. In order to reach the deal, Bush agreed to a tax increase as part of the compromise, and he was pilloried by conservatives for doing so. Although he recognized the 1990 budget deal might doom his prospects for reelection, he did what he thought was best for the country and has since been credited with helping to lay the foundation of the economic growth of the 1990s that followed.
Paul W. Bridges, Former Mayor, Uvalda, Georgia
In 2011, Bridges, then the mayor of Uvalda, Georgia, joined a federal lawsuit filed by the ACLU to stop the implementation of H.B. 87, a law aimed at driving illegal immigrants out of Georgia. As written, H.B. 87 authorized police to demand “papers” demonstrating immigration status during traffic stops, and criminalized Georgians who knowingly interact with undocumented individuals, among other measures. Bridges, a Republican who was elected mayor in 2009, was the only politician to join the suit. He argued that the law would inhumanely separate families and was likely to have dire economic consequences for farming. Bridges himself would have been engaged in criminal behavior under the law, he said, because he often gave rides to undocumented immigrants who were his friends. As a result of his decision to publicly oppose the law, Bridges withstood scathing criticism from anti-immigration partisans around the country, and lost popular support at home.
The John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award is presented annually to public servants who have made courageous decisions of conscience without regard for the personal or professional consequences. The award is named for President Kennedy’s 1957 Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Profiles in Courage, which recounts the stories of eight U.S. senators who risked their careers, incurring the wrath of constituents or powerful interest groups, by taking principled stands for unpopular positions. The John F. Kennedy Library Foundation created the Profile in Courage Award™ in 1989 to honor President Kennedy’s commitment and contribution to public service. It is presented in May in celebration of President Kennedy’s May 29th birthday. The Profile in Courage Award is represented by a sterling-silver lantern symbolizing a beacon of hope. The lantern was designed by Edwin Schlossberg and crafted by Tiffany & Co.
The recipients of this prestigious award for political courage are selected by a distinguished bipartisan committee of national, political, and community leaders: Albert R. Hunt, columnist for Bloomberg View, chairs the 15-member Profile in Courage Award Committee. Committee members are Christopher Dodd, former U.S. Senator (D-Connecticut) and CEO, Motion Picture Association of America; U.S. Congresswoman Donna F. Edwards (D-Maryland); Kenneth R. Feinberg, Chairman of the board of directors of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation; Adam Frankel, former speechwriter to President Barack Obama, now a strategist with Microsoft; U.S. Senator Lindsey O. Graham (R-South Carolina); Antonia Hernandez, president and chief executive officer of the California Community Foundation; Elaine Jones, director-counsel emeritus of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund; Paul G. Kirk Jr., former U.S. Senator (D-Massachusetts) and Chairman Emeritus of the board of directors of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation; Martha Minow, Morgan and Helen Chu Dean and Professor of Law at Harvard Law School; Shari Redstone, President, National Amusements, Inc.; Jack Schlossberg, grandson of John F. Kennedy and student, Yale University; John Seigenthaler, founder of the Freedom Forum First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University; David M. Shribman, executive editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; and former U.S. Senator Olympia Snowe (R-Maine). Heather P. Campion, CEO of the Kennedy Library Foundation, is an ex officio member of the Committee.
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The John F. Kennedy Library Foundation is a 501(c)(3), non-profit organization founded in 1984 to provide financial support, staffing, and creative resources for the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, a presidential library administered by the National Archives and Records Administration.
The Kennedy Presidential Library and Foundation aims to educate new generations about the timeless values that President Kennedy championed and their relevance today. Through on-going conferences, educational programming, and the use of cutting-edge technology, including the launch of the nation’s largest online digitized presidential archive, the Kennedy Library is bringing to life the challenges, achievements and impact of President John F. Kennedy’s thousand days in office for people around the world.