PROFILES IN COURAGE, INSCRIBED BY JOHN F. KENNEDY TO TOM WALSH, THE KENNEDY FAMILY'S FINANCIAL ADVISOR AND A CLOSE FAMILY FRIEND
KENNEDY, John F. Profiles in Courage. New York: Harper & Brothers, circa 1960. Octavo, original half black cloth, dust jacket supplied from another copy. Housed in a custom clamshell box. $9000.
Later printing of Kennedy’s Pulitzer-winning examination of “that most admirable of human virtues,” inscribed to the Kennedy family's financial advisor and close family friend: "To Tom Walsh—with every good wish from his friend—John Kennedy."
"A series of sketches of American politicians who risked their careers in the cause of principle… 'A man does what he must,' Kennedy wrote, —in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures—and that is the basis of all human morality'… The book was popular history of high order, and it received the Pulitzer Prize for biography in 1957" (ANB). Illustrated with eight pages of black-and-white photographic plates. Later printing, without December 1955 publisher's code. Dust jacket supplied from another copy. This copy is inscribed to Thomas J. Walsh, a longtime financial advisor for the Kennedy family and a treasured family friend. Walsh began working for the Kennedy family in 1952 when he responded a New York Times classified ad for a tax and real estate accountant. At the time, Walsh had no idea who he would be working for as the ad was unlabeled. Walsh found himself working for Joseph Kennedy at the Park Agency,Inc., the Kennedy family's financial company. The Park Agency managed all of the Kennedy family's various financial concerns. Walsh was soon treated as "the numbers man of the operation" (Forbes). Walsh retired from the Agency in 1979, after over 25 years of loyal service. By that point, he had formed close friendships with the entire Kennedy family. Laid in photograph of Rose Kennedy, the prominent philanthropist and Kennedy family matriarch.
Book fine, dust jacket very good with creasing, scattered shallow chipping.