For Immediate Release: March 11, 2002
Further information: Tom McNaught (617) 514-1662
Boston: A citizen of Ghana who has allowed neither controversy nor criticism to deter him from his commitment to shaping a world response to international terrorism, negotiating peaceful settlements to international and regional conflicts, organizing an international campaign to combat the global AIDS epidemic and bringing hard-fought reforms to the world body of nations was today named the recipient of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award.
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan will be presented the Profile in Courage Award by Caroline Kennedy at a Monday, May 6, 2002 ceremony at the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum in Boston.
Joining Secretary General Kofi Annan on the stage will be Dean Koldenhoven, 66, the one term Mayor of Palos Heights, Illinois, who has been awarded the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for speaking out against bigotry and religious intolerance toward an Islamic community that had hoped to convert a local church into a mosque.
The distinguished bipartisan committee of national political and community leaders also announced today that a special and unprecedented Profile in Courage Award for Public Service has been awarded to the thousands of selfless public servants who demonstrated such extraordinary courage and heroism in response to the tragic events of September 11. In defining public servants, the Committee intends to include all those private citizens who at a time of grave challenge to their country acted courageously to save the lives of others.
The John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award is presented annually to an elected official who has withstood strong opposition from constituents, powerful interest groups or adversaries to follow what she or he believes is the right course of action. 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 to fight for what they believed in.
"President Kennedy felt his greatest admiration for those in politics who had the courage to make decisions of conscience without fear of the consequences," said Caroline Kennedy, President of the Kennedy Library Foundation. "It is this unique kind of courage for which we honor Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Dean Koldenhoven.
"The events of September 11 have forever changed the way most Americans see their elected officials and public servants," Kennedy continued. "We have all heard of thousands of individual acts of extraordinary courage and selfless public service. These have given new meaning to the words 'ask what you can do for your country,' and ennobled us all."
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, former Mayor Dean Koldenhoven, and America's public servants who responded to the crisis of September 11 were chosen as recipients of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation's prestigious award for political courage by a committee of national leaders, whose members are David Burke, former president of CBS News; U.S. Senator Thad Cochran, (R-Mississippi); Marian Wright Edelman, President of the Children=s Defense Fund; Antonia Hernandez, President of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund; Elaine Jones, Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund; Caroline Kennedy, President of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation; U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-Massachusetts); Paul G. Kirk, Jr., Chairman of the Board of Directors of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation; David McCullough, presidential historian and author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography Truman; John Seigenthaler, Chairman of the Committee and Founder of the First Amendment Center; and U.S. Senator Olympia Snowe (R-Maine). John Shattuck, CEO of the Kennedy Library Foundation and former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and Ambassador to the Czech Republic, staffs the Committee.
The Profile in Courage Award was created by the Kennedy Library Foundation in 1989 to honor President Kennedy's commitment and contribution to public service. It is presented annually in May, in celebration of President Kennedy's May 29 birthday. Described by one recipient as the "Nobel in Government", the Profile in Courage Award is accompanied by a sterling silver lantern representing a beacon of hope. The lantern was designed by Edwin Schlossberg, Inc., and crafted by Tiffany & Co.
In selecting a recipient, the Profile in Courage Award Committee considers elected officials who have demonstrated the kind of political courage described by John F. Kennedy in Profiles in Courage. In his Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Kennedy wrote:
"The true democracy, living and growing and inspiring, puts its faith in the people - faith that the people will not simply elect men who will represent their views ably and faithfully, but also elect men who will exercise their conscientious judgment - faith that the people will not condemn those whose devotion to principle leads them to unpopular courses, but will reward courage, respect honor and ultimately recognize right."
Last year's recipient was former U.S. President Gerald Ford, who presided over the country's recovery from what he called "our long national nightmare" and who made a controversial decision of conscience to pardon former President Richard M. Nixon. Legendary civil rights leader and U.S. Congressman John Lewis (D-GA) received an unprecedented special Profile in Courage Award for Lifetime Achievement in recognition of a career marked by extraordinary courage, leadership, and commitment to universal human rights. The presentation of a Profile in Courage Award for Lifetime Achievement was unprecedented.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan
Kofi Annan is the UN's seventh Secretary-General, and the first to be elected from the ranks of UN staff. Born on April 8, 1938 in Kumasi, Ghana, he became UN Secretary-General on January 1, 1997. On June 29, 2001, acting on a recommendation by the Security Council, the General Assembly appointed him by acclamation to a second term of office, beginning January 1, 2002 and ending on December 31, 2006.
Following the attacks on the United States of September 11, 2001 that brought nations to war and created an extremely volatile global political landscape, Kofi Annan led the United Nations in bringing together diverse countries and political forces to combat terrorism, rebuild a nation and broker peace internationally. In doing so he risked his standing with world leaders and demonstrated great political courage, as well as diplomatic skill and organizational expertise, overcoming resistance by the U.S. to a UN role in Afghanistan and forging the first broad international consensus and strategy to address both the effects and the root causes of terrorism.
Without Annan's courageous and skillful leadership of the world organization during this time of grave crisis, U.S. efforts to respond to terrorism could have been severely undercut by UN member states.
Kofi Annan is also a courageous peacemaker. He has confronted aggressors and cajoled world powers in his tireless efforts to advance the cause of peace and end the world's most brutal conflicts in the Balkans, Central Africa, East Timor, Burundi, Sierra Leone and other war torn places.
In addition, Annan has been courageous in his leadership of the world organization on human rights, conflict prevention and UN reform, challenging member states to live up to international standards and taking responsibility for international peacekeeping failures in Bosnia and Rwanda in order to assure that they are not repeated.
At the risk of agitating member nations, Secretary General Kofi Annan has also made it his personal priority to form a global alliance to combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic. At a time when estimates bring the number of infected to as high as 40 million worldwide, Annan has challenged governments, the private sector and other non-government organizations to join forces in the battle against this global disease. By calling for a global campaign against AIDS, and specifically pressing the major members of the UN to make contributions far beyond what they were contemplating, Annan put his leadership on the line with member nations.
Annan joined the United Nations system in 1962 as an administrative and budget officer with the World Health Organization in Geneva. In subsequent positions he served around the world, including assignments in Ethiopia, Egypt, Switzerland, Bosnia, Herzegovina and New York. He first gained international attention during the Persian Gulf War when he negotiated the release of more than 900 UN staff in Iraq.
Annan's father was a provincial governor in Ghana and a Fante tribal chief. Annan studied at Kumasi's University of Science and Technology and completed his undergraduate work in Economics at Macalaster College in St. Paul Minnesota in 1961. He continued his studies in Switzerland and, later, as a Sloan Fellow 1971-1972, received a Master's in Management from M.I.T. He is married to Nane Lagergren, a Swedish artist and lawyer.
Dean Koldenhoven, Mayor of Palos Heights, Illinois (1997 to 2001)
Also being honored with a 2002 Profile in Courage Award is Dean Koldenhoven, the one-term Mayor of Palos Heights, Illinois, who condemned religious intolerance toward an Islamic community that had hoped to convert a local and vacant Christian church into a mosque.
In May 2000, plans to open a Mosque in the Chicago suburb of Palos Heights, Illinois upset many residents and prompted some City Council members to consider derailing the plan by condemning the property the mosque wanted to purchase. In response to the racially tinged comments of people opposed to the mosque moving into the building, Mayor Koldenhoven said, "It hurts me. Here we are, coming up on Memorial Day. People fought and died for these freedoms; we talk about these freedoms. But then some people decide they're not freedoms for everyone."
As the sale progressed and the Al Salam Mosque Foundation sought zoning permits, the council suddenly argued that the city needed the property for recreational purposes - although they had rejected the space two years earlier for being too small. They claimed the city would use the former church property, which was across the street from an existing recreational center, as a gymnasium.
At a council meeting, representatives of the Al Salam Mosque Foundation were subjected to insensitive questioning and derogatory comments from aldermen and residents. Council members questioned the "upside down" schedule of Muslim prayer and one resident commented that the Muslim group should "convert to Christianity" or "go back to your own countries." Public council meetings turned into heated battles overwrought with discriminatory religious and racial discourse.
Because the property was already under contract, the alderwoman in whose district the former church was located tried to foil the sale by condemning the church and blocking the issuance of the necessary licenses. Eventually, when her efforts failed, the Council proposed a $200,000 pay-off to get the group to abandon their plans to purchase the property so that the city could buy it. A questionable act of fiscal judgment, as one reporter wrote, given that "the city budget has a balance of $400,000." According to the city council members who voted to pay the Mosque, the $200,000 was not a "buyout," but was intended "to cover legal expenses."
When the Al Salam Mosque Foundation originally accepted the $200,000 offer, it was criticized by a member of the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee, who said, "Our religion is not for sale, and our racial background is not for sale."
Although the City Council voted in favor of the payment and the Al Salam Foundation ultimately accepted it, Mayor Koldenhoven vetoed the offer in July of 2000, calling it an "embarrassment" and "insult" to the Muslim community. "Government has no place in this issue," he stated as he blocked the buyout plan. "I can understand a fear of heights and a fear of flying. But when it is a fear of a person, they need to get over it." Koldenhoven said.
His vociferous opposition to the City Council's actions drew national attention resulting in a public backlash against the middle class community. One editorial headline read: "Palos Heights Disgraces Itself." Ultimately, the Al Salam Mosque Foundation abandoned its plans to move to Palos Heights, citing apprehensions about relocating the mosque to a community where it was not wanted. In November 2000, the Palo Heights residents voted against purchasing the church property.
In what many believe was the result of his decision of conscience to do what he thought was right for the community, Koldenhoven was defeated in his bid for reelection on April 3, 2001.
Before he was elected Mayor of Palos Heights, Illinois in April, 1997, Koldenhoven served as a Republican precinct captain, a member of the Zoning Board of Appeals and as Zoning Commissioner. A member of Local 21 Bricklayers since May 1954, Koldenhoven currently is employed as a brick salesman for Tri-State Brick Company.
He is married to Ruth Koldenhoven and has four children and ten grandchildren.
Past Profile in Courage Award Recipients
Past recipients of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award are former U.S. Congressman Carl Elliott, Sr. of Alabama; former U.S. Congressman Charles Weltner of Georgia; former Governor of Connecticut Lowell Weicker, Jr.; former Governor of New Jersey James Florio; U.S. Congressman Henry Gonzalez of Texas; former U.S. Congressman Michael Synar of Oklahoma; former Calhoun County, Georgia School Superintendent Corkin Cherubini; Circuit Court Judge of Montgomery County, Alabama Charles Price; Garfield County, Montana Attorney Nickolas Murnion; co-recipients U.S. Senators John McCain of Arizona and Russell Feingold of Wisconsin; California State Senator Hilda Solis; and former U.S. President Gerald Ford.
In December, 1998, a special John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award was presented to the Irish Peacemakers -- eight political leaders of Northern Ireland [John Hume, David Trimble, Gerry Adams, John Alderdice, David Ervine, Monica McWilliams, Gary McMichael, and Malachi Curran] and former U.S. Senator George Mitchell, the American chairman of the peace talks - in recognition of the extraordinary political courage they demonstrated in negotiating the historic Good Friday Peace Agreement. The presentation of the Profile in Courage Award to a non-American was unprecedented.
In May 2001, a special Profile in Courage Award for Lifetime Achievement was presented to U.S. Congressman John Lewis. The presentation of a Profile in Courage Award for Lifetime Achievement was unprecedented.
The John F. Kennedy Library and Museum is a presidential library administered by the National Archives and Records Administration and supported, in part, by the Kennedy Library Foundation, a non-profit organization. For more information on the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award, visit the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum web page at www.jfklibrary.org.