Kennedy Society of Denmark
Purpose: Keeping alive John F. and Robert F. Kennedy’s inspiration
and philosophy of life, so that their good words can be translated into good deeds.

Profiles in Courage Award, 1987

The Kennedy Society of Denmark has for the year 1987 awarded John F. Kennedy's "Profiles in Courage" to Mikhail Gorbatjov for his courage:

1. He has openly recognized his own country's faults and shortcomings and has attempted to rectify these by demanding an open policy of reform. As he has expressed it in his early days in office, "We are not afraid of openly
acknowledging our faults so that we can rectify them." April 23, 1985.
2. He has reached out to his opponents with a policy of peace, which has much in common with the policy President John F. Kennedy proposed on behalf of his government. We refer to his speech at the United Nations on September 25, 1961 with a call for, A: A complete stop of nuclear weapon testing. B: Put a stop to new nuclear battle fields in space. C: Support a gradual destruction of all nuclear weapons in the world.
3. He has called for better cooperation among people with different kinds of government: "All experience (from the World War II) shows that countries with different kinds of government opposed to each other, may well stand together in a fight against a common enemy;
today the common enemy is the threat of nuclear war." May 8, 1985.
4. He has presented the world with a good example on August 6, 1985
by starting a moratorium for nuclear testing with the offer of making it permanent, if all the other nuclear powers agree to follow the example.
5. He has presented high ideals for his political aims and openly declared, "Our ideal is a world without weapons and violence... Alternatives to this policy do not exist." February 25, 1986.
6. He has presented and committed his work to new thinking regarding ways of operation, "Each people and each individual's right to life, to freedom, to peace and the pursuit of happiness must be recognized."
7. He has openly committed his work to The non-violence principle to be fundamental for the life of humanity. 27.11.1986. "New Delhi Declaration"