The times we live in require extraordinary courage of every citizen, but especially of political leaders.

It sometimes feels like heroism is a thing of the past. Researching a speech for the Kennedy Summer School in New Ross, Co Wexford, two weeks ago, I read John F Kennedy’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 1956 book, Profiles in Courage.

In her introduction to the book, Kennedy’s daughter Caroline told how the small, motorised Patrol Torpedo boat commanded by Lt Kennedy in the Pacific during the second World War exploded after it was rammed one night by a Japanese destroyer. Two sailors were killed. A third was so badly wounded that he could not swim. Clenching the strap of the man’s life jacket in his teeth, Kennedy – who was himself wounded – swam three miles in darkness to the nearest island where he and surviving crew members hid from the Japanese. On subsequent nights, the future US president swam through shark-infested waters until he secured rescue by Australian forces.

A new biopic about Gen Charles de Gaulle was the surprise hit in French cinemas this summer. How many contemporary politicians would be capable of the moral clarity and determination demonstrated by de Gaulle during the second World War? The film depicts how de Gaulle was twice abandoned by Winston Churchill, his sole supporter, because Franklin D Roosevelt insisted he be replaced by a more pliant ally. “I embody everything the Americans hate,” de Gaulle says in the film. “I am weak, and yet I stand up to them.”

Drumcree, 2026:........

© The Irish Times