Colson: My Friend Jack Kemp

May 8th, 2009
by Charles Colson

My friend Jack Kemp died this past weekend at 73.

His obituaries list many accomplishments: seven-time all-star quarterback for the Buffalo Bills and the American Football League’s most valuable player in 1965. Eight-term congressman from Buffalo, New York, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and the 1996 Republican vice-presidential candidate.

As our mutual friend Fred Barnes wrote in the Weekly Standard, it’s hard to think of any congressman in recent memory who accomplished more, setting the stage for the Reagan Revolution and economic opportunity for all Americans.

But as remarkable as Jack’s accomplishments were, Jack the man was even more so. He personified all of the classic virtues—temperance, prudence, courage, and justice. But today I want to focus on one especially—courage. the rest