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Jeb Bush
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Profiles in Character Paperback – January 1, 1996

by Jeb Bush (Author), Brian Yablonski (Author)
3.6 3.6 out of 5 stars 5 ratings
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"What happens when we start taking less responsibility in our lives and allow government to fill the void left by the breakdown of families and communities? An unprecedented cultural decline in Florida marked by astronomical crime rates, an increase in juvenile offenders, tens of thousands of out-of-wedlock births, child poverty, a failing public education system, divorce and more, much more, government. Now is the time for the rebirth of character and virtue in Florida. We need to recapture the spirit of self-government. We must follow the lead of the profiles in character." -from the back cover
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  1. Print length
    284 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Foundation for Floridas Future
  4. Publication date
    January 1, 1996
  5. ISBN-10
    0965091201
  6. ISBN-13
    978-0965091206
  7. See all details
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Foundation for Floridas Future; F First Edition (January 1, 1996)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 284 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0965091201
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0965091206
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13.6 ounces
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.6 3.6 out of 5 stars 5 ratings

About the author

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Jeb Bush

Jeb Bush

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Jeb Bush served as governor of Florida from 1999-2007.

During his administration, Governor Bush pushed for dramatic reforms in Florida's public education system and promoted school choice to give parents with children in failing schools access to better schools. Florida became the first state in the nation to adopt a statewide voucher program and Governor Bush nearly tripled the number of charter schools, making his state a pioneer in school choice. Thanks to Governor Bush's education reforms, high school graduation rates in Florida have increased by nearly 50 percent.

Governor Bush also cut taxes, enacted meaningful legal reform and streamlined regulations to jump-start Florida's economy. During the final seven years of Governor Bush's tenure, Florida led the nation in job creation. The state also led the nation in small business creation as 1.3 million new jobs were created.

In 2004-2005, Jeb Bush's leadership skills were tested as the state was pounded by an unprecedented eight hurricanes, inflicting an estimated $70 billion of damage. Governor Bush was widely praised for providing a strong response to these natural disasters and bringing his state together during a true crisis.

Jeb Bush has also compiled a distinguished career in business, building one of Florida's largest commercial real estate companies and investing in new industries and start-up companies.

He and his wife, Columba, reside in Coral Gables, Florida and are the parents of three children, George, Noelle and Jeb, Jr.

Customer reviews

3.6 out of 5 stars
5 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Lawrence R Fraley
5.0 out of 5 stars Easy to see from my perspective why he would do ...
Reviewed in the United States on September 13, 2015
Verified Purchase
Very well written by Florida's ex-governor describing the many issues needing a proper resolution rather than so many we see today which fail time and time again. Easy to see from my perspective why he would do an excellent job as president of our country, which we so need.
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The Dog Diva
1.0 out of 5 stars Glad I borrowed it from a friend and didn't part ...
Reviewed in the United States on October 12, 2015
The reviewer who said this book was strange was so right. Glad I borrowed it from a friend and didn't part with any greenbacks. I'm sorry, but the "Profiles in..." reminiscent of JFK's "Profiles in Courage is a crappy marketing ploy that backfired, because this depressing tome certainly will never live up to its partial namesake. My Floridian friends tell me that it isn't dependence on government that's a problem there - it's lack of education coupled with too much Fox TV. Apparently a lot of children are left behind when it comes to critical thinking.
3 people found this helpful
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Gisela Hausmann
2.0 out of 5 stars “It is a strange book.”
Reviewed in the United States on July 7, 2015
It was an article in the Huffington Post that alerted me to the fact that Jeb Bush (together with Brian Yablonski ) had penned “Profiles in Character.”

Quite frankly, after reading this mostly extremely depressing book, I am wondering why the authors had penned it? What was their goal?

For 182 pages the author(s) bemoan the state of the State of Florida, and indeed a grave picture it is. This description of despair is countered by only 90 pages of positive stories (featuring 14 stories of Dr. Pedro Greer, Colonel George Day, Lawrence Wright, David Levitt, Delwyn Collins, Janet Campbell Gray, Darrell Teel, Dorothy Perry, Irving Graifman, Pedro Negrin, Doug Smith, Barbara Rowe, Clarence Smith, and an epilogue at the end about an anonymous donor who donated his winning game piece of the McDonald Monopoly contest to St.Jude’s Research Hospital).

182 pages of sadness, despair, and broken values versus 90 pages of hope for Florida’s future.

The authors suggest that they want to point towards the source of the problem: Florida’s society being dependent on government handouts and not having engaged communities like in the sixties: children being girls’ scouts and boys’ scouts, and their parents being church attending, value-driven people, who are engaged members of their respective communities; and who are too proud to accept hand-outs from the government.

Bush’s and Yablonski ‘s “Profiles in Character” was inspired by a report, “The Index of Leading Cultural Indicators” by William Bennett, former U.S. secretary of education and drug czar.

This is an interesting tidbit of information because most Floridians know that Lawton Chiles, who preceded Jeb Bush as Governor of Florida, walked through Florida to form his own opinion. Governor Chiles wanted to see things from up-close. In fact, he earned himself the nickname "Walkin' Lawton" after walking 1,003-mile in 91 days, across Florida from Pensacola to Key West. Former Governor of Florida Jeb Bush appears to have preferred digging through a report.

And, as all of us know, reports can be very factual and uninspired. Maybe that’s why it appears that authors Bush and Yablonski saw a dreadful picture.

(Quoting from page 20) “… Here in Florida, the many cultural indicators tracking crime, education, poverty, out of wedlock birth, and a plethora of other social problems show the symptoms of this illness in our own state….”

This illness is “…cultural decline, unprecedented in our nation’s history.”

It is interesting that in the authors’ opinions “… the betterment of society starts from the bottom up through virtuous individuals and families and communities, not from the top down through government….”(Page 22)

While that is true, I wonder how the disgraceful behavior of politicians, who after all are elected by “’the People’, “to work for ‘the People’ and the nation,” fares in this debate.

I could imagine that some people find it quite demoralizing when politicians or leaders display uninspiring behavior.

Bush and Yablonski do not mention politicians.

On page 255, the authors describe the story of Pedro Negrin’s, a Cuban refugee. Clearly, Pedro Negrin is a man of virtues. Otherwise Bush and Yablonski would not have presented his story in the second (positive) part of this book. After leaving Cuba and finally arriving in the US, Negrin worked as janitor at a Sarasota hospital and also a second job cleaning office buildings. Every day, Pedro Negrin worked two shifts, as a janitor from 7:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and his second job from 5:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. While this should be inspiring to all of us, I wonder if it shouldn’t be most inspiring to the members of congress.

Quoting from the New York Times, DEC. 15, 2013
“…Not counting brief, pro forma sessions, the House was in session for 942 hours, an average of about 28 hours each week it conducted business in Washington. That is far lower than the nearly 1,700 hours it was in session in 2007, the 1,350 hours in 2005 or even the 1,200 in 2011...” … and that, at $174,000 base salary for its members.

Hmm… ? ? ?

Maybe, in 2013, this book was already out of print and none of the members of congress had the opportunity to read Pedro Negrin’s inspiring story.

And, author Jeb Bush’s brother, President George W. Bush, took 879 days of vacation during his eight-year presidency. That’s about 110 days per year!

I was excited to find out that Bush and Yablonski suggest that “… We must become more virtue oriented and less value orientated.” (Page 35) but was confused why Bush and Yablonski used “… a simple, highly unscientific experiment designed to see how often we use the word ‘virtuous’ in our popular culture…”

According to Bush and Yablonski, The Orlando Sentinel used the word only 92 times between 1989 and 1995 (publication date), and the St. Petersburg Times only 140 times since 1987.

Languages evolve, thus I don’t think that any significant conclusions can be drawn from these facts.

Equally, I see it as a sign of the open culture approach that President Clinton was asked “briefs or boxers” on MTV in 1994, and do not agree with the authors that this question indicates a “… failure to use the language of virtue and our apparent inability to publicly pass moral judgments…” (Page 39-40) To me, this question seems to indicate that MTV viewers liked President Clinton and that maybe he was seen a trendsetter, who people wanted to follow.

The good news is, Bush and Yablonski realize that it will take time to correct “… our social pathologies…”

On page 51 the authors mention that “… Edward GibbonS reminded us, that Athens, the birthplace of democracy, fell because Athenians wanted society to give them more than they were willing to give to society….”

I assume that the “s” is a typo and that Bush and Yablonski were referring to Edward Gibbon’s “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”. Typos happen, but what really irritated me was that the authors used the quote from an eighteen century BRITISH historian. Why not quote

“My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”-- John F. Kennedy

Why not present one of the most famous quotes from one of the United States’ greatest presidents? I thought this book was about American values and virtues.

Eventually, on page 52, the authors focus on the “Restoration of Shame”, which the article in the Huffington Post mentioned. Bush and Yablonski present, “… There needs to be a restoration of shame in our society and that restoration should be universal, not something used only to motivate the poor in the inner city. Similarly, the restoration of shame should be more than just humiliation and something more than just physical such, as paddling. Shame works only when it instills a fear of disapproval…” (Page 55)

Since I was born in Europe, this sentence sounds just terrible to me. The yellow badge that Jewish people were required to wear in Nazi Germany and German-occupied Europe, was effectively a badge of shame. Certainly, the authors did not mean it like that but I believe that we have to think long and hard before we suggest shaming “anybody”.

(Quoting) “As a shame researcher, I know that the very best thing to do in the midst of a shame attack is totally counterintuitive: Practice courage and reach out!” -- Brene Brown

I am quoting Dr. Brown in connection with the authors thoughts about the concept of shaming, because Dr. Brown is a research professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work, and an expert on the topics of vulnerability, courage, worthiness, and – shame; her work has been featured on PBS, NPR, OWN, and TED. In her quote, Brown uses the word “shame attack.” I have to assume that shaming is always some form of “attack.”

To really review this book in depth would require writing a new book, which I won’t do, but one more strange statement needs to be pointed out.

(Page 147) “… Florida lacks the history or events that traditionally preserve our concern for the state and her communities. We have pride in our country as a result of events such as the Gulf War or the Olympics. In Texas the Alamo fosters state pride from generation to generation…”

I was speechless!

“The Gulf War or the Olympics?” That’s the only events that come to mind?

And, Florida lacks the history or events?

I was only seven and living in a small city in Austria, when I first saw Florida on TV, before I saw any other city, state, or event from the United States. In fact, my father bought a TV set so his wife and children could see the “event of the century” – the moon landing. While my father bought a TV set specifically for this event, in Europe (and I assume elsewhere on this planet) people watched the start of the Apollo 11 space mission on television through the windows of TV shops. An estimated 500 million people worldwide flocked to TV sets simultaneously, to watch one event that took place in Florida. I think millions of people thought that the Americans were the coolest people on the planet (including maybe some Russians), and all of them saw the Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39, located on Merritt Island on Florida's Space Coast.

Maybe the few thoughts I presented from this book, which is packed with information, will make you guess why I have to think, “It is a strange book.”

Gisela Hausmann, author of “Naked Words 2.0 The Effective 157-Word Email” and other no-fluff books
12 people found this helpful
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ken
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on March 13, 2015
Verified Purchase
Great book and signature
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Douglas W Johnson
5.0 out of 5 stars Character does count
Reviewed in the United States on February 11, 2002
This is an inspiring book and blueprint for restoring the values of American culture that we hold so dear.
What makes this book especially interesting is that Jeb Bush co-authored it before being elected Governor of Florida and he has followed through with the principles expressed throughout this book. I found it uplifting, and it gives me hope that we can make a difference to our country by showing character and electing those politicians who also have it.
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