Ted Sorensen, JFK speechwriter, special counsel and adviser, passed away today. Sorensen was a very insightful man and gentleman of the previous generation. Here are a 2009 entry ”Counselor: A Life at the Edge of History – Ted Sorensen“.
From ABC News (emphasis),
“The majority of Kennedy’s memorable speeches and declarations were born out of his collaborations with Sorenson, including his promise to put a man on the moon and his inaugural address, when he famously challenged Americans to “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”
While Kennedy referred to Sorensen as “my intellectual blood bank,” presidential secretary Evelyn Lincoln said that “Ted was really more shadow than ghost, in the sense that he was never really very far from Kennedy.”“
An excerpt from NYT “Theodore C. Sorensen, 82, Kennedy Counselor, Dies”,
“Despite his stroke in 2001 and diminishing eyesight, Mr. Sorensen worked on and completed “Counselor,” his memoir, over the next six years. “I still believe that the mildest and most obscure of Americans can be rescued from oblivion by good luck, sudden changes in fortune, sudden encounters with heroes,” he concluded. “I believe it because I lived it.”“
Here is a very insightful interview of Sorensen by Charlie Rose in 2008.
In the following video clips, Sorensen gave the closing keynote at the 2009 Speechwriters Conference. Have a watch of the master in his own words.
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