|
While Ted loved his hometown, Lincoln simply did not offer the kinds of opportunities he was looking for. Very highly recommended. At the top of JFK's list was his right-hand man and trusted friend and advisor Ted Sorensen. John Fitzgerald Kennedy had been elected the 35th President of the United States in 1960 at the age of 43.
So he packed his bags and moved to Washington DC in 1951. "Counselor: A Life At The Edge of History" is Ted Sorensen's long-awaited memoir. His parents were both well-educated liberals and imparted their philosophy on their young son. It was a much different time in America. One thing that stands out about JFK is that he tried to appeal to the better side of people. I simply could not put it down. Meanwhile, "Counselor" also describes in breathtaking detail some of the most crucial behind-the-scene moments in the Kennedy administration including the Bay of Pigs, the battle over Civil Rights and most notably the Cuban Missile Crisis.
It is compelling reading.Ted Sorensen was born in 1928 in the quintessential midwestern town of Lincoln, NE. As Sorensen writes: "Its tone should be positive, inspirational, hopeful and forward-looking--not an endless litany of negative complaints about past misdeeds or the status quo." I remember hearing some of those speeches as a youngster. This was very apparent in the speeches that he delivered both in political campaigns and as President. This is easily the best book I have ever read about what went on inside the Kennedy administration by a man who should clearly know. As he cobbled together his new administration he was looking for individuals who shared his enthusiasm for the future and the endless possibilities that beckoned. They truly were an inspiration to an entire generation of young Americans. Sorensen goes on to observe: "Kennedy believed that every voter was first and foremost an American, moved by appeals to service and the national interest not appeals to religious prejudice, material selfishness, or regional parochialism. Within a year he was hired by the newly elected Senator from Massachusetts John Fitzgerald Kennedy.
He studied law at the University of Nebraska and graduated in 1949. Sorensen soon found work with a federal agency and quickly began to make an impression on those he worked for and with. This is an extremely important addition to the historical record of this period.I must tell you that Ted Sorensen is without a doubt one of the finest wordsmiths I have ever come across. As the sun set on the 1950's a new day was dawning. It really was an exciting time.
Thus emerged exciting new volunteer opportunities like the Peace Corps and Vista. Years ago one of his colleagues remarked: "Ted Sorensen can use words that everybody can understand--intellectuals, milkmen, diplomats, politicians." I would certainly concur. A great read for history buffs and general interest readers alike. As his most trusted friend and advisor Sorensen understood what JFK was all about. It was Sorensen who would be named Special Counselor to the President and who would have a birds-eye view of the historic events that would unfold during the thousand days of the Kennedy administration.
"Counselor: A Life At The Edge of History" is the best book I have read thus far this year. He had no job and very little money. It was a relationship that would continue until that dreadful day in Dallas in Novermber, 1963."Counselor: A Life At The Edge of History" offers some truly remarkable insights into both JFK the man and JFK the Senator and President. It is not wonder why so many politicians sought his assistance in the years and decades following the Kennedy assassination.
The author has not lost any of his elegant prose and writes with the same immediacy and directness in his narration of the rising optimism, and soaring hopes during JFK's thousand days administration, and in numbing details the unbearable anguish, unrelenting waves of grief, and enveloping emptiness as a result of the assassination of JFK.With the passing decades since Ted wrote the Kennedy biography in the mid 60's, the author was more open with disclosure of an insider's account without the distasteful and salacious details that seem to have become the selling points of some recent books on JFK. Along with Arthur Schlesinger Jr's on the JFK administration "A Thousand Days", Ted Sorensen's memoir "Counselor" is one of the most beautifully written and deeply touching account of the presidency of John F Kennedy. Ted's latest book, Counselor, is a memoir but largely deals with the author's 11 years with JFK.Ted, JFK's chief speech writer and confidant, is the man who gave the world JFK's immortal words "Ask not what the country can do for.". For example, Ted disclosed that he, on instruction from JFK, did relay a message to cancel an arrangement with the then little known actress, Audrey Hepburn. That is it, no conjecture or speculation on the relationship or nature of the arrangement.I highly recommend this book to all who love stylish writing and those who has interest in the JFK as a man, and his administration.
(p. While it does not include his endorsement of Barack Obama there is no doubt that his political sympathies are on the left of the Democratic Party.Speechwriting TipsThe book contains a fascinating number of insights into speechwriting and the role of the speechwriter:* Speechwriters should have a "passion of anonymity" so as not to diminish the principals' stature by accepting any credit for the speech. 131)* Sorensen writes speeches in longhand, with painstaking precision, requiring uninterrupted time, with piles of notes gathered on the floor around him, each pile reflecting a different topic in the outline. In early 2004 he stated:"The damage done to this country by its own misconduct in the last few months and years, to its very heart and soul, is far greater and longer lasting than any damage that any terrorist could possibly inflict upon us."Nevertheless, he remained optimistic that "a one-man aberration, however disastrous, is not permanent.Inept political leaders can be replaced."He's lucky to have lived to see the replacement take office. Nevertheless, I do not dismiss the potential of the right speech on the right topic delivered by the right speaker in the right way at the right moment. Less is almost always better than more. 3. His drafting of key communiques to Khrushchev helped save the world.The chapter on Kennedy's assassination is heart-wrenching for any of us alive on November 21, 1963.
This book reveals the challenges and rewards of such unparalleled access to one of the greatest American presidents.There's over 500 pages of compelling narrative in his striking honest autobiography. JFK speechwriter Ted Sorensen's book Counselor: A Life at the Edge of History is required reading for anyone calling themselves a speechwriter. Substantive ideas are the most important part of any speech.Nevertheless, Sorensen warns, "Saying it so doesn't make it so" :"Rare is the speaker who has the power to make others listen, and, if they listen, to act, and if they act, to do so in the manner he advocates. 4. 6.
138-141) are: 1. It can ignite a fire, change men's minds, open their eyes, alter their votes, bring hope to their lives, and, in all these ways, change the world. Choose each word as a precision tool. 136)* The six basic rules of speechwriting (p. It covers his Unitarian origins in the soil of Nebraska, to Washington DC and the Kennedy years, to the recent past.
Former secretary of state Dean Acheson advised bombing both Cuba and Soviet missile sites in Russia.Kennedy, as we know, chose the option of blockading Cuba against that of gung-ho military aggression. Supreme among these was the Cuban Missile crisis, the thirteen days in October 1962 when the world teetered on the brink of destruction. I know, I saw it happen."Kennedy's impact on the worldAs fascinating as the `inside baseball' view of speechwriting is, the real value of the book is Sorensen's role as witness to the defining crises of JFK's Presidency. 2. Use variety and literary devices to reinforce memorability, not confuse or distract. Sorensen notes that "It is not difficult to amass public support for a belligerent policy against a national adversary.
Sorensen witnessed many historical moments in his 11 years as JFK's chief speechwriter and Special Counsel to the President. Many senior advisers encouraged Kennedy to invade or bomb Cuba. Sorensen had a ring-side seat as a member of the ExComm group who met daily in the White House as the situation unfolded. (but).
More than anyone except Kennedy's immediate family he felt the loss which robbed him of his future.Sorensen's view of 21st century politicsHis epilogue reveals his utter contempt for the Bush/Cheney policies. Employ elevated but not grandiose language. (p. 296)Sorensen's role as trusted policy adviser during the crisis elevates him far above that of any other speechwriter in history.
Organize the text to simplify, clarify, emphasize. 5. I believe that a president who refrains from going to war may actually be showing more courage than one who follows the more politically popular course and launches military combat." (p. It remains to be seen if Obama fulfills the promise that Kennedy heralded.
There are few books which one reads where there is a connection to the author so real that it evokes the feelings of the times. I have such admiration for Mr. Sorensen, never giving up or in to the pressures of the times and/or his peers. This book should be required reading in all history and ethics classes.
After the 1952 election, with his temporary job at the Joint Committee on Railroad Retirement about to expire, he began looking for a staff position on Capitol Hill. This is refreshing candor in a book of this kind, and it contributes to the author's success not only in explaining his own role, but in showing how decisions were made and implemented. For the next eleven years, Sorenson was a speechwriter and adviser to Kennedy, living (as the subtitle puts it) "at the edge of history."Sorensen has no new revelations about JFK or his contemporaries (that ground has been well plowed), but his account is interesting in other ways. Although Sorensen remained a participant in power politics for the next four decades, his eleven years with John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts. The choice was not obvious, and half a century later he still marvels at having made what for him was the right choice. Theodore ("Ted") Sorensen graduated from the University of Nebraska College of Law in 1951 at age 23 and decided to move to Washington, D.C. Kennedy, and only with excruciating reluctance includes a chapter in which he tries to come to terms with recent revelations about Kennedy's marital infidelities and indiscretions.
Like most memoirists, he cannot resist including details that are of interest only to his family (do we really care who were the ring-bearers at his daughter's wedding). Like other New Frontier insiders, however, he tends to remember what is best about John F. Even this section, however, includes an extremely interesting chapter on Sorensen's failed nomination to be Jimmy Carter's CIA director, an early indication of the weaknesses of Carter's Presidency that later became clear.Sorensen summarizes his years with JFK this way: "For eleven years, I loved him, respected him, and believed in him. He seems to make a conscientious effort to avoid exaggerating his own influence on the decisions to which he contributed; nor does he try to claim credit for the achievements of his boss. There were jobs available with newly elected Senators, and Sorensen eventually got offers from two of them: Henry ("Scoop") Jackson of Washington, and John F. Kennedy were the most important of his life and are the core of this book.
Sorensen was "Special Counsel" to the President, whose duties included speechwriting and "counsel" on a wide variety of matters. In particular, when he was "out of the loop," as on decisions relating to policy toward Vietnam, he says so. The first 90 or so pages, about growing up in Nebraska, are an interesting prologue; the last 150 or so, covering 1964-2007, are somewhat anticlimactic. I still do." With that perspective in mind, this is a worthwhile book, but don't expect any "aha." moments.
|
