Must read: Ted Sorensen – “Counselor”
President Kennedy and Ted Sorensen
From sometime in the 80s until the early 1990s, my dad used to co-own and operate Northward Bookstore in Ashland, WI (which recently closed due to the internet and bigger stores) where I spent the first few years of my life. I didn’t know until high school that Steve Sorensen who co-owned the store with my dad – was the son of a very famous figure in modern politics. This figure is Steve Sorensen, JFK’s Speechwriter and Special Counsel to the President, and a lawyer who still works and lives in New York. For a US History class in High School I wrote Mr. Sorensen a letter and promptly received a response, something I’ve kept and am pretty proud of – not knowing how close such an influential person to my family really was.
President Obama and Ted Sorensen
My dad bought this book a few months ago, so I decided to pick it up from the Marquette University library and have been reading it on and off for a month now, having just finished it a few minutes ago (it’s due tomorrow!). As seemingly dry reading about politics are sometimes, this book was nothing like you’d think it is.
It covers his youth in Nebraska to his rise in the political arena and eventually culminates in his long tenure with President Kennedy. He dealt with, met with, and worked with many important leaders of our time – and still does. His relationship with JFK is nothing like any other partnership I’ve heard of in politics – definitely something to be admired and hopefully sought after in the future . A man after my own ideals (that is, very liberal and Unitarian) , I really enjoyed reading his commentary on current situations and struggles in the world. He also explains life after JFK’s Presidency, working with LBJ, his time as director of the CIA, and life after Washington politics.
I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone looking to broaden their perspective of JFK and his rise to the Presidency, or anyone interested in what went on behind the closed doors of past White House staff.
A short video filmed a few months ago about the book and his work:
