Kennedy

New York: Harper & Row, 1965. Hard Cover. Very Good/Very Good. 9x6x2. Jacket price clipped, front jacket flap creased. 1965 Hard Cover. viii, 783 pp. 8vo. "A powerfully moving biography of JFK by one of his closest friends and advisors. Sorensen's work was first published in 1965 when the wounds caused by the assassination had barely time to heal. It has remained a classic and is indispensable for an evaluation of Kennedy and his place in history." ABOUT THE AUTHOR: "Theodore Chaikin 'Ted' Sorensen (born May 8, 1928) is of Counsel (retired Senior Partner) at the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP and writer, best known as President John F. Kennedy's Special Counsel & Adviser, legendary speechwriter, and 'alter-ego.' President Kennedy once called him his 'intellectual blood bank.' At the age of 27, Sorensen had an important role in researching and drafting Kennedy's Pulitzer Prize-winning book Profiles in Courage, prompting some controversy over the book's authorship. In May 2008, Sorensen in his autobiography, Counselor largely confirmed allegations that he had done much, if not most, of the writing. Sorensen wrote that he 'did a first draft of most chapters' and 'helped choose the words of many of its sentences'. Sorensen claimed that in May 1957, Kennedy 'unexpectedly and generously offered, and I happily accepted, a sum' for his work on the book. In December 1957, syndicated columnist Drew Pearson, interviewed on TV by Mike Wallace, said, 'Jack Kennedy is... the only man in history that I know who won a Pulitzer prize on a book which was ghostwritten for him.' Kennedy demanded a retraction. After Kennedy provided handwritten notes and Sorensen signed an affidavit attesting to Kennedy's authorship, Pearson acceded. However, years later historian Herbert Parmet, after analyzing the text of Profiles in Courage for his book The Struggles of John F. Kennedy, argued that although it was probably Kennedy who guided the direction and message of the award-winning book and oversaw its production, it was clearly Sorensen who wrote the end product. Sorensen was President Kennedy's Special Counsel & Adviser, and primary speechwriter, the role for which he is best remembered today. His inaugural address for the new president exhorted listeners to 'Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country'. This call to service is the phrase still most closely associated with the Kennedy administration today. Although Sorensen played an important part in the composition of the Inaugural Address, the famous turn of phrase that everyone remembers from that speech was actually written by Kennedy himself, and taken from Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. This has been acknowledged by Sorensen as well as documented in several substantive biographies of JFK, most notably Profile of Power by Richard Reeves. He served as Special Counsel & Adviser to the president, with responsibility for the domestic agenda; however, after the Bay of Pigs debacle, President Kennedy asked Sorensen to take part in foreign policy discussions as well. As a result, he played a critical role in resolving the Cuban Missile Crisis, drafting Kennedy's correspondence with Nikita Khrushchev. After Kennedy was assassinated, he helped the new president, Lyndon B. Johnson, for several months, as LBJ recalled in his White House memoirs. Sorensen wrote LBJ's first speech to Congress, as well as his first State of the Union address. Sorensen left the White House to write Kennedy, a biography published in 1965. Providing an insight into the Kennedy White House, it became an international bestseller, and was translated into several languages. Sorensen later joined the law firm, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, while still staying involved in politics. He played an important role in a number of campaigns, including the Robert F. Kennedy presidential campaign in 1968. Over the past four decades, Sorensen has led a prominent career as an international lawyer, advising governments around the world, as well as major international corporations.