Counselor: A Life at the Edge of History
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An intimate, deeply revealing memoir from John F. Kennedy's legendary right-hand man. In January 1953 the newly-elected Senator John F. Kennedy hired a young Nebraskan lawyer named Theodore Sorensen as his legislative assistant. Sorensen quickly rose up the ranks in JFK's senate office, from research aide to speechwriter to campaigner and advisor, eventually working closely with JFK on his speeches and books, including Profiles in Courage, and encouraging JFK's interest in the vice presidential nomination. Though JFK's pursuit of that nomination fell short at the 1956 Democratic Convention, he had emerged as a prominent national figure; and JFK and Sorensen traveled over the next three years to all fifty states exploring his prospects for the presidential nomination in 1960. Upon his election, Kennedy appointed Sorensen as his Special Counsel-a role that allowed him to serve as the President's own lawyer, speechwriter, and trusted confidante. Sorensen recounts in thrilling detail his experience advising JFK through some of the most dramatic moments in American history, including the Cuban Missile Crisis, when JFK requested that Sorensen draft a letter to Khrushchev at the most critical point of the world's first nuclear confrontation. Sorensen was immersed in everything from civil rights to the decision to go to the moon, and he also had a hand in JFK's most important speeches. Illuminating, revelatory, and utterly compelling, Counselor is the brilliant long-awaited memoir from a man who shaped the presidency and legacy of JFK as no one else could. The Barnes & Noble Review In the early 1950s, Ted Sorensen began work in Washington in the bowels of the bureaucracy, and wound up with two job offers on Capitol Hill: one from Senator Henry Jackson and the other from Senator John Kennedy. For a self-described policy wonk, the logical choice would have been Jackson, but Kennedy dazzled Sorensen, and the rest, as they say, is not only history but also a series of books about that history. Sorensen penned Decision-Making in the White House near the end of the Kennedy presidency and a full-length biography of JFK a few years after the assassination. What more is there for him to write about the Kennedy presidency?
Prologue 1Pt. 1 Lincoln, Nebraska, 1928-19511 Roots 132 Mother 223 Father 344 Childhood and Siblings 495 Education 596 Conscience 67Pt. 2 Washington, D.C., 1951-19647 Move to Washington, D.C. 898 Joining Senator Kennedy 959 Relationship with JFK 10210 My Perspective on JFK's Personal Life 11611 My Evolving Role on JFK's Senate Staff 12412 Speechwriting 13013 My Role in Profiles in Courage 14414 A Catholic Candidate for President? 15615 Senator Kennedy's Quest for the Presidency 16716 The 1960-1961 Presidential Transition 19817 Special Counsel to the President 20318 The President's Speeches 21519 President Kennedy's Ministry of Talent 22820 My Relations with Vice President Lyndon Johnson 24121 My Relations with President Kennedy's Family 25022 Kennedy's Civil Rights Initiative 27023 The Cuban Missile Crisis 28524 President Kennedy's Foreign Policy 31025 My Role in Press Relations 34126 Planning for JFK's Reelection and Second Term 34627 The Death of President Kennedy 36028 President Johnson's 1963 Transition 378Pt. 3 New York City, 1965-200729 Return to Private Life and Authorship 39730 New Life in New York 41031 Practicing Law 42232 My Continuing Involvement in Politics 45233 My 1977 Nomination for Director of Central Intelligence 48434 Family and Health 504Epilogue: Reflections, Regrets, and Reconsiderations 519Acknowledgments 533Index 535
