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Ted Sorensen was a Nebraska lawyer and writer who worked as a speechwriter for US President John F. Kennedy and wrote Kennedy’s famous inaugural address. He later worked with Senator Robert Kennedy and President Barack Obama, held positions in many important political institutions, and authored several important books. He died in 2010 at the age of 82.
Theodore Chaikin “Ted” Sorensen was a Nebraska lawyer and writer. He began his career as an assistant and speechwriter for US President John F. Kennedy and wrote Kennedy’s famous inaugural address. Later in his life, Sorensen worked with Senator Robert Kennedy and President Barack Obama, held positions in many important political institutions, and authored several important books. He died in 2010 at the age of 82.
Born May 8, 1928, Sorensen was the son of Nebraska Attorney General Christian A. Sorensen and Annis (Chaikin) Sorensen. He grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska, graduated from Lincoln High School in 1945 and received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Sorensen also attended law school at that university and graduated top of his class in 1951. In 1953, he became the principal legislative aide to Senator John F. Kennedy and authored many of Kennedy’s speeches and articles. Sorensen was also the ghostwriter for most of the book Profiles in Courage, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1956.
Ted Sorensen became a special counsel and adviser to President Kennedy soon after Kennedy’s inauguration. Sorensen wrote many of Kennedy’s speeches and is most famous for helping him draft Kennedy’s inaugural address which exhorted “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” Although most of Sorensen’s early responsibilities lay on the domestic agenda, after the Bay of Pigs he was selected by Kennedy to participate in several foreign policy discussions and became a member of the Executive Committee of the National Security Council.
In February 1964, following the assassination of Kennedy and President Johnson’s first address to Congress, Sorensen officially resigned from his post. He later joined the well-known law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, where he practiced law but remained involved in politics. He became the key adviser to Robert F. Kennedy’s 1968 presidential campaign and ran for Democratic Party-designate United States Senator in 1970. He finished third in that election. In 1977, Ted Sorensen was named director of Central Intelligence, but withdrew his nomination before the Senate could vote.
During the 1970s, 80s and 90s, Ted Sorensen was affiliated with several institutions, including the Century Foundation, the Institute of Politics and the Council on Foreign Relations. He has served as an advisory board member of the Partnership for a Secure America and a board member of the International Center for Transitional Justice. Additionally, Sorensen went on to have a successful career as an attorney and served as editor of the Saturday Review.
In his later years, Ted Sorensen officially endorsed then-Senator Barack Obama for the 2008 presidential election and remained active in his presidential campaigns. He assisted in drafting President Obama’s 2009 inaugural address while serving on the National Security Network’s advisory board. He was awarded the National Humanities Medal in 2010 for advancing the country’s understanding of American politics.
Ted Sorensen is the author of many books, including Decision-making in the White House, Kennedy, The Kennedy Legacy and Why I Am a Democrat. His life and his achievements are depicted in several films, including The Missiles of October, Thirteen Days and the television miniseries From the Earth to the Moon. Sorensen died on October 31, 2010 after suffering a stroke. Ted Sorensen left behind a wife, Gillian; a daughter, Juliet; and three sons, Stefano, Filippo and Eric.
