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Loading... Counselor: A Life at the Edge of Historyby Ted Sorensen
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Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0060798718, Hardcover)In this gripping memoir, John F. Kennedy's closest advisor recounts in full for the first time his experience counseling Kennedy through the most dramatic moments in American history. Sorensen returns to January 1953, when he and the freshman senator from Massachusetts began their extraordinary professional and personal relationship. Rising from legislative assistant to speechwriter and advisor, the young lawyer from Nebraska worked closely with JFK on his most important speeches, as well as his book Profiles in Courage. Sorensen encouraged the junior senator's political ambitions—from a failed bid for the vice presidential nomination in 1956 to the successful presidential campaign in 1960, after which he was named Special Counsel to the President. Sorensen describes in thrilling detail his experience advising JFK during some of the most crucial days of his presidency, from the decision to go to the moon to the Cuban Missile Crisis, when JFK requested that the thirty-four-year-old Sorensen draft the key letter to Khrushchev at the most critical point of the world's first nuclear confrontation. After Kennedy was assassinated, Sorensen stayed with President Johnson for a few months before leaving to write a biography of JFK. In 1968 he returned to Washington to help run Robert Kennedy's presidential campaign. Through it all, Sorensen never lost sight of the ideals that brought him to Washington and to the White House, working tirelessly to promote and defend free, peaceful societies. Illuminating, revelatory, and utterly compelling, Counselor is the brilliant, long-awaited memoir from the remarkable man who shaped the presidency and the legacy of one of the greatest leaders America has ever known. (retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:05 -0400) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
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Though not directly described and marketed this way, "Counselor" really is Sorensen's autobiography. The life of a small-town half-Jewish half-Danish kid from Nebraska that made some smart choices and ended up as John F. Kennedy's confidante throughout his most momentous years and by extension the country's.
As a student of history, there was much to be learned about Sorensen's personal beliefs and family upbringing that you couldn't possibly learn from any other book. For example, Sorensen was raised as a Unitarian and those pacifist views are what shaped his decision as a conscientious objector in WWII and overall commitment to peace and non-violence.
I did enjoy reading the inner-workings between Sorensen and the Kennedy's. Sorensen is unapologetic in his idolization of JFK. Though he still acknowledges the many mistakes made along the way. Another major revelation to me was Sorensen's admission that he really didn't that much influence on many of JFK's speeches. He explains that much of this myth was perpetuated due to his heavy involvement in JFK's "Profiles in Courage" and the Inauguration speech but says the most important speeches like the Berlin speech and University of Washington speeches were largely JFK's.
There are a few other more personal political failures that Sorensen embarrassingly details. Such as his failed New York Senate bid in 1970 and the appointment as CIA Director for Carter in 77 that went stillborn. Through them all, Sorensen has no regrets, they just reinforced what he already knew. These lessons from the edge of history are summed up in a short section called "Why and How to Run for President".
The book as expected is eloquently written and though at 500+ pages still reads rather briskly. There are no footnotes or endnotes as Sorensen describes the book to be more memoir than academic or scholarly text. As an auto-biography, the book is very reflective yet not to cerebral, well-worth the read for anyone who wants to know more about Sorensen and his relationship with the Kennedys. If you're looking for anything on Barack Obama, there is very little here, maybe 1 or 2 sentences and a picture.