COUNSELOR: A Life at the Edge of History - Hardcover

Sorensen, Ted

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060798718 ISBN 13: 9780060798710

Publisher: HARPER, 2008

Synopsis

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.

About this title

About the Author:

Ted Sorensen was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, and after law school moved to Washington, D.C., where he would ultimately work for John F. Kennedy. He left the White House soon after JFK's death, and in 1966 joined a New York City law firm, where, as a prominent international lawyer, he advised governments, multinational organizations, and major corporations around the world. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller Counselor: A Life at the Edge of History. Sorensen remained active in political and international issues until his death in 2010.

From AudioFile:

In this thoughtful and fascinating autobiography, White House advisor Ted Sorensen outlines the events that made his name synonymous with President Kennedy's. This is not, however, an adoring memoir that sanitizes the author's life with the administration. Rather, Sorensen conveys his mixed emotions regarding certain events, and relays their impact on his own life and perspectives. By delivering the material himself, Sorensen adds a personal touch. Narrating with measured tones, Sorensen allows the listener a candid glimpse of embarrassing personal events, as well as his indignation at President Kennedy's indiscretions. At its core, Sorensen's book provides a revealing glimpse into many of the defining events of the Kennedy administration. Sorensen's performance adds gravitas without invoking any sense of bitterness or disingenuousness. D.J.S. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

About this edition

• Publisher: HARPER
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0060798718
• ISBN 13: 9780060798710
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 556