The Era of the Kennedy Presidency has finally ended with the death of the President’s “alter ego”, speech writer and counselor, Theodore Sorensen, at the age of 82!
Sorensen had an extremely significant role in many key events of the Kennedy Administration, including: the Inaugural Address; the Space Program commitment to land on the moon; the Cuban Missile Crisis communication with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev; the Civil Rights speech; and the Cold War speech which called for lessening of tensions with the Soviet Union after the resolution of the Missile Crisis.
With his death, and the earlier death of Senator Ted Kennedy and historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., and with the earlier passing of all leading figures in the administration, John F. Kennedy truly passes into history totally, with no major survivors of the age of Camelot!
In many ways, this is a sad moment of recognition, just one week before the 50th anniversary of the election of John F. Kennedy on November 8, 1960!
This is so true and makes me reflect on how great President Kennedy really was. The Sorensen – Kennedy team was a match made in Heaven. I have been learning a lot of the Kennedy administration and what really happened the day JFK was assassinated in a wonderful memoir called, The Kennedy Detail by Gerald Blaine, who was one of Kennedy’s secret service agents. These men were also very close to the President like Sorensen was, only I believe their perspective is a bit different because of the guilt and shame they carried after what had happened.