Theodore C. Sorensen is best known for his close association with and dedication to President Kennedy. Serving as a legislative and administrative assistant and speechwriter for Senator Kennedy, Sorensen went on to play an important role in organizing the presidential campaign of 1960, especially efforts to counter anti-Catholic prejudice. He later served as Special Counsel and speechwriter to President Kennedy from 1961 to 1963 and participated in the secret ExComm meetings during the Cuban missile crisis. Mr. Sorensen is the author of four books about the Kennedy years, including Kennedy (1965), and Let the Word Go Forth, a selection of the speeches, statements and writings of President Kennedy (1988). He was largely responsible for completing Robert Kennedy's Thirteen Days, based on notes left after RFK's assassination in 1968.
1928 Born, Lincoln, Nebraska
1949 B.S. University of Nebraska
1951 J.D. University of Nebraska
1951 Admitted to Nebraska bar
1951-1952 Attorney, Federal Security Agency
1952 Staff member, U.S. Senate, Joint Committee on Railway Retirement
1953-1959 Secretary, New England Senator’s Conference
1953-1961 Assistant to Senator John. F. Kennedy
1961-1963 Special Counsel to President John F. Kennedy
1963-1964 Special Counsel to President Lyndon B. Johnson
1966-68 Visiting lecturer in public and international affairs, Princeton University
1967-1969 Chairman of Advisory Committee, New York State Democratic Party
1966-1976 National Executive Committee, Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
1966 Admitted to Bar of the U.S. Supreme Court
1966 Admitted to New York State Bar
1966-present Partner, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison law firm, New York City
1968 Advisor, Robert F. Kennedy campaign
1968 Delegate, National Democratic Convention
1970 Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, New York
1971 Admitted to District of Columbia Bar
1971-1973 Commentator on National Affairs for Metromedia Channel 5
1978 Member, President’s Advisory Committee on Trade Negotiations
Author
Decision-Making in the White House: The Olive Branch or the Arrows, foreword by John F. Kennedy, 1963
Kennedy,1965
The Kennedy Legacy, 1969
Watchmen in the Night: Presidential Accountability after Watergate, 1975
A Different Kind of Presidency: A Proposal for Breaking the Political Deadlock, 1984
A Widening Atlantic?: Domestic Change & Foreign Policy(with Ralf Dahrendorf), 1986
Let the Word Go Forth: The Speeches, Statements, and Writings of John F. Kennedy(selected by and author of introduction), 1988
Why I Am a Democrat, 1996
Source:
Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2004. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, MI: The Gale Group, 2004.