ted sorensen is da man!
i got a chance to watch ted sorenson on c-span's broadcast from the kennedy school a couple of days back, and was hoping to be able to post the show via youtube (but alas youtube appears to be down as of this writing). i never knew sorensen was the force behind kennedy's (that's the president, not the school) speeches. the interview, conducted by jim leach, made me realize just how far down the crapper the US has sunk. to hear sorensen and his thinly veiled digust for the current administration (and pretty much every administration since kennedy's) said much to me about a different class of public servants back in the 60's.
one thing that kept coming up is that sorensen was only 34 when he was charged with writing some of the most important speeches in recent american history (the 13-day war, bay of pigs, kennedy's inaugural address). sorensen himself is somewhat incredulous that he was given this sort of responsibility.
the speech also brings up the craziness of the politics of the time, which closely mirrors what's going on today. dean atkinson (sp?) was jfk's guy who delivered the letters to kruschev. basically he was a very heavy hawk and if he had had his way there would have been nuclear war.
[btw, youtube is back now - so down for 20 minutes! - 12.10p CST]
sorensen says during the interview that kennedy's ability to provide a way for kruschev to not lose face when confronted with the turkey missile issue was instrumental in allowing for a peaceful end to the cuban missile crisis.
-- update: you can download the talk: as a quicktime, mp3, wmv or real file at
one thing that kept coming up is that sorensen was only 34 when he was charged with writing some of the most important speeches in recent american history (the 13-day war, bay of pigs, kennedy's inaugural address). sorensen himself is somewhat incredulous that he was given this sort of responsibility.
the speech also brings up the craziness of the politics of the time, which closely mirrors what's going on today. dean atkinson (sp?) was jfk's guy who delivered the letters to kruschev. basically he was a very heavy hawk and if he had had his way there would have been nuclear war.
[btw, youtube is back now - so down for 20 minutes! - 12.10p CST]
sorensen says during the interview that kennedy's ability to provide a way for kruschev to not lose face when confronted with the turkey missile issue was instrumental in allowing for a peaceful end to the cuban missile crisis.
-- update: you can download the talk: as a quicktime, mp3, wmv or real file at
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posted by sundar | 10:17 AM
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