MONDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2010


KLMNO Sorensen, one of the crafters of Camelot sorensen from A1


self. A master of the craft of trans-


forming sweeping vision into strong verbs and nouns, Mr. So- rensen also was the soul of discre- tion, always loyal to his president and ever ready to deflect credit from himself. Mr. Sorensen went on to a long


and productive career after Ken- nedy was assassinated. He served as a speechwriter to President Lyndon B. Johnson and aided in the campaigns of several promi- nent Democrats, including Sens. Robert F.Kennedy andGaryHart. Mr. Sorensen made a reputation as an international lawyer and spoke out on behalf of liberal causes. He was an early endorser of the presidential candidacy of Barack Obama, and the president issued a statement Sunday praising Mr. Sorensen for his quick wit, seri- ousness of purpose and determi- nation to “keep America true to our highest ideals.”Mr. Sorensen, Obama said, led an “extraordi- nary life” that inspired many and helped make America and the world “more equal, more just and more secure.” Although he became identified


with the rhetoric with which Kennedy defined himself and his policies, Mr. Sorensen seemed satisfied to be behind the scenes, working under the title of Special Counsel and Adviser and accept- ing whatever reflected glory came to him. “It isn’t all that important who


wrote which word or which phrase in Kennedy’s inaugural,” he once told an interviewer. “What’s important are the themes and the principles he laid out.” Many memorable speeches


during the thousand days of the administration showed Mr. So- rensen’s handiwork. Recruited to join the small group that advised the president during the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, which brought the world to the brink of nuclear war, he helped craft the president’s correspondence with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. The meticulous wording was viewed as vital in bringing about a satisfactory resolution. Mr. Sorensen also played an


important part in drafting the president’s first speech to the nation on the crisis. Another speech with whichMr. Sorensen was identified was giv- en by the president at American University on a sweltering June day in 1963. Calling for a nuclear test ban and a new look at the possibility of peaceful coexis- tence with the Soviets, Kennedy asked Americans “not to see only a distorted and desperate view of the other side, not to see conflict as inevitable, accommodation as impossible and communication as nothing more than an ex- change of threats.” Born into a family with a heri-


tage of engagement in progres- sive politics in Nebraska, Mr. Sorensen joined Kennedy’s staff in the 1950s, when theMassachu- setts Democrat was in the Senate. Although different in many ways, the two men bonded,


EZ SU


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PAUL SCHUTZER/TIME & LIFE PICTURES/GETTY IMAGE


Ted Sorensen at work with John F.Kennedy in 1960, shortly after Kennedy was elected president. The two bonded so closely that JFK referred to Sorensen as his “intellectual blood bank.”


achieving a closeness that made many writers describe Mr. So- rensen as Kennedy’s alter ego. Kennedy called Mr. Sorensen his “intellectual blood bank.” Somewhoreportedonthepresi-


dent claimed, perhaps facetiously, to observe that Mr. Sorensen dwelled within Kennedy’s mind and was sufficiently familiar with every detail of its workings to enable himto finish the sentences that the president began. Inaninterviewwith the author


of a book on WhiteHouse speech- writers, Sorensen said that there was in fact “something to that.” “There’s a tremendous advan-


tage for a speechwriter to know his boss’smindas well as I did,”he said.


When the president was assas-


sinated, Mr. Sorensen was crushed; he called the events of Nov. 22, 1963, “the most deeply traumatic experience ofmy life.” Never, he said, had he thought


of a future without Kennedy, and over the years, he came to be regarded as one of the principal defenders of the president’s lega- cy.


In addition to literary crafts-


manship, Mr. Sorensen was known over the years for his fidelity and circumspection, which were notably on display at key junctures. One of them involved the


famed 1961 inaugural address. Of all of the presidential speeches of the past 100 years, fewhave had more lasting impact than Kennedy’s inaugural ad- dress. And in that speech, no sentence is better remembered than the exhortation: “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” Much of the galvanizing effect


of that speech is credited to Mr. Sorensen. He played a key role in composing the address. But he constantlyandfirmly maintained that the famous sentence came from the pen of the president himself. Mr. Sorensen played an impor-


tant part in the writing of the book that formed another part of the Kennedy legacy. That was “Profiles in Courage,” which won the Pulitzer Prize for history in 1957. How credit should be allo- cated between Mr. Sorensen and Kennedy was long a subject of controversy. Mr. Sorensen acknowledged


writing a first draft of most chap- ters and said that he “helped choose the words of many of its


DIGEST OHIO


Obama confronts enthusiasm gap President Obama’s last mid-


term campaign appearance Sun- day summed up the plight of his party — he spoke in a half-full Cleveland arena, in a deep blue part of a Republican-trending swing state, where a governor is locked in a tight contest and a Democratic Senate candidate has been given up for dead. Two years ago, Obama drew a


crowd of 60,000 in this same city two days before Election Day. On Sunday, about 8,000 showed up to see the president and Vice President Biden—maybe church service and trick-or-treating kept people from coming out, aides and supporters said. Still, the enthusiasm gap, not


just between Obama 2008 and Obama 2010 but also between Obama and top Democrats, in this all-important presidential campaign state was on full dis- play at Cleveland State Universi- ty’sWolstein Arena. Here’s how Democrat Chris


Landers, a die-hard voter, ex- plained it. “Of course youwant to vote Democratic, and everybody has their own individual aura, but there is something special about him,” she said of Obama. “Once he walks into a room, it just lights up. There was no applause like the one he got.” Landers was among the rally-


goers who shouted, “Yes we can. Yes we can” as hecklers inter- rupted Obama’s standard stump speech, which laid out the case for his agenda and cast Republi- cans as obstructionists.


“Cleveland, imagine the Re-


publicans were driving the econ- omy like a car, and they drove it into the ditch. And this is a very deep, steep ditch. And Joe and I and Ted, we had to put on our boots,we had to rappel down,” he said. “And it’smuddy down there and dusty and hot. Somehow the Republicans, they fled the scene. And now they’re up on the street and they’re looking down, and we call them down to help and they say, no, that’s all right.” Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland (D)


won in a blowout in 2006 but is fighting for his political life in a race against Republican John Kasich. Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher (D) is down by double digits in his race against Rob Portman, who is already generating 2012 vice presidential talk. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D), who


blamed themedia and theDemo- crats’ ineffective messaging for his party’s predicted poor show- ing, said Obama’s visit “will help the whole ticket.” “A rising tide lifts all boats,” he


said. “The president’s visit will help get out thousand of voters in Northeast Ohio and help ev- erybody.” Obama ended his whirlwind


campaign schedule with a four- state weekend swing through urban areas in Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Illinois and his 12th visit to Ohio. — Nia-Malika Henderson


ALASKA


Palin is expecting ‘political earthquake’ Former Alaska governor Sar-


ah Palin (R) said that she


expects Tuesday’s election to be a “political earthquake” and that the message voters will deliver is that the left and President Obama “blew it.” Asked whether Republicans should compromise on princi- ple after they get elected, Palin said “absolutely not,” adding that “that’s been part of the problem.” Speaking on “Fox News Sun-


day,” Palin also defended her endorsements of marketing consultant Christine O’Donnell (R) in the Delaware Senate race and lawyer JoeMiller (R) in the Alaska Senate race. She called Rep. Mike Castle (R) a “RINO” who is “pro-cap-and-tax” and “wishy-washy on Obamacare” and accused some in the Alaska media of being “corrupt bas- tards” who are conspiring to portray Miller negatively. “CBS reporters are on tape


saying, ‘Let’s find a child mo- lester in the crowd that sup- ports Miller,’ ” she said, adding that she “can’t wait” to air the tape. Palin also reiterated that she will decide on a potential 2012 presidential run “after discussing it with my family and just checking out the lay of the land.” Democratic Congressional


Campaign Committee Chair- man Chris Van Hollen (Md.) said he remains confident that Democrats will hold the House. Van Hollen pushed back against pundits’ predictions that Democrats will lose con- trol of the chamber, pointing to early voting as a sign of the party’s strength — Felicia Sonmez andMatt DeLong


sentences.” But when a reporter asserted


publicly that the book was Mr. Sorensen’s work, he gave an affi- davit saying that it was Kennedy who was the author. Theodore Chaikin Sorensen


was bornMay 8, 1928, in Lincoln, Neb. His father, who became Ne- braska’s attorney general, was a Republican progressive. His mother, of Russian Jewish back- ground, raised her children in the Unitarian Church. World War II ended when he


was 17; his decision to register afterward as a conscientious ob- jector helped derail his nomina- tion during the Carter adminis- tration as head of the Central Intelligence Agency. After law school at the Univer-


sity of Nebraska, Mr. Sorensen’s interest in public service brought him to Washington, where he worked in government and was soon offered a job in Kennedy’s Senate office. In the run-up to the 1960


presidential campaign, they crisscrossed the country together, discovering, as Mr. Sorensen wrote in a 2008 memoir, “Coun- selor,” that they “enjoyed each other’s company, joking, talking politics and planning his future.” Mr. Sorensen later wrote a


best-selling biography of Kenne- dy.


In 1970, Mr. Sorensen sought


the Democratic senatorial nomi- nation inNewYork but lost in the primary. The stroke he suffered Oct. 22


was his second. The first, in 2001, diminished his sight somuchthat he had to dictate rather than write a book of memoirs. His marriage to the former


Camilla Palmer ended in divorce. Survivors include his wife, Gil-


lian Martin Sorensen of New York; three sons from his first marriage, Eric, Stephen and Phil- ip, all of Wisconsin; a daughter from his second marriage, Juliet Sorensen Jones of Chicago; and seven grandchildren. Also surviv- ing is a sister,Ruth Singer of Falls Church, and a brother, Philip, of Columbus, Ohio. During the Obama campaign,


Mr. Sorensen said he was per- plexed at the derision of the candidate’s addresses as “just words.” “ ‘Just words’ is how a presi-


dent manages to operate,” Mr. Sorensen told the Boston Globe. “ ‘Just words’ is how he engages the country.”


browne@washpost.com


Macy’s Metro Center –Friday, November 5at1pm Macy’s Pentagon City and Macy’s Montgomery Friday, November 5at5:30pm Macy’s Tysons Corner, and Macy’s Fair Oaks Mall Saturday, November 6at2pm Men’s Department


Join Macy’s for our Men’s Fall Fashion Celebration!


Dress to Impress! We’re showcasing this season’s top style trends for men. Our style experts will show you the key pieces you need and how to put it all together. Grab the guys and come rock out to the sounds of our DJ, enjoy refreshments and more! Plus, receive a$50 savings pass to use on afuture men’s purchase of $150 or more between 12/9/10 and 12/16/10 when you spend $150 in the Men’s Department. Receive a special gift with your $75 Kenneth Cole Reaction Men’s Sportswear purchase.


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While you’re here, pick up your: •FREE iPad cover** with any $150 London Fog purchase (one cover might contain an iPad) at Fair Oaks Mall, Metro Center, Montgomery Mall and Pentagon City ONLY •FREE $40 Dinner&Movie gift card** with any $40 Haggar purchase •FREE Puma watch** with any $50 Puma purchase (at Metro Center, Montgomery Mall and Pentagon City ONLY) •FREE KCR-branded portable speakerset** with a$75 or more REACTION purchase (at Tysons Corner ONLY) •FREE 6-month subscription** to Sports Illustrated magazine with any $50 Dockers Khaki purchase •FREE duffel sport bag** with any $50 Izod purchase


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LOOKWHAT’S HAPP


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