Counselor: A Life at the Edge of History »

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 also wrote a bestselling biography of JFK. Sorensen remains active in political and international issues, and lives in New York City with his wife, Gillian.

An intimate, deeply revealing memoir from John F. Kennedy's legendary right-hand man.

In January 1953 the newly-elected Senator John F. Kennedy hired a young Nebraskan lawyer named Theodore Sorensen as his legislative assistant. Sorensen quickly rose up the ranks in JFK's senate office, from research aide to speechwriter to campaigner and advisor, eventually working closely with JFK on his speeches and books, including Profiles in Courage, and encouraging JFK's interest in the vice presidential nomination. Though JFK's pursuit of that nomination fell short at the 1956 Democratic Convention, he had emerged as a prominent national figure; and JFK and Sorensen traveled over the next three years to all fifty states exploring his prospects for the presidential nomination in 1960. Upon his election, Kennedy appointed Sorensen as his Special Counsel-a role that allowed him to serve as the President's own lawyer, speechwriter, and trusted confidante.

Sorensen recounts in thrilling detail his experience advising JFK through some of the most dramatic moments in American history, including the Cuban Missile Crisis, when JFK requested that Sorensen draft a letter to Khrushchev at the most critical point of the world's first nuclear confrontation. Sorensen was immersed in everything from civil rights to the decision to go to the moon, and he also had a hand in JFK's most important speeches.

Illuminating, revelatory, and utterly compelling, Counselor is the brilliant long-awaited memoir from a man who shaped the presidency and legacy of JFK as no one else could.

The Barnes & Noble Review

In the early 1950s, Ted Sorensen began work in Washington in the bowels of the bureaucracy, and wound up with two job offers on Capitol Hill: one from Senator Henry Jackson and the other from Senator John Kennedy. For a self-described policy wonk, the logical choice would have been Jackson, but Kennedy dazzled Sorensen, and the rest, as they say, is not only history but also a series of books about that history. Sorensen penned Decision-Making in the White House near the end of the Kennedy presidency and a full-length biography of JFK a few years after the assassination. What more is there for him to write about the Kennedy presidency?

Prologue 1

Pt. 1 Lincoln, Nebraska, 1928-1951

1 Roots 13

2 Mother 22

3 Father 34

4 Childhood and Siblings 49

5 Education 59

6 Conscience 67

Pt. 2 Washington, D.C., 1951-1964

7 Move to Washington, D.C. 89

8 Joining Senator Kennedy 95

9 Relationship with JFK 102

10 My Perspective on JFK's Personal Life 116

11 My Evolving Role on JFK's Senate Staff 124

12 Speechwriting 130

13 My Role in Profiles in Courage 144

14 A Catholic Candidate for President? 156

15 Senator Kennedy's Quest for the Presidency 167

16 The 1960-1961 Presidential Transition 198

17 Special Counsel to the President 203

18 The President's Speeches 215

19 President Kennedy's Ministry of Talent 228

20 My Relations with Vice President Lyndon Johnson 241

21 My Relations with President Kennedy's Family 250

22 Kennedy's Civil Rights Initiative 270

23 The Cuban Missile Crisis 285

24 President Kennedy's Foreign Policy 310

25 My Role in Press Relations 341

26 Planning for JFK's Reelection and Second Term 346

27 The Death of President Kennedy 360

28 President Johnson's 1963 Transition 378

Pt. 3 New York City, 1965-2007

29 Return to Private Life and Authorship 397

30 New Life in New York 410

31 Practicing Law 422

32 My Continuing Involvement in Politics 452

33 My 1977 Nomination for Director of Central Intelligence 484

34 Family and Health 504

Epilogue: Reflections, Regrets, and Reconsiderations 519

Acknowledgments 533

Index 535