Ted Sorensen

Best known as JFK's speechwriter and adviser, Sorenson may have had more "influence on a president's message" than any recent aide (Washinton Times, 11/1/10).

“Power of "Just Words"” - 1/11/2009

Transcript

THEODORE SORENSEN:  Well, first of all, I agree, Obama is the greatest since Kennedy with the possible exception of Kennedy’s brother Robert. But the power of words, I’m sure that Ted Widmer and all his fellow speechwriters were outraged by the attempt by Obama’s opponents, both during the primary race for the nomination and the general election—those opponents kept trying to dismiss his eloquence, his speech making ability as just words, just rhetoric.

And I was often interviewed on that subject. I said, “Just words, that’s how a president operates. That’s how John F. Kennedy galvanized the country to fight the prejudice against his religion. That’s how John F. Kennedy was able to win passage through Congress of legislation in his first year despite the fact that they Republicans and Dixie-crats opposed to his policies had a majority in Congress.

“That’s how John F. Kennedy at the United Nations was able to win the decent respect of mankind, as Jefferson would have called it, behind his foreign policy, which during the Cuban missile crisis, as I said on this stage before, turned out to be very, very important in getting Khrushchev to pull back. That’s how John F. Kennedy through his press conferences, interestingly enough, was able to win the loyalty and the support as well as the understanding of his own federal appointees, the officials at every level, high and low in Washington to unite them behind his program.”