Kennedy

"A brilliant and essential document about the man, the President, and his times. In all the millions of words which have been written about the martyred President, this book must remain unique. . . . It is John F. Kennedy's life, his personality, his thinking which informed his action and that action itself described with honest and candor which illuminate and enliven the crowded pages of this book. Sorensen has managed to portray Kennedy in realistic human terms and not as the hero of a myth. . . . It is the richness of detail, anecdotes, incidents, conversations, descriptions rather than any gossip or startling revelations which gives the book its compelling readability."   - Los Angeles TimesTheclassic, intimate, and #1 national bestselling biography of JFK by his greatadvisor Ted Sorensen. In January 1953, freshman senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts hired atwenty-four-year-old from Nebraska as his Number Two legislative assistant-on atrial basis. Despite the differences in their backgrounds, in the eleven yearsthat followed Ted Sorensen became known as Kennedy's intellectual blood bank,top policy aide, and alter ego. Sorensen knew Kennedy the man, the senator, thecandidate, and the president as no other associate did. From his role as alegislative assistant to Kennedy's death in 1963, Sorensen was with him duringthe key crises and turning points-including the spectacular race for the vicepresidency at the 1956 convention, the launching of Kennedy's presidentialcandidacy, the TV debates with Nixon, and election night at Hyannis Port. Thefirst appointment made by the new president was to name Ted Sorensen hisSpecial Counsel.In Kennedy,Sorensen recounts failures as well as successes with surprising candor andobjectivity. He reveals Kennedy's errors on the Bay of Pigs, and his attitudestoward the press, Congress, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Sorensen sawfirsthand Kennedy's actions in the Cuban missile crisis, and the evolution ofhis beliefs on civil rights and arms control. First published in 1965 andreissued here with a new preface, Kennedy is an intimate biography of anextraordinary man, and one of the most important historical accounts of thetwentieth century.