THE PROPER USES OF NOSTALGA
On the last day of 2008 I finished reading Ted Sorensen’s memoir, subtitled “A Life at the Edge of History.” Sorenson, now 80, then 24, joined the staff of John Kennedy in January 1953 when representative Kennedy became Senator John Fitzgerald Kennedy. He quickly became Kennedy’s major speech writer and eventually counsel to the president. They were an odd couple, the Nebraska Unitarian and the Massachusetts Roman Catholic. Sorensen was accused by JFK’s enemies of actually writing JFK’s books and speeches. Soon after the president’s assassination the Kennedy family asked him to write the official biography. You saw him on TV. recently endorsing Barack Obama.