A White House Insider's Advice

Review by Bill Doughty

Ted Sorensen, Special Counsel to the President, at work in the White House Jan. 25, 1961.
Photo by Abbie Rowe. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston.

The man who wrote some of the most famous speeches in modern history had plans to join the Navy when he was in high school during the Second World War. But after some soul-searching, he found his calling in a different kind of government service.

As one of the closest advisers to President John F. Kennedy, Ted Sorensen wrote several books that give an insight about leadership at the highest level.

Sorensen analyzed advantages of a "team of rivals" approach in his short book, "Decision Making in the White House: The Olive Branch or the Arrows" (Columbia University Press, 1963).

Some highlights for Navy readers and other critical thinkers:

• An inside look at how the Kennedy administration handled the Cuba Missile Crisis, deciding: "An air strike on military installations in Cuba, without any advance warning, was rejected as a 'Pearl Harbor in reverse.'"
• How, during the Cold War, Kennedy wished to name a nuclear submarine after a famous Indian Chief – Red Cloud – but "the Navy protested that this name had undesirable foreign-policy implications."
• Why the president must understand how his words and expressions can tip the balance in strategy discussions. "... a President must carefully weigh his own words" or risk shutting off "productive debate."
• The hazardous "whirlpools" created by resignations and trouble that can be caused by "the violent resignation of almost any Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense," etc.
• This quote from Alexander Hamilton about a president consulting with advisers: "the Constitution presumes he will consult them ... It must be his own fault if he be not surrounded by men who, for ability and integrity, deserve his confidence."

President John F. Kennedy meets with members of his administration November 24, 1961 regarding the budget for the Department of Defense at the Joseph P. Kennedy residence in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. Clockwise, from top: President Kennedy; David E. Bell, Director, Bureau of the Budget; Roswell Gilpatric, Deputy Secretary of Defense; Jerome B. Wiesner, Special Assistant to the President for Science and Technology; Theodore C. "Ted" Sorensen, Special Counsel to the President; McGeorge Bundy, National Security Advisor; unidentified man; General Lyman Lemnitzer, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; General Maxwell D. Taylor, Military Representative of the President; and Robert S. McNamara, Secretary of Defense. (JFK Library)

Sorensen advised openness to new ideas, diverse perspectives and responsible decision-making as intended under the Constitution:

"Unlike the leaders of autocracy, the President of our democracy must contend with powerful pressures of public opinion, with co-equal branches of the government, and with a free and critical press. He cannot allocate resources, or ignore traditions, or override departments in whatever manner he wishes. His allies cannot be treated as satellites, his mistakes cannot be concealed, his critics cannot be silenced."...Great and lasting decisions in human affairs can only be made by those exposed to human value judgments. Consistently wise decisions can only be made by those whose wisdom is constantly challenged. The voluntary unity of free men [and women] and nations is ultimately more solid than the forced uniformity of repression. In the long run, there can be no wisdom without dissent, no progress without diversity, no greatness without responsibility."

In the book's foreword, President Kennedy wrote: "A President must choose among men [and women], among measures, among methods. His choice helps determine the issues of his Presidency, their priority in the national life, and the mode and success of their execution. The heart of the Presidency is therefore informed, prudent, and resolute choice – and the secret of the presidential enterprise is to be found in an examination of the way presidential choices are made."

JFK offered high praise for his speechwriter and special counsel: "Mr. Sorensen, more than any recent American writer, has helped illuminate the scene with skill and judgment," Kennedy writes. "His careful observations have been made with skill and judgment and I am sure his work will become a permanent addition to the small shelf of indispensable books on the American Presidency."

Kennedy and Sorensen

There's a Navy tie linking Ted Sorensen with Navy veteran U.S. presidents Kennedy, Johnson and Carter. 

Jack Rosenthal wrote this about Sorensen in a New York Times review in 2008: "At the age of 17, Sorensen had intended to enlist in the Navy — but he changed his mind the day after World War II ended. He wound up registering as a conscientious objector, a fact later denounced by critics when President Jimmy Carter nominated him, unsuccessfully, to be the director of central intelligence."

Sorensen, a key adviser in Kennedy's inner circle, chose not to continue as part of LBJ's administration as Johnson stepped up the war in Vietnam.

Sorensen receives the National Humanities Medal from President Obama.

According to a profile at the Sorensen Center for International Peace and Justice at the City University of New York School of Law:  "From his pivotal work in crafting President Kennedy’s letter that helped avert nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis to his efforts to shape Kennedy’s civil rights speeches and legislation, Sorensen had a devotion to world peace and justice for all."

This Sorensen quote is featured on the CUNY Sorensen Center website: "We shall listen, not lecture; learn, not threaten. We will enhance our safety by earning the respect of others and showing respect for them."

President Obama presented Ted Sorensen with the National Humanities Medal in a ceremony at the White House on Feb. 25, 2010, eight months before Sorensen's death in New York City.

Sorensen's advice to the Presidency in "Decision-Making" deserves repeating: "In the long run, there can be no wisdom without dissent, no progress without diversity, no greatness without responsibility."

Sorensen is part of a pantheon of scholars-in-service who provided a window to the world and the possibilities – visionaries including Elliot Richardson, Richard Goodwin, Rachel Carson, Grace Hopper, Admiral Elmo Zumwalt and Robert H. Jackson.

President John F. Kennedy and others watch television coverage of astronaut Lieutenant Colonel John H. Glenn, Jr.'s lift-off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, Feb. 20, 1962, aboard Mercury-Atlas 6 (also known as Friendship 7) on the first U.S. manned orbital flight. (L-R) Special Counsel to the President Ted Sorensen (with pencil), Congressman Hale Boggs of Louisiana, Speaker of the House of Representatives John W. McCormack (mostly hidden, with his hand on Congressman Albert's shoulder), Congressman Carl Albert of Oklahoma, Senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, President Kennedy, and Senator Mike Mansfield of Montana (with arms crossed at far right). Family Dining Room, White House, Washington, D.C. (JFK Library)