First Man Out

Aside from kinfolk, no man was closer to Jack Kennedy than Theodore Chaikin Sorensen. The son of a Nebraska liberal who was campaign manager for Senator George Norris, Ted Sorensen made Phi Beta Kappa at the University of Nebraska, graduated first in his class at law school and went to work in Washington. Late in 1952, Freshman Senator Kennedy hired Sorensen to help write his speeches and magazine articles. The two men were drawn together by a mutual fascination with politics and history, and it was Sorensen who compiled the research for Profiles in Courage.

Sorensen became Senator Kennedy's ranking aide, in 1956 wrote a widely circulated memorandum arguing that a

Roman Catholic vice-presidential nominee would strengthen the national Democratic ticket because he would attract bloc votes in Northern cities. One national election later, when Kennedy went to the White House, Sorensen accompanied him as Special Counsel. He contributed heavily toward building Kennedy's domestic program, sat in on just about every major decision made in the White House. So close were Sorensen and the President that it was often hard to distinguish the point where Sorensen ended and Kennedy began.

Thus it surprised nobody last week when Ted Sorensen, 35, submitted his letter of resignation to President Johnson. He had told Johnson in December that he wanted to leave, but the new President persuaded him to stay on for a while. Sorensen contributed the bulk of Johnson's first speeches--his address to the nation after the Kennedy assassination, the State of the Union message. In addition, he has been working on Johnson's special messages to Congress on the Administration's program for the coming year.

With these chores about finished, the President and Sorensen last week exchanged warm letters of confidence and thanks, clearing the way for Sorensen to move out of the White House on Feb. 29. Sorensen will write a book, to be published later this year by Harper & Row. It is a book, says Sorensen, "which I can write, describing President Kennedy, saying what kind of person he was and what kind of President he was. If I don't write it now, I'm not sure I'll ever write it."

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