Kennedy Counselor and Wordsmith, Theodore C. Sorensen, Dies at 82

Theodore C. Sorensen, who was a close adviser and counselor
to John F. Kennedy for 11 years, writing words and giving
voice to ideas that shaped the president's image and legacy,
died Sunday. He was 82.

Mr. Sorensen said he suspected the headline on his obituary
would read: "Theodore Sorenson, Kennedy Speechwriter,"
misspelling his name and misjudging his work. "I was never
just a speechwriter," he said in an interview with The New
York Times in 2007.


He was best known for working with Mr. Kennedy on passages of
soaring rhetoric, including the 1961 inaugural address
proclaiming that "the torch has been passed to a new
generation of Americans" and challenging citizens: "Ask not
what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for
your country."


Mr. Sorensen drew on the Bible, the Gettysburg
Address and the words of Thomas Jefferson and Winston
Churchill as he helped hone and polish that speech.