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aga -----Original Message----- From: Morningmoon <[email protected]> Sender: [email protected] Date: Fri, 5 Nov 2010 13:15:22 To: <[email protected]> Reply-To: [email protected] Subject: Re: ~ aga ~ 'Ask not what your country can do for you': JFK speechwriter (and world saviour) dies at 84 kalo kata dave mustaine gini: *Don't ask what you can do for your country Ask what your country can do for you Take no prisoners, take no shit!* "Megadeth, Take No Prisoner" rock on, wkwkwkwkwkwkwk *~ Sista Moon is tired of waiting for Broda Sun~* On Fri, Nov 5, 2010 at 11:51 AM, aga madjid <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > 'Ask not what your country can do for you': JFK speechwriter (and world > saviour) dies at 84 > > > <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1325433/Ask-country-JFK-speechwriter-world-saviour-dies-84.html> > > > Writing history: Theodore C. Sorensen, pictured during his time as aide to > JFK, died today, aged 82 > > > Theodore C. Sorensen, the poetic speechwriter of President John F. Kennedy > - whose crisp, stunning turns of phrase helped idealise and immortalise a > tragically brief administration - died today, aged 82. > > Mr Sorensen died at a New York hospital from complications of a stroke. He > had been in poor health in recent years. > > President Barack Obama issued a statement saying he was saddened to learn > of Sorensen's death, saying: 'I know his legacy will live on in the words he > wrote, the causes he advanced, and the hearts of anyone who is inspired by > the promise of a new frontier.' > > Of all JFK's inner circle, special counsel Mr Sorensen ranked just below > brother Robert Kennedy. To label him as merely a speechwriter would be to > greatly undervalue his role during Kennedy's presidency. > > He was an adviser, confidante and - in a very real sense - saviour of the > world. > > Kennedy called him 'my intellectual blood bank', and archrival and future > president Richard Nixon said in 1962: 'You need a mind like Sorensen’s > around you that’s clicking and clicking all the time.' > > Nixon said Mr Sorensen had 'a rare gift': an unfaltering ability of finding > phrases that penetrated the American psyche. > > He was best known for working with 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 the immortal phrase: 'Ask not > what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.' > > Political historians say that Kennedy and Mr Sorensen was so inextricably > linked that perhaps only they knew who wrote what parts of the speeches. > > But Mr Sorensen, an adoring follower of Kennedy, never took credit for the > president's timeless phrases - saying that it was a totally collaborative > effort > > What he was proud of, however, was his role in saving the world from > nuclear annihilation. > > In October 1962, with the U.S. and the Soviet Union on the brink of war > over the placement of Soviet missiles in Cuba, Kennedy directed Mr Sorensen > and brother Robert to draft a letter to Nikita Khrushchev. > > 'Intellectual blood bank': Other than Kennedy's brother Robert, Sorensen > was considered the president's top adviser - and one-time saviour of the > world > > Khrushchev had sent a confrontational message, and Mr Sorensen's carefully > worded response - which ignored the Soviet leader's harsher statements, and > included a U.S. concession involving U.S. weaponry in Turkey - was credited > with persuading the Soviets to withdraw their missiles from Cuba and with > averting war between the superpowers. > > He said: 'That's what I'm proudest of. Never had this country, this world, > faced such great danger. You and I wouldn't be sitting here today if that > had gone badly. > > “I knew that any mistakes in my letter - anything that angered or soured > Khrushchev - could result in the end of America, maybe the end of the > world.' > > Of the many speeches Sorensen helped compose, Kennedy's inaugural address > shone brightest. Bartlett's Familiar Quotations includes four citations from > the speech - one-seventh of the entire address, which built to an > unforgettable exhortation: 'Ask not what your country can do for you; ask > what you can do for your country.' > > Timeless speech: Kennedy's inaugural address, written in part by Sorensen, > remains a landmark in U.S. Political history, including the phrase 'Ask not > what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country' > > Much of the roughly 14-minute speech - the fourth-shortest inaugural > address ever, but in the view of many experts rivalled only by Abraham > Lincoln's - was marked by similar sparkling phrase-making: > > - 'Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we > shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any > friend, > oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of > liberty.' > - 'If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save > the few who are rich.' > - 'Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to > negotiate.' > > Mr Sorensen said he drew inspiration for the speech from the Bible, from > Abraham Lincoln - and from the rousing wartime speeches of British prime > minister Winston Churchill. > > Another timeless speech was in 1962, when the Soviet Union was winning the > space race and America needed to be seen to be catching up. > > Telling an audience at Rice University in Texas that the U.S. not only > needed to be a part of the space race but had to lead it, he said: 'I > believe this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before the > decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to > Earth.' > > He followed this by saying that America should go to the moon and achieve > other difficult tasks 'not because they are easy, but because they are > hard'. > > This simple statement remains one of the most inspiring phrases in U.S. > political history - little wonder then that astronauts met that deadline in > July 1969. > > Mr Sorensen said he was devastated by Kennedy's assassination in 1963, > recalling: 'It was a feeling of hopelessness, of anger, of bitterness. That > there was nothing we could do. There was nothing I could do.' > > > Inspirational: Mr Sorensen credits the rousing speeches of Abraham > Lincoln and Winston Churchill as inspiration for Kennedy's inaugural address > > Mr Sorensen was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, on May 8, 1928 - Harry S. > Truman’s 44th birthday, as he was fond of noting. > > He graduated from Lincoln High, the University of Nebraska and the > university's law school. > > After Kennedy's death, Mr Sorensen worked as an international lawyer. He > stayed involved in politics, joining Robert Kennedy's presidential campaign > in 1968 and running unsuccessfully for the New York Senate four years later. > > In 1976, President Jimmy Carter nominated Mr Sorensen for the job of CIA > director, but conservative critics quickly killed the nomination, citing - > among other alleged flaws - his decision after the end of the Second World > War to register with his draft board as a conscientious objector to combat. > > Mr Sorensen recalled that Carter’s top aide, Hamilton Jordan, placed an > angry call to him - asking why he had not mentioned this suddenly salient > fact before accepting the nomination. > > His response was as direct as his speechwriting: ‘I didn’t know that the > CIA director was supposed to kill anybody.' > > Perhaps his greatest legacy is the advice he gave to all Americans in > Councelor - his memoirs: 'I still believe that the mildest and most obscure > of Americans can be rescued from oblivion by good luck, sudden changes in > fortune, sudden encounters with heroes. > > 'I believe it because I lived it.' > > > > > -- > you have this email because you join to "aga-madjid" GoogleGroups. > to post emails, just send to : > [email protected] > to join this group, send blank email to : > [email protected] > to quit from this group, just send email to : > [email protected]<aga-madjid%[email protected]> > please visit to www.facebook.com/aga.madjid, > add my Yahoo Messenger at [email protected] or > add my twitter @aga_madjid > thanks for joinning this group. > -- you have this email because you join to "aga-madjid" GoogleGroups. to post emails, just send to : [email protected] to join this group, send blank email to : [email protected] to quit from this group, just send email to : [email protected] please visit to www.facebook.com/aga.madjid, add my Yahoo Messenger at [email protected] or add my twitter @aga_madjid thanks for joinning this group. -- you have this email because you join to "aga-madjid" GoogleGroups. to post emails, just send to : [email protected] to join this group, send blank email to : [email protected] to quit from this group, just send email to : [email protected] please visit to www.facebook.com/aga.madjid, add my Yahoo Messenger at [email protected] or add my twitter @aga_madjid thanks for joinning this group.
