[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 155 (Wednesday, December 1, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2017-E2018]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         A TRIBUTE IN HONOR OF THE LIFE OF THEODORE C. SORENSEN

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                           HON. ANNA G. ESHOO

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, December 1, 2010

  Ms. ESHOO. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the extraordinary 
life of Theodore C. ``Ted'' Sorensen, peerless wordsmith and 
presidential counselor, who died on October 31, 2010, only a week 
before the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's election.
  Born in Lincoln, Nebraska, Ted Sorensen always mused about the impact 
that Lincoln--the President and the place--had on his life. He grew up 
immersed in the language and lore of Lincoln, excelling at speech and 
debate and engaging in impassioned discussions with his father, C.A. 
Sorensen, Nebraska's Attorney General and a close associate of the 
progressive Republican Senator George Norris. By the time Ted Sorensen 
made his way to Washington DC after graduating with honors from the 
University of Nebraska and its law school, his rigorous, homespun 
upbringing made him the perfect partner for Kennedy.
  Joining Kennedy's staff as a legislative aide only days after 
Kennedy's election to the Senate, Ted Sorensen remained with him until 
the fateful day in Dallas that forever changed America. For a decade, 
they were inseparable. Kennedy called Ted Sorensen his ``intellectual 
blood bank,'' and Ted often said that he could finish Kennedy's 
sentences for him. Together they renewed our commitment to civil 
rights, averted a nuclear war, and began the race to reach the stars. 
Their unique and enduring relationship defined a decade, and in concert 
they called on a nation to serve and to sacrifice.
  Though shattered by loss, Ted Sorensen did not let unspeakable 
tragedy silence him. He wrote and lectured widely on public affairs, 
publishing a bestselling Kennedy biography and his own memoirs. He 
practiced law, aided candidates and officeholders, and mentored a 
younger generation of writers. As one of the last living links to the 
Kennedy legacy, Ted Sorensen felt a special responsibility to share the 
spirit of his fallen friend. After Ted's passing, Caroline Kennedy 
thanked him for ``his guidance, his generosity of spirit and the 
special time he took to teach my children about

[[Page E2018]]

their grandfather.'' For 82 years, he remained committed to the same 
people and principles. In the final analysis, Ted Sorensen was 
sustained by the world of words, just as his words sustained the world.
  How do we honor a man whose own enduring words pay him far greater 
tribute than ours ever could? Paying tribute to Nebraska Senator George 
Norris, President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed the following 
criteria: ``History asks, 'Did the man have integrity? `Did the man 
have unselfishness? Did the man have courage? Did the man have 
consistency?' '' Like his lifelong political hero Norris, this much Ted 
Sorensen had--and more.
  Much more than a counselor to a president, Ted Sorensen was the 
keeper of the Kennedy flame, and the conscience and unrivaled 
communicator of liberalism in America. Largely thanks to him, Kennedy 
campaigned in poetry and governed in the same manner. Ted Sorensen's 
speeches were poetry written in the meter of American memory, and it is 
fitting that he has become part of our national narrative himself as 
his prose takes its place in the pantheon of the past. Together with 
his friend and political patron, Ted Sorensen lit a fire, and the glow 
from that fire continues to truly light the world.
  Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in extending our 
deepest condolences to Ted's wife, Gillian Martin Sorensen; his 
children, Eric, Stephen, Philip, and Juliet; his seven grandchildren; 
his brother, Philip; and his sister, Ruth. Ted Sorensen was the last 
and the best of the New Frontier, and words cannot adequately express 
his impact. We have lost the man who challenged our country to live up 
to its promise in liquid, living prose. His words and his work will 
live on in the muted marble of the Kennedy gravesite, and in the hearts 
and minds of all those who thrilled to his vision of a kinder, more 
just America. He and President Kennedy inspired me and drew me to 
public service, and I am especially blessed to pay tribute to this 
extraordinary American. Ted Sorensen has drafted the words and the 
blueprint; now, the trumpet summons us once more, and again the torch 
has been passed to a new generation of Americans. We mourn his passing 
and we accept his final challenge to realize our Nation's best ideals.

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