Theodore Chaikin Sorensen was an American lawyer, writer, and presidential adviser. He was a speechwriter for President John F. Kennedy, as well as one of his closest advisers. President Kennedy once called him his "intellectual blood bank". Notably, though it was a collaborative effort with Kennedy, Sorensen was generally regarded as the author of the majority of the final text of Profiles in Courage, and stated in his memoir that he helped write the book. Profiles in Courage won Kennedy the 1957 Pulitzer Prize for Biography. Sorensen helped draft Kennedy's inaugural address and was also the primary author of Kennedy's 1962 "We choose to go to the Moon" speech.
Sorensen in 1983
White House photo of Sorensen during the Kennedy administration
Ted Sorensen in 2009
A speechwriter is a person who is hired to prepare and write speeches that will be delivered by another person. Speechwriters are employed by many senior-level elected officials and executives in the government and private sectors. They can also be employed to write for weddings and other social occasions.
U.S. President Barack Obama and aides Carol Browner, David Axelrod, and Jon Favreau working on a speech in June 2010
Ted Sorensen authored President John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address in January 1961, which included the famed phrase, "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your county."