Ted Sorensen was John F. Kennedy’s special counsel, speechwriter and close advisor, and his new memoir, Counselor: A Life at the Edge of History, explores this part of his life in intimate detail. Today, at almost 80 years of age, Sorensen is still living “at the edge of history” as an advisor to Barack Obama. He discussed both in a Q&A with Deborah Solomon in yesterday’s New York Times Sunday Magazine:

What do you make of Hillary’s comment that Obama’s promises and speeches are “just words”?
Kennedy’s rhetoric when he was president turned out to be a key to his success. His mere words about Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba helped resolve the worst crisis the world has ever known without the U.S. having to fire a shot.

Isn’t it melodramatic to call the Cuban missile crisis the worst crisis ever? What about, say, World War I?
With all due respect, with World War I the survival of the earth was not at stake.

When will the contest for a Democratic candidate end?
I think it’s likely to be almost as close as it was for Kennedy at the Democratic convention in 1960. We felt that he had to be nominated by the first ballot because if it ever went to a backroom he wouldn’t emerge. Probably the same is true of Obama.

Read the full interview.

Sorensen will be here at the Y the day his memoir hits shelves, May 6, for a conversation with Ralph Buultjens on current events and Kennedy’s legacy.

[A Conversation with Ted Sorensen: The Legacy of JFK and Politics Today: 05/06/08]