Nebraskans find inspiration in life of Ted Sorensen

For a New York City lawyer, Theodore C. Sorensen was the consummate Nebraskan.

With a dry sense of humor -- a la Johnny Carson or Dick Cavett -- as well as heavy dose of responsibility and work ethic, not to mention an unmatched ability to turn a phrase, Ted Sorensen found himself in the front lines of history.

He never claimed to have written President John F. Kennedy's most famous quote: "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country," but certainly played a major role in crafting that speech, as well as most of JFK's others from the time he turned down a job with Sen. Henry "Scoop" Jackson of Washington State to go to work for the upstart senator from Massachusetts.

Sorensen, born in Lincoln to C.A. Sorensen, a lawyer, progressive politician and Nebraska attorney general, went on to pen historic speeches ranging from Kennedy's inaugural address to his call for a manned landing on the moon.

He was suspected to have ghost written Kennedy's Pulitzer-prize winning "Profiles in Courage," a charge both parties denied to the point of litigation, but his role in the Kennedy White House went far beyond simple scribe.

His skills at crafting Washington's response to the Kremlin's blustering during the Cuban Missile crisis helped avert nuclear war.

Sorensen, a graduate of Lincoln High, the University of Nebraska and UNL College of Law, should serve as an inspiration to any ambitious young person who feels disadvantaged by coming from a small, isolated state.

Instead, as Sorensen proved, they should see it as an advantage.