Kennedy. Theodore C. Sorenson. Significant Sentences. Continued.

Significant sentences from Kennedy by Theodore Sorenson, a history of the words and philosophy of President Kennedy. Continued.

Sorenson: "The Soviet Union's Nikita Khrushchev had dismissed both candidates [Nixon and Kennedy] as 'a pair of boots--which is better, the right or the left boot?' " p. 609.

Sorenson: "While such a conference [summit meeting]...might be necessary when war threatened, or useful as 'a place where agreements...achieved at a lower level could be finally, officially approved...a summit is not a place to carry on negotiations which involve details.' " p. 610.

JFK: "It is my duty to make decisions that no adviser and no ally can make for me...to see that these decisions are as informed as possible, that they are based on as much direct, firsthand knowledge as possible." p. 611.

JFK: "The Soviets and ourselves give wholly different meanings to the same words--war, peace, democracy, and popular will." p. 614.

Sorenson: "...the President picked out points in Khrushchev's letter with which he could agree...." p. 623.

Sorenson: "What Izvestia had to print was Kennedy's statement that the great threat to peace 'is the effort by the Soviet Union to Communize...the entire world...and to impose Communism by force'; that the Soviet Union had resumed nuclear tests even while its representatives were at the bargaining table; that if it would look 'only to its national interests and to providing a better life for its people,' all would be well." p. 626.

Sorenson: "He [JFK] prepared for each of those meetings--whether it was the President of France or Togo--with a searching inquiry into all available facts about the other country, its politics, its problems and its personalities. .... Citing their local statistics from memory, quoting from their writings or their history without notes, he left his hosts and visitors both pleased and impressed." p. 649.

Sorenson: "[JFK]...encouraged State Department officials to deal with their counterparts first-hand on special crises instead of through letters and ambassadors." p. 650.

Sorenson: "Kennedy set out to change the stereotype view of the United States...." p. 654.

JFK: "I hear it said that West Berlin is untenable...so was Bastogne...so, in fact, was Stalingrad...any dangerous spot is tenable if men--brave men--will make it so." p. 666.

JFK: "If we do not meet our commitments to Berlin, where will we later stand?" p. 666.

JFK: "West Berlin has become...a focal point where our solemn commitments...and soviet ambitions now meet in basic confrontation." p. 667.