Jacqueline Kennedy - Caroline Kennedy [28]
You mean questions of judgment?
No. Questions of—well, yeah. But I mean that thing of Profiles in Courage. Jack behaved like a great gentleman to Ted then, because Ted didn't behave very well that year. I mean, I'm sure that's not why he gave Ted the speeches or something, but I must say, I couldn't look at Ted Sorensen for about two years after that.
Because Ted gave the impression he had written the book?
Written the book. Of course, the poor boy, he was just starting, he was new in Washington, but he used to really make a conscious effort to go around and take Jack pages, and things that he'd crossed out and added—you know, really to go out of his way to show them to people. And then, when Drew Pearson said it, then there was the lawsuit where Clark Clifford came and defended him—and, luckily, Jack had saved all these pages of yellow legal pad that he'd written himself.35 And, I guess, Jack loved Clark Clifford then, because when he asked Clark to defend him, I think Clark might have been under the impression that Ted really had written most of the book. But he never asked that question, and then Jack got all those yellow pages and showed them to Clark, and Clark was just amazed and said, "These are the most valuable things you have. Lock them up. Everything." You know, and I saw Jack writing that book. So, you know, Ted would send down fifty books on Lucius Lamar—and everyone else—from the Library of Congress—and Jack would sketch it through. And Thaddeus Stevens, and all that. It was back and forth in the mail. You know, I really saw Jack writing that book. I never liked the way Ted behaved then. But you know, his life was all around himself, and, I think, just in the White House, he got to love one other person beside himself, which was Jack. So in the White House, he was fine.
TED SORENSEN AND SENATOR KENNEDY
John F. Kennedy Library and Museum, Boston
As late as that? Because by the time—certainly Ted seemed to be the most devoted and selfless to the point of—
Let's see, Profiles in Courage would have been '55, '56? Well, I'd say, all through '56 and the beginning of '57. You know, Jack forgave so quickly, but I never forgave Ted Sorensen. I watched him like a hawk for a year or so. But then, as he had more to do, he didn't need to prove his little things. And then Jack gave him—again, don't you think this is a nice thing?—Jack gave him all the money from Profiles in Courage, because he felt Ted worked so hard—and he would work and stay up at night. As I said, he worked slowly—he always seemed to have to stay up until two or three in the morning to get something done. But don't you think—if everyone's saying that Ted wrote the book, for Jack then to give him the money from it—which he's made over a hundred thousand dollars—36
Did Ted get all the royalties from Profiles in Courage?
Yeah, because then, you see—when it was published, Jack thought it would just be—
That's fantastic!
You know, just a little book that would make—I don't know—sell twenty-five thousand copies or something? But then it went zooming on to be a bestseller, bestseller, bestseller. Ted's gotten every bit of money from that book until the memorial edition with Bobby's preface came out. And then, from now on, it'll go to the Library. You know, so—
That's extraordinary! I never—Ted must have made hundreds of thousands of dollars.
I know he made at least a hundred. But you know, Jack wanted to give him something extra besides his salary because the boy did just live—and you know, and worked hard all night and everything—but Jack was such a gentleman. I just think that was such a nice thing to do.
Bobby was in Washington, in this period, all the time, but he really