Printed with joliprint T ideas and words -- if we are to survive. social life today. We must cling to it -- to Ted’seven greatto thrive. It is a spirit too often andfaltering, absent could yet find a fromway to surviveour and for a better world, the belief that humanity, flawedrensen stood for something else: the eternal hope at sea in a tempest of cynicism and pessimism. So adrift, and find ourselves even more dangerously sion of John Kennedy. With Ted’s passing, we Tedare wascast our vital link to the hope, idealism, and vi and global statesmen. leadersgeneration of new each experiencewith ring,and generally sharing his great wisdom and writing (including his marvelous memoirs), lectu of history. Until the end of his life, Ted was urging,retellingfascinatingandsomeactivelyof episode the deepest questions through his wisdom, gentle ringwith laughter athis wit, andthen pondering any gathering, he’d have the assembled guests roa precision of speech, ready wit, and zest for life. In not in the slightest diminished Ted’s clarity of mind,earlier had left him mostly blind. Yet the strokemetTed several hadyears ago. Hisstroke fewa years pany of a compassionate and cheerful genius. I first To know Sorensen was to be blessed with the com in our time and in the generations that will follow. to put into words the ideas that can preserve worldpeace in the harrowing years of the Cold War, and Together with Kennedy, Sorensen helped to save man the of peace is less widely known but even greater.test modern speechwriter is legendary. His role as a Sorensen Jeffrey Sachs: Gratitude for the Life of Ted has died at the age of 82. His genius as Tedthe Sorensen,grea counselor to John F. Kennedy, he world lost one of its brightest lights today. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-sachs/gratitude-for-the-life-of_b_776722.html ------piness. The Prime Minister of Bhutan spoke mo spokeBhutanMinister of Prime The piness. hap for quest its for famed kingdommountain the Bhutan, from delegation high-level visiting dinnerincludingrecentlycharmeda a where he I loved every opportunity that I had to be with Ted, wondrous speech to the Irish Parliament, recounting guests listened to a recording of Kennedy giving inhis its quest for democracy. The assembled dinner Kennedy’s greatest speeches, had inspired Bhutan vingly that evening about how Sorensen’s words, in glimpse into the ultimate abyss, and had provoked Crisis had given Kennedy and Sorensen a harrowing times. Sorensen’s role was pivotal. The Cuban Missile astoundingmost leadership modernpeaceforin estimation,displayedmythe in November 1963, Kennedy’sfinal year of life, from October 1962 to world. dangerousmosthistorythethe of ofcrisis in Sorensen, for their search for a peaceful resolution the wisdom of John and Robert Kennedy, and Ted nuclear Armageddon. We owe our very survival to at the calls by the generals to bomb Cuba and risk Cuban Missile Crisis, when he expressed skepticism underpinned the wise counsel he gave during the phrases and actions of our age. Ted’s belief in humanity,peace and that faith imbued some of the greatestthe way to peace. He never wavered in his faith in manity to solve its problems, and especially to find Sorensen’sdeepest belief was in the ability of hu and plans were already in the works. to the Himalayan Kingdom during the coming year guests. Ted resolved that evening to make his way were smitten with affection for Ted, as were all wordsthe more than a half-century later. own hisThe of someBhutanese listeningtodelight, his showed the great gifts of small countries to the world. Ted 17/11/2011 22:37 Politics Page 1 - - - Printed with joliprint ideas: Sorensen’sunrivalled eloquence andremarkable remembertoday,us supreme Letgratitude,with the shared interests of humanity. greatthehistoryofarc towards peacefaithbyin eloquence, had with John Kennedy helped to turn would never recur. Sorensen, a man of peace and nuclear brinksmanship as in the Cuban Missile Crisis thenuclear brink. TheCold War would ease, and fromsteppedbackSoviet hadUnion and US The Ban Treaty was signed in Moscow. the US. A few weeks later, the Partial Nuclear Test man, to express his interest in signing a treaty immediatelywith summoned the US envoy, Averill Harri ofany President since Franklin Roosevelt, and he Kennedy’s speech, he declared it to be the greatest vely. When Soviet leaders Nikita Khrushchev heard Sorensen’s words - mattered, and mattered decisi dangeroustheColdWar.the bombastof Words - -was abreakthrough, carrying the world beyond That sentiment - brave, deep, and history changing mon interests and thereby find our way to peace. Kennedyand Sorensen, we could locate our com recognizing the humanity of the Soviet people, said nist system itself was repugnant to Americans. By accomplishment, and heroism, even if the commu ricans to see the Soviet people as people of virtue, Soviet people, but to Americans. It called on Ame Kennedy’s Peace Speech, was addressed not to the tounding wisdom. This speech, known to history as in which Kennedy and Sorensen took a step of as- ment address at American University commence Kennedy’s in was June speech decisive1963, The bring that historic ambition to a successful end. Sorensen provided critical ideas and eloquence to brink. the awaystep from first the astreaty ban Kennedy was determined to negotiate a nuclear test way out of the dance of death with the Sovietin them a Union.history-bending determination to find a Jeffrey Sachs: Gratitude for the Life of Ted Sorensen http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-sachs/gratitude-for-the-life-of_b_776722.html ------beings. Man’s reason and spirit have often solvedoftenhavespirit and reasonMan’s beings. human beyond is destiny human of problem No solved by man. And man can be as big as he wants. Our problems are manmade; therefore, they can be view.thataccept not control.needWecannot we mankinddoomed,isgrippedthatare weforces by conclusiontheleadsto inevitable,thatwar is that is unreal. But that is a dangerous, defeatist belief. It many of us think it is impossible. Too many think it First examine our attitude towards peace itself. Too fective agreements which are in the interest of all interestof the in fectiveagreementsarewhich institutions -- on a series of concrete actions and ef human nature but on a gradual evolution in human tainable peace, based not on a sudden revolution in practical,moreatmorefocus ainstead uson Let only and immediate goal. discouragement and incredulity by making that our the value of hopes and dreams but we merely invite deny not do I dream.fanaticsfantasies and some whichofuniversalwill conceptgood ofand peace itagain. amnotIreferring to theabsolute, infinite the seemingly unsolvable, and we believe they can do fection for his enduring contribution, let us recall ceed and inspired us on our way. With deepest af With love and conviction, Sorensen bade us to suc losing all. to survive and thrive together, or that we will risk humanity shares a common fate: that we will learn of solving problems. each new generation. For peace is a process - a way namic, not static, changing to meet the challenge of many nations, the sum of many acts. It must be dy twopowers. Genuine peace must bethe product of no grand or magic formula to be adopted by one or concerned. There is no single, simple key to this peace; Above all, Sorensen and Kennedy understood that

17/11/2011 22:37 Page 2 - - - - - Printed with joliprint and words will endure and light the world. Like all of us, Ted Sorensen was mortal, but his ideas And we are all mortal. thesame air. We all cherish our children’s futures. that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe in the final analysis, our most basic common link is helpworldmakecanthewesafediversity.for For cannotdifferences,wenowourendifAnd leastat whichmeansbythosedifferences resolved.becan also direct attention to our common interestsdifferences,us ourletto butblind be notand us let Sothe in a world of diversity: torecognizeusbid how he shared our humanity Jeffrey Sachs: Gratitude for the Life of Ted Sorensen Follow Jeffrey Sachs on Twitter: www. twitter.com/jeffdsachs http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-sachs/gratitude-for-the-life-of_b_776722.html

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