The Hill News

Ted Sorensen, who served as President John F. Kennedy's adviser and primary speechwriter, died Sunday in New York City of complications from a stroke he suffered last week. He was 82.

Sorensen's passing comes only days before the 50th anniversary of Kennedy's election as president. 

It was Kennedy's inaugural speech that remains one of his greatest collaborations with Sorenson including its famous line, "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." 

Sorenson said that Kennedy wrote the line, calling on Americans for self-sacrifice and involvement in the nation's future. The well-know address also promised to spare no effort to preserve liberty, 15 years after the end of World War II and before the height of the Vietnam war and a string of high-profile assassinations, including Kennedy, his brother Robert and Martin Luther King Jr. 

"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall ! pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty."

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