Abstract
This chapter traces Sorensen’s early work in Washington, DC. He arrived there at the height of McCarthyism and a backlash against the New Deal liberalism that had inspired his choice of career. The chapter examines how Sorensen’s roles at the Federal Security Administration and on the Joint Senate House Committee on Railroad Retirement built on his early ideals and allowed him to make connections that proved important to the development of his career. Further, it shows how the liberal Senator Paul Douglas played a crucial role in engineering an introduction to the newly elected Senator John F. Kennedy. It also summarizes Sorensen’s initial duties as staff assistant to Senator Kennedy and examines the rapid expansion of his responsibilities in 1953 and 1954.
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Ulyatt, M.A. (2019). Meeting Kennedy. In: Theodore Sorensen and the Kennedys. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15796-8_2
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