Second Book in a Year Devoted to JFK's Inaugural Reaches Opposite Conclusion About the Author
In "Ask Not: The Inauguration of John F. Kennedy and the Speech That Changed America" (2004), Thurston Clarke called Kennedy's plane performance "a charade, but an honorable one" that merely underlined the truth that Kennedy had drafted his own speech. Mr. Clarke acknowledged but largely dismissed other contributions, particularly Mr. Sorensen's. "Sounding the Trumpet" (Ivan R. Dee, 214 pages, $25) covers exactly the same ground and reaches exactly the opposite conclusion. The speech was the outcome of collaboration, says Richard J. Tofel, former assistant publisher of The Wall Street Journal, but if authorship must be assigned, Mr. Sorensen was the true author.
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