11-08-2011, 03:59 AM
Charles, yes unambiguously. The night before during his keynote Q&A in front of 1000 people he had to dodge, with the help of the moderator, a question from a man wanting to know about the "secret society" speech. He sarcastically responded that the question was irrelevant and he moved on. The next day I had the said discussion with Sorensen that led to his comment about not wanting to take the blame for JFK's death to the grave because of the supposed secret society speech. As I was asking him about James Douglas' ref. to him in THE UNSPEAKABLE he stopped me 4 times because he thought I was trying to ask another SS question like the guy the night before. Each time I had to stop him to get him to listen to a question about James D. ref. to him, Ted.S., in his book JFK & The Unspeakable. He didn't know of the book. Finally I said, "I'm not talking about the "secret society" speech," at which point he volunteered that he "wasn't going to go to his grave being blamed for JFK's death because of that speech". He then let me proceed. He was visibly upset as he had tried 4 times to stop me from asking what he thought was going to be a "secret society" question which is why I say he was haunted by the speech's misinterpretation by so many. I hope that is an adequate explanation.
I talked with him a couple more times during the weekend about other things like the fact that JFK didn't say anything in his 9/25/63 UND speech about the fact that the Limited Test ban Treaty had been passed by the Senate the day before. This would have been 3mths. after the June 10 Amer. Univ. speech. JFK considered this his most satisfying accomplishment. Sorensen told me he didn't know why JFK didn't mention it the next day in his GF speech but he did a day or so later. The speech in GF was about the environment & saving the wild places in the west because it was too late to do so on the east coast. He was ahead of his time. It was the one of the most memorable experiences of my life, with the exception of my children's births, to have sat directly in front of him in the 1st row as he spoke.
I talked with him a couple more times during the weekend about other things like the fact that JFK didn't say anything in his 9/25/63 UND speech about the fact that the Limited Test ban Treaty had been passed by the Senate the day before. This would have been 3mths. after the June 10 Amer. Univ. speech. JFK considered this his most satisfying accomplishment. Sorensen told me he didn't know why JFK didn't mention it the next day in his GF speech but he did a day or so later. The speech in GF was about the environment & saving the wild places in the west because it was too late to do so on the east coast. He was ahead of his time. It was the one of the most memorable experiences of my life, with the exception of my children's births, to have sat directly in front of him in the 1st row as he spoke.