Former special council and advisor to President John F. Kennedy, Theodore "Ted" Sorenson addressed Tufts students last night on the importance of law and diplomacy in an increasingly globalized world.
A member of the Council of Foreign Relations, the Commission on the White House Fellows and the Century Foundation, Sorenson spoke in the ASEAN Auditorium at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy as a part of the Charles Francis Adams lecture series.
The author of eight books on politics and the presidency, including "Kennedy" and "Why I Am a Democrat," Sorenson was introduced to the audience by Dean Stephen Bosworth of the Fletcher School as "the gold standard of speech writers."
Though in his 80s, Sorenson spoke forcefully and without the aid of notes to an audience composed mostly of graduate students on what he views as a disturbing turn away from law and diplomacy in American foreign and domestic policy.
Offering the actions of the Kennedy administration directly following the discovery of Soviet missiles in Cuba in 1962 as an example, Sorenson referred to a time when American foreign policy was centered on pursuing legal and diplomatic alternatives to armed conflict.
In taking all the requisite steps to ensure that its actions adhered to international law, the Kennedy administration was able to maintain the support of the international community while averting a disaster of global proportions, Sorenson said.
This adherence to international law is not the case today, Sorenson said. "We have people in power who think international law is optional," he said, referring to the current administration's decision to bypass the UN Security Council to invade Iraq, the withdrawal from the protocol of the International Court of Justice and the accusations of violations of the Geneva Convention.
On the domestic front, Sorenson criticized the Bush administration's attempts to defend the National Security Agency (NSA) wiretapping program. Quoting former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, he said, "a state of war is not a blank check for the president when it comes to the rights of the citizens."
He urged the audience to remember that the people of the U.S. would never have accepted the Constitution had it not contained the Bill of Rights, and to call for the defense of the basic rights the document stands for.
Criticizing the Republican party and the Bush Administration as "reckless" and the Democratic party as "spineless," Sorenson urged the audience and the public at large to make change their own responsibility.
In order for the U.S. to regain the moral high ground, he said, the country must restore the rule of law and the role of diplomacy in its pursuit of foreign and domestic interests.
"I love this country; I do not want to see it descend into either chaos or tyranny; therefore I am speaking out, and am here today." he said.
After his speech, Sorenson fielded questions on topics ranging from how to enact change in an administration with whose policies you disagree, to how the U.S. should deal with increasingly problematic South American leaders such as Hugo Chavez.
CORRECTION: FEB. 16, 2006In the Feb. 10 News article "Strong words from JFK scribe," former Kennedy speechwriter Ted Sorensen's name was misspelled as Ted Sorenson. The Daily regrets the error.
