June 18, 1962 - President Kennedy was a “puppet who echoed his speechmaker” when he ran for the Presidency, according to Richard M. Nixon. In an interview published in the current issue of Redbook magazine, the former Vice President is quoted as saying: “It’s easy for Kennedy to get up and read [Theodore C.] Sorensen’s speeches, but I don’t think it’s responsible unless he believes it deeply himself.” Mr. Nixon says it is more important for the President to “communicate directly” his own thoughts “even if it’s pedestrian and dull.” The 1960 Republican nominee says Mr. Kennedy told him he relied “almost solely” on Mr. Sorenson for his speeches during the closing weeks of the Presidential campaign. “A public figure, when he’s running for President, should not be just a puppet who echoes his speechmaker,” Mr. Nixon asserts. He comments that Mr. Sorenson “has the rare gift of being an intellectual who can completely sublimate his style to another intellectual.”
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