From his hiring as a legislative assistant to Kennedy's death in 1963, the author was with him during the key crises and turning points - including the spectacular race for the vice presidency at the 1956 convention, the launching of Kennedy's presidential candidacy, the TV debates with Nixon, and election night at Hyannis Port. “The authority of the true alter ego. . . . One feels that Sorensen's Kennedy is a highly substitute for the book Kennedy was going to write-and possibly more candid and accurate than anything Kennedy might have written, with or withour his help, as an ex-President.”