I have never understood why some underrated Sarge. He was the person whose advice JFK trusted during the 1960 presidential campaign to make the telephone call to Mrs. Martin Luther King. Many regard that call as decisive.
He was the person to whom JFK entrusted the then secret task to sound out LBJ whether or not he would accept the vice presidential nomination. Again, many regard that decision as decisive.
He was the person to whom JFK entrusted the staffing of his Cabinet.
He was the person to whom President Kennedy entrusted the Peace Corps and President Johnson the War Against Poverty.
He was the person who founded not only the Peace Corps, but Headstart, the Job Corps, Legal Services for the Poor, to name but a few programs. Who else created in the 1960s so many seminal United States programs that, in one form or another, survive to this day?
Sarge's abilities that I choose to remember most are none of the above. I choose to remember him as a devoted husband. I choose to remember him as a committed and loving father. He was a lot of fun in peace and war, in work and in play. I choose to remember him most as someone who had an uncanny way of finding the best in every person and bringing it out.
