Kennedy insider Schlesinger dies

Mr Schlesinger helped define America's Cold War liberalism after World War II.

He served in the OSS - the forerunner of the CIA - during WWII before taking up a dual role as political adviser and writer of prize-winning histories.

He advocated defending American ideals abroad but in 2004 wrote a book critical of the war in Iraq.

Mr Schlesinger won his first Pulitzer Prize in 1945 at age 28 for a best-selling history of US President Andrew Jackson, The Age of Jackson.

He was often considered the epitome of the American intelligentsia, favouring bow ties and wearing horn-rimmed glasses.

In the 1950s he worked on the unsuccessful presidential campaigns of Democratic candidate Adlai Stevenson. He was an adviser and speech writer to John F Kennedy's successful 1960 run for the presidency.

He advised President Kennedy against the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of 1961.

After serving as an a special adviser in the Kennedy White House he won his second Pulitzer in 1965 for A Thousand Days: John F Kennedy in the White House.

He continued to write political histories and newspaper opinion pieces. In 2004 he criticised the presidency of George W Bush in War and the American Presidency.

He was born on 15 October 1917 in Columbus, Ohio.