Ted Kennedy Dead At 77
Ted Kennedy survived years in Washington, but, sadly, he couldn’t survive brain cancer. The long-serving American Senator succumbed to the disease this evening, thus ending an illustrious, at times scandalous and always headline-grabbing life.
The youngest of nine siblings born to the legendary Joe Kennedy Sr., Ted grew up in the limelight, a light that only grew brighter when his brother, John F. Kennedy, became president in 1960. Two years later, Ted would join his brother in Washington as a Massachusetts Senator, a position he held until today, the day he died. Like his brothers John and Bobby, both of whom were assassinated, Senator Kennedy’s life was full of tabloid-grabbing drama. There was a 1964 plane crash, in which one of his aides was killed; and then there was a car accident in 1969, when the Senator, after a party, was driving with Mary Jo Kopechne and went off a bridge. Kopechne died at the scene, which Ted fled. He was later found guilty of leaving the scene of an accident and sentenced to two months in prison, but that sentencing was suspended. Even that, however, couldn’t hold down Mr. Kennedy, who went on to become one of the most revered politicians in Washington and earned the moniker “liberal lion.”
Though the incident prevented him from running for president in 1972, Kennedy did unsuccessfully throw his hat in the 1980 ring, but lost the nomination to Jimmy Carter. Undeterred, Kennedy used his time to fight for women’s rights and AIDS funding. Yes, health has always been one of Kennedy’s passions, as it was in 1997, when he joined then-First Lady Hillary Clinton in a health care battle with Republicans
Kennedy’s cancer took centre stage this year, after he suffered a seizure at an inauguration luncheon for President Obama. Since then, the Senator has been throwing his weight behind health care reform. Just last month he wrote to Newsweek and implored America to hear his roar:
For four decades I have carried this cause-from the floor of the United States Senate to every part of this country. It has never been merely a question of policy; it goes to the heart of my belief in a just society. Now the issue has more meaning for me-and more urgency-than ever before.
One thing’s for sure: Kennedy’s death closes a chapter on one of America’s great — and endlessly fascinating — political dynasties.
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“….to speak for those who have no voice; to remember those who are forgotten; to respond to the frustration and fulfill the aspiration of all Americans seeking a better life in a better land….for all those whose cares have been our concern, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dream shall never die.”
Edward Moore Kennedy, August 12, 1980
The lion sleeps.
I’ll never forget the night Ted Kennedy gave that speech at the Democratic National Convention after failing to win his party’s nomination for the presidency. I was staying in a one-room kitchenette in Liverpool, NY, just outside of Syracuse. It was – and remains – the greatest political oration of my lifetime. Watching the event on a small, black and white TV I instinctively knew I was witnessing one of those sublime moments in American history that would be remembered a century into the future.
Teddy Kennedy died late last night at the age of seventy-seven. In a life that is littered with ironies, here’s the biggest one of all: His three older brothers – Joe, Jack and Bobby – are eternally frozen in our imagination as the personifications of youth. How poignant that our final image of the baby of that family will be as an old man, frail and mortally ill.
When he first ran for the senate forty-seven years ago, I was all of four years old. Had I been writing about politics then it is a fairly good bet that I would have vehemently opposed the candidacy of Edward Moore Kennedy. Let’s be honest; in 1962 the guy was a lightweight. He ran for the Democratic nomination against another young man, Edward McCormick, whose uncle was the speaker of the House of Representatives. During a debate McCormick told him that were it not for his name, his candidacy would be viewed as a joke. It was a point well made. It is obvious when looking at film of that campaign that our boy Ted is in way over his head.
Whom among us would have dared dream all those years ago that this punk would one day evolve into the greatest senator ever to walk those halls?
An incredible realization just came to me: Teddy represented the state of Massachusetts for forty-six years, eight months and nineteen days. That is nearly three months longer than all the years his older brother Jack lived on earth. This truly is the end of an era, folks.
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Tom Degan
Goshen, NY