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{{Short description|American politician (1932–2009)}}
:''This article is about the ], for information about the ] player see ].''
{{redirect|Edward Kennedy|other people|Ted Kennedy (disambiguation)|and|Edward Kennedy (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox Senator | name=Edward "Ted" Kennedy
{{Pp-move-indef}}
| nationality=american
{{Pp-semi-indef}}
| image name=Ted Kennedy.jpg
<!-- ] -->
| jr/sr and state=Senior Senator, ]
<!-- ] Per ], "Postnominal letters should be included when they are from a country or organization with which the subject has been closely associated. Honors issued by other entities may be mentioned in the article but generally should be omitted from the lead." -->
| party=]
{{Good article}}
| term=November 1962&ndash;Present
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2020}}
| preceded=]
{{Infobox officeholder
| succeeded=Incumbent (2007)
| name = Ted Kennedy
| date of birth=], ]
| image = Ted Kennedy, official photo portrait crop.jpg
| place of birth=], ]
| caption = Official portrait, 1990s
| dead=alive
| jr/sr = United States Senator
| date of death=
| state = ]
| place of death=
| term_start = November 7, 1962
| law school=], 1959
| term_end = August 25, 2009
| religion=]
| predecessor = ]
| spouse=(1) ], divorced<br /> (2) ]}}
| successor = ]
'''Edward Moore Kennedy''' (born ], ]) is the senior ] from ], having served since 1962. The most prominent living member of the ], he is the brother of ] ] ] and former US Attorney General and Senator ] (who also died by assassination).
| office1 = Chair of the ]
| term_start2 = January 3, 2007
| term_end2 = August 25, 2009<br />On leave: June 9 – August 25, 2009*
| predecessor2 = ]
| successor2 = ] (acting)
| term_start3 = June 6, 2001
| term_end3 = January 3, 2003
| predecessor3 = ]
| successor3 = ]
| term_start4 = January 3, 2001
| term_end4 = January 20, 2001
| predecessor4 = Jim Jeffords
| successor4 = Jim Jeffords
| term_start5 = January 3, 1987
| term_end5 = January 3, 1995
| predecessor5 = ]
| successor5 = ]
| order6 = Chair of the ]
| term_start6 = January 3, 1979
| term_end6 = January 3, 1981
| predecessor6 = ]
| successor6 = ]
| order7 = ]
| leader7 = ]
| term_start7 = January 3, 1969
| term_end7 = January 3, 1971
| predecessor7 = ]
| successor7 = ]
| birth_name = Edward Moore Kennedy
| birth_date = {{birth date|1932|2|22}}
| birth_place = ], Massachusetts, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|2009|8|25|1932|2|22}}
| death_place = {{nowrap|],}} U.S.
| resting_place = ]
| party = ]
| spouse = {{ubl|{{marriage|]|1958|1982|end=div}}|{{marriage|]|1992}}}}
| children = {{flatlist|
* ]
* ]
* ]}}
| parents = {{ubl|]|]}}
| relatives = ]
| education = {{ubl|] (])|] (])}}
| signature = Ted Kennedy Signature 2.svg
| module = {{Listen|pos=center|embed=yes|filename=Kennedy092303.ogg|title=Ted Kennedy's voice|type=speech|description=Ted Kennedy speaks about ] and the economic growth plan to assist all Americans<br/>Recorded 2003}}
| website = {{Official website|tedkennedy.org}}
| branch = ]
| serviceyears = 1951–1953
| rank = ]
| unit = ]
| footnotes = {{asterisk}} Dodd served as acting chair during Kennedy's medical leave.
}}


<!-- Do not add "Sir", see above -->'''Edward Moore Kennedy'''<!-- Do not add "KBE", see above --> (February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009) was an American lawyer and politician from ] who served as a member of the ] from 1962 to his death in 2009. A member of the ] and the prominent ], he was the ] member of the Senate when he died. He is ]. Kennedy was the younger brother of President ] and U.S. attorney general and U.S. senator ], and the father of U.S. representative ].
Because of Kennedy's personal prominence and his longtime advocacy of ] principles, he is often regarded as a "lion" of the ]. Supporters admire him as a forceful and reliable advocate for liberalism, whose personal and political skills enable him to achieve some gains even in an era of ] ascendancy; however, some Democrats see him as being too ready to compromise with ] legislators. His critics on the ] charge that he is stuck in a "big-government" ideology from the 1960s and that his consistent opposition to Republican initiatives has caused him to lose credibility. Republicans seeking to rally their supporters often invoke Kennedy as the politician who must be opposed, citing his liberal politics and what many see as failings in his personal conduct.


After attending ] and earning his law degree from the ], Kennedy began his career as an assistant district attorney in ]. He won a ] to fill the vacant seat previously held by his brother John, who had taken office as the U.S. president. He was ] and was re-elected seven more times. The ] in 1969 resulted in the death of his automobile passenger, ]. He pleaded guilty to a charge of leaving the scene of an accident and received a two-month ]. The incident and its aftermath hindered his chances of becoming president. He ran in 1980 in the ] for the party's nomination, but lost to the incumbent president, ].
== Family and youth ==
Kennedy is the youngest of nine children of ] and ], a prominent Irish-American family. He attended the ], and later ] and entered ] in 1950. He was forced to withdraw for two years from Harvard in May 1951 after he was allegedly caught cheating on his final examination in a Spanish class. Kennedy then entered the ] for two years and was assigned to the ] headquarters in ]. He eventually re-entered Harvard, graduating in June 1956. In the 1955 ] (won by ] 21 to 7) Kennedy caught Harvard's only touchdown pass. In 1958, he attended the ]. He earned his law degree from the ] and was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1959. While he was in law school, he managed his brother ]'s ] Senate re-election campaign.


Kennedy was known for his ]. His 1968 eulogy for his brother Robert and his ] for ] were among his best-known speeches. He became recognized as "The Lion of the Senate" through his long tenure and influence. Kennedy and his staff wrote more than 300 bills that were enacted into law. Unabashedly liberal, Kennedy championed an interventionist government that emphasized ] and ], but he was also known for working with Republicans to find compromises. Kennedy played a major role in passing many laws, including the ], the ], the ], the ], the ], the ], the ], the ], the ], the ], and the ]. During the 2000s, he led several unsuccessful ] efforts. Over the course of his Senate career, Kennedy made efforts to enact ], which he called the "cause of my life". By his later years, Kennedy had come to be viewed as a major figure and spokesman for ].
His home is in ], where he lives with his wife ], a Washington lawyer and daughter of a ] judge, and her children, Curran and Caroline. He has three grown children from his first marriage with ] whom he met while delivering a speech at ]: ] (b.1960), ] (b.1961), and ] (b.1967) and four grandchildren. After his brothers John and Robert were assassinated (in 1963 and 1968, respectively), he took on the role of surrogate father for his brothers' 13 children.


On August 25, 2009, Kennedy died of a ] (]) at his home in ], at the age of 77. He was buried at ].
In ], Kennedy was elected to the Senate from Massachusetts in a ] to fill the seat left vacant by his oldest brother, John, upon the latter's election as ]. He was elected to a full six-year term in ] and was reelected in ], ], ], ], ], and ].


==Early life==
As of 2006, Kennedy is the second-longest serving current senator, behind only ]. According to ], Kennedy plans to run for an eighth full term (and ninth overall term) in ]. If he wins and serves out his full six-year term, he will have served in the U.S. Senate for fifty years.
Kennedy was born on February 22, 1932, at St. Margaret's Hospital in the ] section of ]. He was the youngest of the nine children of ] and ], members of prominent ] families in Boston.<ref name="bg-series-1">{{cite news | url=https://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2009/02/15/chapter_1_teddy/ | title=Chapter 1: Teddy: A childhood of privilege, promise, and pain | author=English, Bella | newspaper=] | date=February 15, 2009 | access-date=February 24, 2009}}</ref> They constituted one of the wealthiest families in the nation after their marriage.<ref name="nyt-obit"/> His eight siblings were ], ], ], ], ], ], ], and ]. His older brother John asked to be the newborn's godfather, a request his parents honored, though they did not agree to his request to name the baby George Washington Kennedy (Ted was born on President ]'s 200th birthday). They named the boy after their father's assistant.<ref name="bg-obit">{{Cite news |last=Nolan |first=Martin F. |author-link=Martin Nolan (journalist) |date=August 26, 2009 |title=Kennedy dead at 77 |url=https://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/08/26/kennedy_dead_at_77/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090831135938/http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/08/26/kennedy_dead_at_77/?page=full |archive-date=2009-08-31 |access-date=August 26, 2009 |work=]}}</ref>


As a child, Ted was frequently uprooted by his family's moves among ]; ]; ]; and the ], in ], England.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=13, 16–17}}<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://bronxville.dailyvoice.com/lifestyle/looking-back-on-jfks-time-in-bronxville/512600/|title=Looking Back on JFK's Time in Bronxville|last=Failla|first=Zak|date=November 18, 2013|work=]|access-date=August 14, 2017}}</ref> His formal education started at Gibbs School in Kensington, London.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kennedy|first1=Edward M.|title=True Compass: A Memoir |date=2011 |publisher=Hachette|location=London, England|isbn=9780748123353|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2jASECQl2P0C&pg=PT42|access-date=January 17, 2017}}</ref> He had attended 10 schools by the age of eleven; these disruptions interfered with his academic success.{{sfn|Burns|1976|pp=36, 38–39, 352n}} He was an ] at the ] and was seven when he received his ] from ] in the ].{{sfn|Clymer|1999|p=11}} He spent sixth and seventh grades at the ], where he was a mediocre student,<ref name="bg-series-1"/> and eighth grade at Cranwell Preparatory School, both in ].{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=13, 16–17}} He was the youngest child and his parents were affectionate toward him, but they also compared him unfavorably with his older brothers.<ref name="bg-series-1"/>
In May of 2006, Kennedy plans to release his children's book '']''. In the tone of ]'s tome ''Millie's Book'', the narrator is Kennedy's ], Splash.


Between the ages of eight and sixteen, Ted suffered the traumas of his sister Rosemary's failed ] and the deaths of two siblings: Joseph Jr. in an airplane explosion and Kathleen in an airplane crash.<ref name="bg-series-1"/> Ted's affable maternal grandfather, ], was the ], a U.S. Congressman, and an early political and personal influence.<ref name="bg-series-1"/> Ted spent his four high-school years at ], a preparatory school in ], where he received B and C grades. In 1950, he finished 36th in a graduating class of 56.{{sfn|Burns|1976|pp=40–42, 57p}} He did well at ] there, playing on the varsity in his last two years; the school's headmaster later described his play as "absolutely fearless ... he would have tackled an express train to New York if you asked ... he loved contact sports".{{sfn|Burns|1976|pp=40–42, 57p}} Kennedy also played on the tennis team and was in the drama, debate, and glee clubs.{{sfn|Burns|1976|pp=40–42, 57p}}
== Early career ==
], ], and Edward Kennedy, circa 1960]]
Kennedy is the senior Democratic Party member on the ]. He also serves on the ], where he is the senior Democrat on the ], and the ], where he is the senior Democratic representative on the ]. He is also a member of the ], a founder of the ], and a trustee of the ] in ].


==College, military service, and law school==
Kennedy's career in the Senate has frequently attracted national attention. During his 1962 campaign, he was accused by his opponents of riding on his family's name and fortune, and (having no previous experience in elected office) of not being sufficiently qualified to hold so high an office. Soon after entering office, he went through the ] of the ], an event that focused much attention on him.
Like his father and brothers before him, Ted graduated from ].{{sfn|McGinnis|1993|p=194}} In his spring semester, he was assigned to the athlete-oriented ], where his brothers had also lived.{{sfn|McGinnis|1993|p=194}} He was an ] on the freshman football team; his play was characterized by his large size and fearless style.<ref name="bg-series-1"/> In his first semester, Kennedy and his classmates arranged to copy answers from another student during the final examination for a science class.{{sfn|Leamer|2001|p=318}} At the end of his second semester in May 1951, Kennedy was anxious about maintaining his eligibility for athletics for the next year,<ref name="bg-series-1"/> and he had a classmate take his place at a ] exam.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=18–19}}<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=tvddAAAAIBAJ&pg=1990%2C1044781 |newspaper=] |location=Washington, Pennsylvania |agency=] |title=The Shadow Kennedy Can't Escape |date=November 7, 1979 |page=B1 | first=Donald M. | last=Rothberg}}</ref> The ruse was discovered and both were expelled for cheating.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=18–19}}<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=k9dQAAAAIBAJ&pg=7104%2C5727961 |newspaper=] |location=Fredericksburg, Virginia |agency=Associated Press |title=Ted Kennedy Explains Incident at Harvard |date=March 30, 1962 |page=14 }}</ref> As was standard for serious disciplinary cases, they were told they could apply for readmission within a year or two if they demonstrated good behavior during that time.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=18–19}}<ref name=cnioverr>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=7sobAAAAIBAJ&pg=6723%2C1480259 |newspaper=] |last=Eaton |first=William J. |agency=] |title=Charm And Image Overcame Errors As 'Prince' Rose Rapidly to Senate |date=June 18, 1968 |location=Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania|page=17}}</ref>


In June 1951, Kennedy enlisted in the ] and signed up for an optional four-year term that was shortened to the minimum of two years after his father intervened.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=18–19}} Following ] at ] in ], he requested assignment to ] in ] for ] training, but was dropped without explanation after a few weeks.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=18–19}} He went to ] in ] for training in the ].{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=18–19}} In June 1952, Kennedy was assigned to the ] at ] headquarters in Paris, France.<ref name="bg-series-1"/>{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=18–19}} His father's political connections ensured that he was not deployed to the ongoing ].<ref name="bg-series-1"/>{{sfn|McGinnis|1993|p=198}} While stationed in Europe, Kennedy traveled extensively on weekends and climbed the ] in the ].<ref name="kennedyism"/> After 21 months, he was discharged in March 1953 as a ].{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=18–19}}<ref name="kennedyism"/>
In 1964, Kennedy was in a plane crash in which the pilot and one of Kennedy's aides were killed. He was pulled from the wreckage by fellow senator ] (]-]) and spent weeks in a hospital recovering from a severe back injury, a punctured lung, broken ribs, and internal bleeding.


Kennedy re-entered Harvard in the summer of 1953 and improved his study habits.<ref name=bg-series-1/> His brother John was a U.S. Senator and the family was attracting more public attention.{{sfn|Burns|1976|p=46}} Ted joined ] ] in 1954<ref>{{cite news | title=Kennedy Ends His Final Club Ties | newspaper=] | publisher=]|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|date=January 17, 2006}}</ref> and was also chosen for the ] and the Pi Eta fraternity.{{sfn|McGinnis|1993|p=201}} Kennedy was on athletic probation during his sophomore year, and he returned as a second-string two-way end for the ] during his junior year. He barely missed earning his ].{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=20–21}} ] head coach ] asked him about his interest in playing professional football.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-8406670.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110501090224/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-8406670.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=May 1, 2011 | title=Sen. Kennedy's brush with football fame |first=Chris|last=Black | newspaper=] | date=February 1, 1997}}</ref> Kennedy demurred, saying he had plans to attend law school and "go into another contact sport, politics."<ref>{{cite web|title=About Senator Kennedy: Senator Kennedy's Bio |url=http://kennedy.senate.gov/senator/index.cfm |publisher=] |access-date=May 23, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090224152756/http://kennedy.senate.gov/senator/index.cfm |archive-date=February 24, 2009 }}</ref> In his senior season of 1955, Kennedy started at end for the Harvard football team and worked hard to improve his blocking and tackling to complement his {{height|ft=6|in=2}}, {{convert|200|lb|0|abbr=on}} size.<ref name="kennedyism"/> In the season-ending ] in the snow at the ] on November 19 (which Yale won 21–7), Kennedy caught a pass to score Harvard's only touchdown;<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=QnIpAAAAIBAJ&pg=920%2C3069479 |newspaper=Spokesman-Review |agency=Associated Press |title=Alert Yale stops Crimson, 21 to 7|date=November 20, 1955 |page=6, sports}}</ref> the team finished the season with a 3–4–1 record.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_iaa/ivyleague/harvard/1955-1959_yearly_results.php |publisher=College Football Data Warehouse |title=Harvard yearly results |type=1955-1959 seasons |access-date=September 14, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140728215639/http://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_iaa/ivyleague/harvard/1955-1959_yearly_results.php |archive-date=July 28, 2014}}</ref> Academically, Kennedy received mediocre grades for his first three years, improved to a B average for his senior year, and finished barely in the top half of his class.{{sfn|Burns|1976|pp=48–49}} Kennedy graduated from Harvard at age 24 in 1956 with an ] in history and government.{{sfn|Burns|1976|pp=48–49}}
In 1968, his last surviving brother, Robert, was assassinated during his bid to be nominated as Democratic candidate for the presidency. Kennedy delivered a very emotional ] at Robert's funeral. After the shock from this event wore off, Kennedy was looked upon as a likely future presidential candidate. For about a year, the Democratic establishment began to focus attention on him as the new "carrier of the torch" for the Kennedys and the party. His eulogy showed one thing: since his father suffered a stroke which left him invalid, he was seen by many as the family patriarch and had given such tributes for the family in times of crisis.


Due to his low grades, Kennedy was not accepted by ].<ref name=cnioverr/> He instead followed his brother Bobby and enrolled in the ] in 1956.<ref name="bg-series-1"/> That acceptance was controversial among faculty and alumni, who judged Kennedy's past cheating episodes to be incompatible with the University of Virginia's honor code; it took a full faculty vote to admit him.{{sfn|Burns|1976|p=50}} Kennedy also attended ] during one summer.{{sfn|Burns|1976|p=52}} At Virginia, Kennedy felt that he had to study "four times as hard and four times as long" as other students to keep up.{{sfn|Burns|1976|pp=50–51}} He received mostly C grades{{sfn|Burns|1976|pp=50–51}} and was in the middle of the class ranking, but won the prestigious William Minor Lile Moot Court Competition.<ref name="bg-series-1"/><ref>{{cite journal |first=Tim|last=McCarten|title=UVA Law's 7 Senators |journal=] |publisher=]|location=Charlottesville, Virginia|date=September 8, 2006 |volume=59 |issue=2 |url=http://www.lawweekly.org/?module=displaystory&story_id=1252&edition_id=38&format=html }}</ref> He was elected head of the Student Legal Forum and brought many prominent speakers to the campus via his family connections.{{sfn|Burns|1976|pp=53–54}} While there, his questionable automotive practices were curtailed when he was charged with ] and ].<ref name="bg-series-1"/> He was officially named as manager of his brother John's ]; Ted's ability to connect with ordinary voters on the street helped bring a record-setting victory margin that gave credibility to John's presidential aspirations.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=25–27}} Ted graduated from law school in 1959.{{sfn|Burns|1976|pp=53–54}}
In January 1969, Kennedy defeated Louisiana Senator ] to become ]. He would serve as Whip until January 1971, when he was replaced by Senator ] of West Virginia.


==Family and early career==
In October 1971, Kennedy called for the withdrawal of ] troops from ], and for all political participants there to begin talks on creating a ]. The senator has retained an interest in the ] political situation since that time.
], ], and Ted Kennedy during John's presidential campaign, July 1960, in ]<ref name="nyt-obit"/>]]
In October 1957 (early in his second year of law school), Kennedy met ] at ]; they were introduced after a dedication speech for a gymnasium that his family had donated at the campus.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=23–24}}<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=5r4iAAAAIBAJ&pg=4757%2C35313 |newspaper=] |agency=WNS |last1=Glaser |first1=Vera |last2=Stephenson |first2=Malvina |title=Ugly duckling becomes model |date=April 1, 1969 |page=8 }}</ref> Bennett was a senior at Manhattanville and had worked as a model and won beauty contests, but she was unfamiliar with politics.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=23–24}} After the couple became engaged, she grew nervous about marrying someone she did not know that well, but Joe Kennedy insisted that the wedding should proceed.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=23–24}} The couple was married by ] ] on November 29, 1958, at ] in ],<ref name="bg-series-1"/><ref name="kennedyism"/> with the reception being held at the nearby ].{{sfn|Bly|1996|p=195}} Ted and Joan had three children: ] (1960–2011), ] (b. 1961) and ] (b. 1967). By the 1970s, the marriage was in trouble due to Ted's ] and Joan's growing ].{{sfn|Canellos|2009|p=119}}


Ted and Joan established ] residency after buying a townhouse on Charles River Square in ], and a home on Squaw Island, ].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Farrell |first1=John A. |title=Ted Kennedy: A Life |date=2022 |publisher=Penguin Publishing Group |page=55}}</ref> During Ted's tenure in the U.S. Senate, the Kennedys lived in a townhouse in ], Washington, D.C., and later, a 12,500-square-foot house in ].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Klein |first1=Edward |title=Ted Kennedy: The Dream That Never Died |date=2010 |publisher=Three Rivers Press |pages=63–64}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Gabler |first1=Neal |title=Catching the Wind Edward Kennedy and the Liberal Hour, 1932-1975 |date=2020 |publisher=Crown |page=543}}</ref> From 1982 until his death in 2009, the ] in ] became Ted's principal residence.<ref>{{cite web |title=Kennedys in Hyannis Port; How it happened |url=https://jfkhyannismuseum.org/11366-2/ |website=John F. Kennedy Hyannis Museum}}</ref>
== Chappaquiddick ==
<!-- Image with unknown copyright status removed: ] -->


In 1959, Kennedy was admitted to the ].<ref>{{cite web |access-date=May 20, 2008 |url=http://www.law.virginia.edu/html/news/2006_spr/pubservice.htm |title=Sen. Ted Kennedy to Keynote Public Service Conference |date=March 1, 2006 |publisher=] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080617225920/http://www.law.virginia.edu/html/news/2006_spr/pubservice.htm |archive-date=June 17, 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1960, his brother John announced his candidacy for ] and Ted managed his campaign in the Western states.<ref name="bg-series-1"/> Ted learned to fly and during the ] he barnstormed around the western states, meeting with delegates and bonding with them by trying his hand at ] and ].<ref name="kennedyism"/> The seven weeks he spent in ] helped his brother win the first contested primary of the season there and a similar time spent in ] was rewarded when a unanimous vote from that state's delegates put his brother over the top at the ].{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=27–30}}
On ], ], after a party on ] near the island of ], ], Kennedy, allegedly intoxicated, a claim which he denies, drove away with ] as a passenger in his 1967 ] Delmont 88.<!--NOT Delta 88--> According to Kennedy, he made a wrong turn onto an unlit road that led to Dike Bridge (also spelled Dyke Bridge), a wooden bridge that was angled obliquely to the road, and drove over its side, which had no guardrail. The car plunged into tide-swept Poucha Pond (at that location a channel) and landed upside down under the water. Kopechne died, but as no autopsy was performed, precise cause of death is unknown. Kennedy claims he tried several times to swim down to reach her, then rested on the bank for several minutes before returning on foot to the Lawrence Cottage, where the party attended by Kopechne and other ] had occurred.


Following his victory in the presidential election, John resigned from his seat as U.S. Senator from Massachusetts, but Ted was not eligible to fill the vacancy until his thirtieth birthday on February 22, 1962.<ref>Per Article One of the United States Constitution.</ref> Ted initially wanted to stay out west rather than run for office right away; he said, "The disadvantage of my position is being constantly compared with two brothers of such superior ability."<ref name="bg-series-2"/> Ted's brothers were not in favor of his running immediately, but Ted ultimately coveted the Senate seat as an accomplishment to match his brothers, and their father overruled them.<ref name="kennedyism"/> John asked Massachusetts Governor ] to name Kennedy family friend ] as interim senator for John's unexpired term, which he did in December 1960.<ref>This was done so under the authority of the ] and Massachusetts state law.</ref> This kept the seat available for Ted.<ref name="kennedyism">{{cite news |title=Teddy & Kennedyism |url=http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,940066,00.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130204190352/http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,940066,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 4, 2013 |date=September 28, 1962 |access-date=May 23, 2008 | magazine=Time}}</ref>
Joseph Gargan (Kennedy's cousin) and party co-host Paul Markham then returned to the pond with Kennedy to try to rescue Kopechne. Though there was a telephone at the Lawrence Cottage, nobody called for help. When their efforts to rescue Kopechne failed, Kennedy decided to return to his hotel on the mainland. As the ferry had shut down for the night, Kennedy swam the short distance back to Edgartown.
]
]


Meanwhile, Ted started work in February 1961 as an ] at the ] District Attorney's Office (for which he took a nominal ]), where he developed a hard-nosed attitude towards crime.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=33–35}} He took many overseas trips, billed as fact-finding tours with the goal of improving his foreign policy credentials.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=33–35}}{{sfn|Hersh|2010|pp=121–132}}<ref name="bg-fbi-61"/> On a nine-nation ] trip in 1961, FBI reports from the time showed Kennedy meeting with ], an alleged former Soviet spy, together with locals in each country whom the reports deemed left-wingers and Communist sympathizers.<ref name="bg-fbi-61"/><ref name="ap-fbi-61"/> Reports from the FBI and other sources had Kennedy renting a brothel and opening up bordellos after hours during the tour.<ref name="bg-fbi-61">{{cite news | url=https://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2011/03/01/fbi_memo_tied_kennedy_to_brothel_leftists_in_61/ | title=FBI memo tied Kennedy to brothel, leftists in '61 | author=Stockman, Farah | newspaper=] | date=March 1, 2011 | access-date=March 1, 2011}}</ref><ref name="ap-fbi-61">{{cite news | author=Miga, Andrew | date=February 28, 2011 | url=http://www.salon.com/news/ted_kennedy/index.html?story=/news/feature/2011/02/28/Ted_Kennedy_rented_brothel_in_chile | title=Ted Kennedy rented a brothel in 1961 | magazine=] | agency=] | access-date=February 28, 2011 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110302123511/http://www.salon.com/news/ted_kennedy/index.html?story=%2Fnews%2Ffeature%2F2011%2F02%2F28%2FTed_Kennedy_rented_brothel_in_chile | archive-date=March 2, 2011 | df=mdy-all }}</ref>{{sfn|Hersh|2010|p=132}} The Latin American trip helped to formulate Kennedy's foreign policy views, and in subsequent '']'' columns he warned that the region might turn to communism if the U.S. did not reach out to it in a more effective way.<ref name="bg-fbi-61"/>{{sfn|Hersh|2010|p=132}} Kennedy also began speaking to local political organizations.<ref name="bg-series-2">{{cite news | url=https://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2009/02/16/chapter_2_the_youngest_brother/ | title=Chapter 2: The Youngest Brother: Turbulence and tragedies eclipse early triumphs | author=Swidey, Neil | newspaper=] | date=February 16, 2009 | access-date=February 24, 2009}}</ref>
Kennedy discussed the accident with several people, including his lawyer, before he contacted the police.


In the ], Kennedy initially faced a Democratic Party primary challenge from ], the ]. Kennedy's slogan was "He can do more for Massachusetts", the same one John had used in his first campaign for the seat ten years earlier.{{sfn|Barone|Cohen|2008|p=791}} McCormack had the support of many liberals and intellectuals, who thought Kennedy inexperienced and knew of his suspension from Harvard, a fact which became public during the race.<ref name="bg-series-2"/> Kennedy also faced the notion that with one brother President and another ], "Don't you think that Teddy is one Kennedy too many?" But Kennedy proved to be an effective street-level campaigner.<ref name="kennedyism"/> His charm was such that one delegate at the party convention said "He's completely unqualified and inexperienced. And I'm going to be with him".{{r|cnioverr}} In a televised debate, McCormack said "The office of United States Senator should be merited, and not inherited", and said that if his opponent's name was Edward Moore, not Edward Moore Kennedy, his candidacy "would be a joke".<ref name="bg-series-2"/> Voters thought McCormack was overbearing—a Kennedy supporter said "McCormack was able to make a millionaire an underdog"{{r|cnioverr}}—and with the family political machine's finally getting fully behind him, Kennedy won the September 1962 primary by a two-to-one margin. In the November special election, Kennedy defeated Republican ], product of another noted Massachusetts political family, gaining 55&nbsp;percent of the vote.<ref name="kennedyism"/><ref name="wt-bio">{{cite news | title=Edward Kennedy (Dem) | newspaper=] | date=May 5, 2006}}</ref>
The next morning (], ]) the police recovered Kennedy's car. Kopechne's body was discovered by diver John Farrar, who observed that a large amount of air was released from the car when it was righted in the water, and that the trunk, when opened, was remarkably dry. These observations and others have led some to believe that Kopechne had not drowned, but suffocated in an air pocket within the car.


==United States Senator==
The incident quickly blossomed into a ]. Kennedy was criticized for allegedly driving drunk, for failing to save Kopechne, for failing to summon help immediately, and for contacting not the police but rather his lawyer first.


===First years, brothers' assassinations===
Kennedy entered a plea of guilty to a charge of leaving the scene of an accident after causing injury. He received a sentence of two months in jail, which was ]. An Edgartown grand jury later reopened the investigation but did not return an indictment.
Kennedy was sworn into the Senate on November 7, 1962.<ref name="Senate-longest"/> He maintained a deferential attitude towards the senior Southern members when he first entered the Senate, avoiding publicity and focusing on committee work and local issues.<ref name="ascent"/>{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=43, 45–47}} He lacked his brother John's sophistication and Robert's intense, sometimes grating drive, but was more affable than either.<ref name="ascent"/> He was favored by Senator ], chair of the powerful Judiciary Committee. Vice President ], despite his feuds with John and Robert, liked Ted and told close aides that he "had the potential to be the best politician in the whole family."<ref>Neal Gabler, ''Catching the Wind: Edward Kennedy and the Liberal Hour, 1932-1975'' (2020).</ref>
] and sister-in-law ], walks from the ] for the funeral procession accompanying President Kennedy's casket to ].]]


On November 22, 1963, Kennedy was ]—a task given to junior members—when an aide rushed in to tell him that his brother, President Kennedy, ]. His brother Robert soon told him that the President was dead.<ref name="bg-series-2"/> Ted and his sister ] immediately flew to the family home in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, to give the news to their invalid father, who had had a stroke two years earlier.<ref name="bg-series-2"/>
Kennedy's critics and political opponents question whether justice was served in this case. The case resulted in much ] directed against Kennedy, including a ] page showing a floating Volkswagen ] with the remark that Kennedy would have been elected President had he been driving a Beetle that night; this satire allegedly resulted in legal action by ] complaining of unauthorized use of their trademark.


On June 19, 1964, Kennedy was a passenger in a private ] airplane that was flying in bad weather from Washington, D.C. to Massachusetts. The plane crashed into an ] in ], on ] to the ] in ].<ref name="time062664">{{cite news|date=June 26, 1964|title=Teddy's Ordeal|magazine=Time|url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,898150,00.html|access-date=May 19, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.check-six.com/Crash_Sites/Kennedy-N344S.htm | publisher=Check-Six.com | title=The Luck of the Kennedys | access-date=February 24, 2009 | date=May 8, 2008}}</ref> The pilot and Edward Moss (one of Kennedy's aides) were killed.<ref name="misfortunes">{{cite news |title=John F. Kennedy Jr. – Timeline: Misfortunes of a Family |url=http://www.cnn.com/interactive/specials/9907/kennedy.tragedy.glance/frameset.exclude.html |work=CNN|date=July 1999 |access-date=May 23, 2008 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080323142249/http://www.cnn.com/interactive/specials/9907/kennedy.tragedy.glance/frameset.exclude.html |archive-date = March 23, 2008}}</ref> Kennedy was pulled from the wreckage by fellow Senator ],<ref name="time062664"/> and spent months in hospital recovering from a severe back injury, a ], broken ribs and internal bleeding.<ref name="bg-series-2"/> He suffered chronic back pain for the rest of his life.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=244, 305, 549}}<ref name="time-rules">{{cite news | url=http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1807447,00.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080519204457/http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1807447,00.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=May 19, 2008 | title=In the Senate, Ted Kennedy Still Rules | last=Newton-Small|first=Jay | magazine=] | date=May 17, 2008 | access-date=June 20, 2009}}</ref> Kennedy took advantage of his long convalescence to meet with academics and study issues more closely, and the hospital experience triggered his lifelong interest in the provision of ].<ref name="bg-series-2"/> His wife Joan did the campaigning for him in the ],<ref name="bg-series-2"/> and he defeated his Republican opponent by a three-to-one margin.<ref name="wt-bio"/>
This incident has led to the long-standing joke "Ted Kennedy's car has killed more people than my gun!"


Kennedy was walking with a cane when he returned to the Senate in January 1965.<ref name=bg-series-2/> He employed a stronger and more effective legislative staff.<ref name="bg-series-2"/> He took on President Lyndon B. Johnson and almost succeeded in amending the ] to explicitly ban the ] at the state and local level (rather than just directing the Attorney General to challenge its constitutionality there),<ref name="bg-series-2"/><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/highwayhistory/road/s38.cfm | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110624035922/http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/highwayhistory/road/s38.cfm | url-status=dead | archive-date=June 24, 2011 | title=The Road to Civil Rights: The Voting Rights Act of 1965 | publisher=] | access-date=September 18, 2011}}</ref> gaining a reputation for legislative skill.{{sfn|Moritz|1978|p=226}} He was a leader in pushing through the ], which ended a quota system based upon national origin. He also played a role in the creation of the ].<ref name="bg-series-2"/>{{sfn|Barone|Cohen|2008|p=792}}
== Presidential bid ==
A decade after the Chappaquiddick incident, Kennedy decided to throw his hat in the ring for the Democratic nomination in the ]. He launched an unusual, insurgent campaign against a sitting president, Democratic incumbent ]. Kennedy was unafraid of criticizing the president, who was mired in the ]. He did, however, vow to support Carter if he were re-nominated. Despite much early support, his bid was ultimately unsuccessful, largely due to controversy surrounding the incident at Chappaquiddick. He lost substantial credibility in November 1979 during the week his campaign was officially launched, when he was widely ridiculed in the press following an interview with ] on ''CBS News Special Reports''. When Kennedy was asked by Mudd: "Why do you want to be President?", he was unable to provide a straightforward answer. Kennedy won 10 presidential primaries against Carter who won 24. Eventually he bowed out of the race, but delivered a rousing speech before the ] in ] that many consider to be one of his finest moments.


Kennedy initially said he had "no reservations" about the expanding U.S. role in the ] and acknowledged that it would be a "long and enduring struggle".{{sfn|Moritz|1978|p=226}} Kennedy held hearings on the plight of refugees in the conflict, which revealed that the U.S. government had no coherent policy for refugees.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=80–82}} Kennedy also tried to reform "unfair" and "inequitable" aspects of ].{{sfn|Moritz|1978|p=226}} By the time of a January 1968 trip to Vietnam, Kennedy was disillusioned by the lack of U.S. progress, and suggested publicly that the U.S. should tell ], "Shape up or we're going to ship out."{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=99–103}}
== Democratic Party icon ==
]
Since his presidential bid, Kennedy has become the ''de facto'' head of the liberal wing of the Democratic party. He is one of the most recognizable and influential members of the party. In 2004, Kennedy supported the failed presidential bid of his fellow Massachusetts Senator ], speaking for Kerry multiple times and lending his chief of staff, ], to the Kerry campaign.
] there was an attempt to draft Ted either as the Democratic presidential or vice-presidential nominee for the ], but all of the attempts failed.]]


Ted initially advised his brother Robert against challenging the incumbent President Johnson for the Democratic nomination in the ].<ref name="bg-series-2"/> Once Senator ]'s strong showing in the ] led to ] starting in March 1968, Ted recruited political leaders for endorsements to his brother in the western states.<ref name="bg-series-2"/><ref name=Poulsen>{{cite news
==Political views==
| last = Poulsen
=== No Child Left Behind ===
| first = Thad
]]]
| title = When Teddy Came to Town: A Sitka Memoir
Kennedy was a major player in the bipartisan team that wrote the controversial ] of 2001, which according to both Kennedy and President Bush, was a compromise. He then worked to get it passed in a ]-controlled Congress, despite the opposition of members from both parties.
| work = ]
| date = August 27, 2009
}}</ref> Ted was in San Francisco when his brother Robert won the crucial California primary on June 4, 1968, and then after midnight, ] and died a day later.<ref name="bg-series-2"/> Ted Kennedy was devastated by his brother's death, as he was closest to Robert among those in the Kennedy family.{{sfn|McGinnis|1993}}{{page needed|date=May 2020}} Kennedy aide ] said of seeing Ted at the hospital where Robert lay mortally wounded: "I have never, ever, nor do I expect ever, to see a face more in grief."<ref name="bg-series-2"/> At Robert's funeral at ], Kennedy eulogized his older brother:


{{blockquote|My brother need not be idealized, or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life; to be remembered simply as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it. Those of us who loved him and who take him to his rest today, pray that what he was to us and what he wished for others will some day come to pass for all the world. As he said many times, in many parts of this nation, to those he touched and who sought to touch him: "Some men see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and say why not."<ref name="RFKeulogy">{{cite web|url=https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/ekennedytributetorfk.html|title=Edward M. Kennedy Address at the Public Memorial Service for Robert F. Kennedy|publisher=American Rhetoric: Top 100 Speeches|access-date=August 29, 2009}}</ref>}}
Kennedy has since argued that the No Child Left Behind is an ] because the President and Congress have mandated obligations upon the states without providing equivalent funds, forcing the states to spend money to comply with the federal law. Libertarians and Conservatives have had mixed reactions to the bill, on the one hand disliking the expansion of the federal government, but on the other hand favoring the school choice provisions that it sets forth.


At the chaotic August ], Mayor of Chicago ] and some other party factions feared that ] could not unite the party, and so encouraged Ted Kennedy to make himself available for a ].<ref name="bg-series-2"/><ref name="white-1968">{{cite book | last=White | first=Theodore H. | author-link=Theodore H. White | title=The Making of the President 1968 | publisher=] | location=New York | year=1969 | pages= | isbn=0-224-61796-6 | url=https://archive.org/details/makingofpresiden0000whit_z6y4/page/280 }}</ref> The 36-year-old Kennedy was seen as the natural heir to his brothers,{{sfn|Barone|Cohen|2008|p=791}} and "Draft Ted" movements sprang up from various quarters and among delegates.<ref name="white-1968"/>{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=123–126}} Thinking that he was only being seen as a stand-in for his brother and that he was not ready for the job himself, and getting an uncertain reaction from McCarthy and a negative one from Southern delegates, Kennedy rejected any move to place his name before the convention as a candidate.<ref name="white-1968"/>{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=123–126}} He also declined consideration for the vice-presidential spot.<ref name="ascent"/> Senator ] remained the symbolic standard-bearer for Robert's delegates instead.<ref>{{Citation
=== Right to abortion ===
| title=McGovern Decides To Run In Demo Nomination
Although he has been a staunch advocate of ] for the past 30 years, Kennedy only adopted this position after '']'' became the law of the land. Prior to that, he held a ] position. A letter to a constituent, dated ], ] opposes "the legalization of abortion on demand" saying that it "is not in accordance with the value which our civilization places on human life." Kennedy's reversal on this issue after ''Roe v. Wade'' became a source of continuing dispute between him and the Roman Catholic Church to which he belongs. In 1987, Kennedy delivered an impassioned speech condemning Supreme Court nominee ] as a right-wing extremist and warning that "Robert Bork's America" would be one marked by back alley abortions and other backward practices. Kennedy's strong opposition to Bork's nomination is commonly seen as a prominent factor in the Senate's rejection of Bork's candidacy. Similar concerns have been raised in more recent Supreme Court nominations, as well; it is possible that Kennedy's opposition to Bork set a precedent. In recent years, he has argued that much of the debate over abortion is a false dichotomy. Speaking at the ] in 2005, he remarked, "Surely, we can all agree that abortion should be rare, and that we should do all we can to help women avoid the need to face that decision." <!-- If someone builds a decent citation apparatus for this article, that's ] , '']'', January 14, 2005; Page A19.-->
| newspaper=The Virgin Islands Daily News
| location=The Virgin Islands
| date=August 12, 1968
| page=2
|url= https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=2WAwAAAAIBAJ&sjid=kkQDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6396,3117892
}}</ref>


After the deaths of his brothers, Kennedy took on the role of a surrogate father for their children.<ref name="CNN_Black1999">{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/US/9907/24/kennedy.plane.01/ |access-date=December 26, 2006 |title=Final memorial set for victims of Kennedy crash |publisher=] |date=July 24, 1999 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061221153256/http://www.cnn.com/US/9907/24/kennedy.plane.01/ |archive-date = December 21, 2006}}</ref>{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=141–142}} By some reports, he also negotiated the October 1968 marital contract between ] and ].<ref>{{cite book|last= Evans |first= Peter |title= Ari: The Life and Times of Aristotle Onassis |publisher= ] |year= 1986 |isbn= 0-671-46508-2 |page= |url= https://archive.org/details/arilifetimesofar00evan/page/255 }} Kennedy has denied this; see {{harvnb|Clymer|1999|p=130}}.</ref>
=== Immigration policy ===
Ted Kennedy was a strong supporter of the ] which dramatically changed US immigration policy. "The bill will not flood our cities with immigrants. It will not upset the ethnic mix of our society. It will not relax the standards of admission. It will not cause American workers to lose their jobs." (U.S. Senate, Subcommittee on Immigration and Naturalization of the Committee on the Judiciary, Washington, D.C., Feb. 10, 1965. pp. 1-3.). Kennedy is now the ranking Democrat on the Senate Committee on Immigration, and remains a strong advocate for immigrants.


Following Republican ]'s victory in November, Kennedy was widely assumed to be the front-runner for the 1972 Democratic nomination.<ref name="bg-series-3">{{cite news | url=https://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2009/02/17/chapter_3_chappaquiddick/ | title=Chapter 3: Chappaquiddick: Conflicted ambitions, then, Chappaquiddick | last=Russell|first=Jenna | newspaper=] | date=February 17, 2009 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100221041557/http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2009/02/17/chapter_3_chappaquiddick/|archive-date = February 21, 2010}} Also published in the book ''The Last Lion: The Fall and Rise of Ted Kennedy'', Simon & Schuster, 2009, chapter 3.</ref>
Many people feel that this legislation dramatically changed the face of America society by making it a multicultural nation. Prior to the Hart-Celler Act, immigration policy was very selective and geared towards European countries. Proponents of the bill argued that immigration laws and quotas were discriminatory, and that American immigration policy should accept people not on the basis of their nationality. This also abolished the Chinese Exclusion Act, 1882.
In January 1969, Kennedy defeated ] Senator ] by a 31–26 margin to become ], the youngest person to attain that position.<ref name="ascent">{{cite news |title=The Ascent of Ted Kennedy |url=http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,839703,00.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130204181515/http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,839703,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 4, 2013 |magazine=Time |date=January 10, 1969 |access-date=May 23, 2008}}</ref>{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=131–132}} While this further boosted his presidential image, he appeared conflicted by the inevitability of having to run for the position;{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=141–142}}<ref name="bg-series-3"/> "Few who knew him doubted that in one sense he very much wanted to take that path", ''Time'' magazine reported, but "he had a fatalistic, almost doomed feeling about the prospect". The reluctance was in part due to the danger; Kennedy reportedly observed, "I know that I'm going to get my ass shot off one day, and I don't want to."<ref name="time19680801">{{Cite magazine|date=August 1, 1969 |title=The Mysteries of Chappaquiddick |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,901159-1,00.html |magazine=] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090831015242/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0%2C9171%2C901159-1%2C00.html |archive-date=August 31, 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="kelly"/> Indeed, there were regular death threats made against Kennedy for much of the rest of his career.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/ted-kennedy-got-constant-death-threats-fbi-files-show/ | title=Ted Kennedy got constant death threats, FBI files show | first1=William|last1=Douglas |first2=David | last2=Lightman | newspaper=] | date=June 14, 2010 | access-date=March 1, 2011}}</ref>


===Chappaquiddick incident===
=== Alternative energy ===
{{Main|Chappaquiddick incident}}
Ted Kennedy has maintained a record in favor of alternative energy sources as seen in his voting record as a senator. Some people see Kennedy's opposition to a proposed ], Cape Wind, within sight of his home as hypocritical or as an example of a ] philosophy. Senator Kennedy did not support the interests of the American Coalition for ] in 2002.
On the night of July 18, 1969, Kennedy was at ] hosting a party for the ], a group of young women who had worked on his brother Robert's presidential campaign.<ref name="bg-series-3"/> Kennedy left the party with one of the women, 28-year-old ].


Driving a ], he attempted to cross the Dike Bridge, which did not have a guardrail at that time. Kennedy lost control and crashed in the ] inlet, a tidal channel. Kennedy escaped from the overturned vehicle, and, by his description, dove below the surface seven or eight times, vainly attempting to rescue Kopechne. Ultimately, he swam to shore and left the scene, with Kopechne still trapped inside the vehicle. Kennedy did not report the accident to authorities until the next morning, by which time Kopechne's body had already been discovered.<ref name="bg-series-3"/> Kennedy's cousin ] later said that he and Kennedy's friend ], both of whom were at the party and came to the scene, had urged Kennedy to report it at the time.<ref>{{cite book|first=Ronald|last=Kessler|title=The Sins of the Father: Joseph P. Kennedy and the Dynasty He Founded|url=https://archive.org/details/sinsoffatherjose00kess|url-access=registration|publisher=Warner Books|location=New York City|date=1996|page=|isbn=9780446518840 }}</ref>
=== War On Terrorism ===
Though a supporter of the American-led 2001 overthrow of the Taliban government in Afghanistan, Senator Kennedy is a vocal critic of the American-led 2003 invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq. He has also been a harsh critic of the way the war was planned and conducted by the Bush Administration.


A week after the incident, Kennedy pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident and was given a ] sentence of two months in jail.<ref name="bg-series-3"/> That night, he gave a national broadcast in which he said, "I regard as indefensible the fact that I did not report the accident to the police immediately," but he denied driving under the influence of alcohol and also denied any immoral conduct between him and Kopechne.<ref name="bg-series-3"/> Kennedy asked the Massachusetts electorate whether he should stay in office or resign; after getting a favorable response in messages sent to him, Kennedy announced on July 30 that he would remain in the Senate and run for re-election the next year.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=4AwwAAAAIBAJ&pg=6648,3488972 | title=Kennedy Stays in Senate; Will Seek New Term | agency=] | newspaper=] | location=Toledo | date=July 31, 1969 | page=1}}</ref>
Of particular concern to Sen. Kennedy is the United States' treatment of the prisoners taken in the ]. Applying standards of human rights that are available to all Americans, he believes there should be no difference between the treatment of accused terrorists and the treatment of accused criminals in the USA, such as the right to a speedy trial (or the suspect should be released), and the right to legal representation.{{Wikisourcepar|Senator Edward M. Kennedy floor remarks on Iraq}}


In January 1970, an inquest into Kopechne's death was held in ].<ref name="bg-series-3"/> At the request of Kennedy's lawyers, the ] ordered the inquest to be conducted in secret.<ref name="bg-series-3"/><ref>{{cite book|title=Fighting for Air: In the Trenches With Television News|isbn=0-8262-0952-1|year=1994|first=Liz|last=Trotta|location=Columbia, Missouri|publisher=University of Missouri Press|page=184}}</ref>{{sfn|Bly|1996|p=213}} The presiding judge, James A. Boyle, concluded that some aspects of Kennedy's story of that night were not true, and that negligent driving "appears to have contributed" to the death of Kopechne.{{sfn|Bly|1996|p=213}} A ] conducted a two-day investigation in April 1970 but issued no indictment, after which Boyle made his inquest report public.<ref name="bg-series-3"/> Kennedy deemed its conclusions "not justified."<ref name="bg-series-3"/> Questions about the incident generated many articles and books during the following years.{{sfn|Moritz|1978|p=227}}
On September 27, 2004, Sen. Kennedy made a speech on the Senate floor regarding the war in Iraq, just prior to the 2004 U.S. Presidential election.


===1970s===
==Grounded by terror watch list==
]
During a congressional hearing on ] in August 2004, Kennedy revealed that he had been stopped from boarding airlines on multiple occasions because his name or a similar name had appeared on a terror watch list. Officials from the ] later apologized and corrected the mistake.
At the end of 1968, Kennedy had joined the new Committee for National Health Insurance at the invitation of its founder, ] president ].<ref name="Jacobs 1987">{{cite book|last=Jacobs|first=David C.|year=1987|editor1-last=Lewin|editor1-first=David|editor2-last=Lipsky|editor2-first=David|editor3-last=Sockell|editor3-first=Donna|chapter=The UAW and the Committee for National Health Insurance: the contours of social unionism|title=Advances in industrial and labor relations: a research annual|volume=4|location=Greenwich, Connecticut|publisher=JAI Press|isbn=0-89232-909-2|pages=119–140}}</ref>{{sfn|Clymer|1999|p=159}} In May 1970, Reuther died and Senator ], chairman of the full ] and its Health subcommittee, lost his primary election, propelling Kennedy into a leadership role on the issue of ].{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=159–160, 173}} Kennedy introduced a bipartisan bill in August 1970 for ] ] national health insurance with no ], paid for by payroll taxes and general federal revenue.<ref>{{cite book|author=Congressional Quarterly|year=1971|chapter=National health insurance|title=Congressional Quarterly almanac, 91st Congress 2nd session....1970|journal=Congressional Quarterly Almanac Plus|volume=26|location=Washington, D.C.|publisher=Congressional Quarterly|pages=603–605|issn=0095-6007|oclc=1564784}}</ref>


Despite the Chappaquiddick controversy of the previous year, ] to the Senate in November 1970 with 62 percent of the vote against underfunded Republican candidate ], although he received about 500,000 fewer votes than in 1964.{{sfn|Moritz|1978|p=227}}
==Political resurrection==
The accident at Chappaquiddick, along with continuing allegations of alcohol abuse and womanizing have haunted Kennedy's reputation and hampered his political career through the decades since it transpired. He withdrew in 1974 from the presidential race, and failed in a 1980 primary challenge to ]. Critics have specifically pointed to a night of barhopping on Good Friday in 1991 with his nephew ] which culminated in Smith's trial and acquittal for rape.


] at ], ], in April 1971]]
According to a 2002 article in '']'' by Jack Newfield, that year also appears to represent a turning point. His good friend, Republican Senator ] confronted him about his drinking and then he "met Vicki Reggie and ended his partying."
In January 1971, Kennedy lost his position as ] to Senator ] of West Virginia, 31–24,<ref>{{cite news|last1=Martin|first1=Jonathan|title=Kennedy memoir has Senate memories|url=https://www.politico.com/story/2009/09/kennedy-memoir-has-senate-memories-027158|access-date=January 2, 2018|work=]|date=September 15, 2015}}</ref> probably because of Chappaquiddick. He later told Byrd that the defeat had allowed Kennedy to focus more on issues and committee work,{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=171–173}}{{r|bg-obit}} where he could exert influence independently from the Democratic party apparatus.{{sfn|Hersh|1997|p=13}} Kennedy began a decade as chairman of the Subcommittee on Health and Scientific Research of the ].


In February 1971, Nixon proposed health insurance reform—an employer mandate to offer private health insurance if employees volunteered to pay 25 percent of premiums, federalization of ] for the poor with dependent minor children, and support for ]s.<ref name="NHI: CQ Almanac 1971">{{cite book|author=Congressional Quarterly|year=1972|chapter=Health insurance: hearings on new proposals|title=Congressional Quarterly almanac, 92nd Congress 1st session....1971|journal=Congressional Quarterly Almanac Plus|volume=27|location=Washington, D.C.|publisher=Congressional Quarterly|pages=541–544|issn=0095-6007|oclc=1564784}}</ref><ref name="HMO: CQ Almanac 1973">{{cite book|author=Congressional Quarterly|year=1974|chapter=Limited experimental health bill enacted|title=Congressional Quarterly almanac, 93rd Congress 1st session....1973|journal=Congressional Quarterly Almanac Plus|volume=29|location=Washington, D.C.|publisher=Congressional Quarterly|pages=499–508|issn=0095-6007|oclc=1564784}}</ref> Hearings on national health insurance were held in 1971, but no bill had the support of House Ways and Means and Senate Finance Committee chairmen Representative ] and Senator ].<ref name="NHI: CQ Almanac 1971"/>{{sfn|Clymer|1999|p=187}} Kennedy sponsored and helped pass the limited ].<ref name="HMO: CQ Almanac 1973"/>{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=198–199}} He also played a leading role, with Senator ], in the creation and passage of the ].{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=173–177}}
After his marriage in 1992, he faced a tough challenger, ], for re-election to the Senate in 1994. Some of Romney’s supporters criticized Kennedy for statements he had made about the exclusionary policies of the ], in which Romney held a leadership role. Kennedy defeated Romney with 58 percent of the vote. According to Newfield, Kennedy's family and friends believe that campaign "allowed him to reconnect with his reasons for believing in public service."


In October 1971, Kennedy made his first speech about ] in ]: he said that "Ulster is becoming Britain's Vietnam", advocating for the withdrawal of British troops from the six northern counties, called for a ],{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=180–183}} and declared that ] who could not accept this "should be given a decent opportunity to go back to Britain" (a position he backed away from within a couple of years).<ref>{{cite book|last=Hachey|first=Thomas E.|title=The Irish Experience: A Concise History|url=https://archive.org/details/irishexperience00hach|url-access=registration|edition=Revised|publisher=]|location=Armonk, New York|year=1996|page=|isbn=1-56324-791-7}}</ref> Kennedy was sharply criticised by the British and Ulster unionists, and he formed a long political relationship with ] founder ].{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=180–183}} In scores of anti-war speeches, Kennedy opposed Nixon's policy of ], calling it "a policy of violence means more and more war".{{sfn|Moritz|1978|p=227}} In December 1971, Kennedy strongly criticized the Nixon administration's support for Pakistan and its ignoring of "the brutal and systematic repression of East Bengal by the Pakistani army".<ref name="time-nov29-1971">{{cite news | url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,878970,00.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070507092655/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,878970,00.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=May 7, 2007 | title=A Policy in Shambles | magazine=Time | date=November 29, 1971}}</ref> He traveled to India and wrote a report on the plight of the ].<ref name="cnn-saeed-ahmed">{{cite news | url=http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/08/27/bangladesh.kennedy.impact/ | title=In Bangladesh, Ted Kennedy Revered | author=Ahmed, Saeed | date=August 27, 2009 | work=CNN}}</ref> In February 1972, Kennedy flew to Bangladesh and delivered a speech at the ], where ] had begun a year earlier.<ref name="cnn-saeed-ahmed"/>
Newfield states that "In making the physical and emotional sacrifices necessary to win an exhausting campaign, Kennedy recovered his dedication to remain in the Senate, and he focused all his energies on the job"; he goes on to call him "the best and most effective senator of the past hundred years." "Because of his tragic experience", says Newfield, he is often found serving as "America's national grief counselor." Despite his liberal views, "The key to Kennedy's effectiveness has been his remarkable capacity to form warm, genuine friendships&mdash;more than mere working alliances&mdash;with GOP senators."


The Chappaquiddick incident had greatly hindered Kennedy's future presidential prospects,{{r|time19680801}} and shortly after the incident he declared that he would not be a candidate in the ].<ref name="bg-series-3"/> Nevertheless, polls in 1971 suggested he could win the nomination if he tried, and Kennedy gave some thought to running. In May of that year he decided not to, saying he needed "breathing time" to gain more experience and to take care of the children of his brothers, and that "it feels wrong in my gut."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F10B1FFB355F127A93C1AB178ED85F458785F9|title=Despite His Lead in the Gallup Poll, Kennedy Insists He Won't Run for President in '72|last=Apple|first=R.W. Jr.|author-link=R. W. Apple Jr.|newspaper=The New York Times|date=May 23, 1971}}</ref> Nevertheless, in November 1971, a ] still had him in first place in the Democratic nomination race with 28&nbsp;percent.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.gallup.com/poll/149990/Cain-Surges-Nearly-Ties-Romney-Lead-GOP-Preferences.aspx | publisher=] | title=Cain Surges, Nearly Ties Romney for Lead in GOP Preferences | date=October 10, 2011}}</ref> ] was close to clinching the Democratic nomination in June 1972, when various anti-McGovern forces tried to get Kennedy to enter the contest at the last minute, but he declined.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=187–190}} At the ], McGovern repeatedly tried to recruit Kennedy as his vice presidential running mate, but Kennedy turned him down.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=187–190}} When McGovern's choice of ] stepped down soon after the convention, McGovern again tried to get Kennedy to take the nod, again without success.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=187–190}} McGovern instead chose Kennedy's brother-in-law ].
2003 Winner of the George Bush Award.


In 1973, Kennedy's 12-year-old son ], was diagnosed with ]; his leg was amputated and he underwent a long, difficult, experimental two-year drug treatment.<ref name="bg-series-3"/>{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=205–208}} The case brought international attention among doctors and in the media,{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=205–208}} as did the young Kennedy's return to skiing half a year later.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=FB0A13F8385515738DDDAE0894DC405B848BF1D3|title=When cancer strikes at children|author1=Cherry, Rona |author2=Cherry, Laurence |name-list-style=amp |magazine=]|date=April 7, 1974}}</ref> Son ] was suffering from severe ]s.<ref name="bg-series-3"/> The pressure of the situation mounted on Joan Kennedy. On several occasions, she entered facilities for treatment of alcoholism and emotional strain, and she was arrested for ] after a traffic accident.<ref name="bg-series-3"/><ref>{{cite news|url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F40E12F6395E1A7493C2A8178BD95F408785F9|title=Kennedy's Wife Faces Drunken Driving Count|newspaper=The New York Times|date= October 10, 1974}}</ref>
==Further reading==
* Burke, Richard E. (1993). The Senator: My Ten Years With Ted Kennedy. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0312951337.
* Clymer, Adam (1999). Edward M. Kennedy: A Biography. Wm. Morrow & Company. ISBN 0688142850.
* Damore, Leo. (1983). Senatorial Privilege, The Chappaquiddick Cover-Up.


In February 1974, Nixon proposed more comprehensive health insurance reform—an employer mandate to offer private health insurance if employees volunteered to pay 25 percent of premiums, replacement of Medicaid by state-run health insurance plans available to all with income-based premiums and cost sharing, and replacement of Medicare with a new federal program that eliminated the limit on hospital days, added income-based out-of-pocket limits, and added outpatient prescription drug coverage.<ref name="NHI: CQ Almanac 1974">{{cite book|author=Congressional Quarterly|year=1975|chapter=National health insurance: no action in 1974|title=Congressional Quarterly almanac, 93rd Congress 2nd session....1974|journal=Congressional Quarterly Almanac Plus|volume=30|location=Washington, D.C.|publisher=Congressional Quarterly|pages=386–394|issn=0095-6007|oclc=1564784}}</ref>{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=199–200}} In April 1974, Kennedy and Mills introduced a bill for near-universal national health insurance with benefits identical to the expanded Nixon plan—but with mandatory participation by employers and employees through payroll taxes—both plans were criticized by labor, consumer, and senior citizen organizations because of their substantial cost sharing.<ref name="NHI: CQ Almanac 1974"/>{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=217–219}} In August 1974, after Nixon's resignation and President Ford's call for health insurance reform, Mills tried to advance a compromise based on Nixon's plan—but with mandatory participation by employers and employees through premiums to private health insurance companies—but gave up when unable to get more than a 13–12 majority of his committee to support his compromise plan.<ref name="NHI: CQ Almanac 1974"/><ref name="Wainess 1999">{{cite journal|last=Wainess|first=Flint J.|date=April 1999|title=The Ways and Means of national health care reform, 1974 and beyond|journal=Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law|volume=24|issue=2|pages=305–333|issn=0361-6878|oclc=2115780|pmid=10321359|doi=10.1215/03616878-24-2-305}}</ref>
== External links ==

In the wake of the ], Kennedy pushed ]; he was a leading force behind passage of the ], which set contribution limits and established public financing for presidential elections.{{sfn|Moritz|1978|p=228}}<ref name="usa051708">{{cite news | url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-05-17-3340753434_x.htm | title=Kennedy: liberal legend, able legislator | author=Babington, Charles | agency=] | newspaper=USA Today | date=May 17, 2008 | access-date=June 11, 2009}}</ref> In April 1974, Kennedy travelled to the ], where he met with leader ] and advocated a full nuclear test ban as well as relaxed emigration, gave a speech at ], met with ], and secured an exit visa for cellist ].{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=212–215}} Kennedy's Subcommittee on Refugees and Escapees continued to focus on Vietnam, especially after the ] in 1975.{{sfn|Moritz|1978|p=227}}

Kennedy had initially opposed ], but grew to support the practice as it became a focal point of civil rights efforts.{{sfn|Canellos|2009|pp=236–237}} After federal judge ] ordered the ] in 1974 to racially integrate Boston's public schools via busing, Kennedy made a surprise appearance at a September 1974 anti-busing rally in ] to express the need for peaceful dialogue and was met with extreme hostility.{{sfn|Canellos|2009|pp=236–237}}<ref name="thecrisis"/><ref name="Tager pp. 198–199">{{cite book|last=Tager|first=Jack|year=2001|title=Boston Riots: Three Centuries of Social Violence|publisher=]|place=Boston|pages=|isbn=978-1555534615|url=https://archive.org/details/bostonriotsthree00tage}}</ref> The predominantly white crowd yelled insults about his children and hurled tomatoes and eggs at him as he retreated into the ] and went so far as to break one of its glass walls.{{sfn|Canellos|2009|pp=236–237}}<ref name="thecrisis">{{cite magazine | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yM8wABaRtYIC&pg=PA10 |magazine=] | title=Backdrop to Boston | pages=7–11 | volume=82 | issue=1 | date=January 1975}}</ref><ref name="Tager pp. 198–199" />

Kennedy was again much talked about as a contender in the ], with no strong front-runners among the other possible Democratic candidates.<ref name="nyt092474">{{cite news | url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F30B1FF73E5E1A7493C6AB1782D85F408785F9 | title=Kennedy Rules Out '76 Presidential Race |last=Apple |first=R. W. Jr. | newspaper=The New York Times | date=September 24, 1974 | author-link=R. W. Apple Jr.}}</ref> Kennedy's concerns about his family were strong, and Chappaquiddick was still in the news, with '']'', '']'', and '']'' magazine all reassessing the incident and raising doubts about Kennedy's version of events.<ref name="bg-series-3"/><ref>{{cite news | url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F70F15FC3A5C1A7A93C6A8178CD85F408785F9 | title=Chappaquiddick + 5 | author=Sherrill, Robert | magazine=] | date=July 14, 1974 | author-link=Robert Sherrill}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,943016,00.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081222071555/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,943016,00.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=December 22, 2008 | title=The Memory That Would Not Fade | magazine=Time | date=October 7, 1974}}</ref> (The ''Times'' would in 1977 describe Chappaquiddick as Kennedy's Watergate.{{r|weinraub19770305}}) In September 1974, Kennedy announced that for family reasons he would not run in the 1976 election, declaring that his decision was "firm, final, and unconditional."<ref name="nyt092474"/> Kennedy was ]. He defeated a primary challenger who was angry at his support for ]. Kennedy won the general election with 69&nbsp;percent of the vote.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=245–250}}

] (right) with Senator Ted Kennedy in the ] of the ], December 1977]]
The ] years were difficult for Kennedy; he had been the most important Democrat in Washington ever since his brother Robert's death, but now Carter was, and Kennedy at first did not have a full committee chairmanship with which to wield influence.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=252–256}} Carter in turn sometimes resented Kennedy's status as a political celebrity.<ref name="bg-obit"/> Despite generally similar ideologies, their priorities were different.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=252–256}}<ref name="time-kc">{{cite news |url=http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,912496,00.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130204101416/http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,912496,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 4, 2013 |title=The Kennedy Challenge |magazine=Time |date=November 5, 1979}}</ref> Kennedy told reporters that he was content with his congressional role and denied presidential ambitions,<ref name=weinraub19770305>{{cite news |newspaper=The New York Times |date= March 5, 1977 |page=1 | author=Weinraub, Bernard |title=Kennedy, Out of the Limelight, Is Content in Senate |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/03/05/archives/kennedy-out-of-the-limelight-is-content-in-senate-kennedy-out-of.html | format=fee required}}</ref> but by late 1977 Carter reportedly saw Kennedy as a future challenger to his presidency.<ref name="evansnovak19791121">{{Cite news |last=Evans |first=Rowland |last2=Novak |first2=Robert |date=22 November 1977 |title=Eastland's vast power |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32141039/pottsville_republican/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190601114213/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32141039/pottsville_republican/ |archive-date=1 June 2019 |work=Pottsville Republican |page=4 |via=]}}</ref>

Kennedy and his wife Joan separated in 1977, although they still staged some joint appearances.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|p=259}} He held Health and Scientific Research Subcommittee hearings in March 1977 that led to public revelations of extensive ] by contract research organizations, including ].<ref>{{cite news | title = Poisoned Research | magazine=] | date = June 1982 | first = Douglas | last = Foster |author2=Mark Dowie |author3=Steve Hubbell |author4=Irene Moosen |author5=Peter Waldman |author6=Center for Investigative Reporting | pages = 38–40, 42–43, 45–48 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=nuYDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA37 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | first = Morton | last = Mintz | title = Indictment Accuses Drug-Testing Firm of Falsifying Results | date = June 1, 1979 | newspaper = The Washington Post | page=A9}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | first = Bill | last = Richards | title = Wide Errors, Possible Fraud Found in Private Lab Testing | date = September 8, 1977 | newspaper = The Washington Post | pages = 1, A11 }}</ref> Kennedy visited China on a goodwill mission in late December 1977, meeting with leader ] and eventually gaining permission for a number of Mainland Chinese nationals to leave the country; in 1978, he also visited the Soviet Union and Brezhnev and dissidents there again.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=270, 273–274}} During the 1970s, Kennedy also showed interest in ], and as part of his efforts in this field even visited ] in January 1978 and gave a public speech to that effect at ].<ref>. U.S. Department of State, January 30, 1978; and . U.S. Department of State, January 10, 1978.</ref> He became chairman of the ] in 1978, by which time he had amassed a wide-ranging Senate staff of a hundred.{{sfn|Hersh|1997|p=27}}

As a candidate, Carter had proposed health care reform that included key features of Kennedy's national health insurance bill, but in December 1977, President Carter told Kennedy his bill must preserve a large role for private insurance companies, minimize federal spending (precluding payroll tax financing), and be phased-in to not interfere with Carter's paramount domestic policy objective—balancing the federal budget.<ref name="Morris 1984">{{cite book|last=Morris|first=Jonas|year=1984|chapter=The Carter years|title=Searching for a cure: national health policy considered|location=New York|publisher=Pica Press|pages=92–171|isbn=0-87663-741-1}}</ref><ref name="Gottschalk 2000">{{cite book|last=Gottschalk|first=Marie|year=2000|chapter=Labor embraces a new idea: the journey from national health insurance to an employer mandate|title=The shadow welfare state: labor, business, and the politics of health care in the United States|location=Ithaca, N.Y.|publisher=ILR Press|pages=65–85|isbn=0-8014-3745-8|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iJ5X5AT1xbYC&pg=PA79}}</ref>{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=245–247}} Kennedy and labor compromised and made the requested changes, but broke with Carter in July 1978 when he would not commit to pursuing a single bill with a fixed schedule for phasing-in comprehensive coverage.<ref name="Morris 1984"/><ref name="Gottschalk 2000"/>{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=269–270}} Frustrated by Carter's budgetary concerns and political caution,<ref name="nyt-obit"/> in a December 1978 speech on national health insurance at the Democratic midterm convention, Kennedy said regarding liberal goals that "sometimes a party must sail against the wind" and in particular should provide health care as "a basic right for all, not just an expensive privilege for the few."<ref>{{cite news|last=Walsh|first=Edward|date=December 10, 1978|title=Lackluster convention lights up; invocations of liberalism rouse a lifeless party|newspaper=The Washington Post|page=A1|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost_historical/access/136760932.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130216161912/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost_historical/access/136760932.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 16, 2013}}</ref>{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=276–278}}<ref>{{cite web | url=http://tedkennedy.org/ownwords/event/1978_health_care | title=In His Own Words: Democratic National Convention Health Care | author=Kennedy, Edward M. | publisher=Tedkennedy.org | date=December 9, 1978 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130324000935/http://tedkennedy.org/ownwords/event/1978_health_care | archive-date=March 24, 2013 | df=mdy-all }}</ref>
]

In May 1979, Kennedy proposed a new bipartisan universal national health insurance bill—choice of competing federally regulated private health insurance plans with no cost sharing financed by income-based premiums via an employer mandate and individual mandate, replacement of Medicaid by government payment of premiums to private insurers, and enhancement of ] by adding prescription drug coverage and eliminating premiums and cost sharing.<ref name="NHI: CQ Almanac 1979">{{cite book|author=Congressional Quarterly |year=1980|chapter=National health insurance|title=Congressional Quarterly Almanac, 96th Congress 1st Session....1979|journal=Congressional Quarterly Almanac Plus|volume=35|location=Washington, D.C.|publisher=Congressional Quarterly|pages=536–540|issn=0095-6007|oclc=1564784}}</ref><ref name="Starr 2011">{{cite book|last=Starr|first=Paul|year=2011|chapter=Stumbling toward comprehensive reform: Political deadlock, 1969–1980|title=Remedy and reaction: the peculiar American struggle over health care reform|location=New Haven|publisher=Yale University Press|pages=52–63}}</ref> In June 1979, Carter proposed more limited health insurance reform—an employer mandate to provide catastrophic private health insurance plus coverage without cost sharing for pregnant women and infants, federalization of Medicaid with extension to all of the very poor, and adding catastrophic coverage to Medicare.<ref name="NHI: CQ Almanac 1979"/> Neither plan gained any traction in Congress,<ref name="time062579"/><ref name="nyt081180">{{cite news |url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F20B10FC3A5F12728DDDA80994D0405B8084F1D3 |title=How Carter and Kennedy Differ on Major Issues of the Campaign |author=Herbers, John |newspaper=The New York Times |date=August 11, 1980}}</ref> and the failure to come to agreement represented the final political breach between the two.<ref name="bg-series-4"/> (Carter wrote in 1982 that Kennedy "ironically" thwarted Carter's efforts to provide a comprehensive health-care system for the country.{{sfn|Carter|1982|pp=86–87 ff}} In turn, Kennedy wrote in 2009 that his relationship with Carter was "unhealthy" and that "President Carter was a difficult man to convince&nbsp;– of anything."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/09/03/teddy-kennedys-memoir-he-spent-his-life-atoning-for-kopechnes/4 |title=Teddy Kennedy's Memoir: He Spent His Life Atoning for Kopechne's Death |author=Henneberger, Melinda |publisher=] |date=September 3, 2009 |access-date=September 28, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100921051033/http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/09/03/teddy-kennedys-memoir-he-spent-his-life-atoning-for-kopechnes/4 |archive-date=September 21, 2010 }}</ref>)

===1980 presidential campaign===
{{Main|Ted Kennedy 1980 presidential campaign}}
{{See also|1980 United States presidential election|1980 Democratic Party presidential primaries}}
]
Kennedy decided to seek the Democratic nomination in the ] by launching an unusual, insurgent campaign against the incumbent Carter. A midsummer 1978 poll showed that Democrats preferred Kennedy over Carter by a 5-to-3 margin.{{sfn|Moritz|1978|p=227}} Through summer 1979, as Kennedy deliberated whether to run, Carter was not intimidated despite his 28&nbsp;percent approval rating, saying publicly: "If Kennedy runs, I'll whip his ass."<ref name="time062579">{{cite news | url=http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,912449,00.html | archive-url=https://archive.today/20130204090412/http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,912449,00.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=February 4, 2013 | title=On Who Will Whip Whom | magazine=Time | date=June 25, 1979}}</ref><ref name="bg-series-4"/> Carter later asserted that Kennedy's constant criticism of his policies was a strong indicator that Kennedy was planning to run for the presidency.{{sfn|Carter|1982|p=463}} Labor unions urged Kennedy to run, as did some Democratic party officials who feared that Carter's unpopularity could result in heavy losses in the 1980 congressional elections.{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=38–39}} Kennedy decided to run in August 1979, when polls showed him with a 2-to-1 advantage over Carter;{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=284–285}} Carter's approval rating slipped to 19&nbsp;percent.{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=38–39}} Kennedy formally announced his campaign on November 7, 1979, at Boston's ].<ref name="bg-series-4">{{cite news | url=https://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2009/02/18/chapter_4_sailing_into_the_wind/ | title=Chapter 4: Sailing into the Wind: Losing a quest for the top, finding a new freedom | author=Allis, Sam | newspaper=] | date=February 18, 2009 | access-date=March 10, 2009}}</ref> He had already received substantial negative press from a rambling response to the question "Why do you want to be President?" during an ] of ] broadcast a few days earlier.<ref name="bg-series-4"/><ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.c-span.org/video/?204450-1/qa-roger-mudd-part-1 | title=Roger Mudd: Fmr. CBS Correspondent & Author – Part II | work=Q&A | author=Lamb, Brian | publisher=] | date=April 6, 2008 | access-date=November 30, 2014 | author-link=Brian Lamb}}</ref> The ], which began on November 4, and the ], which began on December 27, prompted the electorate to rally around the president and allowed Carter to pursue a ] of staying at the White House, which kept Kennedy's campaign out of the headlines.<ref name="bg-series-4"/>{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=294–299}}

Kennedy's campaign staff was disorganized and he was initially an ineffective campaigner.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=294–299}}{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=45–47}} There is little evidence that Kennedy truly wanted to be president;<ref name="bg-series-4"/> the incoherent answer to Mudd was an example of what ], who knew Kennedy well from the Senate, described as his way of avoiding a topic by "using words, but they didn't come together somehow".<ref name="bg20090826">{{Cite news |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5TkhNWPspM |title=The interview that blindsided the Ted Kennedy presidential campaign |date=August 26, 2009 |via=YouTube |newspaper=The Boston Globe}}</ref> Chris Whipple of '']'', who was present for the Mudd interview, wondered if Kennedy's answer was "consciously or otherwise, an act of political self-destruction ... The campaign was over. His heart just wasn't in it".<ref name="whipple20090828">{{Cite news |last=Whipple |first=Chris |date=August 28, 2009 |title=Ted Kennedy: The Day the Presidency Was Lost |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/TedKennedy/story?id=8436488 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090830231214/https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/TedKennedy/story?id=8436488 |archive-date=August 30, 2009 |access-date=January 18, 2024 |agency=ABC News}}</ref> The Chappaquiddick incident emerged as a more significant issue than the staff had expected, with several newspaper columnists and editorials criticizing Kennedy's answers on the matter.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=294–299}} In the January 1980 ] that initiated the primaries season, Carter demolished Kennedy by a 59–31 percent margin.<ref name="bg-series-4"/> Kennedy's fundraising immediately declined and his campaign had to downsize, but he remained defiant, saying " we'll see who is going to whip whose what."<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,950228,00.html | archive-url=https://archive.today/20120912134052/http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,950228,00.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=September 12, 2012 | title=To Sail Against the Wind | magazine=Time | date=February 11, 1980}}</ref> Nevertheless, Kennedy lost three New England contests.<ref name="bg-series-4"/> Kennedy did form a more coherent message about why he was running, saying at ]: "I believe we must not permit the dream of social progress to be shattered by those whose premises have failed."{{sfn|Hersh|1997|p=50}} However, concerns over Chappaquiddick and issues related to personal character prevented Kennedy from gaining the support of many people who were disillusioned with Carter.<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=The New York Times |date= March 18, 1980 |page=A1 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1980/03/18/archives/carters-onjob-rating-falls-in-poll-because-of-foreign-policy.html | author=Smith, Hedrick | title=Carter's On-Job Rating Falls in Poll Because of Foreign Policy Concerns | format=fee required |author-link= Hedrick Smith}}</ref> During a ] in Chicago, Kennedy had to wear a bullet-proof vest due to assassination threats, and hecklers yelled "Where's Mary Jo?" at him.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=303–304}} In the key March 18 primary in Illinois, Kennedy failed to gain the support of Catholic voters, and Carter won 155 of 169 delegates.{{sfn|Barone|Cohen|2008|p=792}}<ref name="bg-series-4"/>

With little mathematical hope of winning the nomination and polls showing another likely defeat in the New York primary, Kennedy prepared to withdraw from the race.<ref name="bg-series-4"/> However, partially due to Jewish voter unhappiness with a U.S. vote at the United Nations against ] in the ], Kennedy staged an upset and won the March 25 vote by a 59–41 percent margin.<ref name="bg-series-4"/> Carter responded with an advertising campaign that attacked Kennedy's character in general without explicitly mentioning Chappaquiddick, but Kennedy still managed a narrow win in the April 22 Pennsylvania primary.<ref name="bg-series-4"/> Carter won 11 of 12 primaries held in May, while on the June 3 ] primaries, Kennedy won California, New Jersey, and three smaller states out of eight contests.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=309, 312}} Overall, Kennedy had won 10 presidential primaries against Carter, who won 24.<ref>{{cite book | last=Alexander | first=Herbert E. | title=Financing the 1980 Election | url=https://archive.org/details/financing1980ele0000alex | url-access=registration | publisher=] | year=1983 | isbn=0-669-06375-4 | page=}}</ref>

{{listen
| filename = Ted Kennedy - And The Dream Shall Never Die excerpt.ogg
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| title = "And the Dream Shall Never Die"
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Although Carter now had enough delegates to clinch the nomination,{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=309, 312}} Kennedy carried his campaign on to the ] in August in New York, hoping to pass a rule there that would free delegates from being bound by primary results and open the convention.<ref name="bg-series-4"/> This move failed on the first night of the convention, and Kennedy withdrew.<ref name="bg-series-4"/> On the second night, August 12, Kennedy delivered the ] of his career.<ref name="guard082608">{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/aug/26/democrats2008.uselections2008 | title=Ted Kennedy defies cancer diagnosis to inspire Democrats in Denver | author=Goldberg, Suzanne | newspaper=] | date=August 26, 2008 | access-date=March 18, 2009 | location=London}}</ref> Drawing on allusions to and quotes of ], ], and ] to say that ] was not passé,{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=316–319}} he concluded with the words:

{{blockquote|For me, a few hours ago, this campaign came to an end. For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/tedkennedy1980dnc.htm | title=Ted Kennedy: 1980 Democratic National Convention Address | publisher=americanrhetoric.com | date=August 12, 1980 | access-date=March 18, 2009}}</ref>}}

The ] audience reacted with wild applause and demonstrations for half an hour.<ref name="bg-series-4"/> On the final night, Kennedy arrived late after Carter's acceptance speech and while he shook Carter's hand, he failed to raise Carter's arm in the traditional show of party unity.{{sfn|Barone|Cohen|2008|p=792}}{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=316–319}} Carter's difficulty in securing the assistance of Kennedy supporters during the election campaign contributed to his November defeat by ].{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=316–319}}{{better source needed|date=June 2019}}{{dubious|date=June 2019}}

===1980s===
] ] in 1986]]
The 1980 election saw the Republicans capture not just the presidency but control of the Senate as well, and Kennedy was in the minority party for the first time in his career. Kennedy did not dwell upon his presidential loss,<ref name="bg-series-4"/> but instead reaffirmed his public commitment to American liberalism.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|p=321–322}} He chose to become the ranking member of the ] rather than of the Judiciary Committee, which he would later say was one of the most important decisions of his career.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|p=321–322}} Kennedy became a committed champion of women's issues,{{sfn|Clymer|1999|p=321–322}} and established relationships with select Republican senators to block ] and preserve and improve the ], funding for ] treatment, and equal funding for women's sports under ].<ref name="bg-series-4"/> To combat being in the minority, he worked long hours and devised a series of hearings-like public forums to which he could invite experts and discuss topics important to him.<ref name="bg-series-4"/> Kennedy could not hope to stop all of Reagan's reshapings of government, but was often nearly the sole effective Democrat battling him.{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=55–58}}

In January 1981, Ted and Joan Kennedy announced they were getting a divorce.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=325, 354}} The proceedings were generally amicable,{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=325, 354}} and she received a reported $4&nbsp;million settlement when the divorce was granted in 1982.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/02/25/kennedys_children_become_her_guardians/ | title=Kennedy's children become her guardians | author=Johnson, Glen | newspaper=] | date=February 25, 2005 | access-date=April 11, 2009}}</ref> Later that year, Kennedy created the ] organization with Senator ] and ] ] to support initiatives for peace and reconciliation in ].<ref> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120327210850/http://tedkennedy.org/service/item/foreign_policy |date=March 27, 2012 }} TedKennedy.org. Retrieved: April 27, 2012.</ref>

Kennedy easily defeated Republican businessman ] to ].{{sfn|Hersh|1997|p=63}} Senate leaders granted him a seat on the ], while allowing him to keep his other major seats despite the traditional limit of two such seats.{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=60–63}} Kennedy became very visible in opposing aspects of the ], including U.S. intervention in the ] and U.S. support for the ] in ], and in opposing Reagan-supported weapons systems, including the ], the ], and the ].{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=60–63}} Kennedy became the Senate's leading advocate for a ]{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=60–63}} and was a critic of Reagan's confrontational policies toward the Soviet Union.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/06/22/world/kennedy-denouces-regan-for-voodoo-arms-control.html |title=Kennedy Denounces Reagan for 'Voodoo Arms Control' |agency=] |newspaper=The New York Times |date=June 22, 1982}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/12/09/world/reagan-finds-a-lesser-evil-in-indefinite-recess-of-talks.html |title=Reagan Finds a Lesser Evil in Indefinite Recess of Talks |last=Smith |first=Hedrick |newspaper=The New York Times |date=December 9, 1983 |author-link=Hedrick Smith}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/29858499/edward_kennedy_on_president_reagan_a_state_of_disunion/print |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090906135854/http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/29858499/edward_kennedy_on_president_reagan_a_state_of_disunion/print |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 6, 2009 |title=Edward Kennedy on President Reagan: A State of Disunion |last=Kennedy |first=Edward M. |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=March 15, 1984}}</ref>

A 1983 KGB memo indicates that Kennedy engaged in back-channel communication with the Soviet Union.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2006/oct/27/20061027-084248-4386r/|title=Kennedy-KGB collaboration|newspaper=The Washington Times|date=October 27, 2006|access-date=May 22, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.investors.com/politics/commentary/when-democrats-wanted-moscows-political-help/|title=When Democrats Wanted Moscow's Political Help |newspaper=Investor's Business Daily|date=December 19, 2016|access-date=April 8, 2020}}</ref><ref name="SovietGambit">{{cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/2009/08/27/ted-kennedy-soviet-union-ronald-reagan-opinions-columnists-peter-robinson.html#14a424fa359a |title=Ted Kennedy's Soviet Gambit |magazine=Forbes |date=August 27, 2009 |access-date=May 22, 2020}}</ref> According to a May 14, 1983, memorandum from ] ] to general secretary ], former U.S. Senator ]—a friend of Kennedy's—visited Moscow that month and conveyed a message from Kennedy to Andropov.<ref name="SovietGambit"/><ref name="times020292"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/1983KennedyAndropovMemo|title=1983 Kennedy-Andropov memo (original followed by translation)|date=May 14, 1983|via=Internet Archive}}</ref><ref name="SecretMessage">{{Cite web|url=https://timeline.com/teddy-kennedy-used-a-secret-message-to-get-the-russians-to-intervene-in-reagans-1984-re-election-e4d45af01368|title=Teddy Kennedy used a secret message to get the Russians to intervene in Reagan's 1984 re-election|first=Allen|last=McDuffee|date=July 27, 2017|website=Timeline}}</ref> The memo indicates that the stated purpose of the communication was to "'root out the threat of nuclear war', 'improve Soviet-American relations' and 'define the safety of the world'".<ref name="SecretMessage"/> Kennedy reportedly offered to visit Moscow "'to arm Soviet officials with explanations regarding problems of nuclear disarmament so they may be better prepared and more convincing during appearances in the USA'" and to set up U.S. television appearances for Andropov.<ref name="SecretMessage"/><ref name="SovietGambit"/>

Chebrikov also noted "a little-hidden secret that intended to run for president in 1988 and that the Democratic Party 'may officially turn to him to lead the fight against the Republicans' in 1984 — turning the proposal from one purely about international cooperation to one tinged with personal political aspiration."<ref name="SecretMessage"/> Andropov was unimpressed by Kennedy's overtures.<ref name="times020292">{{cite news |url=https://www.scribd.com/doc/19401082/Teddy-the-KGB-and-the-Top-Secret-File-Tim-Sabastian-the-Sunday-Times-Feb-2-1992 |title=Teddy, the KGB and the top secret file |last=Sebastian |first=Tim |newspaper=] |date=February 2, 1992 |author-link=Tim Sebastian |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150510030402/http://www.scribd.com/doc/19401082/Teddy-the-KGB-and-the-Top-Secret-File-Tim-Sabastian-the-Sunday-Times-Feb-2-1992 |archive-date=May 10, 2015}}</ref> After the Chebrikov memo was unearthed, both Tunney and a Kennedy spokesperson denied that it was true.<ref name="SecretMessage"/> Former Reagan administration negotiator ] has asserted that Kennedy did engage in back-channel communications, but added that "'the senator never acted or received information without informing the appropriate United States agency or official'". ], a deputy ambassador to the United Nations under Reagan, has asserted that the Reagan administration knew of back-channel communications between various senators and the Soviet Union and were unconcerned about the practice.<ref name="SecretMessage"/>

Kennedy's staff drew up detailed plans for a candidacy in the ] that he considered, but with his family opposed and his realization that the Senate was a fully satisfying career, in late 1982 he decided not to run.<ref name="kelly"/><ref name="bg-series-4"/>{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=341–342}} Kennedy campaigned hard for Democratic presidential nominee Mondale and defended vice presidential nominee ] from criticism over being a pro-choice Catholic, but Reagan was re-elected in a landslide.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=360–361}}

Kennedy staged a tiring, dangerous, and high-profile trip to South Africa in January 1985.{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=77–78}} He defied both the ]'s wishes and militant leftist ] demonstrators by spending a night in the ] home of ] and also visited ], wife of imprisoned black leader ].<ref name="bg-series-4"/>{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=77–78}} Upon returning, Kennedy became a leader in the push for economic sanctions against South Africa; collaborating with Senator ], he secured Senate passage, and the overriding of Reagan's veto, of the ].{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=77–78}} Despite their many political differences, Kennedy and Reagan had a good personal relationship,{{sfn|Clymer|1999|p=326}} and with the administration's approval Kennedy traveled to the Soviet Union in 1986 to act as a go-between in arms control negotiations with reformist Soviet leader ].<ref name="bg-series-4"/> The discussions were productive, and Kennedy also helped gain the release of a number of ], including ].<ref name="bg-series-4"/>{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=391–393}}

Although Kennedy was an accomplished legislator, his personal life was troubled during this time.<ref name="bg-series-5">{{cite news | url=https://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2009/02/19/chapter_5_trials__redemption/ | title=Chapter 5: Trials & Redemptions: An untidy private life, then a turn to stability | author=Kahn, Joseph P. | newspaper=] | date=February 19, 2009 | access-date=April 11, 2009}}</ref> His weight fluctuated wildly and he drank heavily at times&nbsp;– although not when it would interfere with his Senate duties.<ref name="bg-series-5"/>{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=66–67}} Kennedy later acknowledged, "I went through a lot of difficult times over a period in my life where may have been somewhat of a factor or force."<ref name="bg-series-5"/> He chased women frequently,{{sfn|Clymer|1999|p=385}} and also was in a series of more serious romantic relationships but did not want to commit to anything long-term.{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=83–84}} He often caroused with fellow Senator ];{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=83–84}} twice in 1985 they were in drunken incidents in Washington restaurants, with one involving a waitress claiming the pair sexually assaulted her.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|p=385}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/04/joe-biden-names-sex-creep-and-sex-creep-enabler-chris-dodd-to-vp-team.html|title=Biden Announces That Accused Sex Creep and Sex Creep Enabler Christopher Dodd Will Help Him Pick a Running Mate|first=Ben|last=Mathis-Lilley|date=April 30, 2020|website=Slate Magazine}}</ref> In 1987, Kennedy and a young female lobbyist were surprised in the back room of a restaurant in a state of partial undress.<ref name="kelly"/> Female Senate staffers from the late 1980s and early 1990s recalled that Kennedy was on an informal list of male Senators who were known for harassing women regularly.<ref>{{Cite news|last1=Desjardins|first1=Lisa|last2=Bush|first2=Daniel|date=May 15, 2020|access-date=February 28, 2021|title=What 74 former Biden staffers think about Tara Reade's allegations|work=]|url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/what-74-former-biden-staffers-think-about-tara-reades-allegations}}</ref>

], February 1987]]
After again considering a candidacy for the ],<ref name="kelly"/> in December 1985 Kennedy publicly declined to run. This decision was influenced by his personal difficulties, family concerns, and contentment with remaining in the Senate.<ref name="bg-series-4"/>{{sfn|Clymer|1999|p=385}} He added: "I know this decision means I may never be president. But the pursuit of the presidency is not my life. Public service is."<ref name="bg-series-4"/> Kennedy used his legislative skills to achieve passage of the ], which extended employer-based health benefits after leaving a job.<ref name="bg-series-6">{{cite news | url=https://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2009/02/20/a_towering_record_painstakingly_built/ | title=Chapter 6: Master of the Senate: A towering record, painstakingly built | author=Milligan, Susan | newspaper=] | date=February 20, 2009 | access-date=May 21, 2009}}</ref>{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=382–383}} Following the ], the Democrats regained control of the Senate, and Kennedy became chair of the Labor and Public Welfare Committee. By this time, Kennedy had become what colleague and future President ] termed "the best strategist in the Senate".<ref name="bg-series-4"/> Kennedy continued his close working relationship with ranking Republican Senator ],<ref name="bg-series-6"/> and they were close allies on many health-related measures.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|p=415}}

One of Kennedy's biggest battles in the Senate came with ] of Judge ] to the ].<ref name="bg-series-4"/> Kennedy saw a possible Bork appointment as leading to a dismantling of civil rights law that he had helped put into place, and feared Bork's ] judicial philosophy.<ref name="bg-series-4"/> Kennedy's staff had researched Bork's writings and record, and within an hour of the nomination&nbsp;– which was initially expected to succeed&nbsp;– Kennedy went on the Senate floor to announce his opposition:

{{blockquote|Robert Bork's America is a land in which women would be forced into back-alley abortions, blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters, rogue police could break down citizens' doors in midnight raids, schoolchildren could not be taught about evolution, writers and artists could be censored at the whim of the Government, and the doors of the Federal courts would be shut on the fingers of millions of citizens ...{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=73–75}} }}

The incendiary rhetoric of what became known as the "Robert Bork's America" speech enraged Bork supporters, who considered it ], and worried some Democrats as well.<ref name="kelly"/>{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=73–75}}<ref name=Miranda>{{cite news|title=The Original Borking|author=Miranda, Manuel|newspaper=]|date=August 24, 2005|access-date=August 10, 2007|url=http://www.opinionjournal.com/nextjustice/?id=110007149}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title= Kennedy And Bork |access-date=April 28, 2008 |url= https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE5DF1E3EF936A35754C0A961948260 |author=Reston, James |date=July 5, 1987|newspaper=The New York Times |author-link= James Reston}}</ref> Bork responded, "There was not a line in that speech that was accurate."<ref name=econ>{{cite news|title=A hell of a senator|url=http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14327160|newspaper=The Economist|date=August 29, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090830041146/http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14327160|archive-date=August 30, 2009}}</ref> In 1988, an analysis published in the '']'' of '']'' briefs filed by ] during the ] and ]s found that during Bork's tenure in the position during the ] and ] (1973–1977), Bork took liberal positions in the aggregate as often as ] did during the ] (1965–1967) and more often than ] did during the ] (1977–1981), in part because Bork filed briefs in favor of the litigates in civil rights cases 75 percent of the time (contradicting a previous review of his civil rights record published in 1983).<ref>{{cite journal|last=Segal|first=Jeffrey A.|title=Amicus Curiae Briefs by the Solicitor General during the Warren and Burger Courts: A Research Note|year=1988|journal=]|volume=41|issue=1|pages=135–144|publisher=]|doi=10.2307/448461|jstor=448461| issn = 0043-4078 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=O'Connor|first=Karen|title=The Amicus Curiae Role of the U.S. Solicitor General in Supreme Court Litigation|year=1983|journal=Judicature|volume=66|pages=256–264|url=https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/judica66&div=48&id=&page=|access-date=August 30, 2019}}</ref>

However, the Reagan administration was unprepared for the assault, and the speech froze some Democrats from supporting the nomination and gave Kennedy and other Bork opponents time to prepare the case against him.{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=73–75}}<ref name=Chaddock>{{cite news|title=Court nominees will trigger rapid response|newspaper=]|date=July 7, 2005|access-date=August 10, 2007|url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0707/p02s01-uspo.html|author=Chaddock, Gail Russell}}</ref> When the September 1987 Judiciary Committee hearings began, Kennedy challenged Bork forcefully on civil rights, privacy, women's rights, and other issues.<ref name="bg-series-4"/> Bork's own demeanor hurt him,{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=73–75}} and the nomination was defeated both in committee and the full Senate.<ref name="bg-series-4"/> The tone of the Bork battle changed the way Washington worked&nbsp;– with controversial nominees or candidates now experiencing all-out war waged against them&nbsp;– and the ramifications of it are still being felt today.<ref name=Miranda/><ref name=Chaddock/>{{sfn|Clymer|1999|p=428}}

During the 1988 presidential election, Kennedy supported the eventual Democratic nominee, Massachusetts Governor ].{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=407, 349}} In the fall, Dukakis lost to ], but Kennedy ] over Republican ] in the easiest race of his career.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|p=443}} Kennedy remained a powerful force in the Senate. In 1988, Kennedy co-sponsored an amendment to the ] of 1968, which prohibits discrimination in the rental, sale, marketing, and financing of the nation's housing; the amendment strengthened the ability of the ] to enforce the Act and expanded the protected classes to include disabled persons and families with children.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=sGsaAAAAIBAJ&pg=6887,1166518&dq=kennedy+fair-housing-act&hl=en | title=Senate approves fair housing bill | agency=] | newspaper=] | date=August 3, 1988 | page=3A }}{{Dead link|date=June 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> After prolonged negotiations during 1989 with Bush chief of staff ] and Attorney General ] to secure Bush's approval, he directed passage of the landmark ].<ref name="bg-series-6"/>{{sfn|Hersh|1997|p=73}} Kennedy had personal interest in the bill due to his sister Rosemary's condition and his son's lost leg, and he considered its enactment one of the most important successes of his career.<ref name="bg-series-6"/> In the late 1980s Kennedy and Hatch staged a prolonged battle against Senator ] to provide funding to combat the ] and provide treatment for low-income people affected; this would culminate in passage of the ].{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=437–439, 463–466}} In late November 1989, Kennedy traveled to see first-hand ]; he spoke at ], site of the famous "]" speech in 1963, and said "Emotionally, I just wish my brother could have seen it."{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=457–459}}

===Early 1990s===
Kennedy's personal life came to dominate his image. In 1989, ] stalked him on a vacation in Europe and photographed him having sex on a motorboat.<ref name="bg-series-5"/> In February 1990, ] published his lengthy profile "Ted Kennedy on the Rocks" in '']'' magazine.<ref name="kelly">{{cite news | url=http://men.style.com/gq/features/landing?id=content_5585 | title=Ted Kennedy on the Rocks | author=Kelly, Michael | magazine=] | date=February 1990 | access-date=April 19, 2009 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071101021225/http://men.style.com/gq/features/landing?id=content_5585 |archive-date = November 1, 2007 | author-link= Michael Kelly (editor)}}</ref> It captured Kennedy as "an aging Irish boyo clutching a bottle and diddling a blonde," portrayed him as an out-of-control ] ], and brought his behavior to the forefront of public attention.<ref name="kelly"/><ref name="bg-series-5"/>{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=83–84}} Kennedy's brother-in-law, ], died from cancer in August 1990; Smith was a close family member and troubleshooter, and his death left Kennedy emotionally bereft.<ref name="bg-series-5"/>{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=86–88}} Kennedy pushed on, but even his legislative successes, such as the ], which expanded employee rights in discrimination cases, came at the cost of being criticized for compromising with Republicans and Southern Democrats.<ref name="time-10-best"/>

On ] 1991, Kennedy was at a get-together at the family's ], estate. After reminiscing about his brother-in-law, Kennedy was restless and maudlin when he left for a late-night visit to a local bar. He got his son ] and nephew ] to accompany him.<ref name="bg-series-5"/>{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=89, 94–97}} Patrick and Smith returned with women they met there, Michelle Cassone and Patricia Bowman. Cassone said that Ted Kennedy subsequently walked in on her and Patrick; Ted was dressed only in a nightshirt and had a weird look on his face.<ref name="bg-series-5"/>{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=89, 94–97}} Smith and Bowman went out on the beach, where they had sex that he said was consensual but she said was rape.<ref name="bg-series-5"/> The local police made a delayed investigation; Kennedy sources were soon feeding the press with negative information about Bowman's background, and several mainstream newspapers broke an unwritten rule by publishing her name.{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=89, 94–97}} The case quickly became a ].<ref name="bg-series-5"/>{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=89, 94–97}} While not directly implicated in the case, Kennedy became the frequent butt of jokes on '']'' and other late-night television programs.<ref name="bg-series-5"/>{{sfn|Clymer|1999|p=487}} '']'' magazine said Kennedy was being perceived as a "Palm Beach boozer, lout and tabloid grotesque" while '']'' said Kennedy was "the living symbol of the family flaws".{{sfn|Hersh|1997|p=100}}

Bork and ] were the two most contentious Supreme Court nominations in United States history to that point.{{sfn|Barone|Cohen|2008|p=364}} When the ] began in September 1991, Kennedy pressed Thomas on his unwillingness to express an opinion about '']'', but the nomination appeared headed for success.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|p=495}} When ] brought the sexual harassment charges against Thomas the following month, the nomination battle dominated public discourse. Kennedy was hamstrung by his past reputation and the ongoing developments in the William Kennedy Smith case.<ref name="bg-series-5"/>{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=493–499}} He said almost nothing until the third day of the Thomas–Hill hearings, and when he did it was criticized by Hill supporters for being too little, too late.<ref name="bg-series-5"/>

Biographer ] rated Kennedy's silence during the Thomas hearings as the worst moment of his Senate career.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=493–499}} Writer ] said " let us down because he had to; he was muzzled by the facts of his life".{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=493–499}} On the day before the full Senate vote, Kennedy gave an impassioned speech against Thomas, declaring that the treatment of Hill had been "shameful" and that "o give the benefit of the doubt to Judge Thomas is to say that Judge Thomas is more important than the Supreme Court."<ref>{{cite news | author=Welch, William | title='Benefit of the Doubt' – Key Senators Give Thomas Support for Confirmation | newspaper=] | date=October 15, 1991 | url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19911015/1311090/benefit-of-the-doubt----key-senators-give-thomas-support-for-confirmation | access-date=December 4, 2009 | archive-date=May 1, 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110501152021/http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19911015&slug=1311090 | url-status=live }}</ref> He then voted against the nomination.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=493–499}} Thomas was confirmed by a 52–48 vote, one of the narrowest margins ever for a successful nomination.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=493–499}}

Due to the Palm Beach media attention and the Thomas hearings, Kennedy's public image suffered. A ] gave Kennedy a 22&nbsp;percent national approval rating.<ref name="bg-series-5"/> A '']''/] poll found that 62 percent of Massachusetts citizens thought Kennedy should not run for re-election, by a 2-to-1 margin thought Kennedy had misled authorities in the Palm Beach investigation, and had Kennedy losing a hypothetical Senate race to Governor ] by 25&nbsp;points.{{sfn|Hersh|1997|p=98}} Meanwhile, at a June 17, 1991, dinner party, Kennedy saw ], a Washington lawyer, a divorced mother of two, and the daughter of an old Kennedy family ally, ] judge Edmund Reggie.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=492–493}} They began dating and by September were in a serious relationship.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=492–493}} In a late October speech at the ], Kennedy sought to begin a political recovery, saying: <blockquote>I am painfully aware that the criticism directed at me in recent months involves far more than disagreements with my positions ... involves the disappointment of friends and many others who rely on me to fight the good fight. To them I say, I recognize my own shortcomings&nbsp;– the faults in the conduct of my private life. I realize that I alone am responsible for them, and I am the one who must confront them.<ref name="bg-series-5"/></blockquote> In December 1991, the ] was held; it was nationally televised and the most watched until the ] three years later.<ref name="bg-series-5"/> Kennedy's testimony at the trial seemed relaxed, confident, and forthcoming, and helped convince the public that his involvement had been peripheral and unintended.{{sfn|Hersh|1997|p=104}} Smith was acquitted.

Kennedy and Reggie continued their relationship, and he was devoted to her two children, Curran and Caroline.<ref name="bg-series-5"/><ref name=TheLedger>{{cite news | url=http://www.theledger.com/article/20080607/NEWS/806070382/1326%26 | title=Senator's Wife Is His First Mate, Adviser and Caregiver | author=Romano, Lois | newspaper=] | via=] | date=June 7, 2008 | access-date=April 19, 2009 | archive-date=September 1, 2009 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090901112931/http://www.theledger.com/article/20080607/NEWS/806070382/1326%26 | url-status=dead }}</ref> They became engaged in March 1992,<ref>{{cite news | author=Trueheart, Charles | title=Kennedy Announces Plans to Wed Washington Lawyer | newspaper=The Washington Post | date=March 15, 1992 | page=A05}}</ref> and were married in a civil ceremony by Judge ] on July 3, 1992, at Kennedy's home in ].{{sfn|Clymer|1999|p=512}} She would gain credit for stabilizing his personal life and helping him resume a productive Senate career.<ref name="bg-series-5"/><ref name=TheLedger/>

Kennedy had no further presidential ambitions. Despite having initially backed former fellow Massachusetts Senator ] in the ], Kennedy formed a good relationship with Democratic President ] upon the latter taking office in 1993.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=513, 519–523}} Kennedy floor-managed passage of Clinton's National and Community Service Trust Act of 1993 that created the ] program, and despite reservations supported the president on the ] (NAFTA).{{sfn|Hersh|1997|p=114}} On the issue Kennedy cared most about, national health insurance, he supported but was not much involved in formation of the ], which was run by First Lady ] and others.<ref name="bg-series-6"/> It failed badly and damaged the prospects for such legislation for years to come.<ref name="bg-series-6"/> In 1994, Kennedy's strong recommendation of his former Judiciary Committee staffer ] played a role in Clinton appointing Breyer to the ].{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=539–541}}</ref> During 1994 Kennedy became the first senator with a home page on the ]; the product of an effort with the ], it helped counter the image of Kennedy as old and out of touch.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.newsweek.com/brave-new-world-cybertribes-185320 | title=The Brave New World of Cybertribes | first=Howard | last=Fineman | author-link=Howard Fineman | magazine=] | date=February 26, 1995}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/iiip/home-page.html | title=Intelligent Information Infrastructure Project | publisher=] | access-date=January 29, 2015}}</ref>

]]]

In the ], Kennedy faced his first serious challenger, the young, telegenic, and very well-funded ].<ref name="bg-series-5"/> Romney ran as a successful entrepreneur and Washington outsider with a strong family image and moderate stands on social issues, while Kennedy was saddled not only with his recent past but the 25th anniversary of Chappaquiddick and his first wife Joan seeking a renegotiated divorce settlement.<ref name="bg-series-5"/> By mid-September 1994, polls showed the race to be even.<ref name="bg-series-5"/><ref name=NYT1994-bank-family>{{cite news|first=Sarah |last=Rimer |title=Kennedy's Wife Is Giving Him a Political Advantage in a Difficult Contest |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E00EEDF123AF937A1575AC0A962958260|newspaper=The New York Times |date=September 24, 1994}}</ref> Kennedy's campaign ran short on money, and belying his image as endlessly wealthy, he was forced to take out a ] on his Virginia home.{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=137–139}} Kennedy responded with a series of ]s, which focused both on Romney's shifting political views and on the treatment of workers at a paper products plant owned by Romney's ].<ref name="bg-series-5"/>{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=141–142}} Kennedy's new wife Vicki proved to be a strong asset in campaigning.<ref name=NYT1994-bank-family/> Kennedy and Romney held a widely watched late October debate without a clear winner, but by then Kennedy had pulled ahead in polls and stayed ahead afterward.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60D10FA395B0C748EDDA90994DC494D81 | title=Kennedy and Romney Look to Round 2 | author=Clymer, Adam | newspaper=] | date=October 27, 1994 | author-link=Adam Clymer}}</ref> In the November election, despite a ], Kennedy won re-election by a 58&nbsp;percent to 41&nbsp;percent margin,{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=152, 153}} the closest re-election race of his career.

Kennedy's mother ] died in January 1995. From then on, Kennedy intensified the practice of his Catholic faith, often attending ] several times a week.<ref name="nyt-ending"/>

===Late 1990s===
Kennedy's role as a liberal lion in the Senate came to the fore in 1995, when the ] took control and legislation intending to fulfill the ] was coming from ]'s House of Representatives.{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=155–158}} Many Democrats in the Senate and the country overall felt depressed but Kennedy rallied forces to combat the Republicans.{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=155–158}} By the beginning of 1996, the Republicans had overreached; most of the Contract had failed to pass the Senate and the Democrats could once again move forward with legislation, almost all of it coming out of Kennedy's staff.{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=163–164}}

]
In 1996, Kennedy secured an increase in the ], which was one of his favorite issues;{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=578–581}} there would not be another increase for ten years. Following the failure of the Clinton health care plan, Kennedy went against his past strategy and sought incremental measures instead.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|p=570}} Kennedy worked with Republican Senator ] to create and pass the ] in 1996, which set new marks for portability of insurance and confidentiality of records.<ref name="bg-series-6"/> The same year, Kennedy's ] forced insurance companies to treat mental health payments the same as others with respect to limits reached.<ref name="bg-series-6"/> In 1997, Kennedy was the prime mover behind the ],<ref name="Hatch Joins Kennedy">{{cite news | first=Robert | last=Pear | title= Hatch Joins Kennedy to Back a Health Program | date=March 14, 1997 | newspaper=The New York Times | url =https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=980CE4D81E39F937A25750C0A961958260 | access-date = January 6, 2008 }}</ref> which used increased tobacco taxes to fund the largest expansion of taxpayer-funded health insurance coverage for children in the U.S. since ] began in the 1960s. Senator Hatch and Hillary Clinton also played major roles in SCHIP passing.<ref name="fc031808">{{cite news|url=http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/giving_hillary_credit_for_schip.html |title=Giving Hillary Credit for SCHIP |author=Brooks Jackson |publisher=] |date=March 18, 2008 |access-date=March 19, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080322032750/http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/giving_hillary_credit_for_schip.html |archive-date=March 22, 2008 }}</ref>

Kennedy was a stalwart backer of President Clinton during the 1998 ], often trying to cheer up the president and getting him to add past Kennedy staffer ] to his defense team, which helped improve the president's fortunes.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=600–603}} In the trial after the 1999 ], Kennedy voted to acquit Clinton on both charges, saying "Republicans in the House of Representatives, in their partisan vendetta against the President, have wielded the impeachment power in precisely the way the framers rejected, recklessly and without regard for the Constitution or the will of the American people."<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/02/13/us/clinton-s-acquittal-excerpts-senators-talk-about-their-votes-impeachment-trial.html?pagewanted=4 | title=Clinton's Acquittal: Excerpts: Senators Talk About Their Votes in the Impeachment Trial | newspaper=The New York Times | date=February 13, 1999 | access-date=May 25, 2009}}</ref>

On July 16, 1999, Kennedy's nephew ] was killed when his ] aircraft ] into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of ]. John Jr.'s wife, ], and his sister-in-law, Lauren Bessette, were also killed.<ref name="bg-series-7">{{cite news | url=https://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2009/02/22/chapter_7_the_patriarch/ | title=Chapter 7: The Patriarch: Their sorrows, his cause | author=Aucoin, Don | newspaper=] | date=February 22, 2009 | access-date=May 25, 2009}}</ref> Ted was the family patriarch, and he and President Clinton consoled his extended family at the public memorial service.<ref name="bg-series-7"/> He paraphrased ] by saying of his nephew: "We dared to think, in that other Irish phrase, that this John Kennedy would live to comb gray hair, with his beloved Carolyn by his side. But like his father, he had every gift but length of years."<ref name="bg-series-7"/> '']'' wrote of the changed role: "It underscored the evolution that surprised so many people who knew the Kennedys: Teddy, the baby of the family, who had grown into a man who could sometimes be dissolute and reckless, had become the steady, indispensable patriarch, the one the family turned to in good times and bad."<ref name="bg-series-7"/>

===2000s===
] and President ]]]
Kennedy had an easy time with ], as Republican lawyer and entrepreneur Jack E. Robinson III was sufficiently damaged by his past personal record that Republican state party officials refused to endorse him.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.businessweek.com/archives/2000/b3706108.arc.htm | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090815024724/http://www.businessweek.com/archives/2000/b3706108.arc.htm | url-status=dead | archive-date=August 15, 2009 | title=Commentary: A Two-Party System in Name Only | author=Symonds, William | magazine=Business Week | date=November 6, 2000 | access-date=June 10, 2009}}</ref> Kennedy got 73&nbsp;percent of the general election vote, with Robinson splitting the rest with ] ]. During the ], Kennedy supported Vice President ]'s legal actions.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/09/us/contesting-vote-vice-president-miraculous-revival-brings-elation-but-no-rest-for.html | title=A Miraculous Revival Brings Elation but No Rest for Gore | author=Seelye, Katharine Q. | newspaper=The New York Times | date=December 9, 2000 | access-date=June 11, 2009}}</ref> After the bitter contest, many Democrats in Congress did not want to work with incoming President ].<ref name="bg-series-6"/> Kennedy, however, saw Bush as genuinely interested in a major overhaul of education, Bush saw Kennedy as a potential major ally in the Senate, and the two partnered together on the legislation.<ref name="bg-series-6"/><ref name="tac080105"/> Kennedy accepted provisions governing mandatory student testing and teacher accountability that other Democrats and the ] did not like, in return for increased funding levels for education.<ref name="bg-series-6"/> The ] was passed by Congress in May and June 2001 and signed into law by Bush in January 2002. Kennedy soon became disenchanted with the implementation of the act, however, saying for 2003 that it was $9&nbsp;billion short of the $29&nbsp;billion authorized.<ref name="bg-series-6"/> Kennedy said, "The tragedy is that these long overdue reforms are finally in place, but the funds are not,"<ref name="tac080105">{{cite news | url=http://www.amconmag.com/article/2005/aug/01/00025/ | title=Leaving No Child Left Behind | last=Antle | first=W. James III | magazine=] | date=August 1, 2005 | access-date=June 10, 2009 | archive-date=August 7, 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110807032854/http://www.amconmag.com/article/2005/aug/01/00025/ | url-status=dead }}</ref> and accused Bush of not living up to his personal word on the matter.<ref name="bg-series-6"/><ref name="time-10-best"/> Other Democrats concluded that Kennedy's penchant for cross-party deals had gotten the better of him.<ref name="bg-series-6"/> The White House defended its spending levels given the context of two wars going on.<ref name="bg-series-6"/>

Kennedy was in his Senate offices meeting with First Lady ] when the ] took place.<ref name="bg-series-7"/> Two of the airplanes involved had taken off from Boston, and Kennedy telephoned each of the 177 Massachusetts families who had lost members in the attacks.<ref name="bg-series-7"/> He pushed through legislation that provided healthcare and grief counseling benefits for the families, and recommended the appointment of his former chief of staff ] as Special Master of the government's ].<ref name="bg-series-7"/> Kennedy maintained an ongoing bond with the Massachusetts 9/11 families in subsequent years.<ref name="bg-series-7"/><ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.necn.com/Boston/Politics/2009/06/16/911-widow-reflects-on/1245158107.html | title=9/11 widow reflects on relationship with Senator Kennedy | author=King, Alison | publisher=] | date=June 16, 2009 | access-date=June 22, 2009 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090618095709/http://www.necn.com/Boston/Politics/2009/06/16/911-widow-reflects-on/1245158107.html | archive-date=June 18, 2009 | df=mdy-all }}</ref>

]
Kennedy was a supporter of the ] of the ] in ]. However, Kennedy strongly opposed the ] from the start, and was one of 23 senators voting against the ] in October 2002.<ref name="bg-series-7"/> As the ] grew in subsequent years, Kennedy pronounced that the conflict was "Bush's Vietnam."<ref name="bg-series-7"/> In response to losses of Massachusetts service personnel to roadside bombs, Kennedy became vocal on the issue of ] vulnerability, and co-sponsored enacted 2005 legislation that sped up production and Army procurement of up-armored Humvees.<ref name="bg-series-7"/>

Despite the strained relationship between Kennedy and Bush over No Child Left Behind spending, the two attempted to work together again on extending ] to cover prescription drug benefits.<ref name="bg-series-6"/> Kennedy's strategy was again doubted by other Democrats, but he saw the proposed $400&nbsp;billion program as an opportunity that should not be missed.<ref name="bg-series-6"/> However, when the final formulation of the ] contained provisions to steer seniors towards private plans, Kennedy switched to opposing it.<ref name="bg-series-6"/> It passed in late 2003, and led Kennedy to again say he had been betrayed by the Bush administration.<ref name="bg-series-6"/>

In the ], Kennedy campaigned heavily for fellow Massachusetts Senator ]<ref name="bg-series-7"/> and lent his chief of staff, ], to the Kerry campaign. Kennedy's appeal was effective among blue collar and minority voters, and helped Kerry stage a come-from-behind win in the ] that propelled him on to the Democratic nomination.<ref name="bg-series-7"/>

] after ] in 2005, where the ] defeated the ]. Here Santorum wears a Patriots hat and presents Kennedy a bag of ] as part of a ]]]
After Bush won a second term in the ], Kennedy continued to oppose him on Iraq and many other issues.<ref name="usa051708"/><ref name="bg-series-6"/> However, Kennedy sought to partner with Republicans again on the matter of ] in the context of the ongoing ].<ref name="bg-series-6"/> Kennedy was chair of the ], and in 2005, Kennedy teamed with Republican Senator ] on the ]. The "McCain-Kennedy bill" did not reach a Senate vote, but provided a template for further attempts at dealing comprehensively with legalization, ]s, and ] components. Kennedy returned again with the ], which was sponsored by an ideologically diverse, bipartisan group of senators<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna18842287 | title='Gang of 12' mulls over immigration bill | agency=] | publisher=] | date=May 24, 2007 | access-date=May 11, 2009}}</ref> and had strong support from the Bush administration.<ref name="bg-series-6"/> The bill aroused furious grassroots opposition among ] listeners and others as an "amnesty" program,<ref>{{cite news | author=Preston, Julia | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/10/washington/10oppose.html | title=Grass Roots Roared and Immigration Plan Collapsed | newspaper=The New York Times | date=July 10, 2007 | access-date=July 27, 2008}}</ref> and despite Kennedy's last-minute attempts to salvage it, failed a cloture vote in the Senate.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/09/washington/09immig.html | title=Kennedy Plea Was Last Gasp for Immigration Bill | author=Hulse, Carl | newspaper=The New York Times | date=June 9, 2007 | access-date=June 11, 2009}}</ref> Kennedy was philosophical about the defeat, saying that it often took several attempts across multiple Congresses for this type of legislation to build enough momentum for passage.<ref name="bg-series-6"/>

In 2006, Kennedy released a children's book from the view of his dog ], '']''<ref>{{cite news | title=Ted Kennedy pens children's book | publisher=] | date=January 9, 2006}}</ref> Also in 2006, Kennedy released a political history entitled ''America Back on Track''.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5353270 | title=Sen. Ted Kennedy and 'America Back on Track' | publisher=] | date=April 20, 2006 | access-date=February 22, 2007}}</ref>

In 2006, a ] in which Kennedy was flying lost electrical power after being struck by lightning and had to be diverted.<ref>, Associated Press (May 14, 2006).</ref>

Kennedy again easily ], winning 69&nbsp;percent of the vote against Republican language school owner ], who suffered from very poor name recognition.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/vote2006/MA/MA.htm | title=Democrat Deval Patrick elected governor in Massachusetts, Kennedy re-elected | agency=] | newspaper=USA Today | date=November 8, 2006 | access-date=June 11, 2009}}</ref>

===Obama, illness===
], Kennedy staged a campaign appearance with Obama in ], on February 4, 2008, the day before the ].]]

Kennedy initially stated that he would support John Kerry again if he were to make another bid for president in 2008, but in January 2007, Kerry said he would not make a second attempt for the White House.<ref>{{cite news |first=Rick |last=Klein |title=Kerry won't run for president in '08 |url=https://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/01/24/kerry_to_bow_out_of_08_presidential_race/ |newspaper=] |date=January 24, 2007 |access-date=January 25, 2007}}</ref> Kennedy then remained neutral as the ] between Senators Hillary Clinton and ] intensified, because his friend ] was also running for the nomination.<ref name="wapo-battle">{{cite news | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/03/AR2009080303184.html | title=How Obama Snared the Lion of the Senate|first=Dan|last=Balz|author-link=Dan Balz|author2=Haynes Johnson | newspaper=] | date=August 3, 2009 | access-date=August 5, 2009| author2-link=Haynes Johnson}}</ref> The initial caucuses and primaries were split between Clinton and Obama. When Dodd withdrew from the race, Kennedy became dissatisfied with the tone of the Clinton campaign and what he saw as racially tinged remarks by Bill Clinton.<ref name="wapo-battle"/><ref name="nyt012808e">{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/28/us/politics/28cnd-dems.html | title=Kennedy Calls Obama 'New Generation of Leadership' | author=Zeleny, Jeff | newspaper=The New York Times | date=January 28, 2008 | access-date=June 17, 2009}}</ref> Kennedy gave an endorsement to Obama on January 28, 2008, despite appeals by both Clintons not to do so.<ref name="nyt012808k">{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/28/us/politics/28kennedy.html | title=Kennedy Chooses Obama, Spurning Plea by Clintons |first1=Jeff|last1=Zeleny|first2=Carl|last2=Hulse|newspaper=The New York Times|date=January 28, 2008|access-date=January 28, 2008}}</ref> In a move that was seen as a symbolic passing of the torch,<ref name="bg-series-7"/> Kennedy said that it was "time again for a new generation of leadership," and compared Obama's ability to inspire with that of his fallen brothers.<ref name="nyt012808e"/> In return, Kennedy gained a commitment from Obama to make universal health care a top priority of his administration if he were elected.<ref name="wapo-battle"/> Kennedy's endorsement was considered among the most influential that any Democrat could get,<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/us/politics/27cnd-campaign.html | title=Kennedy Plans to Back Obama Over Clinton |first1=Jeff|last1=Zeleny|first2=Brian|last2=Knowlton| newspaper=The New York Times | date=January 27, 2008 | access-date=January 27, 2008}}</ref> and raised the possibility of improving Obama's vote-getting among unions, Hispanics, and traditional base Democrats.<ref name="nyt012808k"/> It dominated the political news, and gave national exposure to a candidate who was still not well known in much of the country, as the ] across the nation approached.<ref name="wapo-battle"/><ref>{{cite book|first=Richard |last=Wolffe |author-link=Richard Wolffe |title=Renegade: The Making of a President |publisher=] |location=New York |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-307-46312-8 |pages= |url=https://archive.org/details/renegademakingof00wolf/page/200 }}</ref>

On May 17, 2008, Kennedy suffered a ], which was followed by a second seizure as he was being rushed from the ] to ] and then by helicopter to ] in Boston.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2008/05/ted_kennedy_sai.html |title=Ted Kennedy not in immediate danger; seizure cause sought |newspaper=] |first1=Peter |last1=Schworm |last2=Viser|first2=Matt |date=May 17, 2008 | access-date=May 18, 2008 }}</ref> Within days, doctors announced that Kennedy had a ], a type of ].<ref name="msn052008">{{cite news |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna24728667 |title=Kennedy diagnosed with malignant brain tumor | publisher=] |date=May 20, 2008 |access-date=May 19, 2009}}</ref> The grim diagnosis<ref name="msn052008"/><ref name="bg-year-after" /><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/20/AR2008052001376.html | title=Kennedy's Cancer Is Highly Lethal | first=Rob |last=Stein | date=May 21, 2008 | newspaper=] | access-date=August 27, 2009 }}</ref> brought shocked reactions from many senators of both parties and from President Bush.<ref name="msn052008"/>

Doctors initially informed Kennedy that the tumor was inoperable, but Kennedy followed standard procedure and sought other opinions. He decided to follow the most aggressive course of treatment possible.<ref name="bg-year-after">{{Cite news |last=Milligan |first=Susan |last2=Wangsness |first2=Lisa |date=May 10, 2009 |title=The man at the center |url=https://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/05/10/the_man_at_the_center/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090513202544/https://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/05/10/the_man_at_the_center/ |archive-date=May 13, 2009 |access-date=June 20, 2009 |work=]}}</ref> On June 2, 2008, Kennedy underwent ] at ] in an attempt to remove as much of the tumor as possible.<ref name="Viser">{{cite news |author1=Viser, Matt |author2=Levenson, Michael |name-list-style=amp | url=https://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2008/06/sen_kennedy_to.html | title=Kennedy's brain tumor surgery deemed a success | newspaper=] | date= June 2, 2008 | access-date=June 3, 2008}}</ref><ref name="Fay">{{cite news | last=Cortez | first=Michelle Fay | url=https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aM7kTi777dTo&refer=us | title=Kennedy's Brain Surgery Can Reduce, Not Cure, Tumor (Update 2) | publisher=] | date=June 2, 2008 | access-date=June 19, 2009 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090122224028/http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103 | archive-date=January 22, 2009 | df=mdy-all }}</ref> The 3½-hour operation—conducted by Dr. ] while Kennedy was conscious to minimize any permanent neurological effects—was deemed successful.<ref name="Viser"/><ref name="Fay"/> Kennedy left the hospital a week later to begin a course of ] and ].<ref>{{cite news | url=http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/06/09/kennedy/index.html | title=Kennedy released from hospital | work=CNN | date=June 9, 2008 | access-date=June 9, 2008}}</ref> Opinions varied regarding Kennedy's prognosis: the surgery typically extends survival time for only a few months, but people can sometimes live for years.<ref name=Fay/><ref name="DailyNewsSurgery">{{cite news |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world/2008/06/02/2008-06-02_sen_edward_kennedy_undergoes_surgery_for.html |newspaper=] |title=Sen. Edward Kennedy undergoes surgery for brain tumor |access-date=June 4, 2008 |date=June 3, 2008 |last=Kennedy |first=Helen |archive-date=August 31, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090831223908/http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world/2008/06/02/2008-06-02_sen_edward_kennedy_undergoes_surgery_for.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

] in ], while delegates hold signs reading "KENNEDY"]]
The operation and follow-up treatments left Kennedy thinner, prone to additional seizures, weak and short on energy, and hurt his balance.<ref name="bg-year-after" />
Kennedy made his first post-illness public appearance on July 9, when he surprised the Senate by showing up to supply the added vote to break a Republican filibuster against a bill to preserve ] fees for doctors.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9504E0DB163AF933A25754C0A96E9C8B63 | title=Kennedy's Surprise Return Helps Democrats Win the Day |last1=Hulse|first1=Carl|last2=Pear|first2=Robert | newspaper=The New York Times | date=July 10, 2008 | access-date=June 20, 2009}}</ref> In addition, Kennedy was ill from an attack of ]s. Against the advice of some associates,<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/27/us/politics/27kennedy.html | title=Determined to Give Speech, Kennedy Left Hospital Bed | first=Adam|last=Nagourney|author-link=Adam Nagourney| newspaper=The New York Times | date=August 26, 2008 | access-date=June 20, 2009}}</ref><ref name="cnn082508"/> he insisted on appearing during the first night of the ] on August 25, 2008, where a video tribute to him was played. Introduced by his niece ], the senator said, "It is so wonderful to be here. Nothing&nbsp;– nothing&nbsp;– is going to keep me away from this special gathering tonight."<ref name="bg-series-7"/> He then delivered a speech to the delegates (which he had to memorize, as his impaired vision left him unable to read a teleprompter)<ref name="nyt-ending"/> in which, reminiscent of his speech at the ], he said, "this November, the torch will be passed again to a new generation of Americans. So, with Barack Obama and for you and for me, our country will be committed to his cause. The work begins anew. The hope rises again. And the dream lives on."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/08/25/kennedy-speaks-at-the-democratic-convention/ |title=Kennedy Speaks at Democratic Convention, Vows to 'Keep Dream Alive' |work=Fox News |date=August 25, 2008 |access-date=May 27, 2009}}</ref> The dramatic appearance and speech electrified the convention audience,<ref name="bg-series-7"/><ref name="cnn082508">{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/25/ted.kennedy/index.html |title=Kennedy electrifies Democratic convention with appearance | work=CNN |date=August 25, 2008 |access-date=November 8, 2008}}</ref><ref name="Reuters20080926"/> as Kennedy vowed that he would be present to see Obama inaugurated.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/ted-kennedy-turns-out-for-democrat-convention-despite-cancer-908331.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220526/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/ted-kennedy-turns-out-for-democrat-convention-despite-cancer-908331.html |archive-date=May 26, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live | title=Ted Kennedy turns out for Democrat convention despite cancer | author=Cornwell, Rupert | newspaper=] | date=August 26, 2008 | access-date=June 20, 2009 | location=London}}</ref>

On September 26, 2008, Kennedy suffered a mild seizure while at home in Hyannis Port; he immediately went to the hospital, was examined and released later that same day. Doctors believed that a change in his medication triggered the seizure.<ref name="Reuters20080926">{{cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE48P8YL20080927 |title=U.S. Sen. Kennedy released from hospital |date=September 26, 2008 |work=Reuters|access-date=September 26, 2008 | first=Scott | last=Malone}}</ref> Kennedy relocated to Florida for the winter; he continued his treatments, did a lot of sailing, and stayed in touch with legislative matters via telephone.<ref name="bg-year-after" /> In his absence, many senators wore blue "Tedstrong" ].<ref name="bg-year-after" />

On January 20, 2009, Kennedy attended ], but then suffered a seizure at the luncheon immediately afterwards. He was taken by ambulance to ].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/01/20/kennedy-suffers-seizure-inaugural-lunch/ |title=Kennedy Suffers Seizure at Inaugural Lunch |access-date=January 20, 2009 |work=Fox News |date=January 20, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090122042514/http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/01/20/kennedy-suffers-seizure-inaugural-lunch/ |archive-date=January 22, 2009 }}</ref> Doctors attributed the episode to "simple fatigue". He was released from the hospital the following morning, and he returned to his home in Washington, D.C.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7841151.stm|title= Senator Kennedy leaves hospital|access-date=January 21, 2009|work=BBC News|date=January 21, 2009}}</ref>

] was signed, April 21, 2009, four months before Kennedy's death]]
When the ] began, Kennedy dropped his spot on the Senate Judiciary Committee to focus all his attentions on national health care issues, which he regarded as "the cause of my life".<ref name="bg-year-after" /><ref>{{cite news |title=Health care reform was Sen. Ted Kennedy's unfinished life's work |author=Sisk, Richard |newspaper=] |date=August 27, 2009 |access-date=August 27, 2009 |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2009/08/27/2009-08-27_health_care_reform_was_sen_ted_kennedys_unfinished_lifes_work.html#ixzz0POkt0GBl |archive-date=August 29, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090829140644/http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2009/08/27/2009-08-27_health_care_reform_was_sen_ted_kennedys_unfinished_lifes_work.html#ixzz0POkt0GBl |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Kennedy Did His Life's Work Until the End |last1=Gerhart|first1=Ann |last2=Balz|first2=Dan |newspaper=] |date=August 27, 2009 |access-date=August 27, 2009 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/26/AR2009082603736.html?hpid=topnews}}</ref> He saw the characteristics of the Obama administration and the Democratic majorities in Congress as representing the third and best great chance for universal health care, following the lost 1971 Nixon and ],<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.newsweek.com/id/187995|title= His Time Is Now|last=Clift|first=Eleanor|author-link=Eleanor Clift|magazine=Newsweek|date=March 6, 2009|access-date=June 20, 2009}}</ref> and as his last big legislative battle.<ref name="bg-year-after" /> Kennedy made another surprise appearance in the Senate to break a Republican filibuster against the ].<ref name="hill060909"/> When spring arrived, Kennedy appeared on Capitol Hill more frequently, although staffers often did not announce his attendance at committee meetings until they were sure Kennedy was well enough to appear.<ref name="bg-year-after" /> On March 4, 2009, ] ] announced that Kennedy had been granted an honorary ] by ] for his work in the ], and for his contribution to ],<ref>{{cite news |title=Ted Kennedy to receive knighthood |work=BBC News |date=March 4, 2009 |access-date=March 4, 2009 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7922703.stm }}</ref><ref>As an American citizen, the British title would be purely honorary, and therefore Kennedy was not entitled to "Sir", though he is able to use the post-nominal ] (KBE) outside of the United States. See {{cite news |url=https://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2009/03/kennedy_to_be_k.html|title=Kennedy to be knighted|access-date=March 4, 2009|newspaper=] | first=Foon | last=Rhee | date=March 4, 2009}}</ref> although the move caused some controversy in the UK due to his connections with ] of the ] political party ].<ref>{{cite news|title=Tory backlash over Kennedy honour | work=BBC News | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7925769.stm | date=March 5, 2009 | access-date=March 6, 2009}}</ref> Later in March, a bill reauthorizing and expanding the ] program was renamed the ] by Senator Hatch in Kennedy's honor.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705293391,00.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090401031627/http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705293391,00.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=April 1, 2009 | title=Hatch names service bill in Kennedy's honor | last=Davidson|first=Lee | newspaper=] | date=March 26, 2009 | access-date=June 20, 2009}}</ref> Kennedy threw the ] at ] before the ] season opener in April, echoing what his grandfather "Honey Fitz"&nbsp;– a member of the ]&nbsp;– had done to open the park in 1912.<ref name=RedSox>{{cite news | url=http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sports/2009001343_apbbakennedyfirstpitch.html| title=Mass. Sen. Kennedy throws Red Sox first pitch |last=Ullman|first=Howard | agency=] |newspaper=]| date=April 7, 2009 | access-date=January 15, 2011}}</ref> Even when his illness prevented him from being a major factor in health plan deliberations, his symbolic presence still made him one of the key senators involved.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/morning-fix/061609-morning-fix.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110513223335/http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/morning-fix/061609-morning-fix.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=May 13, 2011 | title=Morning Fix: Six Senators To Watch On Health Care | last=Cillizza|first=Chris | newspaper=] | date=June 16, 2009 | access-date=June 20, 2009}}</ref>

However, Kennedy's tumor had spread by spring 2009 and treatments for it were no longer effective; this information was not disclosed to the public.<ref name="nyt-ending">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/27/us/politics/27year.html | title=After Diagnosis, Determined to Make a 'Good Ending{{'-}} |newspaper=The New York Times |date=August 26, 2009 |access-date=October 14, 2009 | first=Mark | last=Leibovich}}</ref> By June 2009 Kennedy had not cast a Senate vote in three months,<ref>{{cite news | url=http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/morning-fix/062209-morning-fix-the-kennedy.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090709045142/http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/morning-fix/062209-morning-fix-the-kennedy.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=July 9, 2009 | title=Morning Fix: The Kennedy Legacy | last=Cillizza|first=Chris | newspaper=] | date=June 22, 2009 | access-date=June 22, 2009}}</ref> and his deteriorating physical health had forced him to retreat to Massachusetts, where he underwent another round of chemotherapy.<ref name="hill060909">{{cite news | url=http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/kennedy-may-not-return-this-month-2009-06-09.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090611071452/http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/kennedy-may-not-return-this-month-2009-06-09.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=June 11, 2009 | title=Kennedy may not return this month | last=Bolton|first=Alexander | newspaper=] | date=June 9, 2009 | access-date=June 22, 2009}}</ref> In his absence, premature release of his health committee's expansive plan resulted in a poor public reception.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0609/23906.html | title=How Obama could lose health fight | author-link=Michael Allen (journalist)|last=Allen|first=Mike|author2=Jim VandeHei | newspaper=] | date=June 19, 2009 | access-date=June 20, 2009| author2-link=Jim VandeHei }}</ref> Kennedy's friend ] had taken over his role on the ],<ref name="hc062809"/> but Republican senators and other observers said that the lack of Kennedy's physical presence had resulted in less consultation with them and was making successful negotiation more difficult.<ref name="hill060909"/><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=105489379 | title=Kennedy Absent As His Health Bill Launches | last=Rovner|first=Julie | publisher=] | date=June 17, 2009 | access-date=June 20, 2009}}</ref> Democrats also missed Kennedy's ability to smooth divisions on the health proposals.<ref name="pol081909">{{cite news | url=http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0809/26265.html | title=Ted Kennedy absence felt by Democrats | last1=Bresnahan|first1=John|last2=Raju|first2=Manu | newspaper=] | date=August 19, 2009 | access-date=August 20, 2009}}</ref> Kennedy did cut a television commercial for Dodd, who was struggling early on in his ].<ref name="hc062809">{{cite news | title=Dodd And Kennedy Know, Trust, And More Than Ever Rely on Each Other | last=Altamari|first=Daniela | newspaper=] | date=June 28, 2009}}</ref> In July, ] began showing a documentary tribute to Kennedy's life, ''Teddy: In His Own Words''.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-teddy13-2009jul13,0,6303105.story | title=HBO's 'Teddy: In His Own Words' | last=McNamara|first=Mary | newspaper=Los Angeles Times | date=July 13, 2009 | access-date=August 1, 2009}}</ref> A health care reform bill was voted out of the committee with content Kennedy favored, but still faced a long, difficult process before having a chance at becoming law.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://swampland.time.com/2009/07/15/ted-kennedys-health-bill/ | title=Ted Kennedy's Health Bill | last=Tumulty|first=Karen | magazine=Time | date=July 15, 2009 | access-date=July 18, 2009}}</ref> At the end of July 2009, Kennedy was awarded the ].<ref>{{cite press release|url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the_press_office/President-Obama-Names-Medal-of-Freedom-Recipients/ |title=President Obama Names Medal of Freedom Recipients |publisher=] |date=July 30, 2009 |access-date=July 30, 2009 }}</ref> He could not attend the ceremony to receive this medal, and attended a private service but not the public funeral when his sister ] died at age 88 on August 11, 2009.<ref name="pol081909"/> In his final days, Kennedy was in a wheelchair and had difficulty speaking, but consistently stated that "I've had a wonderful life".<ref name="nyt-ending"/>

==Death==
] in Boston]]
] ]]
Kennedy died of a brain tumor on August 25, 2009, at age 77 at his home in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, two weeks after the death of his sister ].<ref name="ABC">{{cite news | title=Ted Kennedy Dies of Brain Cancer at Age 77 | date=August 26, 2009 | publisher=] | url =https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/TedKennedy/story?id=6692022 | access-date=August 26, 2009}}</ref> In a statement, Kennedy's family thanked "everyone who gave him care and support over this last year, and everyone who stood with him for so many years in his tireless march for progress toward justice".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/08/statement_from_24.html|title=Statement from the Kennedy family|newspaper=]|date=August 26, 2009|access-date=August 29, 2009}}</ref>

===Reaction===
President Obama said that Kennedy's death marked the "passing of an extraordinary leader"<ref>{{cite news|url=http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/08/26/obama-praises-kennedy-as-extraordinary-leader/|title=Obama praises Kennedy as 'extraordinary leader'|date=August 26, 2009|access-date=August 26, 2009|work=CNN|archive-date=December 22, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171222053229/http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/08/26/obama-praises-kennedy-as-extraordinary-leader/|url-status=dead}}</ref> and that he and First Lady ] were "heartbroken",<ref>{{cite press release|url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the_press_office/Statement-by-the-President-on-the-Death-of-Senator-Ted-Kennedy/|title=Statement by the President on the Death of Senator Ted Kennedy|date=August 26, 2009|via=]|work=]|access-date=August 26, 2009}}</ref> while Vice President Biden said "today we lost a truly remarkable man,"<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2009/08/vice_president_kennedy_changed.html|title=Biden: Kennedy 'Changed The Political Landscape For Almost Half A Century'|date=August 26, 2009|access-date=August 26, 2009|publisher=]|first=David|last=Gura}}</ref> and that Kennedy "changed the circumstances of tens of millions of Americans".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2009/08/biden_kennedy_r.html|title=Biden: Kennedy restored by idealism|date=August 26, 2009|access-date=August 26, 2009|newspaper=]|first=Foon|last=Rhee}}</ref> ], former Massachusetts Governor and Kennedy's opponent in the 1994 Senate race, called Kennedy "the kind of man you could like even if he was your adversary"<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/08/kennedy_remembe.html|title=Kennedy remembered as patriarch of the senate|date=August 26, 2009|access-date=August 30, 2009|first=Andrew|last=Ryan|newspaper=]}}</ref> and former First Lady ] said she was "terribly saddened". She went on, "Given our political differences, people are sometimes surprised how close Ronnie and I have been to the Kennedy family.&nbsp;... I will miss him."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/27/us/27react.html|title=Allies and Adversaries React to Kennedy's Death|date=August 26, 2009|access-date=August 26, 2009|author=Barron, James|newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref><ref>{{cite press release|url=http://kennedy.senate.gov/newsroom/press_release.cfm?id=F17EFA9C-8420-40F5-9D55-F09BF77A9718|title=Nancy Reagan Statement on Senator Kennedy|date=August 26, 2009|access-date=August 26, 2009|publisher=]}}</ref> Senator ], the ], issued a statement on Kennedy's death in which he said "My heart and soul weeps at the loss of my best friend in the Senate, my beloved friend";<ref>{{Cite web |title=Obama calls Kennedy 'greatest U.S. senator of our time' - CNN.com |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/08/26/ted.kennedy.reax/index.html |access-date=2024-04-24 |website=edition.cnn.com}}</ref> Byrd had cried uncontrollably on the Senate floor when Kennedy's cancer diagnosis was made public the previous year.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.politico.com/blogs/thecrypt/0508/Byrd_offers_weeping_tribute_to_Kennedy.html|title=Byrd offers weeping tribute to Kennedy|newspaper=]|date=May 20, 2008}}</ref>

There were also tributes from outside politics. Before a ] game, flags at ] were flown at half-staff and "]" was performed as players stood along the baselines,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.espn.com/espn/print?id=4425035&type=story|title=Red Sox play taps, fly flag at half mast|date=August 26, 2009|agency=Associated Press|publisher=]|access-date=December 12, 2010}}</ref> and the ] observed a moment of silence before a game at ].<ref name=Rivalry>{{cite web|title=Steinbrenner reflects on loss of Kennedy|url=http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/news/print.jsp?ymd=20090827&content_id=6645650&vkey=news_nyy&fext=.jsp&c_id=nyy|date=August 27, 2009|access-date=January 16, 2011|first=Bryan|last=Hoch|work=]|archive-date=March 20, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100320213335/http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/news/print.jsp?ymd=20090827&content_id=6645650&vkey=news_nyy&fext=.jsp&c_id=nyy|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Funeral services===
Kennedy's funeral procession traveled {{convert|70|mi|km}} from the Kennedy Compound in Hyannis Port to the ] in Boston, where his corpse ];<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090828/ap_on_re_us/us_kennedy_memorial |title=Sen. Kennedy's body takes final poignant tour |access-date=August 28, 2009 |date=August 27, 2009 |last=LeBlanc |first=Steve |agency=] |work=] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090831225703/http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090828/ap_on_re_us/us_kennedy_memorial |archive-date=August 31, 2009 }}</ref> over 50,000 members of the public filed by to pay their respects.<ref name="mourners">{{cite news | url=https://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/08/29/mourners_drawn_to_pay_respects_by_senators_personal_touch/ | title=Mourners drawn by a personal connection|last=Schworm |first= Peter|author2=Ballou, Brian |date=August 29, 2009|newspaper=] | access-date=August 29, 2009}}</ref> On Saturday, August 29, a procession traveled from the library to the ] in Boston, for a funeral Mass.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/08/26/kennedy-to-lie-in-repose-in-boston-be-buried-at-arlington/|title=Kennedy to lie in repose in Boston, be buried at Arlington|date=August 26, 2009|access-date=August 26, 2009|work=CNN|archive-date=December 22, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171222053218/http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/08/26/kennedy-to-lie-in-repose-in-boston-be-buried-at-arlington/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Present at the funeral service were President Obama and former presidents ], ], and ] (also representing his father, former President ], who decided not to attend),<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/elder-bush-sitting-out-kennedy-funeral/|title=Elder Bush Sitting Out Kennedy Funeral|agency=]|publisher=]|date= August 28, 2009|access-date=October 6, 2023}}</ref> along with Vice President Biden, three former Vice presidents, 58 senators, 21 former senators, many members of the House of Representatives, and several foreign dignitaries.<ref name="CSM">{{cite news|url=http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2009/08/29/senator-kennedy-eulogized-by-his-sons-and-president-obama/|title=Senator Kennedy eulogized by his sons and President Obama|last=Cook|first=David T.|date=August 29, 2009|newspaper=]|access-date=August 30, 2009}}</ref> President Obama delivered the ].<ref name="funeral"/>

The funeral service also drew attendees from outside politics from Boston, Washington, and across the United States, including journalists ], ] and ]; singers ] and ]; cellist ]; actors ], ], and ]; presidents and chancellors of Boston-area colleges and universities including ] ] and ] President ]; and sports figures including former ] basketball player ], as well as the top management of the Red Sox.<ref name="funeral">{{cite news|title=At funeral Mass, Obama hails Kennedy as a 'kind and tender hero'|first=Matt|last=Viser|newspaper=The Boston Globe|date=August 30, 2009|page=B1}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=In church and streets, one theme|first1=Peter|last1=Schworm|first2=Brian|last2=MacQuarrie|newspaper=The Boston Globe|date=August 30, 2009|page=B1}}</ref>

Kennedy's remains were returned to Washington, D.C., and laid to rest at ], near the graves of his assassinated brothers.<ref name="funeral"/> Former Cardinal and Washington, D.C., Archbishop ] presided over his burial service, which was attended by Biden, Kennedy's widow Vicki, and other members of the ].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.c-span.org/video/?288601-1/senator-edward-kennedy-burial-arlington-national-cemetery|title=Senator Edward Kennedy Burial at Arlington National Cemetery|publisher=]|date=August 29, 2009|access-date=February 16, 2019}}</ref> Kennedy's grave marker is identical to his brother Robert's: a white oak cross and a white marble foot marker bearing his name and years of birth and death.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/sen-ted-kennedy-laid-rest-arlington-national-cemetery-article-1.401079?print=1&page=all|title=Sen. Ted Kennedy laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery|date=August 30, 2009|access-date=August 30, 2009|first1=Kenneth|last1=Bazinet|first2=Richard|last2=Sisk|author3=Thomas M. DeFrank|newspaper=]}}</ref>

===Aftermath===
'']'', the memoir that Kennedy worked on throughout his illness, was published three weeks after his death.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.lawweekly.org/?module=displaystory&story_id=2592&edition_id=126&format=html |title=Ted Kennedy's Compass Points to Faith and Family |author=Smitha, Dante |newspaper=] |date=September 18, 2009 |access-date=October 14, 2009}}</ref> It debuted atop the ]<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/04/books/bestseller/besthardnonfiction.html | title=Hardcover Nonfiction – List | newspaper=] | date=September 25, 2009 | first=Jennifer | last=Schuessler}}</ref> and by mid-December 2009 had sold some 400,000 copies.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://blog.al.com/scenesource/2009/12/senator_ted_kennedys_book_true.html | title=Senator Ted Kennedy's book, 'True Compass' sale surge, paperback held back | agency=] | newspaper=] | date=December 10, 2009}}</ref>

] was scheduled for January 19, 2010, for the U.S. Senate seat from Massachusetts left vacant by Kennedy's death.<ref name="Massachusetts special election calendar">
{{cite web | url=http://www.sec.state.ma.us/ele/elespeif/senatorincongressma.htm | title=Election Calendar | publisher=] | access-date=September 6, 2009}}</ref> Shortly before his death, Kennedy had written to Democratic ] ] and the ], asking them to change state law to allow an appointee to fill a U.S. Senate vacancy for a term expiring upon the special election.<ref name = "Kennedy Letter-Patrick-2009-07-02">{{cite news | author = Edward M. Kennedy | url = http://cache.boston.com/bonzai-fba/Third_Party_PDF/2009/08/20/kennedy_letter__1250757221_6262-2.pdf | title = Letter to Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, President of the Senate Therese Murray, and Speaker of the House Robert DeLeo | work = via Boston Globe}} July 2, 2009. Delivered to recipients August 18, 2009. Published August 20, 2009.</ref><ref name = "AP-Boston Globe-LeBlanc-2009-08-20">{{cite news | url = https://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/08/20/ailing_kennedy_seeks_to_change_law_on_succession/?page=full | title = Ailing Kennedy seeks to change law on succession | last = LeBlanc | first = Steve | work = The Boston Globe | date = August 20, 2009 | agency = Associated Press}}</ref><ref name = "Globe-Phillips-2009-08-19">{{cite news | url= https://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/08/kennedy_headlin.html | title=Kennedy looks to set stage for successor | author=Phillips, Frank | newspaper=]| date=August 19, 2009 | access-date=August 20, 2009}}</ref> Kennedy had been instrumental in the prior 2004 alteration of this law to prevent Governor ] from appointing a Republican senator should John Kerry's presidential campaign succeed.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2004/06/11/special_election_bill_gets_new_life/ | title=Special election bill gets new life | author=Phillips, Frank | newspaper=] | date=June 11, 2004 | access-date=September 26, 2009}}</ref> The law was amended, and on September 24, 2009, ], former ] chairman and former aide to Kennedy, was appointed to occupy the Senate seat until the completion of the special election.<ref name = "Boston Globe-Viser & PHillips-2009-09-24">{{cite news|last=Viser|first=Matt|author2=Phillips, Frank | title=Kirk named interim senator| newspaper = ] |date=September 24, 2009| url= https://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/09/kirk_to_be_name.html | access-date=September 24, 2009}}</ref> Kirk announced that he would not be a candidate in the special election.<ref name = "Boston Globe-Viser & PHillips-2009-09-24"/> In that election, Republican State Senator ] won the seat in a stunning upset,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/20/us/politics/20election.html |title=G.O.P. Takes Massachusetts Senate Seat |author=Cooper, Michael |newspaper=The New York Times |date=January 19, 2010 |access-date=January 19, 2010}}</ref> ending Democratic control of it going back to 1953.

Brown's victory ended the 60-vote supermajority in the Senate that the Democrats had held since mid-2009.<ref name="nyt032010">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/21/health/policy/21reconstruct.html |title=Health Vote Caps a Journey Back From the Brink |author=Stolberg, Sheryl Gay |author2=Zeleny, Jeff |author3=Hulse, Carl |newspaper=] |date=March 20, 2010 |access-date=March 24, 2010}}</ref><ref name="nyt032310"/> Democrats rallied and passed health care reform legislation; Speaker ], who was instrumental in doing so, credited Kennedy in her closing remarks on the House floor before the final vote.<ref name="nyt032010"/><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.necn.com/03/21/10/Pelosi-credits-Kennedy-for-his-lifes-wor/landing_politics.html?blockID=201835&feedID=4212 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120905025903/http://www.necn.com/03/21/10/Pelosi-credits-Kennedy-for-his-lifes-wor/landing_politics.html?blockID=201835&feedID=4212 |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 5, 2012 |title=Pelosi credits Kennedy for 'his life's work' |publisher=] |date=March 21, 2010 |access-date=March 24, 2010 }}</ref> Kennedy's widow Vicki attended the signing of the ], at which both she and President Obama wore blue "Tedstrong" bracelets.<ref name="nyt032310">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/24/health/policy/24health.html |title=Obama Signs Health Care Overhaul Bill, With a Flourish |author=Stolberg, Sheryl Gay | author2=Pear, Robert |newspaper=] |date=March 23, 2010 |access-date=March 28, 2010}}</ref> Congressman ] brought a copy of a national health insurance bill his father had introduced in 1970 as a gift for the president.<ref name="nyt032310"/> He laid a note on his father's grave that said, "Dad, the unfinished business is done."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.necn.com/03/24/10/Kennedy-note-Dad-the-unfinished-business/landing_politics.html?blockID=203295&feedID=4212 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120907112743/http://www.necn.com/03/24/10/Kennedy-note-Dad-the-unfinished-business/landing_politics.html?blockID=203295&feedID=4212 |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 7, 2012 |title=Kennedy note: 'Dad, the unfinished business is done' |publisher=] |date=March 24, 2010 |access-date=March 24, 2010 }}</ref> Patrick's earlier decision not to seek re-election meant that in January 2011, a 64-year-long period in which a Kennedy held Federal elective office came to an end,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.boston.com/news/local/rhode_island/articles/2010/02/13/pondering_a_congress_without_kennedys/ |title=Pondering a Congress without Kennedys |author=Levenson, Michael |newspaper=] |date=February 13, 2010 |access-date=March 28, 2010}}</ref> but resumed in January 2013 (due to the November 2012 election) with Ted's great-nephew, ], becoming a member of the House.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://bostonglobe.com/metro/2012/11/06/kennedy-takes-fourth-congressional-seat-decisive-win-over-bielat/CIzhjHtyVRaVaWBykvO10J/story.html | title=Joseph P. Kennedy III wins decisively over Sean Bielat | author=Arsenault, Mark | newspaper=] | date=November 7, 2012}}</ref> Democratic control of Kennedy's former Senate seat was also regained following Brown's ] to ].

==Political positions==
{{Main|Political positions of Ted Kennedy}}
Political scientists gauge ] in part by comparing the annual ratings by the ] (ADA) with the ratings by the ] (ACU).<ref>{{cite news|author=Mayer, William|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A28761-2004Mar27?language=printer|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041019040829/http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A28761-2004Mar27?language=printer|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 19, 2004|title=Kerry's Record Rings a Bell|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=August 24, 2008|date=March 28, 2004|quote=The question of how to measure a senator's or representative's ideology is one that political scientists regularly need to answer. For more than 30 years, the standard method for gauging ideology has been to use the annual ratings of lawmakers' votes by various interest groups, notably the Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) and the American Conservative Union (ACU).}}</ref> Kennedy had a lifetime ] 90 percent score from the ADA through 2004,<!-- Really want through 2007 or 2008, but ADA does not supply lifetime averages, and have not yet found a more recent reliable media source for it--><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/judicial/2005-09-11-judiciarycommitteeprofiles_x.htm|title=Judging Judge Roberts: A look at the Judiciary Committee | newspaper=USA Today | date=September 12, 2005 | access-date=March 2, 2009|author=Kiely, Kathy}}</ref> while the ACU awarded Kennedy a lifetime ] rating of 2 percent through 2008.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.acuratings.org/2008senate.htm |title=2008 U.S. Senate Votes |publisher=] |access-date=March 20, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090330124737/http://www.acuratings.org/2008senate.htm |archive-date=March 30, 2009 }} Lifetime rating is given.</ref> Using another metric, Kennedy had a lifetime average liberal score of 88.7 percent, according to a '']'' analysis that places him ideologically as the third-most liberal senator of all those in office in 2009.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Committed Senate Liberals |url=http://www.nationaljournal.com/njmagazine/cs_20090228_5247.php |date=February 28, 2009 |access-date=March 3, 2009 |journal=] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090304004716/http://www.nationaljournal.com/njmagazine/cs_20090228_5247.php |archive-date=March 4, 2009 }} Kennedy's composite average only goes back to 1981, when ''National Journal'' began their ratings.</ref> A 2004 analysis by political scientists Joshua D. Clinton of ] and Simon Jackman and Doug Rivers of ] examined some of the difficulties in making this kind of analysis, and found Kennedy likely to be the 8th-to-15th-most liberal Senator during the ].<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.apsanet.org/imgtest/TheMostLiberalSenator-Clinton.pdf |title="The Most Liberal Senator"? Analyzing and Interpreting Congressional Roll Calls |journal=] |date=October 2004 |pages=805–811 |author1=Clinton, Joshua D. |author2=Jackman, Simon |author3=Rivers, Doug |volume=37 |issue=4 |doi=10.1017/S1049096504045196 |s2cid=155197878 }}</ref> '']'' rates congressional votes as liberal or conservative on the ], in three policy areas: economic, social, and foreign. For 2005–2006, Kennedy's average ratings were as follows: the economic rating was 91 percent liberal and 0 percent conservative, the social rating was 89 percent liberal and 5 percent conservative, and the foreign rating was 96 percent liberal and 0 percent conservative.<ref>{{harvnb|Barone|Cohen|2008|p=791|ps=In 2005, the ratings were E 95 0, S 90 0, F 95 0; in 2006, E 87 0, S 88 11, F 98 0. Examination of two previous volumes of ''The Almanac of American Politics'' shows similar scores for 2001–2002 and 1997–1998.}}</ref>

Various ]s gave Kennedy scores or grades as to how well his votes aligned with the positions of each group.<ref name="pvs">{{cite news | url=http://www.votesmart.org/issue_rating_category.php?can_id=53305 | title=Senator Edward M. 'Ted' Kennedy, Sr. (MA) | publisher=] | access-date=March 3, 2009 | archive-date=May 1, 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110501151926/http://www.votesmart.org/issue_rating_category.php?can_id=53305 | url-status=dead }}</ref> The ] gave him an 84 percent lifetime score as of 2009.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://action.aclu.org/site/VoteCenter?congress=111&repId=320&session_num=0&page=legScore|title=ACLU Congressional Scorecard|publisher=]|access-date=March 2, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090423014553/http://action.aclu.org/site/VoteCenter?congress=111&repId=320&session_num=0&page=legScore|archive-date=April 23, 2009}}</ref> During the 1990s and 2000s, ] and ] typically gave Kennedy ratings of 100 percent, while the ] typically gave him a rating of less than 10 percent.<ref name="pvs"/> The ] gave Kennedy a lifetime rating of 100 percent through 2002, while the ] gave Kennedy a lifetime grade of "F" (failing) as of 2006.<ref name="pvs"/>

==Cultural and political image==
]
When Kennedy died in August 2009, he was the ] member of the Senate (after ] ] of ]) and the third longest-serving senator of all time, behind Byrd and ] of ]. Later that same year, he was passed by ] of ].<ref name="Senate-longest">{{cite web |url=https://www.senate.gov/senators/Biographical/longest_serving.htm |title=Longest Serving Senators|access-date=November 17, 2009 |publisher=]}}</ref> Kennedy therefore held the record as the longest-serving Democratic member of Congress to solely serve as a senator until October 2021, when he was surpassed by fellow Democrat ] of ].

During his tenure, Kennedy became one of the most recognizable and influential members of his party and was sometimes called a "Democratic icon"<ref>{{cite news |last=Chaddock |first=Gail Russell |title=Democratic primary: Quiet battle for the other delegates |newspaper=] |date=January 30, 2008 |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0130/p01s03-uspo.html}}</ref> as well as "The Lion of the Senate".<ref name="time-rules"/><ref>{{cite news | publisher=] | url=http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/us_world/Ted-Kennedy-Returning-to-Senate-Reports.html | title=Ted Kennedy Returning to Senate |last=Macht|first=Daniel | date=May 20, 2009 | access-date=June 20, 2009}}</ref><ref name="fox011309">{{cite news | url=https://www.foxnews.com/politics/senate-lion-ted-kennedy-roars-once-more-for-national-health-care/ | title=Senate Lion Ted Kennedy Roars Once More for National Health Care | last=Clark|first=Stephen | work=Fox News | date=January 13, 2009 | access-date=June 20, 2009}}</ref><ref name="time-100"/> Kennedy and his Senate staff authored around 2,500&nbsp;bills, of which more than 300 were enacted into law.<ref name="bg-series-6"/> Kennedy co-sponsored another 550&nbsp;bills that became law after 1973.<ref name="bg-series-6"/> Kennedy was known for his effectiveness in dealing with Republican senators and administrations, sometimes to the irritation of other Democrats.<ref name="espo"/> During the ] under President ], at least half of the successful proposals put forward by the ] came out of Kennedy's Labor and Human Resources Committee.{{sfn|Hersh|1997|p=82}} During the 2000s, almost every bipartisan bill signed during the ] had significant involvement from Kennedy.<ref name="time-rules"/> A late 2000s survey of Republican senators ranked Kennedy first among Democrats in bipartisanship.<ref name="time-100">{{cite news | url=http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1894410_1893847,00.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090503144659/http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1894410_1893847,00.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=May 3, 2009 | title=The 2009 Time 100: Edward Kennedy | author-link=Arnold Schwarzenegger|last=Schwarzenegger|first=Arnold| magazine=Time | access-date=June 20, 2009 | date=April 30, 2009}}</ref> Kennedy strongly believed in the principle "]," and would agree to pass legislation he viewed as incomplete or imperfect with the goal of improving it down the road.<ref name="time-rules"/> In April 2006, Kennedy was selected by '']'' as one of "America's 10 Best Senators"; the magazine noted that he had "amassed a titanic record of legislation affecting the lives of virtually every man, woman and child in the country" and that "by the late 1990s, the liberal icon had become such a prodigious cross-aisle dealer that Republican leaders began pressuring party colleagues not to sponsor bills with him".<ref name="time-10-best">{{cite magazine | url=http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1183965,00.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060614065125/http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1183965,00.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=June 14, 2006 | title=Ted Kennedy: The Dogged Achiever | magazine= Time | date=April 14, 2006 | access-date=May 6, 2007}}</ref> In May 2008, soon-to-be Republican presidential nominee ] said, " is a legendary lawmaker and I have the highest respect for him. When we have worked together, he has been a skillful, fair and generous partner."<ref name="time-rules"/> Republican ] and Kennedy relative ] described "Uncle Teddy" as "a liberal icon, a warrior for the less fortunate, a fierce advocate for health-care reform, a champion of social justice here and abroad" and "the rock of his family".<ref name="time-100"/> At the time of Kennedy's death, sociologist and '']'' board member ] wrote that Kennedy had come to be viewed as the "voice" and "conscience" of ].<ref>{{cite magazine | url=http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090914/birnbaum | title=Memories of Ted Kennedy | author= Birnbaum, Norman | magazine= ] | date=August 28, 2009 | access-date=September 6, 2009 | author-link= Norman Birnbaum}}</ref>

Despite his bipartisan legislative practices, Kennedy was a polarizing symbol of ] for many years.<ref name="time-10-best"/><ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=ted_kennedy__a_liberals_bipartisan | title=Ted Kennedy: A Liberal's Bipartisan | author-link=Robert Kuttner | last=Kuttner | first=Robert | magazine=] | date=August 26, 2008 | access-date=June 20, 2009 | archive-date=August 10, 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110810211737/http://prospect.org/cs/articles?article=ted_kennedy__a_liberals_bipartisan | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine | url=http://www.life.com/image/51829475/in-gallery/22947/polarizing-politicians | title=Ted Kennedy Leads the Liberals | magazine=] | access-date=June 20, 2009 | archive-date=June 13, 2009 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090613044659/http://www.life.com/image/51829475/in-gallery/22947/polarizing-politicians | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="babington">{{cite news | url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-05-17-3340753434_x.htm | title=Kennedy: liberal legend, able legislator | last=Babington|first=Charles | agency=] | newspaper=USA Today | date=May 17, 2008 | access-date=June 20, 2009}}</ref> Republican and conservative groups long viewed Kennedy as a reliable "]" to mention in fundraising letters,<ref name="espo">{{cite news | url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-05-20-1235456825_x.htm | title=Unlike brothers, Ted Kennedy grew old in public | last=Espo|first=David | agency=] | newspaper=USA Today | date=May 20, 2008 | access-date=June 20, 2009}}</ref> on par with Hillary Clinton and similar to Democratic and liberal appeals mentioning ].<ref name="nyt071099">{{cite news |author-link=Don Van Natta Jr.|last=Van Natta|first=Don Jr.|title=Hillary Clinton's Campaign Spurs A Wave of G.O.P. Fund-Raising |newspaper=The New York Times |date=July 10, 1999 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/10/us/hillary-clinton-s-campaign-spurs-a-wave-of-gop-fund-raising.html?pagewanted=all&pagewanted=print|quote=One Republican strategist involved in the New York Senate race doubted that the contributions aimed at defeating Mrs. Clinton would help her Republican opponent, or even that much of the money would wind up in New York. He said most of the donations would pay for direct-mail costs and other overhead. 'I don't see it as a tremendous benefit to any candidate,' this strategist said. 'This is what the Republicans did with Ted Kennedy and the Democrats did with Newt Gingrich. Every fund-raising group in the world loves a bogyman.{{'-}}}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0309/19630_Page2.html | title=GOP finds Pelosi an elusive target | last=Thrush|first=Glenn | newspaper=] | date=March 5, 2009 | access-date=June 20, 2009|quote=James Carville, Bill Clinton's top adviser in 1992 and a longtime Pelosi watcher, said vitriol toward the speaker is confined to a relatively small corner of the GOP base and hasn't yet crossed over to independents or conservative Democrats. 'Our recent history in this country is we look for "hooks," people who get you really fired up&nbsp;– Ted Kennedy, Newt Gingrich, Hillary Clinton,' Carville said. 'People come in and out and we try out these hooks on 'em.{{'-}}}}</ref> The famous racially motivated "]" attack ad used in North Carolina Senator ]'s 1990 re-election campaign against ] accused Gantt of supporting "Ted Kennedy's racial quota law".<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Lee |first=Deron |title=Ad Spotlight Classic: Jesse Helms, 1990 |magazine=] |date=July 8, 2008 |url=http://adspotlight.nationaljournal.com/2008/07/jesse_helms.php |access-date=June 20, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090817073443/http://adspotlight.nationaljournal.com/2008/07/jesse_helms.php |archive-date=August 17, 2009 }}</ref> ] political science professor ]'s 2006&nbsp;study of ] found that in a state-by-state survey of job approval ratings of the state's senators, Kennedy had the largest partisan difference of any senator, with a 57&nbsp;percentage point difference in approval between Massachusetts's Democrats and Republicans.<ref name="jacob-paper">{{cite journal |author-link=Gary Jacobson|last=Jacobson|first=Gary|title=Partisan Differences in Job Approval Ratings of George W. Bush and U.S. Senators in the States: An Exploration |journal=Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association |date=August 2006 }}</ref> The ] wrote that, "Perhaps because it was impossible, Kennedy never tried to shake his image as a liberal titan to admirers and a left-wing caricature to detractors."<ref name="babington"/>

After Robert Kennedy's assassination in 1968, Ted was the most prominent living member of the ] and the last surviving son of Joseph P. Kennedy and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. John F. Kennedy had said in 1957, "Just as I went into politics because Joe died, if anything happened to me tomorrow, my brother Bobby would run for my seat in the Senate. And if Bobby died, Teddy would take over for him."<!--TODO really need to find the actual Eleanor Harris "The Senator Is in a Hurry" article in August 1957 McCall's --><ref>{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZlIEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT56| title=His Enduring Images and Words | magazine=] (John F. Kennedy Memorial Edition) | date=December 1963}}</ref> However, Ted was never able to carry on the "Camelot" mystique in the same way that both of his fallen brothers had, with much of it disappearing during his failed 1980 presidential bid.<ref name="espo"/> His negligence in the death of Mary Jo Kopechne at Chappaquiddick and his well-documented later personal problems further tarnished his image in relation to the Kennedy name,<ref name="bg-series-1"/> and significantly damaged his chances of ever becoming president.<ref name="nyt-obit"/>{{sfn|Barone|Cohen|2008|p=792}}<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/08/26/mary-jo-kopechne-and-chappaquiddick-americas-selective-memory/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090827091934/http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/08/26/mary-jo-kopechne-and-chappaquiddick-americas-selective-memory/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 27, 2009 |title=Mary Jo Kopechne and Chappaquiddick: America's Selective Memory |last=Cannon |first=Carl M. |publisher=] |date=August 26, 2009 |access-date=August 28, 2009 }}</ref> The ] wrote, "Unlike his brothers, Edward M. Kennedy has grown old in public, his victories, defeats and human contradictions played out across the decades in the public glare."<ref name="espo"/> But Kennedy's legislative accomplishments remained, and as '']'' wrote, "By the early 21st century, the achievements of the younger brother would be enough to rival those of many presidents."<ref name="bg-series-1"/> His death prompted the realization that the "Camelot era" was truly over.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna32564413 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090828134251/http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/32564413/ | url-status=live | archive-date=August 28, 2009 | title=Kennedy's death marks the end of Camelot | last=Celizic|first=Mike | publisher=] | date=August 26, 2009 | access-date=August 28, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-kass-27-aug27,0,7997781.column | title=Ted Kennedy's death heralds Camelot's end | last=Kass | first=John | newspaper=] | date=August 27, 2009 | access-date=August 28, 2009 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090828012436/http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-kass-27-aug27,0,7997781.column | archive-date=August 28, 2009 | url-status=dead }}</ref> Kennedy's '']'' obituary described him via a ]: <blockquote>He was a ] figure in the Senate and in life, instantly recognizable by his shock of white hair, his florid, oversize face, his booming Boston brogue, his powerful but pained stride. He was a celebrity, sometimes a self-parody, a hearty friend, an implacable foe, a man of large faith and large flaws, a melancholy character who persevered, drank deeply and sang loudly. He was a Kennedy.<ref name="nyt-obit">{{cite news |first=John M. |last=Broder |title=Edward Kennedy, Senate Stalwart, Dies |newspaper=The New York Times |date=August 26, 2009 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/27/us/politics/27kennedy.html |pages=A1, A18–A20}}</ref></blockquote>

==Awards and honors==
{{Main|List of awards and honors received by Ted Kennedy}}
Kennedy's honors include an honorary ] bestowed by ] of the United Kingdom, the ] from Mexico, the U.S. ], the ] of Chile, and honorary degrees from several institutions including ].

==Electoral history==
{{Main|Electoral history of Ted Kennedy}}

==Writings==
* {{Cite book | editor-last=Kennedy | editor-first=Edward M. | title=The Fruitful Bough (Collected essays on Joseph P. Kennedy) | publisher=privately published | year=1965 |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book | last=Kennedy | first=Edward M. | title=Decisions for a Decade: Policies and Programs for the 1970s | publisher=Doubleday | year=1968 |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book| last=Kennedy | first=Edward M. | title=In Critical Condition: The Crisis in America's Health Care | publisher=Simon & Schuster | year=1972 | isbn=978-0-671-21314-5 | url=https://archive.org/details/incriticalcondit00kenn |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book| editor-last=Kennedy | editor-first=Edward M. | title=Our Day and Our Generation: The Words of Edward M. Kennedy | publisher=Simon & Schuster | year=1979 | isbn=978-0-671-24133-9 | url=https://archive.org/details/ourdaygeneration00kenn |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book | last1=Kennedy | first1=Edward M. | last2=Hatfield | first2=Mark |author-link2= Mark Hatfield| title=Freeze!: How You Can Prevent Nuclear War | publisher=Bantam Books | year=1982 | isbn=978-0-553-14077-4 |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book| last=Kennedy | first=Edward M. | title=America Back on Track | publisher=Viking Adult | year=2006 | isbn=978-0-670-03764-3 | url=https://archive.org/details/americabackontra00kenn |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book | last=Kennedy | first=Edward M. | title=My Senator and Me: A Dog's-Eye View of Washington, D.C. | others=] (illus.) | publisher=Scholastic Press | year=2006 | isbn=978-0-439-65077-9| title-link=My Senator and Me: A Dog's-Eye View of Washington, D.C. |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book | last=Kennedy | first=Edward M. | title=True Compass | publisher=]| year=2009 | isbn=978-0-446-53925-8| title-link=True Compass |ref=none}}

==See also==
{{Portal|Biography|United States|Politics|Liberalism|Law}}
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
{{Clear}}

==References==
===Citations===
{{reflist|25em}}

===Print sources===
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{Cite book |title=The Almanac of American Politics |last1=Barone |first1=Michael |author-link=Michael Barone (pundit) |author-link2=Richard E. Cohen |last2=Cohen |first2=Richard E. |year=2008 |publisher=National Journal Group |location=Washington |isbn=978-0-89234-116-0|title-link=The Almanac of American Politics }}
* {{Cite book |first=Nellie |last=Bly |year=1996 |title=The Kennedy Men: Three Generations of Sex, Scandal and Secrets |isbn=1-57566-106-3 |publisher=Kensington Books |location=New York}}
* {{cite book |first=James MacGregor |last=Burns |author-link=James MacGregor Burns |title=Edward Kennedy and the Camelot Legacy |url=https://archive.org/details/edwardkennedyca00burn |url-access=registration |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |location=New York |year=1976 |isbn=0-393-07501-X}}
* {{Cite book|last=Canellos |first=Peter S. (ed.) and The Team at ''The Boston Globe'' |year=2009 |title=The Last Lion: The Fall and Rise of Ted Kennedy |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=978-1-4391-3817-5 |url=https://archive.org/details/lastlionfallrise00pete }}
* {{Cite book|first=Jimmy |last=Carter |author-link=Jimmy Carter |title=Keeping Faith: Memoirs of a President |publisher=Bantam Books |year=1982 |isbn=0-553-05023-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/keepingfaithmemo00cart }}
* {{Cite book|first=Adam |last=Clymer |author-link=Adam Clymer |year=1999 |title=Edward M. Kennedy: A Biography |publisher=Wm. Morrow & Company |isbn=0-688-14285-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/edwardmkennedybi00clym_0 }}
* {{Cite book|first=Burton |last=Hersh |year=1997 |title=The Shadow President: Ted Kennedy in Opposition |publisher=Steerforth Press |isbn=1-883642-30-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/shadowpresidentt00hers }}
* {{cite book|first=Burton |last=Hersh |year=2010 |title=Edward Kennedy: An Intimate Biography |publisher=Counterpoint |location=Berkeley |isbn=978-1-58243-628-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/edwardkennedyint00hers }}
* {{cite book|last=Leamer |first=Laurence |title=The Kennedy Men: 1901–1963 |publisher=Wm. Morrow & Company |year=2001 |isbn=0-688-16315-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/kennedymen19011900leam }}
* {{Cite book|author-link=Joe McGinniss |last=McGinnis |first=Joe |year=1993 |title=The Last Brother |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=0-671-67945-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/lastbrother00mcgi }}
* {{Cite book |editor-last=Moritz |editor-first=Charles |title=Current Biography Yearbook 1978 |publisher=H. W. Wilson Company |year=1978|title-link=Current Biography Yearbook }}
{{refend}}

== Further reading ==
* {{Cite book |last1=Adler |first1=Bill |last2=Adler |first2=Bill Jr. |title=The Wit and Wisdom of Ted Kennedy |publisher=Pegasus Books |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-60598-112-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/witwisdomoftedke00kenn |ref=none }}
* {{Cite book |last=Allen |first=Gary |author-link=Gary Allen |year=1981 |title=Ted Kennedy: In Over His Head |publisher=Conservative Press |isbn=0-89245-020-7 |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book |last=Photographers and Writers at ''The Boston Globe'' |author-link=The Boston Globe |title=Ted Kennedy: Scenes from an Epic Life |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-4391-3806-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781439138069 |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book |last=Burke |first=Richard E. |year=1993 |title=The Senator: My Ten Years with Ted Kennedy |publisher=St. Martin's Press |isbn=0-312-95133-7 |ref=none}}
* Farrell, John A. ''Ted Kennedy: A Life'' (2022) major biography
* Gabler, Neal. ''Catching the Wind : Edward Kennedy and the Liberal Hour, 1932-1975'' (2020), before the Senate.
* Gabler, Neal. ''Against the Wind: Edward Kennedy and the Rise of Conservatism, 1976-2009'' (2022) , major scholarly biography covers the Senate years in great detail.
* Haas, Lawrence J. ''The Kennedys in the World: How Jack, Bobby, and Ted Remade America's Empire'' (2021)
* {{Cite book |first=Burton |last=Hersh |year=1972 |title=The Education of Edward Kennedy: A Family Biography |publisher= Wm. Morrow & Company |location=New York |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book |last=Damore |first=Leo |year=1988 |title=Senatorial Privilege: The Chappaquiddick Cover-Up |publisher=Regnery Gateway |isbn=0-89526-564-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/senatorialprivi000damo |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book |last=David |first=Lester |title=Ted Kennedy: Triumphs and Tragedies |year=1972 |location=New York |publisher=Grosset & Dunlap |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book |last=David |first=Lester |title=Good Ted, Bad Ted: The Two Faces of Edward M. Kennedy |year=1993 |publisher=Carol Publishing Corporation |isbn=1-55972-167-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/goodtedbadtedtwo00davi |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book |last=Honan |first=William H. |author-link=William Honan |title=Ted Kennedy: Profile of a Survivor |year=1972 |location=New York |publisher=Quadrangle Books |ref=none}}
* Kashatus, William C. (2020) ''Before Chappaquiddick: The Untold Story of Mary Jo Kopechne and the Kennedy Brothers'', Potomac Books. {{ISBN|978-1-64012-269-7}}
*{{Cite book |last=Klein |first=Ed |author-link=Edward Klein |title=Ted Kennedy: The Dream That Never Died |publisher=Crown Publishing Group |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-307-45103-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/tedkennedydreamt00klei_0 |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book |editor=Lacayo, Richard |year=2009 |title=Ted Kennedy: A Tribute |publisher=] |isbn=978-1-60320-125-4 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/tedkennedytribut0000unse |ref=none }}
* {{Cite book |last=Leamer |first=Laurence |title=Sons of Camelot: The Fate of an American Dynasty |publisher=Wm. Morrow & Company |year=2004 |isbn=0-06-620965-X |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/sonsofcamelotfat0000leam |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book |last=Levin |first=Murray |author-link=Murray Levin |year=1966 |title=Kennedy Campaigning: The System and the Style as Practiced by Senator Edward Kennedy |location=Boston |publisher=Beacon Press |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book |last=Levin |first=Murray |year=1980 |title=Edward Kennedy: The Myth of Leadership |isbn=0-395-29249-2 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin |location=Boston |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book |last=Lerner |first=Max |title=Ted and the Kennedy Legend: A Study in Character and Destiny |publisher=St Martins Press |year=1980 |isbn=0-312-79043-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/tedkennedylegend00lern |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book |last=Lippman |first=Theo Jr. |title=Senator Ted Kennedy: The Career Behind the Image |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |year=1976 |isbn=0-393-33526-7 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Rust | first=Zad |year=1971 | title=Teddy Bare: The Last of the Kennedy Clan |url=https://archive.org/details/teddybarelastofk00rust | url-access=registration |location=Belmont, Massachusetts |publisher=Western Islands |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book |last=USA Today |author-link=USA Today |title=Ted Kennedy: An American Icon |publisher=Triumph Books |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-60078-324-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/tedkennedyameric0000unse |ref=none}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Ted Kennedy}}
{{Wikisource author}} {{Wikisource author}}
{{Wikiquote}} {{Wikiquote}}
* {{C-SPAN|228}}
*
*
* at fbi.gov
* {{CongLinks | congbio=K000105 | votesmart= | fec=S6MA00015 | congress= }}<!--
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{{Ted Kennedy}}
{{United States senators from Massachusetts}}
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{{John F. Kennedy}}
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Latest revision as of 02:38, 10 December 2024

American politician (1932–2009) "Edward Kennedy" redirects here. For other people, see Ted Kennedy (disambiguation) and Edward Kennedy (disambiguation).

Ted Kennedy
Official portrait, 1990s
United States Senator
from Massachusetts
In office
November 7, 1962 – August 25, 2009
Preceded byBenjamin A. Smith II
Succeeded byPaul G. Kirk
Chair of the Senate Health Committee
In office
January 3, 2007 – August 25, 2009
On leave: June 9 – August 25, 2009*
Preceded byMike Enzi
Succeeded byChris Dodd (acting)
In office
June 6, 2001 – January 3, 2003
Preceded byJim Jeffords
Succeeded byJudd Gregg
In office
January 3, 2001 – January 20, 2001
Preceded byJim Jeffords
Succeeded byJim Jeffords
In office
January 3, 1987 – January 3, 1995
Preceded byOrrin Hatch
Succeeded byNancy Kassebaum
Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee
In office
January 3, 1979 – January 3, 1981
Preceded byJames Eastland
Succeeded byStrom Thurmond
Senate Majority Whip
In office
January 3, 1969 – January 3, 1971
LeaderMike Mansfield
Preceded byRussell B. Long
Succeeded byRobert Byrd
Personal details
BornEdward Moore Kennedy
(1932-02-22)February 22, 1932
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
DiedAugust 25, 2009(2009-08-25) (aged 77)
Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, U.S.
Resting placeArlington National Cemetery
Political partyDemocratic
Spouses
Children
Parents
RelativesKennedy family
Education
Signature
WebsiteOfficial website
Military service
Branch/serviceUnited States Army
Years of service1951–1953
RankPrivate First Class
UnitSupreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe
Ted Kennedy's voice Ted Kennedy speaks about Iraq and the economic growth plan to assist all Americans
Recorded 2003
* Dodd served as acting chair during Kennedy's medical leave.

Edward Moore Kennedy (February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009) was an American lawyer and politician from Massachusetts who served as a member of the United States Senate from 1962 to his death in 2009. A member of the Democratic Party and the prominent Kennedy family, he was the second-most senior member of the Senate when he died. He is ranked fifth in U.S. history for length of continuous service as a senator. Kennedy was the younger brother of President John F. Kennedy and U.S. attorney general and U.S. senator Robert F. Kennedy, and the father of U.S. representative Patrick J. Kennedy.

After attending Harvard University and earning his law degree from the University of Virginia, Kennedy began his career as an assistant district attorney in Suffolk County, Massachusetts. He won a November 1962 special election in Massachusetts to fill the vacant seat previously held by his brother John, who had taken office as the U.S. president. He was elected to a full six-year term in 1964 and was re-elected seven more times. The Chappaquiddick incident in 1969 resulted in the death of his automobile passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne. He pleaded guilty to a charge of leaving the scene of an accident and received a two-month suspended sentence. The incident and its aftermath hindered his chances of becoming president. He ran in 1980 in the Democratic primary campaign for the party's nomination, but lost to the incumbent president, Jimmy Carter.

Kennedy was known for his oratorical skills. His 1968 eulogy for his brother Robert and his 1980 rallying cry for modern American liberalism were among his best-known speeches. He became recognized as "The Lion of the Senate" through his long tenure and influence. Kennedy and his staff wrote more than 300 bills that were enacted into law. Unabashedly liberal, Kennedy championed an interventionist government that emphasized economic and social justice, but he was also known for working with Republicans to find compromises. Kennedy played a major role in passing many laws, including the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, the National Cancer Act of 1971, the COBRA health insurance provision, the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, the Ryan White AIDS Care Act, the Civil Rights Act of 1991, the Mental Health Parity Act, the S-CHIP children's health program, the No Child Left Behind Act, and the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act. During the 2000s, he led several unsuccessful immigration reform efforts. Over the course of his Senate career, Kennedy made efforts to enact universal health care, which he called the "cause of my life". By his later years, Kennedy had come to be viewed as a major figure and spokesman for American progressivism.

On August 25, 2009, Kennedy died of a brain tumor (glioblastoma) at his home in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, at the age of 77. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Early life

Kennedy was born on February 22, 1932, at St. Margaret's Hospital in the Dorchester section of Boston, Massachusetts. He was the youngest of the nine children of Joseph Patrick Kennedy and Rose Fitzgerald, members of prominent Irish American families in Boston. They constituted one of the wealthiest families in the nation after their marriage. His eight siblings were Joseph Jr., John, Rosemary, Kathleen, Eunice, Patricia, Robert, and Jean. His older brother John asked to be the newborn's godfather, a request his parents honored, though they did not agree to his request to name the baby George Washington Kennedy (Ted was born on President George Washington's 200th birthday). They named the boy after their father's assistant.

As a child, Ted was frequently uprooted by his family's moves among Bronxville, New York; Hyannis Port, Massachusetts; Palm Beach, Florida; and the Court of St. James's, in London, England. His formal education started at Gibbs School in Kensington, London. He had attended 10 schools by the age of eleven; these disruptions interfered with his academic success. He was an altar boy at the St. Joseph's Church and was seven when he received his First Communion from Pope Pius XII in the Vatican. He spent sixth and seventh grades at the Fessenden School, where he was a mediocre student, and eighth grade at Cranwell Preparatory School, both in Massachusetts. He was the youngest child and his parents were affectionate toward him, but they also compared him unfavorably with his older brothers.

Between the ages of eight and sixteen, Ted suffered the traumas of his sister Rosemary's failed lobotomy and the deaths of two siblings: Joseph Jr. in an airplane explosion and Kathleen in an airplane crash. Ted's affable maternal grandfather, John F. Fitzgerald, was the Mayor of Boston, a U.S. Congressman, and an early political and personal influence. Ted spent his four high-school years at Milton Academy, a preparatory school in Milton, Massachusetts, where he received B and C grades. In 1950, he finished 36th in a graduating class of 56. He did well at football there, playing on the varsity in his last two years; the school's headmaster later described his play as "absolutely fearless ... he would have tackled an express train to New York if you asked ... he loved contact sports". Kennedy also played on the tennis team and was in the drama, debate, and glee clubs.

College, military service, and law school

Like his father and brothers before him, Ted graduated from Harvard College. In his spring semester, he was assigned to the athlete-oriented Winthrop House, where his brothers had also lived. He was an offensive and defensive end on the freshman football team; his play was characterized by his large size and fearless style. In his first semester, Kennedy and his classmates arranged to copy answers from another student during the final examination for a science class. At the end of his second semester in May 1951, Kennedy was anxious about maintaining his eligibility for athletics for the next year, and he had a classmate take his place at a Spanish exam. The ruse was discovered and both were expelled for cheating. As was standard for serious disciplinary cases, they were told they could apply for readmission within a year or two if they demonstrated good behavior during that time.

In June 1951, Kennedy enlisted in the United States Army and signed up for an optional four-year term that was shortened to the minimum of two years after his father intervened. Following basic training at Fort Dix in New Jersey, he requested assignment to Fort Holabird in Maryland for Army Intelligence training, but was dropped without explanation after a few weeks. He went to Camp Gordon in Georgia for training in the Military Police Corps. In June 1952, Kennedy was assigned to the honor guard at SHAPE headquarters in Paris, France. His father's political connections ensured that he was not deployed to the ongoing Korean War. While stationed in Europe, Kennedy traveled extensively on weekends and climbed the Matterhorn in the Pennine Alps. After 21 months, he was discharged in March 1953 as a private first class.

Kennedy re-entered Harvard in the summer of 1953 and improved his study habits. His brother John was a U.S. Senator and the family was attracting more public attention. Ted joined The Owl final club in 1954 and was also chosen for the Hasty Pudding Club and the Pi Eta fraternity. Kennedy was on athletic probation during his sophomore year, and he returned as a second-string two-way end for the Crimson football team during his junior year. He barely missed earning his varsity letter. Green Bay Packers head coach Lisle Blackbourn asked him about his interest in playing professional football. Kennedy demurred, saying he had plans to attend law school and "go into another contact sport, politics." In his senior season of 1955, Kennedy started at end for the Harvard football team and worked hard to improve his blocking and tackling to complement his 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m), 200 lb (91 kg) size. In the season-ending Harvard-Yale game in the snow at the Yale Bowl on November 19 (which Yale won 21–7), Kennedy caught a pass to score Harvard's only touchdown; the team finished the season with a 3–4–1 record. Academically, Kennedy received mediocre grades for his first three years, improved to a B average for his senior year, and finished barely in the top half of his class. Kennedy graduated from Harvard at age 24 in 1956 with an AB in history and government.

Due to his low grades, Kennedy was not accepted by Harvard Law School. He instead followed his brother Bobby and enrolled in the University of Virginia School of Law in 1956. That acceptance was controversial among faculty and alumni, who judged Kennedy's past cheating episodes to be incompatible with the University of Virginia's honor code; it took a full faculty vote to admit him. Kennedy also attended The Hague Academy of International Law during one summer. At Virginia, Kennedy felt that he had to study "four times as hard and four times as long" as other students to keep up. He received mostly C grades and was in the middle of the class ranking, but won the prestigious William Minor Lile Moot Court Competition. He was elected head of the Student Legal Forum and brought many prominent speakers to the campus via his family connections. While there, his questionable automotive practices were curtailed when he was charged with reckless driving and driving without a license. He was officially named as manager of his brother John's 1958 Senate re-election campaign; Ted's ability to connect with ordinary voters on the street helped bring a record-setting victory margin that gave credibility to John's presidential aspirations. Ted graduated from law school in 1959.

Family and early career

John, Robert, and Ted Kennedy during John's presidential campaign, July 1960, in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts

In October 1957 (early in his second year of law school), Kennedy met Joan Bennett at Manhattanville College; they were introduced after a dedication speech for a gymnasium that his family had donated at the campus. Bennett was a senior at Manhattanville and had worked as a model and won beauty contests, but she was unfamiliar with politics. After the couple became engaged, she grew nervous about marrying someone she did not know that well, but Joe Kennedy insisted that the wedding should proceed. The couple was married by Cardinal Francis Spellman on November 29, 1958, at St. Joseph's Church in Bronxville, New York, with the reception being held at the nearby Siwanoy Country Club. Ted and Joan had three children: Kara (1960–2011), Ted Jr. (b. 1961) and Patrick (b. 1967). By the 1970s, the marriage was in trouble due to Ted's infidelity and Joan's growing alcoholism.

Ted and Joan established Massachusetts residency after buying a townhouse on Charles River Square in Boston, and a home on Squaw Island, Cape Cod. During Ted's tenure in the U.S. Senate, the Kennedys lived in a townhouse in Georgetown, Washington, D.C., and later, a 12,500-square-foot house in McLean, Virginia. From 1982 until his death in 2009, the Kennedy Compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts became Ted's principal residence.

In 1959, Kennedy was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar. In 1960, his brother John announced his candidacy for President of the United States and Ted managed his campaign in the Western states. Ted learned to fly and during the Democratic primary campaign he barnstormed around the western states, meeting with delegates and bonding with them by trying his hand at ski jumping and bronc riding. The seven weeks he spent in Wisconsin helped his brother win the first contested primary of the season there and a similar time spent in Wyoming was rewarded when a unanimous vote from that state's delegates put his brother over the top at the 1960 Democratic National Convention.

Following his victory in the presidential election, John resigned from his seat as U.S. Senator from Massachusetts, but Ted was not eligible to fill the vacancy until his thirtieth birthday on February 22, 1962. Ted initially wanted to stay out west rather than run for office right away; he said, "The disadvantage of my position is being constantly compared with two brothers of such superior ability." Ted's brothers were not in favor of his running immediately, but Ted ultimately coveted the Senate seat as an accomplishment to match his brothers, and their father overruled them. John asked Massachusetts Governor Foster Furcolo to name Kennedy family friend Ben Smith as interim senator for John's unexpired term, which he did in December 1960. This kept the seat available for Ted.

First Senate campaign, 1962
A brochure for Kennedy's 1962 campaign

Meanwhile, Ted started work in February 1961 as an assistant district attorney at the Suffolk County, Massachusetts District Attorney's Office (for which he took a nominal $1 salary), where he developed a hard-nosed attitude towards crime. He took many overseas trips, billed as fact-finding tours with the goal of improving his foreign policy credentials. On a nine-nation Latin American trip in 1961, FBI reports from the time showed Kennedy meeting with Lauchlin Currie, an alleged former Soviet spy, together with locals in each country whom the reports deemed left-wingers and Communist sympathizers. Reports from the FBI and other sources had Kennedy renting a brothel and opening up bordellos after hours during the tour. The Latin American trip helped to formulate Kennedy's foreign policy views, and in subsequent Boston Globe columns he warned that the region might turn to communism if the U.S. did not reach out to it in a more effective way. Kennedy also began speaking to local political organizations.

In the 1962 U.S. Senate special election in Massachusetts, Kennedy initially faced a Democratic Party primary challenge from Edward J. McCormack Jr., the state Attorney General. Kennedy's slogan was "He can do more for Massachusetts", the same one John had used in his first campaign for the seat ten years earlier. McCormack had the support of many liberals and intellectuals, who thought Kennedy inexperienced and knew of his suspension from Harvard, a fact which became public during the race. Kennedy also faced the notion that with one brother President and another U.S. Attorney General, "Don't you think that Teddy is one Kennedy too many?" But Kennedy proved to be an effective street-level campaigner. His charm was such that one delegate at the party convention said "He's completely unqualified and inexperienced. And I'm going to be with him". In a televised debate, McCormack said "The office of United States Senator should be merited, and not inherited", and said that if his opponent's name was Edward Moore, not Edward Moore Kennedy, his candidacy "would be a joke". Voters thought McCormack was overbearing—a Kennedy supporter said "McCormack was able to make a millionaire an underdog"—and with the family political machine's finally getting fully behind him, Kennedy won the September 1962 primary by a two-to-one margin. In the November special election, Kennedy defeated Republican George Cabot Lodge II, product of another noted Massachusetts political family, gaining 55 percent of the vote.

United States Senator

First years, brothers' assassinations

Kennedy was sworn into the Senate on November 7, 1962. He maintained a deferential attitude towards the senior Southern members when he first entered the Senate, avoiding publicity and focusing on committee work and local issues. He lacked his brother John's sophistication and Robert's intense, sometimes grating drive, but was more affable than either. He was favored by Senator James Eastland, chair of the powerful Judiciary Committee. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, despite his feuds with John and Robert, liked Ted and told close aides that he "had the potential to be the best politician in the whole family."

Ted Kennedy, accompanied by his brother Robert and sister-in-law Jacqueline, walks from the White House for the funeral procession accompanying President Kennedy's casket to Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle.

On November 22, 1963, Kennedy was presiding over the Senate—a task given to junior members—when an aide rushed in to tell him that his brother, President Kennedy, had been shot. His brother Robert soon told him that the President was dead. Ted and his sister Eunice immediately flew to the family home in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, to give the news to their invalid father, who had had a stroke two years earlier.

On June 19, 1964, Kennedy was a passenger in a private Aero Commander 680 airplane that was flying in bad weather from Washington, D.C. to Massachusetts. The plane crashed into an apple orchard in Southampton, Massachusetts, on final approach to the Barnes Municipal Airport in Westfield. The pilot and Edward Moss (one of Kennedy's aides) were killed. Kennedy was pulled from the wreckage by fellow Senator Birch Bayh, and spent months in hospital recovering from a severe back injury, a punctured lung, broken ribs and internal bleeding. He suffered chronic back pain for the rest of his life. Kennedy took advantage of his long convalescence to meet with academics and study issues more closely, and the hospital experience triggered his lifelong interest in the provision of health care. His wife Joan did the campaigning for him in the regular 1964 U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts, and he defeated his Republican opponent by a three-to-one margin.

Kennedy was walking with a cane when he returned to the Senate in January 1965. He employed a stronger and more effective legislative staff. He took on President Lyndon B. Johnson and almost succeeded in amending the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to explicitly ban the poll tax at the state and local level (rather than just directing the Attorney General to challenge its constitutionality there), gaining a reputation for legislative skill. He was a leader in pushing through the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which ended a quota system based upon national origin. He also played a role in the creation of the National Teachers Corps.

Kennedy initially said he had "no reservations" about the expanding U.S. role in the Vietnam War and acknowledged that it would be a "long and enduring struggle". Kennedy held hearings on the plight of refugees in the conflict, which revealed that the U.S. government had no coherent policy for refugees. Kennedy also tried to reform "unfair" and "inequitable" aspects of conscription. By the time of a January 1968 trip to Vietnam, Kennedy was disillusioned by the lack of U.S. progress, and suggested publicly that the U.S. should tell South Vietnam, "Shape up or we're going to ship out."

Kennedy in 1966
Following Robert Kennedy's assassination there was an attempt to draft Ted either as the Democratic presidential or vice-presidential nominee for the 1968 presidential election, but all of the attempts failed.

Ted initially advised his brother Robert against challenging the incumbent President Johnson for the Democratic nomination in the 1968 presidential election. Once Senator Eugene McCarthy's strong showing in the New Hampshire primary led to Robert's presidential campaign starting in March 1968, Ted recruited political leaders for endorsements to his brother in the western states. Ted was in San Francisco when his brother Robert won the crucial California primary on June 4, 1968, and then after midnight, Robert was shot in Los Angeles and died a day later. Ted Kennedy was devastated by his brother's death, as he was closest to Robert among those in the Kennedy family. Kennedy aide Frank Mankiewicz said of seeing Ted at the hospital where Robert lay mortally wounded: "I have never, ever, nor do I expect ever, to see a face more in grief." At Robert's funeral at St. Patrick's Cathedral, Kennedy eulogized his older brother:

My brother need not be idealized, or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life; to be remembered simply as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it. Those of us who loved him and who take him to his rest today, pray that what he was to us and what he wished for others will some day come to pass for all the world. As he said many times, in many parts of this nation, to those he touched and who sought to touch him: "Some men see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and say why not."

At the chaotic August 1968 Democratic National Convention, Mayor of Chicago Richard J. Daley and some other party factions feared that Hubert Humphrey could not unite the party, and so encouraged Ted Kennedy to make himself available for a draft. The 36-year-old Kennedy was seen as the natural heir to his brothers, and "Draft Ted" movements sprang up from various quarters and among delegates. Thinking that he was only being seen as a stand-in for his brother and that he was not ready for the job himself, and getting an uncertain reaction from McCarthy and a negative one from Southern delegates, Kennedy rejected any move to place his name before the convention as a candidate. He also declined consideration for the vice-presidential spot. Senator George McGovern remained the symbolic standard-bearer for Robert's delegates instead.

After the deaths of his brothers, Kennedy took on the role of a surrogate father for their children. By some reports, he also negotiated the October 1968 marital contract between Jacqueline Kennedy and Aristotle Onassis.

Following Republican Richard Nixon's victory in November, Kennedy was widely assumed to be the front-runner for the 1972 Democratic nomination. In January 1969, Kennedy defeated Louisiana Senator Russell B. Long by a 31–26 margin to become Senate Majority Whip, the youngest person to attain that position. While this further boosted his presidential image, he appeared conflicted by the inevitability of having to run for the position; "Few who knew him doubted that in one sense he very much wanted to take that path", Time magazine reported, but "he had a fatalistic, almost doomed feeling about the prospect". The reluctance was in part due to the danger; Kennedy reportedly observed, "I know that I'm going to get my ass shot off one day, and I don't want to." Indeed, there were regular death threats made against Kennedy for much of the rest of his career.

Chappaquiddick incident

Main article: Chappaquiddick incident

On the night of July 18, 1969, Kennedy was at Chappaquiddick Island hosting a party for the Boiler Room Girls, a group of young women who had worked on his brother Robert's presidential campaign. Kennedy left the party with one of the women, 28-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne.

Driving a 1967 Oldsmobile Delmont 88, he attempted to cross the Dike Bridge, which did not have a guardrail at that time. Kennedy lost control and crashed in the Poucha Pond inlet, a tidal channel. Kennedy escaped from the overturned vehicle, and, by his description, dove below the surface seven or eight times, vainly attempting to rescue Kopechne. Ultimately, he swam to shore and left the scene, with Kopechne still trapped inside the vehicle. Kennedy did not report the accident to authorities until the next morning, by which time Kopechne's body had already been discovered. Kennedy's cousin Joe Gargan later said that he and Kennedy's friend Paul Markham, both of whom were at the party and came to the scene, had urged Kennedy to report it at the time.

A week after the incident, Kennedy pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident and was given a suspended sentence of two months in jail. That night, he gave a national broadcast in which he said, "I regard as indefensible the fact that I did not report the accident to the police immediately," but he denied driving under the influence of alcohol and also denied any immoral conduct between him and Kopechne. Kennedy asked the Massachusetts electorate whether he should stay in office or resign; after getting a favorable response in messages sent to him, Kennedy announced on July 30 that he would remain in the Senate and run for re-election the next year.

In January 1970, an inquest into Kopechne's death was held in Edgartown, Massachusetts. At the request of Kennedy's lawyers, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ordered the inquest to be conducted in secret. The presiding judge, James A. Boyle, concluded that some aspects of Kennedy's story of that night were not true, and that negligent driving "appears to have contributed" to the death of Kopechne. A grand jury conducted a two-day investigation in April 1970 but issued no indictment, after which Boyle made his inquest report public. Kennedy deemed its conclusions "not justified." Questions about the incident generated many articles and books during the following years.

1970s

Kennedy giving a presentation on his healthcare proposal in June 1971

At the end of 1968, Kennedy had joined the new Committee for National Health Insurance at the invitation of its founder, United Auto Workers president Walter Reuther. In May 1970, Reuther died and Senator Ralph Yarborough, chairman of the full Senate Labor and Public Welfare Committee and its Health subcommittee, lost his primary election, propelling Kennedy into a leadership role on the issue of national health insurance. Kennedy introduced a bipartisan bill in August 1970 for single-payer universal national health insurance with no cost sharing, paid for by payroll taxes and general federal revenue.

Despite the Chappaquiddick controversy of the previous year, Kennedy easily won re-election to the Senate in November 1970 with 62 percent of the vote against underfunded Republican candidate Josiah Spaulding, although he received about 500,000 fewer votes than in 1964.

Senator Kennedy meeting with Justice Minister Horst Ehmke at Bonn, West Germany, in April 1971

In January 1971, Kennedy lost his position as Senate Majority Whip to Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia, 31–24, probably because of Chappaquiddick. He later told Byrd that the defeat had allowed Kennedy to focus more on issues and committee work, where he could exert influence independently from the Democratic party apparatus. Kennedy began a decade as chairman of the Subcommittee on Health and Scientific Research of the Senate Labor and Public Welfare Committee.

In February 1971, Nixon proposed health insurance reform—an employer mandate to offer private health insurance if employees volunteered to pay 25 percent of premiums, federalization of Medicaid for the poor with dependent minor children, and support for health maintenance organizations. Hearings on national health insurance were held in 1971, but no bill had the support of House Ways and Means and Senate Finance Committee chairmen Representative Wilbur Mills and Senator Russell Long. Kennedy sponsored and helped pass the limited Health Maintenance Organization Act of 1973. He also played a leading role, with Senator Jacob Javits, in the creation and passage of the National Cancer Act of 1971.

In October 1971, Kennedy made his first speech about The Troubles in Northern Ireland: he said that "Ulster is becoming Britain's Vietnam", advocating for the withdrawal of British troops from the six northern counties, called for a united Ireland, and declared that Ulster Unionists who could not accept this "should be given a decent opportunity to go back to Britain" (a position he backed away from within a couple of years). Kennedy was sharply criticised by the British and Ulster unionists, and he formed a long political relationship with Social Democratic and Labour Party founder John Hume. In scores of anti-war speeches, Kennedy opposed Nixon's policy of Vietnamization, calling it "a policy of violence means more and more war". In December 1971, Kennedy strongly criticized the Nixon administration's support for Pakistan and its ignoring of "the brutal and systematic repression of East Bengal by the Pakistani army". He traveled to India and wrote a report on the plight of the 10 million Bengali refugees. In February 1972, Kennedy flew to Bangladesh and delivered a speech at the University of Dhaka, where a killing rampage had begun a year earlier.

The Chappaquiddick incident had greatly hindered Kennedy's future presidential prospects, and shortly after the incident he declared that he would not be a candidate in the 1972 U.S. presidential election. Nevertheless, polls in 1971 suggested he could win the nomination if he tried, and Kennedy gave some thought to running. In May of that year he decided not to, saying he needed "breathing time" to gain more experience and to take care of the children of his brothers, and that "it feels wrong in my gut." Nevertheless, in November 1971, a Gallup Poll still had him in first place in the Democratic nomination race with 28 percent. George McGovern was close to clinching the Democratic nomination in June 1972, when various anti-McGovern forces tried to get Kennedy to enter the contest at the last minute, but he declined. At the 1972 Democratic National Convention, McGovern repeatedly tried to recruit Kennedy as his vice presidential running mate, but Kennedy turned him down. When McGovern's choice of Thomas Eagleton stepped down soon after the convention, McGovern again tried to get Kennedy to take the nod, again without success. McGovern instead chose Kennedy's brother-in-law Sargent Shriver.

In 1973, Kennedy's 12-year-old son Edward Kennedy Jr., was diagnosed with bone cancer; his leg was amputated and he underwent a long, difficult, experimental two-year drug treatment. The case brought international attention among doctors and in the media, as did the young Kennedy's return to skiing half a year later. Son Patrick was suffering from severe asthma attacks. The pressure of the situation mounted on Joan Kennedy. On several occasions, she entered facilities for treatment of alcoholism and emotional strain, and she was arrested for drunk driving after a traffic accident.

In February 1974, Nixon proposed more comprehensive health insurance reform—an employer mandate to offer private health insurance if employees volunteered to pay 25 percent of premiums, replacement of Medicaid by state-run health insurance plans available to all with income-based premiums and cost sharing, and replacement of Medicare with a new federal program that eliminated the limit on hospital days, added income-based out-of-pocket limits, and added outpatient prescription drug coverage. In April 1974, Kennedy and Mills introduced a bill for near-universal national health insurance with benefits identical to the expanded Nixon plan—but with mandatory participation by employers and employees through payroll taxes—both plans were criticized by labor, consumer, and senior citizen organizations because of their substantial cost sharing. In August 1974, after Nixon's resignation and President Ford's call for health insurance reform, Mills tried to advance a compromise based on Nixon's plan—but with mandatory participation by employers and employees through premiums to private health insurance companies—but gave up when unable to get more than a 13–12 majority of his committee to support his compromise plan.

In the wake of the Watergate scandal, Kennedy pushed campaign finance reform; he was a leading force behind passage of the Federal Election Campaign Act Amendments of 1974, which set contribution limits and established public financing for presidential elections. In April 1974, Kennedy travelled to the Soviet Union, where he met with leader Leonid Brezhnev and advocated a full nuclear test ban as well as relaxed emigration, gave a speech at Moscow State University, met with Soviet dissidents, and secured an exit visa for cellist Mstislav Rostropovich. Kennedy's Subcommittee on Refugees and Escapees continued to focus on Vietnam, especially after the Fall of Saigon in 1975.

Kennedy had initially opposed busing schoolchildren across racial lines, but grew to support the practice as it became a focal point of civil rights efforts. After federal judge W. Arthur Garrity ordered the Boston School Committee in 1974 to racially integrate Boston's public schools via busing, Kennedy made a surprise appearance at a September 1974 anti-busing rally in City Hall Plaza to express the need for peaceful dialogue and was met with extreme hostility. The predominantly white crowd yelled insults about his children and hurled tomatoes and eggs at him as he retreated into the John F. Kennedy Federal Building and went so far as to break one of its glass walls.

Kennedy was again much talked about as a contender in the 1976 U.S. presidential election, with no strong front-runners among the other possible Democratic candidates. Kennedy's concerns about his family were strong, and Chappaquiddick was still in the news, with The Boston Globe, The New York Times Magazine, and Time magazine all reassessing the incident and raising doubts about Kennedy's version of events. (The Times would in 1977 describe Chappaquiddick as Kennedy's Watergate.) In September 1974, Kennedy announced that for family reasons he would not run in the 1976 election, declaring that his decision was "firm, final, and unconditional." Kennedy was up for Senate re-election in 1976. He defeated a primary challenger who was angry at his support for school busing in Boston. Kennedy won the general election with 69 percent of the vote.

President Jimmy Carter (right) with Senator Ted Kennedy in the Oval Office of the White House, December 1977

The Carter administration years were difficult for Kennedy; he had been the most important Democrat in Washington ever since his brother Robert's death, but now Carter was, and Kennedy at first did not have a full committee chairmanship with which to wield influence. Carter in turn sometimes resented Kennedy's status as a political celebrity. Despite generally similar ideologies, their priorities were different. Kennedy told reporters that he was content with his congressional role and denied presidential ambitions, but by late 1977 Carter reportedly saw Kennedy as a future challenger to his presidency.

Kennedy and his wife Joan separated in 1977, although they still staged some joint appearances. He held Health and Scientific Research Subcommittee hearings in March 1977 that led to public revelations of extensive scientific misconduct by contract research organizations, including Industrial Bio-Test Laboratories. Kennedy visited China on a goodwill mission in late December 1977, meeting with leader Deng Xiaoping and eventually gaining permission for a number of Mainland Chinese nationals to leave the country; in 1978, he also visited the Soviet Union and Brezhnev and dissidents there again. During the 1970s, Kennedy also showed interest in nuclear disarmament, and as part of his efforts in this field even visited Hiroshima in January 1978 and gave a public speech to that effect at Hiroshima University. He became chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1978, by which time he had amassed a wide-ranging Senate staff of a hundred.

As a candidate, Carter had proposed health care reform that included key features of Kennedy's national health insurance bill, but in December 1977, President Carter told Kennedy his bill must preserve a large role for private insurance companies, minimize federal spending (precluding payroll tax financing), and be phased-in to not interfere with Carter's paramount domestic policy objective—balancing the federal budget. Kennedy and labor compromised and made the requested changes, but broke with Carter in July 1978 when he would not commit to pursuing a single bill with a fixed schedule for phasing-in comprehensive coverage. Frustrated by Carter's budgetary concerns and political caution, in a December 1978 speech on national health insurance at the Democratic midterm convention, Kennedy said regarding liberal goals that "sometimes a party must sail against the wind" and in particular should provide health care as "a basic right for all, not just an expensive privilege for the few."

Kennedy in 1979

In May 1979, Kennedy proposed a new bipartisan universal national health insurance bill—choice of competing federally regulated private health insurance plans with no cost sharing financed by income-based premiums via an employer mandate and individual mandate, replacement of Medicaid by government payment of premiums to private insurers, and enhancement of Medicare by adding prescription drug coverage and eliminating premiums and cost sharing. In June 1979, Carter proposed more limited health insurance reform—an employer mandate to provide catastrophic private health insurance plus coverage without cost sharing for pregnant women and infants, federalization of Medicaid with extension to all of the very poor, and adding catastrophic coverage to Medicare. Neither plan gained any traction in Congress, and the failure to come to agreement represented the final political breach between the two. (Carter wrote in 1982 that Kennedy "ironically" thwarted Carter's efforts to provide a comprehensive health-care system for the country. In turn, Kennedy wrote in 2009 that his relationship with Carter was "unhealthy" and that "President Carter was a difficult man to convince – of anything.")

1980 presidential campaign

Main article: Ted Kennedy 1980 presidential campaign See also: 1980 United States presidential election and 1980 Democratic Party presidential primaries
Kennedy's 1980 presidential campaign logo

Kennedy decided to seek the Democratic nomination in the 1980 presidential election by launching an unusual, insurgent campaign against the incumbent Carter. A midsummer 1978 poll showed that Democrats preferred Kennedy over Carter by a 5-to-3 margin. Through summer 1979, as Kennedy deliberated whether to run, Carter was not intimidated despite his 28 percent approval rating, saying publicly: "If Kennedy runs, I'll whip his ass." Carter later asserted that Kennedy's constant criticism of his policies was a strong indicator that Kennedy was planning to run for the presidency. Labor unions urged Kennedy to run, as did some Democratic party officials who feared that Carter's unpopularity could result in heavy losses in the 1980 congressional elections. Kennedy decided to run in August 1979, when polls showed him with a 2-to-1 advantage over Carter; Carter's approval rating slipped to 19 percent. Kennedy formally announced his campaign on November 7, 1979, at Boston's Faneuil Hall. He had already received substantial negative press from a rambling response to the question "Why do you want to be President?" during an interview with Roger Mudd of CBS News broadcast a few days earlier. The Iranian hostage crisis, which began on November 4, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, which began on December 27, prompted the electorate to rally around the president and allowed Carter to pursue a Rose Garden strategy of staying at the White House, which kept Kennedy's campaign out of the headlines.

Kennedy's campaign staff was disorganized and he was initially an ineffective campaigner. There is little evidence that Kennedy truly wanted to be president; the incoherent answer to Mudd was an example of what Walter Mondale, who knew Kennedy well from the Senate, described as his way of avoiding a topic by "using words, but they didn't come together somehow". Chris Whipple of Life, who was present for the Mudd interview, wondered if Kennedy's answer was "consciously or otherwise, an act of political self-destruction ... The campaign was over. His heart just wasn't in it". The Chappaquiddick incident emerged as a more significant issue than the staff had expected, with several newspaper columnists and editorials criticizing Kennedy's answers on the matter. In the January 1980 Iowa caucuses that initiated the primaries season, Carter demolished Kennedy by a 59–31 percent margin. Kennedy's fundraising immediately declined and his campaign had to downsize, but he remained defiant, saying " we'll see who is going to whip whose what." Nevertheless, Kennedy lost three New England contests. Kennedy did form a more coherent message about why he was running, saying at Georgetown University: "I believe we must not permit the dream of social progress to be shattered by those whose premises have failed." However, concerns over Chappaquiddick and issues related to personal character prevented Kennedy from gaining the support of many people who were disillusioned with Carter. During a St. Patrick's Day Parade in Chicago, Kennedy had to wear a bullet-proof vest due to assassination threats, and hecklers yelled "Where's Mary Jo?" at him. In the key March 18 primary in Illinois, Kennedy failed to gain the support of Catholic voters, and Carter won 155 of 169 delegates.

With little mathematical hope of winning the nomination and polls showing another likely defeat in the New York primary, Kennedy prepared to withdraw from the race. However, partially due to Jewish voter unhappiness with a U.S. vote at the United Nations against Israeli settlements in the West Bank, Kennedy staged an upset and won the March 25 vote by a 59–41 percent margin. Carter responded with an advertising campaign that attacked Kennedy's character in general without explicitly mentioning Chappaquiddick, but Kennedy still managed a narrow win in the April 22 Pennsylvania primary. Carter won 11 of 12 primaries held in May, while on the June 3 Super Tuesday primaries, Kennedy won California, New Jersey, and three smaller states out of eight contests. Overall, Kennedy had won 10 presidential primaries against Carter, who won 24.

"And the Dream Shall Never Die" Final 17 seconds of Ted Kennedy's speech at the 1980 Democratic National Convention
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Although Carter now had enough delegates to clinch the nomination, Kennedy carried his campaign on to the 1980 Democratic National Convention in August in New York, hoping to pass a rule there that would free delegates from being bound by primary results and open the convention. This move failed on the first night of the convention, and Kennedy withdrew. On the second night, August 12, Kennedy delivered the most famous speech of his career. Drawing on allusions to and quotes of Martin Luther King Jr., Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and Alfred Lord Tennyson to say that American liberalism was not passé, he concluded with the words:

For me, a few hours ago, this campaign came to an end. For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die.

The Madison Square Garden audience reacted with wild applause and demonstrations for half an hour. On the final night, Kennedy arrived late after Carter's acceptance speech and while he shook Carter's hand, he failed to raise Carter's arm in the traditional show of party unity. Carter's difficulty in securing the assistance of Kennedy supporters during the election campaign contributed to his November defeat by Ronald Reagan.

1980s

Kennedy with President Ronald Reagan in 1986

The 1980 election saw the Republicans capture not just the presidency but control of the Senate as well, and Kennedy was in the minority party for the first time in his career. Kennedy did not dwell upon his presidential loss, but instead reaffirmed his public commitment to American liberalism. He chose to become the ranking member of the Labor and Public Welfare Committee rather than of the Judiciary Committee, which he would later say was one of the most important decisions of his career. Kennedy became a committed champion of women's issues, and established relationships with select Republican senators to block Reagan's actions and preserve and improve the Voting Rights Act, funding for AIDS treatment, and equal funding for women's sports under Title IX. To combat being in the minority, he worked long hours and devised a series of hearings-like public forums to which he could invite experts and discuss topics important to him. Kennedy could not hope to stop all of Reagan's reshapings of government, but was often nearly the sole effective Democrat battling him.

In January 1981, Ted and Joan Kennedy announced they were getting a divorce. The proceedings were generally amicable, and she received a reported $4 million settlement when the divorce was granted in 1982. Later that year, Kennedy created the Friends of Ireland organization with Senator Daniel Moynihan and House Speaker Tip O'Neill to support initiatives for peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland.

Kennedy easily defeated Republican businessman Ray Shamie to win re-election in 1982. Senate leaders granted him a seat on the Armed Services Committee, while allowing him to keep his other major seats despite the traditional limit of two such seats. Kennedy became very visible in opposing aspects of the foreign policy of the Reagan administration, including U.S. intervention in the Salvadoran Civil War and U.S. support for the Contras in Nicaragua, and in opposing Reagan-supported weapons systems, including the B-1 bomber, the MX missile, and the Strategic Defense Initiative. Kennedy became the Senate's leading advocate for a nuclear freeze and was a critic of Reagan's confrontational policies toward the Soviet Union.

A 1983 KGB memo indicates that Kennedy engaged in back-channel communication with the Soviet Union. According to a May 14, 1983, memorandum from Chairman of the KGB Viktor Chebrikov to general secretary Yuri Andropov, former U.S. Senator John V. Tunney—a friend of Kennedy's—visited Moscow that month and conveyed a message from Kennedy to Andropov. The memo indicates that the stated purpose of the communication was to "'root out the threat of nuclear war', 'improve Soviet-American relations' and 'define the safety of the world'". Kennedy reportedly offered to visit Moscow "'to arm Soviet officials with explanations regarding problems of nuclear disarmament so they may be better prepared and more convincing during appearances in the USA'" and to set up U.S. television appearances for Andropov.

Chebrikov also noted "a little-hidden secret that intended to run for president in 1988 and that the Democratic Party 'may officially turn to him to lead the fight against the Republicans' in 1984 — turning the proposal from one purely about international cooperation to one tinged with personal political aspiration." Andropov was unimpressed by Kennedy's overtures. After the Chebrikov memo was unearthed, both Tunney and a Kennedy spokesperson denied that it was true. Former Reagan administration negotiator Max Kampelman has asserted that Kennedy did engage in back-channel communications, but added that "'the senator never acted or received information without informing the appropriate United States agency or official'". Kenneth Adelman, a deputy ambassador to the United Nations under Reagan, has asserted that the Reagan administration knew of back-channel communications between various senators and the Soviet Union and were unconcerned about the practice.

Kennedy's staff drew up detailed plans for a candidacy in the 1984 presidential election that he considered, but with his family opposed and his realization that the Senate was a fully satisfying career, in late 1982 he decided not to run. Kennedy campaigned hard for Democratic presidential nominee Mondale and defended vice presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro from criticism over being a pro-choice Catholic, but Reagan was re-elected in a landslide.

Kennedy staged a tiring, dangerous, and high-profile trip to South Africa in January 1985. He defied both the apartheid government's wishes and militant leftist AZAPO demonstrators by spending a night in the Soweto home of Bishop Desmond Tutu and also visited Winnie Mandela, wife of imprisoned black leader Nelson Mandela. Upon returning, Kennedy became a leader in the push for economic sanctions against South Africa; collaborating with Senator Lowell Weicker, he secured Senate passage, and the overriding of Reagan's veto, of the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986. Despite their many political differences, Kennedy and Reagan had a good personal relationship, and with the administration's approval Kennedy traveled to the Soviet Union in 1986 to act as a go-between in arms control negotiations with reformist Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. The discussions were productive, and Kennedy also helped gain the release of a number of Soviet Jewish refuseniks, including Anatoly Shcharansky.

Although Kennedy was an accomplished legislator, his personal life was troubled during this time. His weight fluctuated wildly and he drank heavily at times – although not when it would interfere with his Senate duties. Kennedy later acknowledged, "I went through a lot of difficult times over a period in my life where may have been somewhat of a factor or force." He chased women frequently, and also was in a series of more serious romantic relationships but did not want to commit to anything long-term. He often caroused with fellow Senator Chris Dodd; twice in 1985 they were in drunken incidents in Washington restaurants, with one involving a waitress claiming the pair sexually assaulted her. In 1987, Kennedy and a young female lobbyist were surprised in the back room of a restaurant in a state of partial undress. Female Senate staffers from the late 1980s and early 1990s recalled that Kennedy was on an informal list of male Senators who were known for harassing women regularly.

Senator Kennedy talking to sailors aboard USS Theodore Roosevelt, February 1987

After again considering a candidacy for the 1988 presidential election, in December 1985 Kennedy publicly declined to run. This decision was influenced by his personal difficulties, family concerns, and contentment with remaining in the Senate. He added: "I know this decision means I may never be president. But the pursuit of the presidency is not my life. Public service is." Kennedy used his legislative skills to achieve passage of the COBRA Act, which extended employer-based health benefits after leaving a job. Following the 1986 congressional elections, the Democrats regained control of the Senate, and Kennedy became chair of the Labor and Public Welfare Committee. By this time, Kennedy had become what colleague and future President Joe Biden termed "the best strategist in the Senate". Kennedy continued his close working relationship with ranking Republican Senator Orrin Hatch, and they were close allies on many health-related measures.

One of Kennedy's biggest battles in the Senate came with Reagan's July 1987 nomination of Judge Robert Bork to the U.S. Supreme Court. Kennedy saw a possible Bork appointment as leading to a dismantling of civil rights law that he had helped put into place, and feared Bork's originalist judicial philosophy. Kennedy's staff had researched Bork's writings and record, and within an hour of the nomination – which was initially expected to succeed – Kennedy went on the Senate floor to announce his opposition:

Robert Bork's America is a land in which women would be forced into back-alley abortions, blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters, rogue police could break down citizens' doors in midnight raids, schoolchildren could not be taught about evolution, writers and artists could be censored at the whim of the Government, and the doors of the Federal courts would be shut on the fingers of millions of citizens ...

The incendiary rhetoric of what became known as the "Robert Bork's America" speech enraged Bork supporters, who considered it slanderous, and worried some Democrats as well. Bork responded, "There was not a line in that speech that was accurate." In 1988, an analysis published in the Western Political Quarterly of amicus curiae briefs filed by U.S. Solicitors General during the Warren and Burger Courts found that during Bork's tenure in the position during the Nixon and Ford Administrations (1973–1977), Bork took liberal positions in the aggregate as often as Thurgood Marshall did during the Johnson Administration (1965–1967) and more often than Wade H. McCree did during the Carter Administration (1977–1981), in part because Bork filed briefs in favor of the litigates in civil rights cases 75 percent of the time (contradicting a previous review of his civil rights record published in 1983).

However, the Reagan administration was unprepared for the assault, and the speech froze some Democrats from supporting the nomination and gave Kennedy and other Bork opponents time to prepare the case against him. When the September 1987 Judiciary Committee hearings began, Kennedy challenged Bork forcefully on civil rights, privacy, women's rights, and other issues. Bork's own demeanor hurt him, and the nomination was defeated both in committee and the full Senate. The tone of the Bork battle changed the way Washington worked – with controversial nominees or candidates now experiencing all-out war waged against them – and the ramifications of it are still being felt today.

During the 1988 presidential election, Kennedy supported the eventual Democratic nominee, Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis. In the fall, Dukakis lost to George H. W. Bush, but Kennedy won re-election to the Senate over Republican Joseph D. Malone in the easiest race of his career. Kennedy remained a powerful force in the Senate. In 1988, Kennedy co-sponsored an amendment to the Fair Housing Act of 1968, which prohibits discrimination in the rental, sale, marketing, and financing of the nation's housing; the amendment strengthened the ability of the Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity to enforce the Act and expanded the protected classes to include disabled persons and families with children. After prolonged negotiations during 1989 with Bush chief of staff John H. Sununu and Attorney General Richard Thornburgh to secure Bush's approval, he directed passage of the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Kennedy had personal interest in the bill due to his sister Rosemary's condition and his son's lost leg, and he considered its enactment one of the most important successes of his career. In the late 1980s Kennedy and Hatch staged a prolonged battle against Senator Jesse Helms to provide funding to combat the AIDS epidemic and provide treatment for low-income people affected; this would culminate in passage of the Ryan White Care Act. In late November 1989, Kennedy traveled to see first-hand the newly fallen Berlin Wall; he spoke at John-F.-Kennedy-Platz, site of the famous "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech in 1963, and said "Emotionally, I just wish my brother could have seen it."

Early 1990s

Kennedy's personal life came to dominate his image. In 1989, paparazzi stalked him on a vacation in Europe and photographed him having sex on a motorboat. In February 1990, Michael Kelly published his lengthy profile "Ted Kennedy on the Rocks" in GQ magazine. It captured Kennedy as "an aging Irish boyo clutching a bottle and diddling a blonde," portrayed him as an out-of-control Regency rake, and brought his behavior to the forefront of public attention. Kennedy's brother-in-law, Stephen Edward Smith, died from cancer in August 1990; Smith was a close family member and troubleshooter, and his death left Kennedy emotionally bereft. Kennedy pushed on, but even his legislative successes, such as the Civil Rights Act of 1991, which expanded employee rights in discrimination cases, came at the cost of being criticized for compromising with Republicans and Southern Democrats.

On Easter weekend 1991, Kennedy was at a get-together at the family's Palm Beach, Florida, estate. After reminiscing about his brother-in-law, Kennedy was restless and maudlin when he left for a late-night visit to a local bar. He got his son Patrick and nephew William Kennedy Smith to accompany him. Patrick and Smith returned with women they met there, Michelle Cassone and Patricia Bowman. Cassone said that Ted Kennedy subsequently walked in on her and Patrick; Ted was dressed only in a nightshirt and had a weird look on his face. Smith and Bowman went out on the beach, where they had sex that he said was consensual but she said was rape. The local police made a delayed investigation; Kennedy sources were soon feeding the press with negative information about Bowman's background, and several mainstream newspapers broke an unwritten rule by publishing her name. The case quickly became a media frenzy. While not directly implicated in the case, Kennedy became the frequent butt of jokes on The Tonight Show and other late-night television programs. Time magazine said Kennedy was being perceived as a "Palm Beach boozer, lout and tabloid grotesque" while Newsweek said Kennedy was "the living symbol of the family flaws".

Bork and Clarence Thomas were the two most contentious Supreme Court nominations in United States history to that point. When the Thomas hearings began in September 1991, Kennedy pressed Thomas on his unwillingness to express an opinion about Roe v. Wade, but the nomination appeared headed for success. When Anita Hill brought the sexual harassment charges against Thomas the following month, the nomination battle dominated public discourse. Kennedy was hamstrung by his past reputation and the ongoing developments in the William Kennedy Smith case. He said almost nothing until the third day of the Thomas–Hill hearings, and when he did it was criticized by Hill supporters for being too little, too late.

Biographer Adam Clymer rated Kennedy's silence during the Thomas hearings as the worst moment of his Senate career. Writer Anna Quindlen said " let us down because he had to; he was muzzled by the facts of his life". On the day before the full Senate vote, Kennedy gave an impassioned speech against Thomas, declaring that the treatment of Hill had been "shameful" and that "o give the benefit of the doubt to Judge Thomas is to say that Judge Thomas is more important than the Supreme Court." He then voted against the nomination. Thomas was confirmed by a 52–48 vote, one of the narrowest margins ever for a successful nomination.

Due to the Palm Beach media attention and the Thomas hearings, Kennedy's public image suffered. A Gallup Poll gave Kennedy a 22 percent national approval rating. A Boston Herald/WCVB-TV poll found that 62 percent of Massachusetts citizens thought Kennedy should not run for re-election, by a 2-to-1 margin thought Kennedy had misled authorities in the Palm Beach investigation, and had Kennedy losing a hypothetical Senate race to Governor William Weld by 25 points. Meanwhile, at a June 17, 1991, dinner party, Kennedy saw Victoria Anne Reggie, a Washington lawyer, a divorced mother of two, and the daughter of an old Kennedy family ally, Louisiana judge Edmund Reggie. They began dating and by September were in a serious relationship. In a late October speech at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Kennedy sought to begin a political recovery, saying:

I am painfully aware that the criticism directed at me in recent months involves far more than disagreements with my positions ... involves the disappointment of friends and many others who rely on me to fight the good fight. To them I say, I recognize my own shortcomings – the faults in the conduct of my private life. I realize that I alone am responsible for them, and I am the one who must confront them.

In December 1991, the William Kennedy Smith rape trial was held; it was nationally televised and the most watched until the O. J. Simpson murder case three years later. Kennedy's testimony at the trial seemed relaxed, confident, and forthcoming, and helped convince the public that his involvement had been peripheral and unintended. Smith was acquitted.

Kennedy and Reggie continued their relationship, and he was devoted to her two children, Curran and Caroline. They became engaged in March 1992, and were married in a civil ceremony by Judge A. David Mazzone on July 3, 1992, at Kennedy's home in McLean, Virginia. She would gain credit for stabilizing his personal life and helping him resume a productive Senate career.

Kennedy had no further presidential ambitions. Despite having initially backed former fellow Massachusetts Senator Paul Tsongas in the 1992 Democratic presidential primaries, Kennedy formed a good relationship with Democratic President Bill Clinton upon the latter taking office in 1993. Kennedy floor-managed passage of Clinton's National and Community Service Trust Act of 1993 that created the AmeriCorps program, and despite reservations supported the president on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). On the issue Kennedy cared most about, national health insurance, he supported but was not much involved in formation of the Clinton health care plan, which was run by First Lady Hillary Clinton and others. It failed badly and damaged the prospects for such legislation for years to come. In 1994, Kennedy's strong recommendation of his former Judiciary Committee staffer Stephen Breyer played a role in Clinton appointing Breyer to the U.S. Supreme Court.</ref> During 1994 Kennedy became the first senator with a home page on the World Wide Web; the product of an effort with the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, it helped counter the image of Kennedy as old and out of touch.

Results of Kennedy's re-election to the U.S. Senate from Massachusetts in 1994 against Republican challenger Mitt Romney

In the 1994 U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts, Kennedy faced his first serious challenger, the young, telegenic, and very well-funded Mitt Romney. Romney ran as a successful entrepreneur and Washington outsider with a strong family image and moderate stands on social issues, while Kennedy was saddled not only with his recent past but the 25th anniversary of Chappaquiddick and his first wife Joan seeking a renegotiated divorce settlement. By mid-September 1994, polls showed the race to be even. Kennedy's campaign ran short on money, and belying his image as endlessly wealthy, he was forced to take out a second mortgage on his Virginia home. Kennedy responded with a series of attack ads, which focused both on Romney's shifting political views and on the treatment of workers at a paper products plant owned by Romney's Bain Capital. Kennedy's new wife Vicki proved to be a strong asset in campaigning. Kennedy and Romney held a widely watched late October debate without a clear winner, but by then Kennedy had pulled ahead in polls and stayed ahead afterward. In the November election, despite a very bad outcome for the Democratic Party nationally, Kennedy won re-election by a 58 percent to 41 percent margin, the closest re-election race of his career.

Kennedy's mother Rose died in January 1995. From then on, Kennedy intensified the practice of his Catholic faith, often attending Mass several times a week.

Late 1990s

Kennedy's role as a liberal lion in the Senate came to the fore in 1995, when the Republican Revolution took control and legislation intending to fulfill the Contract with America was coming from Newt Gingrich's House of Representatives. Many Democrats in the Senate and the country overall felt depressed but Kennedy rallied forces to combat the Republicans. By the beginning of 1996, the Republicans had overreached; most of the Contract had failed to pass the Senate and the Democrats could once again move forward with legislation, almost all of it coming out of Kennedy's staff.

Kennedy's official Senate portrait in the 1990s

In 1996, Kennedy secured an increase in the minimum wage, which was one of his favorite issues; there would not be another increase for ten years. Following the failure of the Clinton health care plan, Kennedy went against his past strategy and sought incremental measures instead. Kennedy worked with Republican Senator Nancy Kassebaum to create and pass the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act in 1996, which set new marks for portability of insurance and confidentiality of records. The same year, Kennedy's Mental Health Parity Act forced insurance companies to treat mental health payments the same as others with respect to limits reached. In 1997, Kennedy was the prime mover behind the State Children's Health Insurance Program, which used increased tobacco taxes to fund the largest expansion of taxpayer-funded health insurance coverage for children in the U.S. since Medicaid began in the 1960s. Senator Hatch and Hillary Clinton also played major roles in SCHIP passing.

Kennedy was a stalwart backer of President Clinton during the 1998 Lewinsky scandal, often trying to cheer up the president and getting him to add past Kennedy staffer Greg Craig to his defense team, which helped improve the president's fortunes. In the trial after the 1999 impeachment of Bill Clinton, Kennedy voted to acquit Clinton on both charges, saying "Republicans in the House of Representatives, in their partisan vendetta against the President, have wielded the impeachment power in precisely the way the framers rejected, recklessly and without regard for the Constitution or the will of the American people."

On July 16, 1999, Kennedy's nephew John F. Kennedy Jr. was killed when his Piper Saratoga aircraft crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Martha's Vineyard. John Jr.'s wife, Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, and his sister-in-law, Lauren Bessette, were also killed. Ted was the family patriarch, and he and President Clinton consoled his extended family at the public memorial service. He paraphrased William Butler Yeats by saying of his nephew: "We dared to think, in that other Irish phrase, that this John Kennedy would live to comb gray hair, with his beloved Carolyn by his side. But like his father, he had every gift but length of years." The Boston Globe wrote of the changed role: "It underscored the evolution that surprised so many people who knew the Kennedys: Teddy, the baby of the family, who had grown into a man who could sometimes be dissolute and reckless, had become the steady, indispensable patriarch, the one the family turned to in good times and bad."

2000s

Kennedy at the 2002 signing of a border security bill, with Senator Dianne Feinstein and President George W. Bush

Kennedy had an easy time with his re-election to the Senate in 2000, as Republican lawyer and entrepreneur Jack E. Robinson III was sufficiently damaged by his past personal record that Republican state party officials refused to endorse him. Kennedy got 73 percent of the general election vote, with Robinson splitting the rest with Libertarian Carla Howell. During the long, disputed post-presidential election battle in Florida in 2000, Kennedy supported Vice President Al Gore's legal actions. After the bitter contest, many Democrats in Congress did not want to work with incoming President George W. Bush. Kennedy, however, saw Bush as genuinely interested in a major overhaul of education, Bush saw Kennedy as a potential major ally in the Senate, and the two partnered together on the legislation. Kennedy accepted provisions governing mandatory student testing and teacher accountability that other Democrats and the National Education Association did not like, in return for increased funding levels for education. The No Child Left Behind Act was passed by Congress in May and June 2001 and signed into law by Bush in January 2002. Kennedy soon became disenchanted with the implementation of the act, however, saying for 2003 that it was $9 billion short of the $29 billion authorized. Kennedy said, "The tragedy is that these long overdue reforms are finally in place, but the funds are not," and accused Bush of not living up to his personal word on the matter. Other Democrats concluded that Kennedy's penchant for cross-party deals had gotten the better of him. The White House defended its spending levels given the context of two wars going on.

Kennedy was in his Senate offices meeting with First Lady Laura Bush when the September 11, 2001, attacks took place. Two of the airplanes involved had taken off from Boston, and Kennedy telephoned each of the 177 Massachusetts families who had lost members in the attacks. He pushed through legislation that provided healthcare and grief counseling benefits for the families, and recommended the appointment of his former chief of staff Kenneth Feinberg as Special Master of the government's September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. Kennedy maintained an ongoing bond with the Massachusetts 9/11 families in subsequent years.

Portrait of Kennedy in the mid-2000s

Kennedy was a supporter of the American-led 2001 overthrow of the Taliban government in Afghanistan. However, Kennedy strongly opposed the Iraq War from the start, and was one of 23 senators voting against the Iraq War Resolution in October 2002. As the Iraqi insurgency grew in subsequent years, Kennedy pronounced that the conflict was "Bush's Vietnam." In response to losses of Massachusetts service personnel to roadside bombs, Kennedy became vocal on the issue of Humvee vulnerability, and co-sponsored enacted 2005 legislation that sped up production and Army procurement of up-armored Humvees.

Despite the strained relationship between Kennedy and Bush over No Child Left Behind spending, the two attempted to work together again on extending Medicare to cover prescription drug benefits. Kennedy's strategy was again doubted by other Democrats, but he saw the proposed $400 billion program as an opportunity that should not be missed. However, when the final formulation of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act contained provisions to steer seniors towards private plans, Kennedy switched to opposing it. It passed in late 2003, and led Kennedy to again say he had been betrayed by the Bush administration.

In the 2004 Democratic Party presidential primaries, Kennedy campaigned heavily for fellow Massachusetts Senator John Kerry and lent his chief of staff, Mary Beth Cahill, to the Kerry campaign. Kennedy's appeal was effective among blue collar and minority voters, and helped Kerry stage a come-from-behind win in the Iowa caucuses that propelled him on to the Democratic nomination.

Kennedy and Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum after Super Bowl XXXIX in 2005, where the Patriots defeated the Eagles. Here Santorum wears a Patriots hat and presents Kennedy a bag of Philly cheesesteaks as part of a wager

After Bush won a second term in the 2004 general election, Kennedy continued to oppose him on Iraq and many other issues. However, Kennedy sought to partner with Republicans again on the matter of immigration reform in the context of the ongoing United States immigration debate. Kennedy was chair of the United States Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security, and Refugees, and in 2005, Kennedy teamed with Republican Senator John McCain on the Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act. The "McCain-Kennedy bill" did not reach a Senate vote, but provided a template for further attempts at dealing comprehensively with legalization, guest worker programs, and border enforcement components. Kennedy returned again with the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007, which was sponsored by an ideologically diverse, bipartisan group of senators and had strong support from the Bush administration. The bill aroused furious grassroots opposition among talk radio listeners and others as an "amnesty" program, and despite Kennedy's last-minute attempts to salvage it, failed a cloture vote in the Senate. Kennedy was philosophical about the defeat, saying that it often took several attempts across multiple Congresses for this type of legislation to build enough momentum for passage.

In 2006, Kennedy released a children's book from the view of his dog Splash, My Senator and Me: A Dog's-Eye View of Washington, D.C. Also in 2006, Kennedy released a political history entitled America Back on Track.

In 2006, a Cessna Citation 550 in which Kennedy was flying lost electrical power after being struck by lightning and had to be diverted.

Kennedy again easily won re-election to the Senate in 2006, winning 69 percent of the vote against Republican language school owner Kenneth Chase, who suffered from very poor name recognition.

Obama, illness

Following his endorsement of Barack Obama, Kennedy staged a campaign appearance with Obama in Hartford, Connecticut, on February 4, 2008, the day before the Super Tuesday primaries.

Kennedy initially stated that he would support John Kerry again if he were to make another bid for president in 2008, but in January 2007, Kerry said he would not make a second attempt for the White House. Kennedy then remained neutral as the 2008 Democratic nomination battle between Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama intensified, because his friend Chris Dodd was also running for the nomination. The initial caucuses and primaries were split between Clinton and Obama. When Dodd withdrew from the race, Kennedy became dissatisfied with the tone of the Clinton campaign and what he saw as racially tinged remarks by Bill Clinton. Kennedy gave an endorsement to Obama on January 28, 2008, despite appeals by both Clintons not to do so. In a move that was seen as a symbolic passing of the torch, Kennedy said that it was "time again for a new generation of leadership," and compared Obama's ability to inspire with that of his fallen brothers. In return, Kennedy gained a commitment from Obama to make universal health care a top priority of his administration if he were elected. Kennedy's endorsement was considered among the most influential that any Democrat could get, and raised the possibility of improving Obama's vote-getting among unions, Hispanics, and traditional base Democrats. It dominated the political news, and gave national exposure to a candidate who was still not well known in much of the country, as the Super Tuesday primaries across the nation approached.

On May 17, 2008, Kennedy suffered a seizure, which was followed by a second seizure as he was being rushed from the Kennedy Compound to Cape Cod Hospital and then by helicopter to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Within days, doctors announced that Kennedy had a malignant glioma, a type of brain tumor. The grim diagnosis brought shocked reactions from many senators of both parties and from President Bush.

Doctors initially informed Kennedy that the tumor was inoperable, but Kennedy followed standard procedure and sought other opinions. He decided to follow the most aggressive course of treatment possible. On June 2, 2008, Kennedy underwent brain surgery at Duke University Medical Center in an attempt to remove as much of the tumor as possible. The 3½-hour operation—conducted by Dr. Allan Friedman while Kennedy was conscious to minimize any permanent neurological effects—was deemed successful. Kennedy left the hospital a week later to begin a course of chemotherapy and radiation treatment. Opinions varied regarding Kennedy's prognosis: the surgery typically extends survival time for only a few months, but people can sometimes live for years.

Kennedy speaks during the first night of the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado, while delegates hold signs reading "KENNEDY"

The operation and follow-up treatments left Kennedy thinner, prone to additional seizures, weak and short on energy, and hurt his balance. Kennedy made his first post-illness public appearance on July 9, when he surprised the Senate by showing up to supply the added vote to break a Republican filibuster against a bill to preserve Medicare fees for doctors. In addition, Kennedy was ill from an attack of kidney stones. Against the advice of some associates, he insisted on appearing during the first night of the 2008 Democratic National Convention on August 25, 2008, where a video tribute to him was played. Introduced by his niece Caroline Kennedy, the senator said, "It is so wonderful to be here. Nothing – nothing – is going to keep me away from this special gathering tonight." He then delivered a speech to the delegates (which he had to memorize, as his impaired vision left him unable to read a teleprompter) in which, reminiscent of his speech at the 1980 Democratic National Convention, he said, "this November, the torch will be passed again to a new generation of Americans. So, with Barack Obama and for you and for me, our country will be committed to his cause. The work begins anew. The hope rises again. And the dream lives on." The dramatic appearance and speech electrified the convention audience, as Kennedy vowed that he would be present to see Obama inaugurated.

On September 26, 2008, Kennedy suffered a mild seizure while at home in Hyannis Port; he immediately went to the hospital, was examined and released later that same day. Doctors believed that a change in his medication triggered the seizure. Kennedy relocated to Florida for the winter; he continued his treatments, did a lot of sailing, and stayed in touch with legislative matters via telephone. In his absence, many senators wore blue "Tedstrong" bracelets.

On January 20, 2009, Kennedy attended Barack Obama's presidential inauguration, but then suffered a seizure at the luncheon immediately afterwards. He was taken by ambulance to MedStar Washington Hospital Center. Doctors attributed the episode to "simple fatigue". He was released from the hospital the following morning, and he returned to his home in Washington, D.C.

Kennedy with President Obama, the day the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act was signed, April 21, 2009, four months before Kennedy's death

When the 111th Congress began, Kennedy dropped his spot on the Senate Judiciary Committee to focus all his attentions on national health care issues, which he regarded as "the cause of my life". He saw the characteristics of the Obama administration and the Democratic majorities in Congress as representing the third and best great chance for universal health care, following the lost 1971 Nixon and 1993 Clinton opportunities, and as his last big legislative battle. Kennedy made another surprise appearance in the Senate to break a Republican filibuster against the Obama stimulus package. When spring arrived, Kennedy appeared on Capitol Hill more frequently, although staffers often did not announce his attendance at committee meetings until they were sure Kennedy was well enough to appear. On March 4, 2009, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Gordon Brown announced that Kennedy had been granted an honorary knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II for his work in the Northern Ireland peace process, and for his contribution to UK–US relations, although the move caused some controversy in the UK due to his connections with Gerry Adams of the Irish republican political party Sinn Féin. Later in March, a bill reauthorizing and expanding the AmeriCorps program was renamed the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act by Senator Hatch in Kennedy's honor. Kennedy threw the ceremonial first pitch at Fenway Park before the Boston Red Sox season opener in April, echoing what his grandfather "Honey Fitz" – a member of the Royal Rooters – had done to open the park in 1912. Even when his illness prevented him from being a major factor in health plan deliberations, his symbolic presence still made him one of the key senators involved.

However, Kennedy's tumor had spread by spring 2009 and treatments for it were no longer effective; this information was not disclosed to the public. By June 2009 Kennedy had not cast a Senate vote in three months, and his deteriorating physical health had forced him to retreat to Massachusetts, where he underwent another round of chemotherapy. In his absence, premature release of his health committee's expansive plan resulted in a poor public reception. Kennedy's friend Chris Dodd had taken over his role on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, but Republican senators and other observers said that the lack of Kennedy's physical presence had resulted in less consultation with them and was making successful negotiation more difficult. Democrats also missed Kennedy's ability to smooth divisions on the health proposals. Kennedy did cut a television commercial for Dodd, who was struggling early on in his 2010 re-election bid. In July, HBO began showing a documentary tribute to Kennedy's life, Teddy: In His Own Words. A health care reform bill was voted out of the committee with content Kennedy favored, but still faced a long, difficult process before having a chance at becoming law. At the end of July 2009, Kennedy was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He could not attend the ceremony to receive this medal, and attended a private service but not the public funeral when his sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver died at age 88 on August 11, 2009. In his final days, Kennedy was in a wheelchair and had difficulty speaking, but consistently stated that "I've had a wonderful life".

Death

Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Boston
Kennedy's grave at Arlington National Cemetery

Kennedy died of a brain tumor on August 25, 2009, at age 77 at his home in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, two weeks after the death of his sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver. In a statement, Kennedy's family thanked "everyone who gave him care and support over this last year, and everyone who stood with him for so many years in his tireless march for progress toward justice".

Reaction

President Obama said that Kennedy's death marked the "passing of an extraordinary leader" and that he and First Lady Michelle Obama were "heartbroken", while Vice President Biden said "today we lost a truly remarkable man," and that Kennedy "changed the circumstances of tens of millions of Americans". Mitt Romney, former Massachusetts Governor and Kennedy's opponent in the 1994 Senate race, called Kennedy "the kind of man you could like even if he was your adversary" and former First Lady Nancy Reagan said she was "terribly saddened". She went on, "Given our political differences, people are sometimes surprised how close Ronnie and I have been to the Kennedy family. ... I will miss him." Senator Robert Byrd, the President pro tempore of the Senate, issued a statement on Kennedy's death in which he said "My heart and soul weeps at the loss of my best friend in the Senate, my beloved friend"; Byrd had cried uncontrollably on the Senate floor when Kennedy's cancer diagnosis was made public the previous year.

There were also tributes from outside politics. Before a Boston Red Sox game, flags at Fenway Park were flown at half-staff and "Taps" was performed as players stood along the baselines, and the Yankees observed a moment of silence before a game at Yankee Stadium.

Funeral services

Kennedy's funeral procession traveled 70 miles (110 km) from the Kennedy Compound in Hyannis Port to the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston, where his corpse lay in repose; over 50,000 members of the public filed by to pay their respects. On Saturday, August 29, a procession traveled from the library to the Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica in Boston, for a funeral Mass. Present at the funeral service were President Obama and former presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush (also representing his father, former President George H. W. Bush, who decided not to attend), along with Vice President Biden, three former Vice presidents, 58 senators, 21 former senators, many members of the House of Representatives, and several foreign dignitaries. President Obama delivered the eulogy.

The funeral service also drew attendees from outside politics from Boston, Washington, and across the United States, including journalists Bob Woodward, Tom Brokaw and Gwen Ifill; singers Tony Bennett and Plácido Domingo; cellist Yo-Yo Ma; actors Jack Nicholson, Lauren Bacall, and Brian Stokes Mitchell; presidents and chancellors of Boston-area colleges and universities including Harvard University President Drew G. Faust and University of Massachusetts President Jack M. Wilson; and sports figures including former Boston Celtics basketball player Bill Russell, as well as the top management of the Red Sox.

Kennedy's remains were returned to Washington, D.C., and laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery, near the graves of his assassinated brothers. Former Cardinal and Washington, D.C., Archbishop Theodore McCarrick presided over his burial service, which was attended by Biden, Kennedy's widow Vicki, and other members of the Kennedy family. Kennedy's grave marker is identical to his brother Robert's: a white oak cross and a white marble foot marker bearing his name and years of birth and death.

Aftermath

True Compass, the memoir that Kennedy worked on throughout his illness, was published three weeks after his death. It debuted atop the New York Times Best Seller list and by mid-December 2009 had sold some 400,000 copies.

A special election was scheduled for January 19, 2010, for the U.S. Senate seat from Massachusetts left vacant by Kennedy's death. Shortly before his death, Kennedy had written to Democratic Governor of Massachusetts Deval Patrick and the Massachusetts legislature, asking them to change state law to allow an appointee to fill a U.S. Senate vacancy for a term expiring upon the special election. Kennedy had been instrumental in the prior 2004 alteration of this law to prevent Governor Mitt Romney from appointing a Republican senator should John Kerry's presidential campaign succeed. The law was amended, and on September 24, 2009, Paul G. Kirk, former Democratic National Committee chairman and former aide to Kennedy, was appointed to occupy the Senate seat until the completion of the special election. Kirk announced that he would not be a candidate in the special election. In that election, Republican State Senator Scott Brown won the seat in a stunning upset, ending Democratic control of it going back to 1953.

Brown's victory ended the 60-vote supermajority in the Senate that the Democrats had held since mid-2009. Democrats rallied and passed health care reform legislation; Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who was instrumental in doing so, credited Kennedy in her closing remarks on the House floor before the final vote. Kennedy's widow Vicki attended the signing of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, at which both she and President Obama wore blue "Tedstrong" bracelets. Congressman Patrick Kennedy brought a copy of a national health insurance bill his father had introduced in 1970 as a gift for the president. He laid a note on his father's grave that said, "Dad, the unfinished business is done." Patrick's earlier decision not to seek re-election meant that in January 2011, a 64-year-long period in which a Kennedy held Federal elective office came to an end, but resumed in January 2013 (due to the November 2012 election) with Ted's great-nephew, Joseph P. Kennedy III, becoming a member of the House. Democratic control of Kennedy's former Senate seat was also regained following Brown's 2012 loss to Elizabeth Warren.

Political positions

Main article: Political positions of Ted Kennedy

Political scientists gauge ideology in part by comparing the annual ratings by the Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) with the ratings by the American Conservative Union (ACU). Kennedy had a lifetime liberal 90 percent score from the ADA through 2004, while the ACU awarded Kennedy a lifetime conservative rating of 2 percent through 2008. Using another metric, Kennedy had a lifetime average liberal score of 88.7 percent, according to a National Journal analysis that places him ideologically as the third-most liberal senator of all those in office in 2009. A 2004 analysis by political scientists Joshua D. Clinton of Princeton University and Simon Jackman and Doug Rivers of Stanford University examined some of the difficulties in making this kind of analysis, and found Kennedy likely to be the 8th-to-15th-most liberal Senator during the 108th Congress. The Almanac of American Politics rates congressional votes as liberal or conservative on the political spectrum, in three policy areas: economic, social, and foreign. For 2005–2006, Kennedy's average ratings were as follows: the economic rating was 91 percent liberal and 0 percent conservative, the social rating was 89 percent liberal and 5 percent conservative, and the foreign rating was 96 percent liberal and 0 percent conservative.

Various interest groups gave Kennedy scores or grades as to how well his votes aligned with the positions of each group. The American Civil Liberties Union gave him an 84 percent lifetime score as of 2009. During the 1990s and 2000s, NARAL Pro-Choice America and Planned Parenthood typically gave Kennedy ratings of 100 percent, while the National Right to Life Committee typically gave him a rating of less than 10 percent. The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence gave Kennedy a lifetime rating of 100 percent through 2002, while the NRA Political Victory Fund gave Kennedy a lifetime grade of "F" (failing) as of 2006.

Cultural and political image

Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, Senator Ted Kennedy, and President John F. Kennedy in 1963

When Kennedy died in August 2009, he was the second-most senior member of the Senate (after President pro tempore Robert Byrd of West Virginia) and the third longest-serving senator of all time, behind Byrd and Strom Thurmond of South Carolina. Later that same year, he was passed by Daniel Inouye of Hawaii. Kennedy therefore held the record as the longest-serving Democratic member of Congress to solely serve as a senator until October 2021, when he was surpassed by fellow Democrat Patrick Leahy of Vermont.

During his tenure, Kennedy became one of the most recognizable and influential members of his party and was sometimes called a "Democratic icon" as well as "The Lion of the Senate". Kennedy and his Senate staff authored around 2,500 bills, of which more than 300 were enacted into law. Kennedy co-sponsored another 550 bills that became law after 1973. Kennedy was known for his effectiveness in dealing with Republican senators and administrations, sometimes to the irritation of other Democrats. During the 101st Congress under President George H. W. Bush, at least half of the successful proposals put forward by the Senate Democratic policy makers came out of Kennedy's Labor and Human Resources Committee. During the 2000s, almost every bipartisan bill signed during the George W. Bush administration had significant involvement from Kennedy. A late 2000s survey of Republican senators ranked Kennedy first among Democrats in bipartisanship. Kennedy strongly believed in the principle "never let the perfect be the enemy of the good," and would agree to pass legislation he viewed as incomplete or imperfect with the goal of improving it down the road. In April 2006, Kennedy was selected by Time as one of "America's 10 Best Senators"; the magazine noted that he had "amassed a titanic record of legislation affecting the lives of virtually every man, woman and child in the country" and that "by the late 1990s, the liberal icon had become such a prodigious cross-aisle dealer that Republican leaders began pressuring party colleagues not to sponsor bills with him". In May 2008, soon-to-be Republican presidential nominee John McCain said, " is a legendary lawmaker and I have the highest respect for him. When we have worked together, he has been a skillful, fair and generous partner." Republican Governor of California and Kennedy relative Arnold Schwarzenegger described "Uncle Teddy" as "a liberal icon, a warrior for the less fortunate, a fierce advocate for health-care reform, a champion of social justice here and abroad" and "the rock of his family". At the time of Kennedy's death, sociologist and Nation board member Norman Birnbaum wrote that Kennedy had come to be viewed as the "voice" and "conscience" of American progressivism.

Despite his bipartisan legislative practices, Kennedy was a polarizing symbol of American liberalism for many years. Republican and conservative groups long viewed Kennedy as a reliable "bogeyman" to mention in fundraising letters, on par with Hillary Clinton and similar to Democratic and liberal appeals mentioning Newt Gingrich. The famous racially motivated "Hands" attack ad used in North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms's 1990 re-election campaign against Harvey Gantt accused Gantt of supporting "Ted Kennedy's racial quota law". University of California, San Diego political science professor Gary Jacobson's 2006 study of partisan polarization found that in a state-by-state survey of job approval ratings of the state's senators, Kennedy had the largest partisan difference of any senator, with a 57 percentage point difference in approval between Massachusetts's Democrats and Republicans. The Associated Press wrote that, "Perhaps because it was impossible, Kennedy never tried to shake his image as a liberal titan to admirers and a left-wing caricature to detractors."

After Robert Kennedy's assassination in 1968, Ted was the most prominent living member of the Kennedy family and the last surviving son of Joseph P. Kennedy and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. John F. Kennedy had said in 1957, "Just as I went into politics because Joe died, if anything happened to me tomorrow, my brother Bobby would run for my seat in the Senate. And if Bobby died, Teddy would take over for him." However, Ted was never able to carry on the "Camelot" mystique in the same way that both of his fallen brothers had, with much of it disappearing during his failed 1980 presidential bid. His negligence in the death of Mary Jo Kopechne at Chappaquiddick and his well-documented later personal problems further tarnished his image in relation to the Kennedy name, and significantly damaged his chances of ever becoming president. The Associated Press wrote, "Unlike his brothers, Edward M. Kennedy has grown old in public, his victories, defeats and human contradictions played out across the decades in the public glare." But Kennedy's legislative accomplishments remained, and as The Boston Globe wrote, "By the early 21st century, the achievements of the younger brother would be enough to rival those of many presidents." His death prompted the realization that the "Camelot era" was truly over. Kennedy's New York Times obituary described him via a character sketch:

He was a Rabelaisian figure in the Senate and in life, instantly recognizable by his shock of white hair, his florid, oversize face, his booming Boston brogue, his powerful but pained stride. He was a celebrity, sometimes a self-parody, a hearty friend, an implacable foe, a man of large faith and large flaws, a melancholy character who persevered, drank deeply and sang loudly. He was a Kennedy.

Awards and honors

Main article: List of awards and honors received by Ted Kennedy

Kennedy's honors include an honorary knighthood bestowed by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, the Order of the Aztec Eagle from Mexico, the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Order of Merit of Chile, and honorary degrees from several institutions including Harvard University.

Electoral history

Main article: Electoral history of Ted Kennedy

Writings

See also

References

Citations

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  3. ^ Nolan, Martin F. (August 26, 2009). "Kennedy dead at 77". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on August 31, 2009. Retrieved August 26, 2009.
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  5. Failla, Zak (November 18, 2013). "Looking Back on JFK's Time in Bronxville". The Daily Voice. Retrieved August 14, 2017.
  6. Kennedy, Edward M. (2011). True Compass: A Memoir. London, England: Hachette. ISBN 9780748123353. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
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Print sources

Further reading

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Party political offices
Preceded byJohn F. Kennedy Democratic nominee for U.S. Senator from Massachusetts
(Class 1)

1962, 1964, 1970, 1976, 1982, 1988, 1994, 2000, 2006
Succeeded byMartha Coakley
Preceded byRussell B. Long Senate Democratic Whip
1969–1971
Succeeded byRobert Byrd
VacantTitle last held byTed Stevens
John Jacob Rhodes
Response to the State of the Union address
1982
Served alongside: Robert Byrd, Alan Cranston, Al Gore, Gary Hart, J. Bennett Johnston, Tip O'Neill, Donald W. Riegle Jr., Paul Sarbanes, Jim Sasser
Succeeded byLes AuCoin, Joe Biden, Bill Bradley, Robert Byrd, Tom Daschle, Bill Hefner, Barbara B. Kennelly, George Miller, Tip O'Neill, Paul Tsongas, Tim Wirth
U.S. Senate
Preceded byBenjamin A. Smith II U.S. Senator (Class 1) from Massachusetts
1962–2009
Served alongside: Leverett Saltonstall, Edward Brooke, Paul Tsongas, John Kerry
Succeeded byPaul G. Kirk
Preceded byRussell B. Long Senate Majority Whip
1969–1971
Succeeded byRobert Byrd
Preceded byJames Eastland Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee
1978–1981
Succeeded byStrom Thurmond
Preceded byOrrin Hatch Chair of the Senate Labor Committee
1987–1995
Succeeded byNancy Kassebaum
Preceded byJim Jeffords Chair of the Senate Health Committee
2001–2003
Succeeded byJudd Gregg
Preceded byMike Enzi Chair of the Senate Health Committee
2007–2009
Succeeded byChris Dodd
Acting
Honorary titles
Preceded byMaurice J. Murphy Jr. Baby of the Senate
1962–1969
Succeeded byBob Packwood
Ted Kennedy
February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009
Electoral
history
  • U.S. Senate elections in Massachusetts: 1962 (special)
  • 1964
  • 1970
  • 1976
  • 1982
  • 1988
  • 1994
  • 2000
  • 2006
  • 1980 United States presidential election (Democratic primaries)
  • Ted Kennedy 1980 presidential campaign
  • Books
    Speeches
    Family,
    family tree
    Related
    United States senators from Massachusetts
    Class 1 United States Senate
    Class 2
    Chairs of the United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
    Education/Education and Labor
    (1869–1947)
    Labor and Public Welfare
    (1947–1977)
    Labor and Human Resources
    (1977–1999)
    Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
    (1999–present)
    Chairs of the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary
    Seal of the United States Senate
    United States Senate majority whips
    Democratic Party whips in the United States Senate
    Seal of the United States Senate
    Kennedy family
    I.
    P. J. Kennedy
    (1858–1929)
    II.
    Joseph P. Kennedy Sr.
    (1888–1969)
    III.
    John F. Kennedy
    (1917–1963)
    Eunice Kennedy Shriver
    (1921–2009)
    Patricia Kennedy Lawford
    (1924–2006)
    Robert F. Kennedy
    (1925–1968)
    Jean Kennedy Smith
    (1928–2020)
    Ted Kennedy
    (1932–2009)
    IV.
    Related
    CategoryKennedy family
    m. = married; div. = divorced; sep. = separated.
    John F. Kennedy
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    Robert F. Kennedy
    November 20, 1925 – June 6, 1968
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    Category
    (← 1976) 1980 United States presidential election (1984 →)
    Republican Party
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    David McReynolds
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    Diane Drufenbrock
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    Andrew Pulley
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    Deirdre Griswold
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