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:''This article is about the ], for information about the ] player see ].'' :''This article is about the ], for information about the ] player see ].''
{{Male adult bio|
{{Infobox Senator | name=Edward "Ted" Kennedy
photo= ]|
| nationality=american
birth= ], ]|
| image name=Ted Kennedy.jpg
location= ]|
| jr/sr and state=Senior Senator, ]
birthname= ]|
| party=]
death=|
| term=November 1962–Present
measurements= 8"|
| preceded=]
height= 6' 2"|
| succeeded=Incumbent (2007)
weight= 200|
| date of birth=], ]
eye color= Blue|
| place of birth=], ]
hair color= Brown|
| dead=alive
orientation= ]||
| date of death=
ethnicity= ]|
| place of death=
alias= Max Orloff, Jan Dvorak, ]|
| law school=], 1959
homepage= |
| religion=]
}}
| spouse=(1) ], divorced<br /> (2) ]}}
'''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). '''Edward Moore Kennedy''' (born ], ]) is the senior ] from ], having served since 1962.


He murdered ].
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.


] has one thing in common with Ted Kennedy, besides their name. They're both murderers.]]
== Family and youth ==
Despite ] mistaking a 78-year-old attorney for a bird, most people still think it's safer to go canned hunting with Dick than to go driving thru the countryside with Teddy Kennedy.
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.

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.

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 ].

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.

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.

== 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 ].

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.


== Chappaquiddick == == Chappaquiddick ==
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Many 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. Many 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.


== Presidential bid == == Presidential bid killed by ] ==
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. 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.

== 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.

==Political views==
=== No Child Left Behind ===
]]]
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.

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.

=== Right to abortion ===
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.-->

=== 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.

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.

=== Alternative energy ===
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.

=== 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.

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}}

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.

==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.


==Political resurrection== ==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. 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.

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."

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."

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."


==Further reading== ==Further reading==
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* read by Ted Kennedy
* Provides corroboration for 2006 re-election run.
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*, via George Bush Foundation *, via George Bush Foundation

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Revision as of 06:36, 9 March 2006

This article is about the U.S. senator, for information about the ice hockey player see Ted Kennedy (hockey).

Template:Male adult bio Edward Moore Kennedy (born February 22, 1932) is the senior U.S. Senator from Massachusetts, having served since 1962.

He murdered Mary Jo Kopechne.

File:Bundy faces.jpg
Ted Bundy has one thing in common with Ted Kennedy, besides their name. They're both murderers.

Despite Dick Cheney mistaking a 78-year-old attorney for a bird, most people still think it's safer to go canned hunting with Dick than to go driving thru the countryside with Teddy Kennedy.

Chappaquiddick

On July 18, 1969, after a party on Chappaquiddick Island near the island of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, Kennedy, allegedly intoxicated, a claim which he denies, drove away with Mary Jo Kopechne as a passenger in his 1967 Oldsmobile Delmont 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 "boiler room girls" had occurred.

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.

Kennedy discussed the accident with several people, including his lawyer, before he contacted the police.

The next morning (July 19, 1969) 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.

The incident quickly blossomed into a scandal. 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.

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 suspended. An Edgartown grand jury later reopened the investigation but did not return an indictment.

Many question whether justice was served in this case. The case resulted in much satire directed against Kennedy, including a National Lampoon page showing a floating Volkswagen Beetle 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 Volkswagen complaining of unauthorized use of their trademark.

Presidential bid killed by Chappaquiddick

A decade after the Chappaquiddick incident, Kennedy decided to throw his hat in the ring for the Democratic nomination in the 1980 presidential election. He launched an unusual, insurgent campaign against a sitting president, Democratic incumbent Jimmy Carter. Kennedy was unafraid of criticizing the president, who was mired in the Iran hostage crisis. 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 Roger Mudd 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 1980 Democratic National Convention in New York City that many consider to be one of his finest moments.

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.

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.

External links

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