AFTER YEARS OF CONTROVERSY, A KENNEDY FINALLY LIVED LONG ENOUGH TO BECOME A REAL AMERICAN HERO
Gary Ater
September 07, 2009
...US Senator, Edward "Ted" Kennedy
With all the recent public "hubbub" over the death of Senator Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy, a couple of weeks ago I had originally decided that I would not write about it. We all had once again, heard enough about the Kennedy family, the Senator´s passing, his funeral, etc, etc, etc.
I still held that same attitude until this last week when I read a very disparaging and very incomplete "Letter to the Editor" in a large city´s daily newspaper.
I also noticed during the week of the Senator´s televised wake, his funeral procession, Catholic Mass and burial, that as usual, if you just watched FOX News, you would only come away with the ugly side of the Senator´s life.
You might have also decided that Senator Kennedy had purposely run his car off of the Chappaquiddick Bridge that killed his campaign worker, Mary Jo Kopechne, on July 18, 1969. In fact, the letter to the editor that I read ended with; "The true nature of Ted Kennedy´s character can be summed up in three words: Mary Jo Kopechne."
Now, don´t get me wrong. I´m not going to make excuses for the Senator´s life. Nor will I propose any excuses for what Ted Kennedy did in the first 30 years or so of a wealthy Kennedy´s life. I won´t excuse his younger bouts of public drunkenness, his philandering nor his bad decisions in what he did not do in the immediate hours after his car went off the bridge when Ms. Kopechne died.
I agree, that for the early adult years of the Senator´s life, Mr. Kennedy was anything but the man most American fathers would want their daughters to marry; even if he was the kid brother of both JFK and RFK.
What was so disturbing about the letter to the editor and the poor presentations from FOX News, was any acknowledgement as to what the Senior Senator, (who had become known by those from both parties as the "Lion of the Senate"), were the contributions to the average American achieved by the Senator during the last 30 years of his life.
I would also question anyone who had gone through what the Senator had in his early life, to see if they felt that they were also capable of achieving what Ted Kennedy eventually did achieve, all the while being under a microscope of public and paparazzi scrutiny.
How many of us would be totally normal and sane if they were the youngest of 11 siblings of a well established and wealthy, New England family, who had lost three brothers and two sisters, two killed in World War II and two of them assassinated while being both a sitting US President and a US Senator running for US President? And, after brother Bobby and Martin Luther King Jr. had been gunned down, all the news both TV and radio, was that the "younger brother, Senator Teddy Kennedy, would probably be the next to be assassinated by some crazed publicity seeker".
On top of all this, the youngest sibling of 11 Kennedys, not only was a target of mass publicity, he eventually became the patriarch of the whole Kennedy family. He also assumed the "father-figure" role of both his own and his 2nd wife´s children from a previous marriage, he took on that same role for the many children of his slain brothers, John and Robert Kennedy.
After the horrible tragedy of Chappaquiddick, the Junior Senator from Massachusetts had gone on TV and had confessed his bad judgment calls following the bridge accident and the death of Ms. Kopechne. He also stated in this announcement that he was going to take some time with his family and would be deciding what he would be doing regarding his future in the politics of Massachusetts.
After that televised confession, the young senator´s office then received thousands of letters from his Massachusetts´ constituents asking him to stay on as their senator.
The senator reluctantly agreed to stay on, but then he and his first wife Joan, who had a very severe problem with depression and alcoholism, separated and divorced. The years following their marriage split were a living hell for both the senator and his former wife. After his divorce, the senator´s political career seriously suffered from a long period of womanizing, drinking, and adverse publicity.
Then, Ted met for the second time, Victoria Anne Reggie. Vicki was a practicing lawyer from a wealthy Louisiana family that had earlier been strong supporters of his brother, John F. Kennedy. Ted Kennedy once said of this 2nd meeting with Vicki, "I had known Vicki before, but this was the first time I think I really saw her." They were eventually engaged in March 1992, and married July 3, 1992, in a civil ceremony at his home. Vicki is credited with stabilizing his personal life and helping him resume a productive career in the Senate.
In Kennedy's 1994 senatorial re-election campaign against Mitt Romney, Vicki was credited by The New York Times with "giving him [Ted} a political advantage in a difficult contest." For a Boston, Massachusetts reception, she had organized 1,200 influential New England women to meet with five of Kennedy's Senate colleagues. In campaigns and his senatorial work, Vicki became his principal assistant and closest political advisor. By 1997, she no longer practiced law and she came to the aid of the greater Kennedy family following the 1999 plane crash that took the life of John F. Kennedy, Jr.
In retrospect, it became clear that after Ted met and became close with Vicki, he also became totally dedicated to fulfilling his family´s dedication for working for the average working men and women and for his family´s dedication to performing in public service.
Today, it is anticipated that history will declare that Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy was one of, if not the most effective Senator who ever held an office in the US Senate. Senator Kennedy has authored more than 2,500 bills throughout his career in the US Senate. Of those bills, several hundred have become Public Law. The majority of these laws have made a significant difference in the quality of life for the average American citizen.
Senator Kennedy also became known as the Senator that would not hesitate to "reach across the aisle" to the opposing party in order to compromise a point for passing a needed law. Two Senior "Republican" Senators, Orin Hatch and John McCain, called Senator Kennedy a "best friend" and both spoke of how he was the hardest worker in the US Senate and totally dedicated to working for the disadvantaged and the poor. Senator Hatch stated that , "Ted would always consider a compromise on a detail within a bill, but he would never compromise on his basic principles." His dedication to real health care reform, and the current Senate health care bill (with a public option) bearing his name, is an example of his dedication to helping the average American worker.
It appears that based on the way the country has honored the passing of the 77 year old Senator Edward M. Kennedy, they realized that in the final 30 years of his 47 years in the US Senate, he was a true public servant for the average American. Regardless of his family´s wealth or his family´s celebrity and their many public and private tragedies, Senator Kennedy was always a dedicated and very hard worker for the American people.
The speeches made by his colleagues and family at his wake, at his funeral mass and the tens of thousands of Americans that stood along the side of the roads as his hearse passed by, plus the hundreds of thousands that watched it all on TV, sincerely show that he had become a true American hero. Today, they are still asking, "Who will ever take the place of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, the true; "Liberal Lion of the Senate?"
As of today, there is no answer to that question. And it may take years before there is another individual who is deserving enough to take that mantel.
Copyright G.Ater 2009
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