Ted Kennedy 1932-2009

BOSTON (WBZ) ― Sen. Edward M. Kennedy died late Tuesday night after a 15-month battle with brain cancer. He was 77 years old. The senior senator from Massachusetts served more than 46 years in the U.S. Senate and was the patriarch of America's most storied political family.

Unlike his older brothers, Ted Kennedy was always more man than myth. Perhaps it was because Ted Kennedy had the good fortune to grow old, but only Shakespeare could conceive of the triumphs and tragedies that eventually befell him.

THE EARLY YEARS

Edward Moore Kennedy was born in 1932, the youngest of Joe and Rose Kennedy's nine children. His family was intensely competitive. Political greatness was planned for the oldest son, but when Joe Jr. died in World War II, the mantle was passed to Jack. Teddy, the baby, would be the loyal foot soldier in his brother's political battles. But in a twist of fate, he would be the only Kennedy son to live past the age of 46. Some say it would haunt him for the rest of his life.

POLITICAL BEGINNINGS

In 1962 Ted Kennedy ran for the U.S. Senate. Critics claim he was cashing in on his family's name. His opponent charged, if your name was Edward Moore, your candidacy would be a joke. Kennedy won in a landslide.

"I'm grateful to the people of Massachusetts for the great trust that they bestowed up on me," a 30-year-old Kennedy declared in his acceptance speech.

JFK ASSASSINATION

A year later, Camelot came crashing down with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. It was not the first, and not the last brother Edward Kennedy would bury. Less than five years later, Senator Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated. Ted Kennedy's eulogy for Robert still evokes chills.

"Those of us who loved him and will take him to his rest today," an emotional Kennedy said from the altar, "pray that what he was to us and what he wished for others, will someday come to pass for all the world." 

CHAPPAQUIDDICK

Suddenly Ted was the only surviving Kennedy son. He was 36. Many believed the presidency was his destiny, but a terrible tragedy would change that. In 1969 he was at the wheel of a car that plunged off a wooden bridge on Chappaquiddick Island, a small island off Martha's Vineyard. Kennedy survived; his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne, did not. Kennedy waited more than six hours to report the accident and many questioned whether the senator had done enough to save Kopechne. He went on national television to explain his actions.

"I regard as indefensible, the fact that I did not report the accident to police immediately," Kennedy said.

Kennedy pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident, and received a two month suspended sentence. Chappaquiddick effectively ended Ted Kennedy's hopes for the presidency. He rarely talked about the incident, but once said about Chappaquiddick, "it is with me every day of my life."

FAMILY LIFE

In the 70s, Ted and his wife Joan continued to nurture their own family. As the years passed, we watched Kara, Ted Jr. and Patrick grow into adulthood. At the same time Kennedy played surrogate father to the children of his older brothers. He had assumed the role of family patriarch.

"I find time spent with them, time of enormous joy and happiness," Kennedy said of his extended family.

Then in 1973 came crushing news. Twelve-year-old Teddy Jr. was diagnosed with cancer. The senator sat on his son's bed and personally explained to the boy that his leg would have to be amputated. It was, Kennedy said afterward, "the hardest thing I've ever had to do."

RUN FOR THE WHITE HOUSE

Politically, Kennedy continued to reject a run for the White House. But in 1979, ten years after Chappaquiddick, Ted Kennedy finally took his shot in a bruising battle with President Jimmy Carter.

His candidacy appeared doomed from the start. In a now infamous television interview, when asked the simply question of why did he want to become president, Kennedy could not articulate a coherent answer. Any hope for the presidency vanished.

"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on," Kennedy said in abandoning his campaign. "The cause endures. The hope still lives and the dream shall never die."

Now Ted Kennedy had to accept that the Senate would be his legacy. He worked hard to become one of the most skilled lawmakers in Senate history. Over his career, Kennedy would unleash a flood of legislation on health care, education, abortion rights, the minimum wage, and childhood immunizations.

SHROUDED IN SADNESS

Despite Kennedy's growing stature, friends said he was shrouded in sadness. He and Joan went through a painful divorce in 1981. In the years that followed there were reports of excessive drinking and carousing. Many believe he was burdened by the family legacy and guilt-ridden at being the sole surviving Kennedy brother.

"There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about them," Kennedy once said in an interview. "They'd probably be in better shape than I would be. I'm sure of that."

In 1990 Kennedy hit bottom when his nephew, William Kennedy Smith, was accused of rape at the Kennedy family compound in Palm Beach, Florida. The senator's fraternity-like behavior at the compound became front page news, including stories of late night drinking. Friends said he was, at that time, deeply depressed by the recent death of his brother-in-law Steven Smith.

"When Jean married Steve we had another brother," Kennedy said during testimony in the case. "Steve was gone; something left all of us when we buried him."

POLITICAL RESURRECTION

In Massachusetts he plummeted in the polls. Kennedy had never admitted to personal mistakes, any human failings. Few Kennedy's ever had. That changed in a 1991 speech at Harvard University.

"I recognize my own shortcomings, the faults and the conduct of my private life," Kennedy said. "I realize that I am alone responsible for this and I am the one who must confront it."

The speech became Kennedy's resurrection, both politically, and personally. There was a second marriage to Victoria Reggi. She was young and made him laugh. Friends said Vicki helped exorcise many of Ted Kennedy's demons.

"There has been a great joy and happiness in my life, our lives. A sense of stability, a sense of security," Kennedy said of his life with Vicki.

Political rebirth would follow. In 1994 came a bloody battle with Republican challenger Mitt Romney, who portrayed Kennedy as a dinosaur. For the first time the senator appeared humbled before Massachusetts voters.

"I need your help," he told voters. "I need your support. I need your vote."

Some pundits predicted Kennedy's demise. But on election night, Kennedy remained standing.

TRAGEDIES CONTINUE

Two months later, Rose Kennedy was dead. She had lived to 104, and endowed her son with a deep faith.

"As she did all of our lives, she will there ready to welcome the rest of us home someday," Ted Kennedy said in a tearful eulogy. After Rose's death, Kennedy fondly shared stories of singing to his mother in her final days, the song "Sweet Rosie O'Grady."

The Kennedy tragedies continued in 1999 when John F. Kennedy, Jr., his wife Carolyn, and her sister Lauren were killed in an airplane crash off Nantucket.

"It was a very difficult time," Kennedy later said in an interview with CBS News. "We've had difficult losses in the family. I remember the Friday night, the night actually that he was lost, we gathered at Ethel's house."

"I think the thing that really sets him apart from anybody is his thoughtfulness and his huge heart," Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg said of her uncle. She recalled how he truly led the family through the loss and mourning of her brother.

"Nobody was more amazing than Teddy," Caroline said. "He really just was everywhere. He took care of everything. He really brought people together in an amazing way."

Despite the tragedies that befell his family, Ted Kennedy always shook off the notion of a 'Kennedy Curse'. "In many respects we've been very fortunate and very lucky. I understand that every day of my life. I'm basically a hopeful, an optimistic person. I believe deeply in hope. I believe in the power of love."

FAMILY CORNERSTONE

Whether in the toughest, or best of times, there is no question where Ted Kennedy stood in the eyes of his family. In a letter written after he walked niece Caroline down the aisle at her wedding, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis paid this homage to her brother-in-law.

"On you, the care-free youngest brother, fell a burden a hero would beg to be spared. Everyone is going to make it, because you are always there with your love," she wrote.

The conventional wisdom is that there have been two Ted Kennedy's: the good Ted Kennedy and the flawed Ted Kennedy. At his best he was an eloquent voice for social justice and the most powerful senator in Massachusetts history. But like others sharing the Kennedy name, he could be reckless. One could only wonder what his political future may have been had he grappled more effectively with his personal excesses.

In many ways Ted Kennedy defined his generation. His tragedies were America's tragedies. He and his family grieved through death, divorce, cancer, and substance abuse. But each time Edward Moore Kennedy kept fighting.

"I've made mistakes in my past, but I've always tried to learn from them. I've always tried every day to be a better person," Kennedy said.

"You try to live with the upside, the positive aspects, the happy aspects, the joyous aspects; and try to muffle down the other kinds of concerns and anxiety and the sadness of it… and know that you have no alternative but to continue on. So you do."

Sen. Edward Moore Kennedy left behind his wife Vicki, three adult children, Kara, Edward Jr., and Rep. Patrick Kennedy of R.I., and five grandchildren.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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