Sep 14, 2009 11:01 am US/Eastern
Kennedy Sons On Chappaquiddick, Bulletproof Vests
BOSTON (AP) ―
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The children of the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, from left to right, Teddy Kennedy Jr., Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., and Kara Kennedy, listen as President Barack Obama addresses a joint session of the U.S. Congress on Sept. 9, 2009, in Washington, D.C.
Alex Wong/Getty Images
Rep. Patrick Kennedy said Monday that he thinks his late father was motivated by the death of Mary Jo Kopechne at Chappaquiddick to work hard his entire life to make up for his failings.
CHAPPAQUIDDICK
"The fact of the matter is, this would have just paralyzed any normal person, and he spent his life working to improve the lives of many, and he, in a sense, basically saved millions of people through his work on AIDS, through his work on health care, through his work on so many issues that are of vital importance to saving people's lives," the Rhode Island Democrat told NBC's "Today" show.
Kopechne, a worker on Robert F. Kennedy's 1968 presidential campaign, drowned in July 1969 when Kennedy, after a late-night party, drove their car off a bridge on the island off Martha's Vineyard.
He swam to safety but didn't report the accident for more than 10 hours.
The senator later received a suspended sentence after pleading guilty to leaving the scene of an accident.
Kennedy died Aug. 25 of brain cancer at age 77.
During a book tour with his brother, Partick Kennedy said his father's cancer fight, as well as writing his memoirs, "True Compass," led him to open up more emotionally than ever before.
"Everybody knows my Dad wasn't the most sentimental, emotive guy. He's old Irish in that respect," the congressman said.
ASSASSINATION FEARS
The senator's eldest son, Edward Kennedy Jr., told ABC's "Good Morning America" the family was always concerned his father could be assassinated like his brothers Robert Kennedy and President John F. Kennedy.
He recalled seeing a bulletproof vest hanging in a closet as his father considered running for president in 1984.
"We were always mindful whenever he went out in public, what if there's this person who just, you know, wants to become instantaneously famous and, you know, we were worried. We tried to push those feelings down," Edward Kennedy Jr. said.
He remembered an incident in 1980, when his father was running for president, and someone in a crowd stabbed him with the pin from a campaign button as he shook hands.
Kennedy said his father suppressed those concerns and told his children,
`I can't sit here and worry about this my whole life. Otherwise, I'll live in a cave."
'A BLESSING'
Both sons said with so many sudden deaths in their family history, their father's gradual passing was a blessing and allowed him to check off his "bucket list" of want- and need-to-dos.
"He accomplished everything he really wanted to accomplish the last year," Patrick Kennedy said.
"The last year of my father's life were not sad moments," said Edward Kennedy Jr.
"They were amazing moments, and I wanted to spend as much time with him as I possibly could. And I wanted my children to be with him as much as they could."
"True Compass" hit bookstore shelves Monday.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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