Ted Kennedy Leaves Behind Tarnished Legacy

Massachusetts senator Ted Kennedy died this past Tuesday on August 25 at the age of 77. Even though Democrats have hailed him as being the savior to a system they considered to be insensitive to the downtrodden and needy, most Americans remember Ted for his less than stellar record in his private life and especially Chappaquiddick, where a young intern by the name of Mary Jo Kopechne drowned as a result of Ted's carelessness in failing to get her immediate aid while he himself escaped from the car that went off the bridge and into the water right off of Chappaquiddick Island in Massachusetts. Ted wound up receiving a suspended sentence for leaving the scene of a crime he was responsible for. The incident didn't matter too much with regards to his career as a senator, but many, including myself, believe it kept him from becoming president of the United States, a position he longed to have.

Those familiar with Kennedy family history will no doubt look at Ted death and think that he tried his best, even though he ranks much lower than any other prominent politician in recent years, such as Mitt Romney. Papa Joe, as he is lovingly known as, worked hard to make sure his family would remain in politics for many years, inspiring and setting an example to his sons of how important it is to be in a high position of power. John and Robert, two of his sons, made it to those positions of power but did not last long; John was assassinated on November 22, 1963, and Robert went out the same way on June 6, 1968. It is rare for two politicians of the immediate family to be assassinated within such a short length of time, but it can happen. Conspiracy theorists had a field day with the assassinations, but in reality, the Kennedy family had a much darker past underneath the rainbow and sunshine public persona they were so successful at projecting. Hypocrisy ran rampant, especially with the male Kennedys; Robert himself, even though married with eleven children, still had his share of extra-marital affairs behind his wife's back. Nepotism was as common as getting dressed for the Kennedys, too. John wasn't the only one who appointed a relative to a high office. Power plays aside, Papa Joe must get all of the credit for where his children got to, and where they finally went.

Ted Kennedy wasn't your ordinary college student. When he was attending Harvard, he hired someone to take his Spanish test for him. He is a Kennedy and can get away with doing that since he was able to graduate. Yes, Virginia, there is a whole different set of rules to live by if you are a Kennedy. You can lie, cheat, steal, hang out with the Mafia (John dated Judith Exner, Joe had daily contact with members since the 1920's), even influence the Vatican to their favor (Sheila Kennedy, the wife of Joe Kennedy III, managed to get the Catholic Church to overturn an annulment after their divorce in 1991). That's not bad for crooked politics. So much for the American Camelot, but that is how Papa Joe wanted it to be. It is possible he wanted his children to make up for his own dreadful career in politics, with the only highlight being appointed ambassador to Great Britain by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, but largely because Roosevelt wanted him out of the country, having once called Joe "a very dangerous man."

The Kennedy family quietly mourns the loss of "The Lion of the Senate", but unlike John and Robert, Ted made it to his 70's, enjoyed a long career in politics for better or for worse, and will be remembered by his political constituents for his hard work in social justice for the underdog. Talk remains of who will follow in Ted's footsteps, but it is inevitable that that will happen in the near future.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/08/boston_mourning_for_sen.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/27/us/politics/27kennedy.html?_r=1&hp

The Sins of the Father, Ronald Kessler.