Ted Kennedy: A Profile in Courage

Massachusetts Senator Edward M. Kennedy did something incredibly courageous on the evening of August 25, 2008. He risked his life to address the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

Kennedy, 76, is suffering from inoperable brain cancer. He's still undergoing extensive medical treatment, but in all likelihood, his days are numbered. On August 26, Bill O'Reilly reported on "The Radio Factor" that Kennedy is taking experimental drugs for his condition, and that his doctors did not want him to travel. Mr. O'Reilly also reported that when Senator Kennedy arrived in Denver, he promptly checked into a local hospital.

According to O'Reilly, Senator Kennedy was advised to use a wheelchair on the Convention floor. Instead, he walked onto the stage with remarkable vigor for a man in his condition. "Nothing is going to keep me away from this special gathering tonight," Kennedy declared in an emotional, rousing speech that brought many in the audience, including nieces Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg and Maria Shriver, to tears. The only signs of Kennedy's illness that I could make out from the video footage were a couple of bald patches on the back of his otherwise full head of white hair and a thinness around his neck which contrasted with his stout body.

The last surviving brother of a trio of storied siblings, Edward "Ted" Kennedy was first elected to the United States Senate in 1962 to serve out the final two years of the term of his brother John, who had been elected president in 1960. Ted Kennedy is the Senate's second most senior member. John F. Kennedy, the beloved thirty-fifth President of the United States, was assassinated in 1963. Ted's brother Robert, also a United States senator, was assassinated during his quest for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1968.

According to his Senate website biography, Ted Kennedy served in the army from 1951 to 1953. While a senior at Harvard in 1955, he was offered a spot as a right end on the Green Bay Packers. According to the website, Kennedy declined because he wanted to go to law school and enter "another contact sport, politics."

During his nearly five-decade career in the Senate, Ted Kennedy has served in senior posts on some of its most powerful committees, including Judiciary, Joint Economic, and Armed services. He has locked horns with Republican presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush.

I have many policy disagreements with Senator Kennedy, from his support for forced school busing in the 1970s to his recent, ill-fated partnership with John McCain for "comprehensive immigration reform." A liberal lion, Kennedy is much too left wing for my centrist tastes.

And Ted Kennedy is no saint. Earlier in his career, he had a reputation for being a tremendous drinker and womanizer. He is also known for giving bombastic speeches. Senator Kennedy sounded like a cheerleader at a football game when he introduced Walter Mondale during the Democratic National Convention in 1984. And his behavior during the Chappaquiddick incident was deplorable.

On July 18, 1969, following a party for his late brother Robert's campaign workers, Ted Kennedy drove his car off a bridge in Chappaquiddick on Martha's Vineyard, a Massachusetts island. Campaign worker Mary Jo Kopechne was Kennedy's passenger. She drowned.

Senator Kennedy was suspected of drunk driving, a charge that he vehemently denied. Yet Kennedy did not report the incident for many hours, and in a public statement, admitted to being confused. Kennedy pled guilty to leaving the scene of an accident and the matter was essentially closed. However, it is widely believed that evidence was suppressed by Kennedy surrogates and that public outrage following the Chappaquiddick incident guaranteed that Ted Kennedy would never become president. Mary Jo Kopechne's family and her supporters have never forgiven him.

All that said, I still have great admiration and respect for Ted Kennedy. Up until his recent illness, he was probably the most prolific and hard-working member of the Senate. A review of his extensive legislative accomplishments in areas such as health care, civil rights, and education shows that, despite his privileged background, Ted Kennedy cares deeply about people.

In 1977, I saw that quality up close. I was a junior in high school and was selected to go to Washington to participate in a program called "A Presidential Classroom for Young Americans." For two weeks, I and several hundred other high school students attended seminars on Capitol Hill and heard numerous Washington insiders speak about American government.

As part of the program, each of us was supposed to meet with his or her congressman or senator. In most cases, a flunky talked to us. That's what happened when I arrived at the offices my then-senator, New York's Jacob Javits, and my congressman at the time, Stephen Solarz. A minority of Classroom participants got to see their senator or representative for a few minutes.

But folks from Massachusetts got a real treat. Senator Kennedy met with them for about two hours. He gave them a tour of the Senate, which included a trip onto the Senate floor where they saw other senators and Senate staff. No other senator or congressman came close to giving Classroom participants such first-class treatment. Ted Kennedy has serious character flaws, but he respects his constituents big time.

When Ted Kennedy is no more, I will mourn, not because Kennedy was perfect, but because he rose above his many imperfections. And I'm sure that a special place at God's table will be waiting for him.