Ted Kennedy Dies at 77

Massachusetts Senator Edward M. Kennedy ’54-’56, the “Lion of the Senate” and the last remaining son of the prominent Democratic political family, was buried in Arlington National Cemetery on Saturday after a funeral mass packed with political dignitaries that included a eulogy by President Barack Obama.

Kennedy passed away last Tuesday night at his home in Hyannis Port, Mass. after a year-long battle with brain cancer. He was 77.

More than 25,000 mourners lined up to pay their respects to the senator at the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum in Boston on Thursday, and a private memorial for Kennedy was held at the Library the following evening.

A Government concentrator and Winthrop House resident in his undergrad years, Kennedy was elected to serve in the U.S. Senate in 1962. He was reelected seven times, making him the second-longest serving member of the Senate at the time of his death.

After a seizure in May 2008, he was diagnosed with a malignant glioma, a type of brain tumor that carries a bleak prognosis in the majority of patients. He underwent surgery and a subsequent aggressive course of cancer treatment in the months following the diagnosis.

In the Senate, Kennedy developed a reputation as a leader on social policy issues, championing reforms in areas such as health care, education, and immigration, while leading multiple committees, including, most recently, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

Though he was one of the dominant liberal figures in the Senate, Kennedy was also known for his efforts to reach across party lines to pass legislation. His quest for bipartisanship was instantiated by his alliance with former President George W. Bush on the “No Child Left Behind” school legislation, a copy of which hung on the wall of his office along with the pen that Bush used to sign the document.

According to Kennedy School Dean David T. Ellwood ’75, who worked with Kennedy on welfare reform during the Clinton administration, although Kennedy entered office as part of a political dynasty, his ultimate reputation as an effective, revered legislator came from his passion for the issues he supported and his willingness to work with people on either side of the aisle to transform his ideas into legislation.

“During his early career days he was a Kennedy,” Ellwood said, “but by the end he was the senator.”

FINDING HIS WAY

Edward Moore Kennedy was born on February 22, 1932 in Boston, Mass., the youngest of Joseph and Rose Kennedy’s nine children. Kennedy followed in the footsteps of his father and older brothers by enrolling at Harvard in the fall of 1950.

At the end of his freshman year, Kennedy was suspended after he was caught having another student take his Spanish A final exam in his place. Both the student, William A. Frate ’54, and Kennedy were asked to take a year off, and Kennedy spent the next two years serving in the U.S. Army as a military policeman in Paris before re-enrolling at Harvard in the fall of 1953.

Upon returning to campus, Kennedy joined the all-male final club the Owl, an association he would sever in 2006 after drawing criticism for condemning Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito, Jr., for his one-time membership in a controversial club at Princeton.

Kennedy had “really fond memories” of living in Winthrop C-33 as an upperclassman, according to Will C. Quinn ’10, a current Winthrop resident who met the senator while interning on Capitol Hill.

“I told him that I had voted for him, and he was happy about that, but he really lit up when I mentioned that I lived in Winthrop House,” Quinn said.

Kennedy was a noted right end on the football team during his college career, scoring the only Harvard touchdown in the Harvard-Yale Game his senior year. He turned down recruiting interest from the Green Bay Packers, instead opting to attend law school at the University of Virginia.

It was at law school that Kennedy would meet his first wife, Joan Bennett, whom he married in 1958. The couple had three children—Kara, Edward Jr., and Patrick—before divorcing in 1982. After years of struggles with alcohol and a reputation for womanizing, Kennedy married lawyer Victoria Reggie in 1992. She would remain at the senator’s side during his later political endeavors and recent illness.

Kennedy’s most notable scandal came in 1969 when he drove off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island in Martha’s Vineyard, an incident which resulted in the drowning death of his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne. After swimming to safety, Kennedy did not call police until after Kopechne’s body was found the following day. The senator pled guilty to leaving the scene of an accident, but remained in office and was reelected in 1970.

A 1980 run for the presidency proved unsuccessful, particularly after the Chappaquiddick incident became a major factor in the campaign.

But while he failed to win the office his older brother John F. Kennedy ’40 had once held, Edward had already carved himself a niche in the Senate, and would go on to become one of that body’s most powerful legislators.

SENATOR AND FRIEND

After his initial entrance into the race for a senate seat in 1962, Kennedy made getting to know the people of Massachusetts his priority, making up to 20 campaign stops a day, according to Milton S. Gwirtzman ’54, a former Crimson editorial chair who began working with Kennedy during his candidacy.

Though he was born to a wealthy family often referred to as the closest thing to American royalty, Kennedy had a passion for helping the poor and disenfranchised, which was reflected in many of the over 300 successful bills he sponsored during his tenure in the Senate.

“When it came to that topic, a fire would come in his eyes and you could see him rise in his chair and fill with passion,” said Ellwood.

Kennedy developed his passion for the underprivileged during his first few years in office, and the young senator relied on a group of Harvard professors to help educate him about issues such as civil rights and health care.

His civil rights victories included successfully fighting to protect the Voting Rights Act, increasing the minimum wage in the 1990s, and passing the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990—the last of which was held particularly close to his heart because of the mental disability of his older sister Rosemary.

Kennedy’s senate staffers were known for being particularly hardworking and dedicated to the senator, according to Ricky M. Hanzich ’11, who spent this past summer working in Kennedy’s Health Policy Office.

Working to support the ailing Senator’s efforts on health care—one of his primary causes—employees posted pictures of him around the office alongside a collection of inspiring Kennedy quotations.

“I know that every single employee loved him,” Hanzich said. “To them he was more than just the senator—he was their friend.”

A HARVARD LEGACY

In the years since his graduation from Harvard, Kennedy remained connected to the University. He was involved in creating the Institute of Politics, which commemorates his brother John. During his many years serving as a member of the IOP’s Senior Advisory Committee, Kennedy almost never missed a meeting and “would light up” when he had the chance to meet with students, said Ellwood.

In December 2008, Kennedy was awarded an honorary degree by the University in a special ceremony, as he was unable to attend the June 2008 Commencement exercises due to his illness.

“I hope that in all the time since then I have lived up to the chance Harvard gave me,” Kennedy said after receiving his honorary doctorate.

The event marked one of the few times that Harvard has awarded an honorary degree outside of the June Commencement. Three heads of state—George Washington, Nelson Mandela, and Winston Churchill—are the only people to receive similar awards at special ceremonies.

“Now I have something in common with George Washington, other than being born on February 22,” Kennedy said. “It is not being president as I had once hoped.”

—Staff writer Lauren D. Kiel can be reached at lkiel@fas.harvard.edu.