As I see it two distinct individuals died with his passing. The public view of Senator Ted Kennedy and the private family man of Edward Kennedy a member of what many call the 1st family in America.
There is too much to post on either one of these two men here. I suggest that you visit his official website at: http://kennedy.senate.gov/senator/index.cfm to read of his amazing contributions to the American people.
But I would be remiss to not mention a few of his more public gaffes:
- The 1969 death of Mary Jo Kopechne, viewable here at wikipedia's site: The Chappaquiddick incident. After reading the article, and several others, myself I must admit my dismay at his not reporting the accident immediately. I will not comment on the rumors surrounding his silence. What I will say is that it seems ironical that a man that was so pro-equality of the races and gender that he did not have to serve any part of his sentence as it was suspended by Judge James Boyle after a joint recommendation by both Kennedy's attorney and the State prosecutor.
- Another major snafu was in his response to a question by Roger Mudd on CBS while he was running in the primary for the 1980 Presidential Election. At that time he was unable to answer the question, "Why do you want to run for President?" Unfortunately here there was a plethora of possible answers he could have given. In my opinion he was a man of singular moral turpitude and would have made an amazing President.
As to his political life I would like to highlight a few of his more well known iniatives in legislation:
- Health Care Reform
- Civil Rights
- Immigration Reform &
- Education
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