Nixon dug deep for dirt on Ted Kennedy
By CALVIN WOODWARD
Associated Press Writer Calvin Woodward, Associated Press Writer
Fri Aug 28, 6:21 am ET
WASHINGTON – President Richard Nixon considered Ted Kennedy such a threat that he tried to catch Kennedy cheating on his wife, even ordering aides to recruit Secret Service agents to spill secrets on the senator's behavior.
"Do you have anybody in the Secret Service that you can get to?" Nixon asked his aide John Ehrlichman in a stark series of Oval Office conversations about Kennedy before the 1972 election. "Yeah, yeah," Ehrlichman replied.
"Plant one," Nixon said. "Plant two guys on him. This could be very useful."
Nixon made clear that the Secret Service protection afforded Kennedy before the 1972 election would be rescinded after. Then, said the president, "If he gets shot, it's too damn bad." His aides disdainfully referred to Kennedy supporters as "super swinger jet set types."
Tape recordings from the Nixon White House betray a preoccupation with the Kennedy mystique and how that might be used against the Republican president by the last surviving brother, who died Tuesday at age 77. Nixon wanted a sharp and private eye kept on Ted Kennedy's movements after the Chappaquiddick scandal, hoping to expose another misstep with a woman other than his wife, Joan.
Nixon's men had investigators tail Ted Kennedy on a Hawaii vacation and when he was at his Martha's Vineyard haunts.
Mortified, they told Nixon that Joan Kennedy wanted to wear "hot pants" to a White House function until her husband talked her out of it. But Ted's behavior? In the aftermath of his scandal, he was careful not to step out of line, the tapes suggest.
"Does he do anything?" Nixon asked in a September 1971 meeting. "No, no, he's very clean," Ehrlichman replied. "He was in Hawaii on his own. He was staying in some guy's villa. He was just as nice as could be the whole time."
Nixon shot back: "The thing to do is watch him."
All this was from an era of brass-knuckle politics and backroom intrigue that finally consumed Nixon's presidency in the Watergate affair. Kennedy overcame his own scandal to serve nearly a half-century in the Senate. But the presidency remained out of his reach.
"President Nixon never forgot his humiliating defeat in the 1960 presidential election to John F. Kennedy," said Luke A. Nichter, a leading authority on the Nixon White House recordings and assistant history professor at Texas A&M University. "Nixon did not intend to simply win in 1972; he wanted to destroy his opponent."
"If that opponent was a Kennedy, Nixon cautiously welcomed that opportunity but left nothing to chance," Nichter said. "That is what these long-obscured recordings show us."
Nichter features and analyzes the recordings at his Web site, nixontapes.org. The material has been released by the government over the years.
By April 1971, when the first of these exchanges was captured by the White House taping system, Kennedy was a damaged political figure.
On the night of July 18, 1969, he had driven off a bridge into the water at Chappaquiddick, Mass., swimming to safety while the young woman with him, Mary Jo Kopechne, drowned. He pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident, and a judge said his actions probably contributed to her death. He got a suspended sentence and probation.
Despite that episode, Nixon was plainly worried about Kennedy's political potency yet confident the Democrat could not restrain a philandering impulse. "I predict something more is going to happen," he said. "The reason I would cover him is from a personal standpoint — you're likely to find something."
Nixon pressed for more wiretaps and a combing of tax records, not only on Kennedy but other leading Democrats. "I could only hope that we are, frankly, doing a little persecuting," he said.
At one point, he expressed hesitation about whether his actions were proper.
The moment quickly passed.
"I don't know," Nixon mused to H.R. Haldeman, his chief of staff. "Maybe it's the wrong thing to do. But I have a feeling that if you're going to start, better start now."
Beyond the politics, Nixon and his aides considered themselves cultural defenders of middle America and the Kennedys anathema to that.
In an April 9, 1971, conversation with Haldeman and press secretary Ron Ziegler, Haldeman cites "super-swinger jet-set types," Ziegler picks up on the phrase and the three discuss an apparently provocative outfit that Joan Kennedy wore to a Senate wives' lunch at the White House.
"Some leather gaucho, with a bare midriff or something," Haldeman said. "She was going to wear hot pants but Teddy told her she couldn't."
"It's crude," Nixon said.
And they talked about extramarital affairs in the Kennedy family. "They do it all the time," Nixon said.
Because Kennedy was not a presidential candidate in 1972, he did not qualify for full-time Secret Service protection. But Nixon offered it to Ted Kennedy, given the assassinations of his brothers, President John Kennedy and Sen. Robert Kennedy, and right after Alabama Gov. George Wallace was shot in May 1972.
The offer was conveyed by Treasury Secretary John Connally, who was in charge of the Secret Service, in a phone call with Kennedy. The former Texas governor was riding in the car with JKF and was wounded when the president was assassinated in Dallas.
"Very frankly," Connally said, "I don't know that they could save you but there's a damn good chance they could if some nut came up. And you ought not to be reluctant about it. I know you're not a candidate but you're exposed."
Ted Kennedy expressed thanks and asked for protection at his home, to start.
But Nixon's motives for the offer were not pure. He worried that if a third Kennedy were shot, and while not having Secret Service protection, he'd be blamed.
Plus, he wanted dirt. And the best way to get it was to have a Secret Service agent rat on the senator. There is no evidence an agent turned into such an informer.
"You understand what the problem is," Nixon told Haldeman and Ehrlichman on Sept. 7, 1972. "If the (SOB) gets shot they'll say we didn't furnish it (protection). So you just buy his insurance.
"After the election, he doesn't get a ... thing. If he gets shot, it's too damn bad. Do it under the basis, though, that we pick the Secret Service men.
"Understand what I'm talking about?"
R.I.P. Senator Edward Kennedy
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Orrin Hatch's tribute song to Teddy:
http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=8419324
http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=8419324
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Win Butler
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I am devastated. I had thought (okay wishful thinking) that he could cheat and be around for some time yet. He was, of course, a flawed man, but no else fought harder for the values I believe in.
I am glad, though, that in the one one opportunity I had to vote for Ted Kennedy -- the 1980 New York Democratic presidential primary -- I did just that (and my law school dorm room door was plastered with Teddy campaign stuff).
Edited By Damien on 1251320401
I am glad, though, that in the one one opportunity I had to vote for Ted Kennedy -- the 1980 New York Democratic presidential primary -- I did just that (and my law school dorm room door was plastered with Teddy campaign stuff).
Edited By Damien on 1251320401
"Y'know, that's one of the things I like about Mitt Romney. He's been consistent since he changed his mind." -- Christine O'Donnell
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Ted Kennedy is a man who unquestionably benefited from privilege. He got his start in politics at a level few others would have been granted, and was granted leeway few others would have received after very serious mistakes in his early life.
And after all that, he made himself a momentous figure. Perhaps it was in atonement for his unfathomable and unforgivable mistake of July 1969 (I voted against him in the 1980 primary, desipte preferring his politics, solely on the basis of Chappaquiddick). Perhaps it was finally coming to grips with the responsibility bequeathed on him by the deaths of his brothers (and, later, nephews). Perhaps it was just the mid-life realization that he'd become a clown of sorts and if he wanted to justify his life he'd need to do something different.
Whatever the reason, he made himself into one of the most significant Senators ever to serve in the body -- to be mentioned in a breath with Clay, Taft, Johnson. This was more than a matter of longevity; many Senators have served nearly as long without the impact. It was his respect for the demands of the Senate, his willingness to put in long hours, his patience at getting only part of what he wanted in a consevative era, and his doggedness on those causes he held most dear.
Few of us would have thought -- in the early 70s, when he seemed the runt of a litter of brothers, one who had just been at least partly responsible for something truly awful -- that he could rise to this status. But rise he did. He's a giant whose passing must be marked.
How this all affects the current political maelstrom is a subject for another day.
And after all that, he made himself a momentous figure. Perhaps it was in atonement for his unfathomable and unforgivable mistake of July 1969 (I voted against him in the 1980 primary, desipte preferring his politics, solely on the basis of Chappaquiddick). Perhaps it was finally coming to grips with the responsibility bequeathed on him by the deaths of his brothers (and, later, nephews). Perhaps it was just the mid-life realization that he'd become a clown of sorts and if he wanted to justify his life he'd need to do something different.
Whatever the reason, he made himself into one of the most significant Senators ever to serve in the body -- to be mentioned in a breath with Clay, Taft, Johnson. This was more than a matter of longevity; many Senators have served nearly as long without the impact. It was his respect for the demands of the Senate, his willingness to put in long hours, his patience at getting only part of what he wanted in a consevative era, and his doggedness on those causes he held most dear.
Few of us would have thought -- in the early 70s, when he seemed the runt of a litter of brothers, one who had just been at least partly responsible for something truly awful -- that he could rise to this status. But rise he did. He's a giant whose passing must be marked.
How this all affects the current political maelstrom is a subject for another day.
Byrd wants health bill renamed for Kennedy
by Michael O'Brien
Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), the only senator to have served longer than the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), mourned his friend Wednesday, saying his "heart and soul weeps."
Byrd said he hoped healthcare reform legislation in the Senate would be renamed in memoriam of Kennedy.
"I had hoped and prayed that this day would never come," Byrd said in a statement. "My heart and soul weeps at the lost of my best friend in the Senate, my beloved friend, Ted Kennedy."
Byrd's wistful statement focused on the work accomplished with Kennedy during decades together in the Senate, and called on the healthcare bill before Congress to be renamed in honor of Kennedy.
"In his honor and as a tribute to his commitment to his ideals, let us stop the shouting and name calling and have a civilized debate on health care reform which I hope, when legislation has been signed into law, will bear his name for his commitment to insuring the health of every American," Byrd said.
Byrd, who has himself suffered infirmities keeping him from active participation in the Senate in recent months, famously wept when his younger colleague Kennedy fell ill with brain cancer last year.
Those emotions were again on display in Byrd's statement this morning.
"God bless his wife Vicki, his family, and the institution that he served so ably, which will never be the same without his voice of eloquence and reason," Byrd said. "And God bless you Ted. I love you and will miss you terribly
http://briefingroom.thehill.com/2009....kennedy
by Michael O'Brien
Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), the only senator to have served longer than the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), mourned his friend Wednesday, saying his "heart and soul weeps."
Byrd said he hoped healthcare reform legislation in the Senate would be renamed in memoriam of Kennedy.
"I had hoped and prayed that this day would never come," Byrd said in a statement. "My heart and soul weeps at the lost of my best friend in the Senate, my beloved friend, Ted Kennedy."
Byrd's wistful statement focused on the work accomplished with Kennedy during decades together in the Senate, and called on the healthcare bill before Congress to be renamed in honor of Kennedy.
"In his honor and as a tribute to his commitment to his ideals, let us stop the shouting and name calling and have a civilized debate on health care reform which I hope, when legislation has been signed into law, will bear his name for his commitment to insuring the health of every American," Byrd said.
Byrd, who has himself suffered infirmities keeping him from active participation in the Senate in recent months, famously wept when his younger colleague Kennedy fell ill with brain cancer last year.
Those emotions were again on display in Byrd's statement this morning.
"God bless his wife Vicki, his family, and the institution that he served so ably, which will never be the same without his voice of eloquence and reason," Byrd said. "And God bless you Ted. I love you and will miss you terribly
http://briefingroom.thehill.com/2009....kennedy
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Kennedy successor to be chosen by special vote
He had recently urged Mass. lawmakers to allow governor make the pick
The Associated Press
updated 5:25 a.m. ET, Wed., Aug 26, 2009
BOSTON - Unlike most states, a successor to fill Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's seat in the Senate will be chosen through a special election, not by the governor.
Massachusetts law requires a special election for the seat no sooner than 145 days and no later than 160 days after a vacancy occurs. The law bans an interim appointee.
The law was changed in 2004, when Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., became his party's presidential nominee and Republican Mitt Romney was the state's governor. Before the change, the governor would have appointed a replacement to serve until the next general election.
That would have created the opportunity for Romney to install a fellow Republican in office, a move that Democrats who control the state legislature sought to prevent.
Last week, Kennedy asked Massachusetts lawmakers to change state law to give Massachusetts' current governor, Deval Patrick, a fellow supporter of President Barack Obama, the ability to appoint an interim replacement to Kennedy's seat should Kennedy be unable to continue serving.
"It is vital for this Commonwealth to have two voices speaking for the needs of its citizens and two votes in the Senate during the approximately five months between a vacancy and an election," Kennedy said in a letter to Patrick.
Fierce fight expected
Though Massachusetts is dominated by Democrats, a change in the law isn't a sure thing. Patrick, Senate President Therese Murray and House Speaker Robert DeLeo — all Democrats — gave no indication if they would support the change.
Any change could not happen immediately. Lawmakers are not expected to return to formal sessions until after Labor Day.
Despite speculation that Kennedy's wife, Vicki, could assume his Senate seat, family aides have said she is not interested in replacing her husband either temporarily or permanently. One of Kennedy's nephews, former Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II, has also been described as interested.
Any race to succeed Kennedy would be crowded and fiercely fought.
Other potential Democratic candidates include state Attorney General Martha Coakley, U.S. Reps. Stephen Lynch, Michael Capuano, Edward Markey, James McGovern and William Delahunt, and former Rep. Martin Meehan, now chancellor of the University of Massachusetts at Lowell.
On the Republican side, potential candidates include Cape Cod businessman Jeff Beatty, former Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey, former U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan and Chris Egan, former U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Cooperation and Development.
He had recently urged Mass. lawmakers to allow governor make the pick
The Associated Press
updated 5:25 a.m. ET, Wed., Aug 26, 2009
BOSTON - Unlike most states, a successor to fill Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's seat in the Senate will be chosen through a special election, not by the governor.
Massachusetts law requires a special election for the seat no sooner than 145 days and no later than 160 days after a vacancy occurs. The law bans an interim appointee.
The law was changed in 2004, when Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., became his party's presidential nominee and Republican Mitt Romney was the state's governor. Before the change, the governor would have appointed a replacement to serve until the next general election.
That would have created the opportunity for Romney to install a fellow Republican in office, a move that Democrats who control the state legislature sought to prevent.
Last week, Kennedy asked Massachusetts lawmakers to change state law to give Massachusetts' current governor, Deval Patrick, a fellow supporter of President Barack Obama, the ability to appoint an interim replacement to Kennedy's seat should Kennedy be unable to continue serving.
"It is vital for this Commonwealth to have two voices speaking for the needs of its citizens and two votes in the Senate during the approximately five months between a vacancy and an election," Kennedy said in a letter to Patrick.
Fierce fight expected
Though Massachusetts is dominated by Democrats, a change in the law isn't a sure thing. Patrick, Senate President Therese Murray and House Speaker Robert DeLeo — all Democrats — gave no indication if they would support the change.
Any change could not happen immediately. Lawmakers are not expected to return to formal sessions until after Labor Day.
Despite speculation that Kennedy's wife, Vicki, could assume his Senate seat, family aides have said she is not interested in replacing her husband either temporarily or permanently. One of Kennedy's nephews, former Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II, has also been described as interested.
Any race to succeed Kennedy would be crowded and fiercely fought.
Other potential Democratic candidates include state Attorney General Martha Coakley, U.S. Reps. Stephen Lynch, Michael Capuano, Edward Markey, James McGovern and William Delahunt, and former Rep. Martin Meehan, now chancellor of the University of Massachusetts at Lowell.
On the Republican side, potential candidates include Cape Cod businessman Jeff Beatty, former Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey, former U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan and Chris Egan, former U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Cooperation and Development.
"What the hell?"
Win Butler
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Republicans join Democrats in mourning Kennedy
Aug 26, 8:20 AM (ET)
By GLEN JOHNSON
BOSTON (AP) - Sen. Edward M. Kennedy was a Democrat's Democrat, so much so that he became a rallying point for those in his party and an object of derision for Republican opponents.
Yet his affability and capability to span the partisan divide on an array of legislative matters prompted an outpouring of condolences from those in the GOP as well as the Democratic Party following his death Tuesday at age 77 from brain cancer.
President Barack Obama led the Democrats, saying in a statement: "For five decades, virtually every major piece of legislation to advance the civil rights, health and economic well-being of the American people bore his name and resulted from his efforts."
Former President George H.W. Bush spoke for his son, former President George W. Bush, in expressing sympathies from members of the Republican Party.
"While we didn't see eye to eye on many political issues through the years, I always respected his steadfast public service," said a statement issued by the elder Bush, who noted that his library gave the senator a public service award in 2003.
"Ted Kennedy was a seminal figure in the U.S. Senate - a leader who answered the call to duty for some 47 years, and whose death closes a remarkable chapter in that body's history," he said.
The widow of another Republican president, Ronald Reagan, echoed those sentiments.
"Given our political differences, people are sometimes surprised by how close Ronnie and I have been to the Kennedy family," Nancy Reagan said in a statement from Los Angeles.
"But Ronnie and Ted could always find common ground, and they had great respect for one another. In recent years, Ted and I found our common ground in stem cell research, and I considered him an ally and a dear friend. I will miss him."
Her husband died in June 2004 of complications from Alzheimer's disease.
For the governor of her home state, the loss was personal.
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose wife, Maria Shriver, was Kennedy's niece, came to politics after careers as a bodybuilder and actor and credited Kennedy with helping him in his current role.
"I have personally benefited and grown from his experience and advice, and I know countless others have as well," the governor said in a statement. "Teddy taught us all that public service isn't a hobby or even an occupation, but a way of life and his legacy will live on."
Kennedy's death came just two weeks after that of Shriver's mother, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, one of the senator's siblings.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a 2008 GOP presidential contender, recalled losing to Kennedy in a Senate race. Nonetheless, the two joined forces in 2006 to help pass a universal health insurance law in Massachusetts.
"In 1994, I joined the long list of those who ran against Ted and came up short. But he was the kind of man you could like even if he was your adversary," Romney said.
The Senate's top Democrat, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., labeled Kennedy the "patriarch" of the party.
The Senate majority leader promised that Congress, while mourning Kennedy's loss, would renew the push for the cause of Kennedy's life - health care reform.
"Ted Kennedy's dream was the one for which the founding fathers fought and for which his brothers sought to realize," Reid said in a statement. "The liberal lion's mighty roar may now fall silent, but his dream shall never die."
Former President Jimmy Carter, who beat out Kennedy for the 1980 Democratic presidential nomination, called him "an unwavering advocate for the millions of less fortunate in our country."
"The courage and dignity he exhibited in his fight with cancer was surpassed only by his lifelong commitment and service to his country," Carter said in a statement.
Kennedy's junior colleague, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., lauded him for his cancer fight.
"He taught us how to fight, how to laugh, how to treat each other, and how to turn idealism into action, and in these last fourteen months, he taught us much more about how to live life, sailing into the wind one last time," Kerry said.
"No words can ever do justice to this irrepressible, larger than life presence who was simply the best - the best senator, the best advocate you could ever hope for, the best colleague and the best person to stand by your side in the toughest of times."
Aug 26, 8:20 AM (ET)
By GLEN JOHNSON
BOSTON (AP) - Sen. Edward M. Kennedy was a Democrat's Democrat, so much so that he became a rallying point for those in his party and an object of derision for Republican opponents.
Yet his affability and capability to span the partisan divide on an array of legislative matters prompted an outpouring of condolences from those in the GOP as well as the Democratic Party following his death Tuesday at age 77 from brain cancer.
President Barack Obama led the Democrats, saying in a statement: "For five decades, virtually every major piece of legislation to advance the civil rights, health and economic well-being of the American people bore his name and resulted from his efforts."
Former President George H.W. Bush spoke for his son, former President George W. Bush, in expressing sympathies from members of the Republican Party.
"While we didn't see eye to eye on many political issues through the years, I always respected his steadfast public service," said a statement issued by the elder Bush, who noted that his library gave the senator a public service award in 2003.
"Ted Kennedy was a seminal figure in the U.S. Senate - a leader who answered the call to duty for some 47 years, and whose death closes a remarkable chapter in that body's history," he said.
The widow of another Republican president, Ronald Reagan, echoed those sentiments.
"Given our political differences, people are sometimes surprised by how close Ronnie and I have been to the Kennedy family," Nancy Reagan said in a statement from Los Angeles.
"But Ronnie and Ted could always find common ground, and they had great respect for one another. In recent years, Ted and I found our common ground in stem cell research, and I considered him an ally and a dear friend. I will miss him."
Her husband died in June 2004 of complications from Alzheimer's disease.
For the governor of her home state, the loss was personal.
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose wife, Maria Shriver, was Kennedy's niece, came to politics after careers as a bodybuilder and actor and credited Kennedy with helping him in his current role.
"I have personally benefited and grown from his experience and advice, and I know countless others have as well," the governor said in a statement. "Teddy taught us all that public service isn't a hobby or even an occupation, but a way of life and his legacy will live on."
Kennedy's death came just two weeks after that of Shriver's mother, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, one of the senator's siblings.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a 2008 GOP presidential contender, recalled losing to Kennedy in a Senate race. Nonetheless, the two joined forces in 2006 to help pass a universal health insurance law in Massachusetts.
"In 1994, I joined the long list of those who ran against Ted and came up short. But he was the kind of man you could like even if he was your adversary," Romney said.
The Senate's top Democrat, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., labeled Kennedy the "patriarch" of the party.
The Senate majority leader promised that Congress, while mourning Kennedy's loss, would renew the push for the cause of Kennedy's life - health care reform.
"Ted Kennedy's dream was the one for which the founding fathers fought and for which his brothers sought to realize," Reid said in a statement. "The liberal lion's mighty roar may now fall silent, but his dream shall never die."
Former President Jimmy Carter, who beat out Kennedy for the 1980 Democratic presidential nomination, called him "an unwavering advocate for the millions of less fortunate in our country."
"The courage and dignity he exhibited in his fight with cancer was surpassed only by his lifelong commitment and service to his country," Carter said in a statement.
Kennedy's junior colleague, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., lauded him for his cancer fight.
"He taught us how to fight, how to laugh, how to treat each other, and how to turn idealism into action, and in these last fourteen months, he taught us much more about how to live life, sailing into the wind one last time," Kerry said.
"No words can ever do justice to this irrepressible, larger than life presence who was simply the best - the best senator, the best advocate you could ever hope for, the best colleague and the best person to stand by your side in the toughest of times."
"What the hell?"
Win Butler
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There's not very much I can say, because I'm too young to be personally affected by the Kennedy legacy, and I can only feel the momentousness of the occasion only in the abstract. I know my mother must be devastated. She has kept her JFK campaign button after all these years.
The lion has lost his roar. R.I.P.
Edited By Sonic Youth on 1251297150
The lion has lost his roar. R.I.P.
Edited By Sonic Youth on 1251297150
"What the hell?"
Win Butler
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Merkel, Brown Lead Global Tributes to Edward Kennedy
By Andrew Atkinson
Aug. 26 (Bloomberg) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel and U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown led tributes to Senator Edward Kennedy, who died yesterday at age 77. Merkel said Europe has lost “a treasured friend” and Brown described Kennedy as “the senator of senators.”
Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, died late Tuesday night at home in Hyannis Port on Cape Cod, his family said in a statement. A malignant brain tumor was diagnosed in May 2008 and doctors operated on it the following month.
“Germany and Europe have lost a treasured friend in Senator Kennedy,” Merkel said in an e-mailed statement from Berlin today. “His advocacy for justice and peace was stamped with his convictions and steadfastness.” Brown said Kennedy will be mourned “in every continent,” not only in the U.S.
“He led the world in championing children’s education and health care, and believed that every single child should have the chance to realize their potential to the full,” Brown said in a statement released by his office in London. “Even facing illness and death he never stopped fighting for the causes which were his life’s work. I am proud to have counted him as a friend.”
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Kennedy “symbolized the fight for the highest values of humanity.” Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi called him a “model” politician who always defended the values of liberty and democracy.
Anti-Apartheid
The European Commission, the Brussels-based executive arm of the 27-nation European Union, hailed Kennedy as “a selfless public servant who fought for the rights of all Americans and sought to help people in developing countries across the globe.”
Kennedy played a leading role in opposing all-white rule in South Africa, visiting the country in 1985 to draw attention to the appalling living conditions of the country’s black majority. He also staged a protest outside the prison where Nelson Mandela, who went on to become the country’s first democratically elected leader in 1994, was held. Kennedy also backed the imposition of economic sanctions against the apartheid regime -- measures approved by Congress in 1986.
Kennedy “made his voice heard in the struggle against apartheid at a time when the freedom struggle was not widely supported in the West,” the Nelson Mandela Foundation said in an e-mailed statement today.
‘Great Patriot’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Kennedy “a great American patriot, a great champion of a better world, a great friend of Israel,” according to his spokesman, Mark Regev.
Kennedy, who was of Irish-Catholic background, played a key role in Northern Ireland, the U.K. province where sectarian strife between pro-British Protestants and Catholics demanding a united Ireland claimed more than 3,500 lives. The 25-year conflict was known as “the Troubles.” Kennedy sparked anger in 1971 when he compared the British military presence in Northern Ireland to the U.S. involvement in Vietnam.
In 1981, he helped found the Congressional Friends of Ireland, which worked for peace in the province, and was involved in the negotiations that led to the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement and the 1998 Good Friday Agreement that established power sharing in Northern Ireland. In March, Kennedy was awarded an honorary knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II for his role in swaying Irish-American public opinion during the peace process.
'True Public Servant'
Kennedy “was a true public servant committed to the values of fairness, justice and opportunity,” Tony Blair, who was succeeded by Brown in 2007 after a decade as prime minister, said in a statement issued by his office.
“I saw his focus and determination firsthand in Northern Ireland, where his passionate commitment was matched with a practical understanding of what needed to be done to bring about peace and to sustain it,” Blair said. “I was delighted he could join us in Belfast the day devolved government was restored.”
“His service to Ireland through his role in the peace process was exceptional and contributed significantly to its progress,” Gerry Adams, the leader of Sinn Fein, the largest nationalist party in the Northern Ireland assembly, said in an e-mail.
Kennedy was “an outstanding supporter of our peace process,” John Hume, who led the nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party in Northern Ireland for 22 years until 2001, said in a statement.
Friend of Ireland
“In good days and bad, Ted Kennedy worked valiantly for the cause of peace on this island,” Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen said in a statement. His predecessor, Bertie Ahern, called Kennedy “an outstanding friend of Ireland.”
In Britain, opposition Conservative leader David Cameron said Kennedy “served the American people in the spirit of a family whose name is synonymous with public service in the U.S.”
By Andrew Atkinson
Aug. 26 (Bloomberg) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel and U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown led tributes to Senator Edward Kennedy, who died yesterday at age 77. Merkel said Europe has lost “a treasured friend” and Brown described Kennedy as “the senator of senators.”
Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, died late Tuesday night at home in Hyannis Port on Cape Cod, his family said in a statement. A malignant brain tumor was diagnosed in May 2008 and doctors operated on it the following month.
“Germany and Europe have lost a treasured friend in Senator Kennedy,” Merkel said in an e-mailed statement from Berlin today. “His advocacy for justice and peace was stamped with his convictions and steadfastness.” Brown said Kennedy will be mourned “in every continent,” not only in the U.S.
“He led the world in championing children’s education and health care, and believed that every single child should have the chance to realize their potential to the full,” Brown said in a statement released by his office in London. “Even facing illness and death he never stopped fighting for the causes which were his life’s work. I am proud to have counted him as a friend.”
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Kennedy “symbolized the fight for the highest values of humanity.” Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi called him a “model” politician who always defended the values of liberty and democracy.
Anti-Apartheid
The European Commission, the Brussels-based executive arm of the 27-nation European Union, hailed Kennedy as “a selfless public servant who fought for the rights of all Americans and sought to help people in developing countries across the globe.”
Kennedy played a leading role in opposing all-white rule in South Africa, visiting the country in 1985 to draw attention to the appalling living conditions of the country’s black majority. He also staged a protest outside the prison where Nelson Mandela, who went on to become the country’s first democratically elected leader in 1994, was held. Kennedy also backed the imposition of economic sanctions against the apartheid regime -- measures approved by Congress in 1986.
Kennedy “made his voice heard in the struggle against apartheid at a time when the freedom struggle was not widely supported in the West,” the Nelson Mandela Foundation said in an e-mailed statement today.
‘Great Patriot’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Kennedy “a great American patriot, a great champion of a better world, a great friend of Israel,” according to his spokesman, Mark Regev.
Kennedy, who was of Irish-Catholic background, played a key role in Northern Ireland, the U.K. province where sectarian strife between pro-British Protestants and Catholics demanding a united Ireland claimed more than 3,500 lives. The 25-year conflict was known as “the Troubles.” Kennedy sparked anger in 1971 when he compared the British military presence in Northern Ireland to the U.S. involvement in Vietnam.
In 1981, he helped found the Congressional Friends of Ireland, which worked for peace in the province, and was involved in the negotiations that led to the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement and the 1998 Good Friday Agreement that established power sharing in Northern Ireland. In March, Kennedy was awarded an honorary knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II for his role in swaying Irish-American public opinion during the peace process.
'True Public Servant'
Kennedy “was a true public servant committed to the values of fairness, justice and opportunity,” Tony Blair, who was succeeded by Brown in 2007 after a decade as prime minister, said in a statement issued by his office.
“I saw his focus and determination firsthand in Northern Ireland, where his passionate commitment was matched with a practical understanding of what needed to be done to bring about peace and to sustain it,” Blair said. “I was delighted he could join us in Belfast the day devolved government was restored.”
“His service to Ireland through his role in the peace process was exceptional and contributed significantly to its progress,” Gerry Adams, the leader of Sinn Fein, the largest nationalist party in the Northern Ireland assembly, said in an e-mail.
Kennedy was “an outstanding supporter of our peace process,” John Hume, who led the nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party in Northern Ireland for 22 years until 2001, said in a statement.
Friend of Ireland
“In good days and bad, Ted Kennedy worked valiantly for the cause of peace on this island,” Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen said in a statement. His predecessor, Bertie Ahern, called Kennedy “an outstanding friend of Ireland.”
In Britain, opposition Conservative leader David Cameron said Kennedy “served the American people in the spirit of a family whose name is synonymous with public service in the U.S.”
"What the hell?"
Win Butler
Win Butler
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Beyond Camelot: His shining moments endure
By Peter S. Canellos, Boston Globe Staff | August 26, 2009
Ted Kennedy played a leading role in perhaps the greatest political drama of the 20th century - the dawning of the New Frontier and the soul-crushing assassinations that followed - but he will be remembered by history for his legislative achievements in health care, education, civil rights, and immigration.
The fact that his tangible accomplishments transcended his mythic role in the Kennedy drama attests to the vast extent of his legislative impact. In each of four areas, he dominated legislative politics for more than four decades, spanning ten presidencies, and played a large role in transforming the government’s relationship to the people.
Bill by bill, provision by provision, he expanded government health support to millions of children and the elderly, helped millions more go to college, opened the immigration doors to millions of new Americans from continents other than Europe, and protected the civil rights bulwark of the ’60s through a long period of conservative domination.
And by the time his life ended yesterday, surrounded by loved ones in a gentle scene that contrasted sharply with the violent deaths of his brothers, Ted Kennedy had built a nuts-and-bolts legacy to stand beside that of his presidential brother as a figure of hope and his senatorial brother as a figure of compassion.
“He was always prepared, always worked hard, really managed to get things done,’’ said Michael Corgan, history professor at Boston University. “He’ll be remembered as the foremost senator of his day.’’
Much of the world, however, is only starting to catch up to Kennedy’s legislative accomplishments, having long ago closed their memory bank on him.
There are still tens of millions of detractors who tuned him out in the ’80s, when, as a symbol of liberal excess who was unable to control his appetites, he seemed to belong to the past.
There are, as well, an equal number of admirers who remember him from an even more distant past, as the young man standing up in the face of unspeakable grief, having lost a second brother to an assassin’s bullet.
“My brother need not be idealized or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life,’’ the 36-year-old senator declared, “but be remembered simply as a good and decent man who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it.’’
Many may never be able to separate him from his brothers, believing him to be either an undeserving heir or a noble keeper of the flame. And for them, his death will close the book on a long-running saga that cut a major swath through American political life.
“Most people will remember him best for his brothers, for picking up the Kennedy flag, and for a series of truly unforgettable speeches,’’ said Don Kettl, dean of the University of Maryland School of Public Policy. “But history will likely remember him best for his legislative accomplishments and his ability to build bipartisan support to translate ambitious ideas into lasting law.’’
In fact, Ted Kennedy was always more consistent than his brothers, a pure liberal who believed in the government’s obligation to help the less fortunate. While Jack Kennedy ran for president as a centrist, and Bobby followed a zigzag path from the anticommunist right to the antiwar left, Ted was always a fixed point on the political map.
While most of his colleagues’ eyes would glaze over at the details of spending bill, Kennedy could easily recite the difference between a formula that gave benefits to families up to 30 percent above the poverty level and one that gave benefits to those 40 percent above. He could say just how many families were in that extra sliver and envision the human beings behind the statistics.
Ironically, the lasting scar on his record will be an incident in which he appeared to show insufficient concern for the life of a woman, Mary Jo Kopechne, who died while riding in his car on Chappaquiddick Island. Kennedy didn’t report the accident for eight hours.
“I think he finally put Chappaquiddick behind him not so much by doing penance but through public service,’’ said Corgan.
That assessment won’t be universally accepted. There are many who will not forgive Kennedy for Chappaquiddick, just as there were many who instantly forgave him out of respect for his family. This was his fate. Memories of deaths - of Jack’s, Bobby’s, Mary Jo Kopechne’s - shadowed him wherever he went.
He found an escape in good works. And it is for those many deeds that he will be deeply and honestly mourned.
By Peter S. Canellos, Boston Globe Staff | August 26, 2009
Ted Kennedy played a leading role in perhaps the greatest political drama of the 20th century - the dawning of the New Frontier and the soul-crushing assassinations that followed - but he will be remembered by history for his legislative achievements in health care, education, civil rights, and immigration.
The fact that his tangible accomplishments transcended his mythic role in the Kennedy drama attests to the vast extent of his legislative impact. In each of four areas, he dominated legislative politics for more than four decades, spanning ten presidencies, and played a large role in transforming the government’s relationship to the people.
Bill by bill, provision by provision, he expanded government health support to millions of children and the elderly, helped millions more go to college, opened the immigration doors to millions of new Americans from continents other than Europe, and protected the civil rights bulwark of the ’60s through a long period of conservative domination.
And by the time his life ended yesterday, surrounded by loved ones in a gentle scene that contrasted sharply with the violent deaths of his brothers, Ted Kennedy had built a nuts-and-bolts legacy to stand beside that of his presidential brother as a figure of hope and his senatorial brother as a figure of compassion.
“He was always prepared, always worked hard, really managed to get things done,’’ said Michael Corgan, history professor at Boston University. “He’ll be remembered as the foremost senator of his day.’’
Much of the world, however, is only starting to catch up to Kennedy’s legislative accomplishments, having long ago closed their memory bank on him.
There are still tens of millions of detractors who tuned him out in the ’80s, when, as a symbol of liberal excess who was unable to control his appetites, he seemed to belong to the past.
There are, as well, an equal number of admirers who remember him from an even more distant past, as the young man standing up in the face of unspeakable grief, having lost a second brother to an assassin’s bullet.
“My brother need not be idealized or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life,’’ the 36-year-old senator declared, “but be remembered simply as a good and decent man who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it.’’
Many may never be able to separate him from his brothers, believing him to be either an undeserving heir or a noble keeper of the flame. And for them, his death will close the book on a long-running saga that cut a major swath through American political life.
“Most people will remember him best for his brothers, for picking up the Kennedy flag, and for a series of truly unforgettable speeches,’’ said Don Kettl, dean of the University of Maryland School of Public Policy. “But history will likely remember him best for his legislative accomplishments and his ability to build bipartisan support to translate ambitious ideas into lasting law.’’
In fact, Ted Kennedy was always more consistent than his brothers, a pure liberal who believed in the government’s obligation to help the less fortunate. While Jack Kennedy ran for president as a centrist, and Bobby followed a zigzag path from the anticommunist right to the antiwar left, Ted was always a fixed point on the political map.
While most of his colleagues’ eyes would glaze over at the details of spending bill, Kennedy could easily recite the difference between a formula that gave benefits to families up to 30 percent above the poverty level and one that gave benefits to those 40 percent above. He could say just how many families were in that extra sliver and envision the human beings behind the statistics.
Ironically, the lasting scar on his record will be an incident in which he appeared to show insufficient concern for the life of a woman, Mary Jo Kopechne, who died while riding in his car on Chappaquiddick Island. Kennedy didn’t report the accident for eight hours.
“I think he finally put Chappaquiddick behind him not so much by doing penance but through public service,’’ said Corgan.
That assessment won’t be universally accepted. There are many who will not forgive Kennedy for Chappaquiddick, just as there were many who instantly forgave him out of respect for his family. This was his fate. Memories of deaths - of Jack’s, Bobby’s, Mary Jo Kopechne’s - shadowed him wherever he went.
He found an escape in good works. And it is for those many deeds that he will be deeply and honestly mourned.
"What the hell?"
Win Butler
Win Butler
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OscarGuy
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This was a momentous passing. I'm too young to remember the elder Kennedy Brothers, but this one hits you kind of hard. He was an important and powerful man and one of the last remaining vestiges of the most powerful political dynasty this country has ever seen.
He will be sorely missed.
He will be sorely missed.
Wesley Lovell
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." - Benjamin Franklin
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." - Benjamin Franklin
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Big Magilla
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Ironically I was consoling a friend earlier this evening who just buried her 90 year-old mother while at the same time being unable to attend her 56 year-old sister's funeral in the Philippines. It happens that way sometimes. I've lost two family members on the same day three times over the years. At least the Kennedys had a few days between Eunice's funeral and Teddy's death.
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Big Magilla
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BOSTON (Reuters) – U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy, a towering figure in the Democratic Party who took the helm of one of America's most fabled political families after two older brothers were assassinated, has died at age 77, his family said on Wednesday.
"Edward M. Kennedy, the husband, father, grandfather, brother and uncle we loved so deeply, died late Tuesday night at home in Hyannis Port (Massachusetts)," the Kennedy family said in a statement.
One of the most influential and longest-serving senators in U.S. history -- a liberal standard-bearer who was also known as a consummate congressional dealmaker -- Kennedy had been battling brain cancer, which was diagnosed in May 2008.
"We've lost the irreplaceable center of our family and joyous light in our lives, but the inspiration of his faith, optimism, and perseverance will live on in our hearts forever," the family statement added.
His death marked the twilight of a political dynasty, and dealt a blow to Democrats as they seek to answer President Barack Obama's call for an overhaul of the healthcare system. Kennedy had made healthcare reform his signature cause.
Known as "Teddy," he was the brother of President John Kennedy, assassinated in 1963, Senator Robert Kennedy, fatally shot while campaigning for the 1968 Democratic presidential nomination, and Joe Kennedy, a pilot killed in World War Two.
When he first took the Senate seat previously held by John Kennedy in 1962, he was seen as something of a political lightweight who owed his ascent to his famous name.
Yet during his nearly half century in the chamber, Kennedy became known as one of Washington's most effective senators, crafting legislation by working with lawmakers and presidents of both parties, and finding unlikely allies.
At the same time, he held fast to liberal causes deemed anachronistic by the centrist "New Democrats," and was a lightning rod for conservative ire.
He helped enact measures to protect civil and labor rights, expand healthcare, upgrade schools, increase student aid and contain the spread of nuclear weapons.
"There's a lot to do," Kennedy told Reuters in 2006. "I think most of all it's the injustice that I continue to see and the opportunity to have some impact on it."
After Robert Kennedy's death, Edward was expected to waste little time in vying for the presidency. But in 1969, a young woman drowned after a car Kennedy was driving plunged off a bridge on the Massachusetts resort island of Chappaquiddick after a night of partying.
Kennedy's image took a major hit after it emerged he had failed to report the accident to authorities. He pleaded guilty to leaving the scene and received a suspended sentence.
Kennedy eventually ran for his party's presidential nomination in 1980 but lost to then-President Carter.
"Edward M. Kennedy, the husband, father, grandfather, brother and uncle we loved so deeply, died late Tuesday night at home in Hyannis Port (Massachusetts)," the Kennedy family said in a statement.
One of the most influential and longest-serving senators in U.S. history -- a liberal standard-bearer who was also known as a consummate congressional dealmaker -- Kennedy had been battling brain cancer, which was diagnosed in May 2008.
"We've lost the irreplaceable center of our family and joyous light in our lives, but the inspiration of his faith, optimism, and perseverance will live on in our hearts forever," the family statement added.
His death marked the twilight of a political dynasty, and dealt a blow to Democrats as they seek to answer President Barack Obama's call for an overhaul of the healthcare system. Kennedy had made healthcare reform his signature cause.
Known as "Teddy," he was the brother of President John Kennedy, assassinated in 1963, Senator Robert Kennedy, fatally shot while campaigning for the 1968 Democratic presidential nomination, and Joe Kennedy, a pilot killed in World War Two.
When he first took the Senate seat previously held by John Kennedy in 1962, he was seen as something of a political lightweight who owed his ascent to his famous name.
Yet during his nearly half century in the chamber, Kennedy became known as one of Washington's most effective senators, crafting legislation by working with lawmakers and presidents of both parties, and finding unlikely allies.
At the same time, he held fast to liberal causes deemed anachronistic by the centrist "New Democrats," and was a lightning rod for conservative ire.
He helped enact measures to protect civil and labor rights, expand healthcare, upgrade schools, increase student aid and contain the spread of nuclear weapons.
"There's a lot to do," Kennedy told Reuters in 2006. "I think most of all it's the injustice that I continue to see and the opportunity to have some impact on it."
After Robert Kennedy's death, Edward was expected to waste little time in vying for the presidency. But in 1969, a young woman drowned after a car Kennedy was driving plunged off a bridge on the Massachusetts resort island of Chappaquiddick after a night of partying.
Kennedy's image took a major hit after it emerged he had failed to report the accident to authorities. He pleaded guilty to leaving the scene and received a suspended sentence.
Kennedy eventually ran for his party's presidential nomination in 1980 but lost to then-President Carter.