A tribute to Ted Kennedy from the Conservative MP for West Chelmsford, Simon Burns. Mr Burns argues that Ted Kennedy will come to be remembered as one of the US Senate's greatest ever members.
The sad death of Senator Edward Kennedy after a long battle with brain cancer will deprive the US Senate of one of its finest and longest serving members. When the history of the Senate is written he will be remembered as one of the greatest of US senators in its long august history, on a par with the likes of Daniel Webster.
For those who are under-privileged in American society, who believe passionately in a fairer system of healthcare provision, in civil rights for all citizens regardless of faith, colour or gender or a fairer deal for the mentally ill, they have lost a towering champion who it will be difficult to replace.
It was a mark of the man, who was surrounded by wealth and privilege since birth that he decided to devote his whole life from the age of 30 to public service as a US Senator when he could have aimlessly frittered his life away. A recent story in the Boston Globe summed up his commitment to serving the people. About two years ago he was sitting on the porch of his sprawling Hyannis Port home chatting to his old friend and father in law, Edmund Reggie. Reggie told him he was crazy to beat himself to death on the floor of the Senate. He went on to point out that ‘passing a new law won’t be any more glorious for you than the reputation you have made. You have all this. You and Vicki (his wife) love to travel. Why are you beating your brains out? You’ve got all the money you need and your kids are raised.’
But Kennedy wasn’t buying it. ‘No’, he said, ‘I don’t think so. I’ll stay in the Senate.’
For the past 47 years, the US Senate was as much a home to Edward Kennedy as his beloved Hyannis Port. To many in Britain who are not familiar with most of his work and achievements it will come as a surprise that Kennedy could well go down in history as one of the greatest of Senators and it would have been inconceivable at some points in his career, as he weathered crises both personal and professional, tragic and scandalous.
His life divided up into three parts – his rise and the struggles of being the ninth and last child of a prodigiously successful family, the trials and tribulations of the 1970s and 1980s when his marriage was deteriorating and serious questions were raised about the way in which his personal life impinged on his effectiveness as a Senator and his redemption which led him to becoming the Lion of the Senate following his second, highly successful and happy marriage to Vicki Reggie in 1992.
The key to Ted Kennedy is that he grew up with both a rich kid’s sense of superiority and a youngest child’s sense of inferiority. He realised early that his role in the family was that of court jester – and he was a natural. Whilst President Kennedy was considered aloof and Bobby Kennedy was driven, Ted was the one who loved jokes and was more outgoing. As his late sister Eunice once said, ‘he has always been the one most interested in people.’
I remember visiting him in Hyannis and being given a tour by him of the Kennedy Compound, including the Ambassador’s house and his beloved boat, the Mya. Throughout the visit he had me in stitches as he relayed one anecdote after another about his life there. This affinity to relate to people was his underlying strength and explains why he was such an effective political campaigner and had an ability to work with both Democrats and Republicans in the Senate.
Following his unsuccessful 1980 Presidential Election campaign, he seemed a new man, liberated from his past and the expectations that he carried with him. He clearly decided to put his presidential ambitions behind him and concentrate on his work in the Senate. His achievements there are legend. In over 47 years there he authored over 2,500 Bills, of which at least 300 became law. In whole areas of policy – on civil rights, immigration, healthcare, education and voting for 18 year olds – he dominated the Senate.
His legislation has provided healthcare to tens of millions of Americans; his Immigration Act 1965 ended the national-origins test and, against the odds, he expanded government’s role in extending civil rights to the disabled, providing healthcare to children and helping fund student education in addition to getting the voting age reduced from 21 to 18 in the early 1970s.
Many people in Britain only know about Ted Kennedy because they knew he was a member of the Kennedy Clan, his views on Northern Ireland and Chappaquidick. But to those who are familiar with his work, we mourn the passing of a great public servant who through his dedication did make a difference in creating a better society in America. To paraphrase from his brother Bobby Kennedy, when paying tribute to their elder brother President John Kennedy at the Democratic Convention in 1964 with the quote from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet:
‘When he shall die
Take him and cut him out in little stars
And he will make the face of heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night,
And pay no worship to the garish sun.’
