View source for Ted Kennedy

{{Short description|American politician (1932–2009)}}
{{redirect|Edward Kennedy|other people|Ted Kennedy (disambiguation)|and|Edward Kennedy (disambiguation)}}
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{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Ted Kennedy
| image               = Ted Kennedy, official photo portrait crop.jpg
| caption             = Official portrait, 1990s
| jr/sr               = United States Senator
| state               = [[Massachusetts]]
| term_start          = November 7, 1962
| term_end            = August 25, 2009
| predecessor         = [[Benjamin A. Smith II]]
| successor           = [[Paul G. Kirk]]
{{collapsed infobox section begin |last=yes |Senate positions
 |titlestyle       = border:1px dashed lightgrey;}}{{Infobox officeholder |embed=yes
| office1             = Chair of the [[United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions|Senate Health Committee]]
| term_start2         = January 3, 2007
| term_end2           = August 25, 2009<br />On leave: June 9 – August 25, 2009*
| predecessor2        = [[Mike Enzi]]
| successor2          = [[Chris Dodd]] (acting)
| term_start3         = June 6, 2001
| term_end3           = January 3, 2003
| predecessor3        = [[Jim Jeffords]]
| successor3          = [[Judd Gregg]]
| term_start4         = January 3, 2001
| term_end4           = January 20, 2001
| predecessor4        = Jim Jeffords
| successor4          = Jim Jeffords
| term_start5         = January 3, 1987
| term_end5           = January 3, 1995
| predecessor5        = [[Orrin Hatch]]
| successor5          = [[Nancy Kassebaum]]
| order6              = Chair of the [[United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary|Senate Judiciary Committee]]
| term_start6         = January 3, 1979
| term_end6           = January 3, 1981
| predecessor6        = [[James Eastland]]
| successor6          = [[Strom Thurmond]]
| order7              = [[Party leaders of the United States Senate|Senate Majority Whip]]
| leader7             = [[Mike Mansfield]]
| term_start7         = January 3, 1969
| term_end7           = January 3, 1971
| predecessor7        = [[Russell B. Long]]
| successor7          = [[Robert Byrd]]
{{Collapsed infobox section end}}}}
| birth_name          = Edward Moore Kennedy
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1932|2|22}}
| birth_place         = [[Boston]], Massachusetts, U.S.
| death_date          = {{death date and age|2009|8|25|1932|2|22}}
| death_place         = {{nowrap|[[Hyannis Port, Massachusetts]],}} U.S.
| resting_place       = [[Arlington National Cemetery]]
| party               = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
| spouse              = {{ubl|{{marriage|[[Joan Bennett Kennedy|Joan Bennett]]|1958|1982|end=div}}|{{marriage|[[Victoria Reggie Kennedy|Victoria Reggie]]|1992}}}}
| children            = {{flatlist|
* [[Kara Kennedy|Kara]]
* [[Edward M. Kennedy Jr.|Edward Jr.]]
* [[Patrick J. Kennedy|Patrick II]]}}
| parents             = {{ubl|[[Joseph P. Kennedy Sr.]]|[[Rose Kennedy|Rose Fitzgerald]]}}
| relatives           = [[Kennedy family]]
| education           = {{ubl|[[Harvard University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|AB]])|[[University of Virginia]] ([[Bachelor of Laws|LLB]])}}
| signature           = Ted Kennedy Signature 2.svg
| module              = {{Listen|pos=center|embed=yes|filename=Kennedy092303.ogg|title=Ted Kennedy's voice|type=speech|description=Ted Kennedy speaks about [[Iraq War|Iraq]] and the economic growth plan to assist all Americans<br/>Recorded 2003}}
| website             = {{Official website|tedkennedy.org}}
| branch              = [[United States Army]]
| serviceyears        = 1951–1953
| rank                = [[Private first class|Private First Class]]
| unit                = [[Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe]]
| footnotes           = {{asterisk}} Dodd served as acting chair during Kennedy's medical leave.
}}

<!-- Do not add "Sir", see above -->'''Edward Moore Kennedy'''<!-- Do not add "KBE", see above --> (February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009) was an American lawyer and politician from [[Massachusetts]] who served as a member of the [[United States Senate]] from 1962 to his death in 2009. A member of the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] and the prominent [[Kennedy family]], he was the [[List of United States Senators in the 111th Congress by seniority|second-most-senior]] member of the Senate when he died. He is [[List of members of the United States Congress by longevity of service#U.S. Senate time|ranked fifth in U.S. history for length of continuous service as a senator]]. Kennedy was the younger brother of President [[John F. Kennedy]] and U.S. attorney general and U.S. senator [[Robert F. Kennedy]], and the father of U.S. representative [[Patrick J. Kennedy]].

After attending [[Harvard University]] and earning his law degree from the [[University of Virginia]], Kennedy began his career as an assistant district attorney in [[Suffolk County, Massachusetts]]. He won a [[1962 United States Senate special election in Massachusetts|November 1962 special election in Massachusetts]] to fill the vacant Senate seat previously held by his brother John, who had taken office as the U.S. president. He was [[1964 United States Senate election in Massachusetts|elected to a full six-year term in 1964]] and was re-elected seven more times. After the [[Chappaquiddick incident]] in 1969 resulted in the death of his automobile passenger, [[Mary Jo Kopechne]], Kennedy pleaded guilty to a charge of leaving the scene of an accident and received a two-month [[suspended sentence]]. The incident and its aftermath hindered his chances of becoming president. He ran in 1980 in the [[1980 Democratic Party presidential primaries|Democratic primary campaign]] for the party's nomination, but lost to the incumbent president, [[Jimmy Carter]].

Kennedy was known for his [[Public speaking|oratorical skills]]. His 1968 eulogy for his brother Robert and his [[The Dream Shall Never Die|1980 rallying cry]] for [[modern American liberalism]] were among his best-known speeches. He became recognized as "The Lion of the Senate" through his long tenure and influence. Kennedy and his staff wrote more than 300 bills that were enacted into law. Unabashedly liberal, Kennedy championed an interventionist government that emphasized [[economic justice|economic]] and [[social justice]], but he was also known for working with Republicans to find compromises. Kennedy played a major role in passing many laws, including the [[Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965]], the [[National Cancer Act of 1971]], the [[Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985|COBRA health insurance provision]], the [[Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986]], the [[Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990]], the [[Ryan White AIDS Care Act]], the [[Civil Rights Act of 1991]], the [[Mental Health Parity Act]], the [[State Children's Health Insurance Program|S-CHIP children's health program]], the [[No Child Left Behind Act]], and the [[Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act]]. During the 2000s, he led several unsuccessful [[immigration reform]] efforts. Over the course of his Senate career, Kennedy made efforts to enact [[universal health care]], which he called the "cause of my life". By his later years, Kennedy had come to be viewed as a major figure and spokesman for [[American progressivism]].

On August 25, 2009, Kennedy died of a [[brain tumor]] ([[glioblastoma]]) at his home in [[Hyannis Port, Massachusetts]], at the age of 77. He was buried at [[Arlington National Cemetery]].

==Early life==
Edward Moore Kennedy was born at St. Margaret's Hospital in the [[Dorchester, Boston|Dorchester]] section of [[Boston, Massachusetts]] on February 22, 1932. He was the youngest of the nine children of [[Joseph Patrick Kennedy]] and [[Rose Fitzgerald]], members of prominent [[History of Irish Americans in Boston|Irish-American]] families in Boston.<ref name="bg-series-1">{{cite news | url=https://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2009/02/15/chapter_1_teddy/ | title=Chapter 1: Teddy: A childhood of privilege, promise, and pain | author=English, Bella | newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]] | date=February 15, 2009 | access-date=February 24, 2009 | archive-date=March 4, 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304090743/http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2009/02/15/chapter_1_teddy/ | url-status=live }}</ref> They constituted one of the wealthiest families in the nation after their marriage.<ref name="nyt-obit"/> His eight siblings were [[Joseph P. Kennedy Jr.|Joseph Jr.]], [[John F. Kennedy|John]], [[Rosemary Kennedy|Rose]], [[Kathleen Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington|Kathleen]], [[Eunice Kennedy Shriver|Eunice]], [[Patricia Kennedy Lawford|Patricia]], [[Robert F. Kennedy|Robert]], and [[Jean Kennedy Smith|Jean]]. His older brother John asked to be the newborn's godfather, a request his parents honored, though they did not agree to his request to name the baby George Washington Kennedy (Kennedy was born on President [[George Washington]]'s 200th birthday). They named the boy after their father's assistant and longtime friend.<ref name="bg-obit">{{Cite news |last=Nolan |first=Martin F. |author-link=Martin Nolan (journalist) |date=August 26, 2009 |title=Kennedy dead at 77 |url=https://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/08/26/kennedy_dead_at_77/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090831135938/http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/08/26/kennedy_dead_at_77/?page=full |archive-date=August 31, 2009 |access-date=August 26, 2009 |newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/07/01/archives/mrs-edward-moore-81-served-kennedy-family.html|title=Mrs. Edward Moore. 81, Served Kennedy Family|newspaper=The New York Times|date=July 1, 1964|access-date=August 2, 2025}}</ref>

As a child, Kennedy was frequently uprooted by his family's moves among [[Bronxville, New York]]; [[Hyannis Port, Massachusetts]]; [[Palm Beach, Florida]]; and the [[Court of St. James's]], in [[London]], England.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=13, 16–17}}<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://bronxville.dailyvoice.com/lifestyle/looking-back-on-jfks-time-in-bronxville/512600/|title=Looking Back on JFK's Time in Bronxville|last=Failla|first=Zak|date=November 18, 2013|work=[[The Daily Voice (U.S. hyperlocal news)|The Daily Voice]]|access-date=August 14, 2017|archive-date=September 19, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180919112834/https://bronxville.dailyvoice.com/lifestyle/looking-back-on-jfks-time-in-bronxville/512600/|url-status=live}}</ref> His formal education started at Gibbs School in Kensington, London.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kennedy|first1=Edward M.|title=True Compass: A Memoir|date=2011|publisher=Hachette|location=London, England|isbn=9780748123353|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2jASECQl2P0C&pg=PT42|access-date=January 17, 2017|archive-date=September 27, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240927070955/https://books.google.com/books?id=2jASECQl2P0C&pg=PT42|url-status=live}}</ref> He had attended 10 schools by the age of eleven; these disruptions interfered with his academic success.{{sfn|Burns|1976|pp=36, 38–39, 352n}} He was an [[altar boy]] at the [[Church of St. Joseph (Bronxville, New York)|St. Joseph's Church]] and was seven when he received his [[First Communion]] from [[Pope Pius XII]] in the [[Apostolic Palace|Vatican]].{{sfn|Clymer|1999|p=11}} He spent sixth and seventh grades at the [[Fessenden School]], where he was a mediocre student,<ref name="bg-series-1"/> and eighth grade at Cranwell Preparatory School, both in [[Massachusetts]].{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=13, 16–17}} He was the youngest child and his parents were affectionate toward him, but they also compared him unfavorably with his older brothers.<ref name="bg-series-1"/>

Between the ages of eight and sixteen, Kennedy suffered the traumas of his sister Rosemary's failed [[lobotomy]] and the deaths of two siblings: Joseph Jr. in an airplane explosion and Kathleen in an airplane crash.<ref name="bg-series-1"/> Kennedy's affable maternal grandfather, [[John F. Fitzgerald]], was the [[Mayor of Boston]], a U.S. Congressman, and an early political and personal influence.<ref name="bg-series-1"/> Kennedy spent his four high-school years at [[Milton Academy]], a preparatory school in [[Milton, Massachusetts]], where he received B and C grades. In 1950, he finished 36th in a graduating class of 56.{{sfn|Burns|1976|pp=40–42, 57p}} He did well at [[American football|football]] there, playing on the varsity in his last two years; the school's headmaster later described his play as "absolutely fearless ... he would have tackled an express train to New York if you asked ... he loved contact sports".{{sfn|Burns|1976|pp=40–42, 57p}} Kennedy also played on the tennis team and was in the drama, debate, and glee clubs.{{sfn|Burns|1976|pp=40–42, 57p}}

==College, military service, and law school==
Like his father and brothers before him, Ted graduated from [[Harvard College]].{{sfn|McGinnis|1993|p=194}} In his spring semester, he was assigned to the athlete-oriented [[Winthrop House]], where his brothers had also lived.{{sfn|McGinnis|1993|p=194}} He was an [[End (American football)|offensive and defensive end]] on the freshman football team; his play was characterized by his large size and fearless style.<ref name="bg-series-1"/> In his first semester, Kennedy and his classmates arranged to copy answers from another student during the final examination for a science class.{{sfn|Leamer|2001|p=318}} At the end of his second semester in May 1951, Kennedy was anxious about maintaining his eligibility for athletics for the next year,<ref name="bg-series-1"/> and he had a classmate take his place at a [[Spanish language|Spanish]] exam.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=18–19}}<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=tvddAAAAIBAJ&pg=1990%2C1044781 |newspaper=[[Observer-Reporter]] |location=Washington, Pennsylvania |agency=[[Associated Press]] |title=The Shadow Kennedy Can't Escape |date=November 7, 1979 |page=B1 | first=Donald M. | last=Rothberg}}</ref> The ruse was discovered and both were expelled for cheating.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=18–19}}<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=k9dQAAAAIBAJ&pg=7104%2C5727961 |newspaper=[[The Free Lance-Star]] |location=Fredericksburg, Virginia |agency=[[Associated Press]] |title=Ted Kennedy Explains Incident at Harvard |date=March 30, 1962 |page=14 |archive-date=February 24, 2021 |access-date=May 25, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224173725/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=k9dQAAAAIBAJ&pg=7104%2C5727961 |url-status=live }}</ref> As was standard for serious disciplinary cases, they were told they could apply for readmission within a year or two if they demonstrated good behavior during that time.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=18–19}}<ref name=cnioverr>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=7sobAAAAIBAJ&pg=6723%2C1480259 |newspaper=[[The Pittsburgh Press]] |last=Eaton |first=William J. |agency=[[Chicago Daily News]] |title=Charm And Image Overcame Errors As 'Prince' Rose Rapidly to Senate |date=June 18, 1968 |location=Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania|page=17}}</ref>

In June 1951, Kennedy enlisted in the [[United States Army]] and signed up for an optional four-year term that was shortened to the minimum of two years after his father intervened.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=18–19}} Following [[United States Army Basic Training|basic training]] at [[Fort Dix]] in [[New Jersey]], he requested assignment to [[Fort Holabird]] in [[Maryland]] for [[Military Intelligence Corps (United States Army)|Army Intelligence]] training, but was dropped without explanation after a few weeks.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=18–19}} He went to [[Camp Gordon]] in [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] for training in the [[Military Police Corps (United States Army)|Military Police Corps]].{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=18–19}} In June 1952, Kennedy was assigned to the [[Guard of honour|honor guard]] at [[Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe|SHAPE]] headquarters in Paris, France.<ref name="bg-series-1"/>{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=18–19}} His father's political connections ensured that he was not deployed to the ongoing [[Korean War]].<ref name="bg-series-1"/>{{sfn|McGinnis|1993|p=198}} While stationed in Europe, Kennedy traveled extensively on weekends and climbed the [[Matterhorn]] in the [[Pennine Alps]].<ref name="kennedyism"/> After 21 months, he was discharged in March 1953 as a [[Private first class#United States Army|private first class]].{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=18–19}}<ref name="kennedyism"/>

Kennedy re-entered Harvard in the summer of 1953 and improved his study habits.<ref name=bg-series-1/> His brother John was a U.S. Senator and the family was attracting more public attention.{{sfn|Burns|1976|p=46}} Kennedy joined [[Owl Club (Harvard)|The Owl]] [[final club]] in 1954<ref>{{cite news | title=Kennedy Ends His Final Club Ties | newspaper=[[The Harvard Crimson]] | publisher=[[Harvard University]]|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|date=January 17, 2006}}</ref> and was also chosen for the [[Hasty Pudding Club]] and the Pi Eta fraternity.{{sfn|McGinnis|1993|p=201}} Kennedy was on athletic probation during his sophomore year, and he returned as a second-string two-way end for the [[Harvard Crimson football|Crimson football team]] during his junior year. He barely missed earning his [[varsity letter]].{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=20–21}} [[Green Bay Packers]] head coach [[Lisle Blackbourn]] asked him about his interest in playing professional football.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-8406670.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110501090224/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-8406670.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=May 1, 2011 | title=Sen. Kennedy's brush with football fame |first=Chris|last=Black | newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]] | date=February 1, 1997}}</ref> Kennedy demurred, saying he had plans to attend law school and "go into another contact sport, politics."<ref>{{cite web|title=About Senator Kennedy: Senator Kennedy's Bio |url=http://kennedy.senate.gov/senator/index.cfm |publisher=[[United States Senate]] |access-date=May 23, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090224152756/http://kennedy.senate.gov/senator/index.cfm |archive-date=February 24, 2009 }}</ref> In his senior season of 1955, Kennedy started at end for the Harvard football team and worked hard to improve his blocking and tackling to complement his {{height|ft=6|in=2}}, {{convert|200|lb|0|abbr=on}} size.<ref name="kennedyism"/> In the season-ending [[Harvard-Yale football games (The Game)|Harvard–Yale game]] in the snow at the [[Yale Bowl]] on November 19 (which Yale won 21–7), Kennedy caught a pass to score Harvard's only touchdown;<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=QnIpAAAAIBAJ&pg=920%2C3069479 |newspaper=Spokesman-Review |agency=[[Associated Press]] |title=Alert Yale stops Crimson, 21 to 7 |date=November 20, 1955 |page=6, sports |archive-date=October 9, 2020 |access-date=May 25, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201009115350/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=QnIpAAAAIBAJ&pg=920,3069479 |url-status=live }}</ref> the team finished the season with a 3–4–1 record.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_iaa/ivyleague/harvard/1955-1959_yearly_results.php |publisher=College Football Data Warehouse |title=Harvard yearly results |type=1955-1959 seasons |access-date=September 14, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140728215639/http://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_iaa/ivyleague/harvard/1955-1959_yearly_results.php |archive-date=July 28, 2014}}</ref> Academically, Kennedy received mediocre grades for his first three years, improved to a B average for his senior year, and finished barely in the top half of his class.{{sfn|Burns|1976|pp=48–49}} Kennedy graduated from Harvard at age 24 in 1956 with an [[Bachelor of Arts|AB]] in history and government.{{sfn|Burns|1976|pp=48–49}}

Due to his low grades, Kennedy was not accepted by [[Harvard Law School]].<ref name=cnioverr/> He instead followed his brother Robert and enrolled in the [[University of Virginia School of Law]] in 1956.<ref name="bg-series-1"/> That acceptance was controversial among faculty and alumni, who judged Kennedy's past cheating episodes to be incompatible with the University of Virginia's honor code; it took a full faculty vote to admit him.{{sfn|Burns|1976|p=50}} Kennedy also attended [[The Hague Academy of International Law]] during one summer.{{sfn|Burns|1976|p=52}} At Virginia, Kennedy felt that he had to study "four times as hard and four times as long" as other students to keep up.{{sfn|Burns|1976|pp=50–51}} He received mostly C grades{{sfn|Burns|1976|pp=50–51}} and was in the middle of the class ranking, but won the prestigious William Minor Lile Moot Court Competition.<ref name="bg-series-1"/><ref>{{cite journal |first=Tim |last=McCarten |title=UVA Law's 7 Senators |journal=[[Virginia Law Weekly]] |publisher=[[University of Virginia School of Law]] |location=Charlottesville, Virginia |date=September 8, 2006 |volume=59 |issue=2 |url=http://www.lawweekly.org/?module=displaystory&story_id=1252&edition_id=38&format=html |archive-date=October 14, 2007 |access-date=October 10, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071014185118/http://www.lawweekly.org/?module=displaystory&story_id=1252&edition_id=38&format=html |url-status=live }}</ref> He was elected head of the Student Legal Forum and brought many prominent speakers to the campus via his family connections.{{sfn|Burns|1976|pp=53–54}} While there, his questionable automotive practices were curtailed when he was charged with [[reckless driving]] and [[driving without a license]].<ref name="bg-series-1"/> He was officially named as manager of his brother John's [[1958 United States Senate elections|1958 Senate re-election campaign]]; Ted's ability to connect with ordinary voters on the street helped bring a record-setting victory margin that gave credibility to John's presidential aspirations.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=25–27}} Kennedy graduated from law school in 1959.{{sfn|Burns|1976|pp=53–54}}

==Family and early career==
[[File:Ted_Kennedy_1960-08-27_by_Bill_Woodcock_Jr.jpg|thumb|left|Ted Kennedy riding [[Bronc riding #Bareback bronc vs. saddle bronc riding|saddle-bronc]] at the Eastern Montana Fair [[rodeo]] in [[Miles City, Montana]] on August 27, 1960, while campaigning for his brother John.]] 
In October 1957 (early in his second year of law school), Kennedy met [[Joan Bennett Kennedy|Joan Bennett]] at [[Manhattanville College]]; they were introduced after a dedication speech for a gymnasium that his family had donated at the campus.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=23–24}}<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=5r4iAAAAIBAJ&pg=4757%2C35313 |newspaper=[[The Palm Beach Post]] |agency=WNS |last1=Glaser |first1=Vera |last2=Stephenson |first2=Malvina |title=Ugly duckling becomes model |date=April 1, 1969 |page=8 }}</ref> Bennett was a senior at Manhattanville and had worked as a model and won beauty contests, but she was unfamiliar with politics.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=23–24}} After the couple became engaged, she grew nervous about marrying someone she did not know that well, but Joe Kennedy insisted that the wedding should proceed.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=23–24}} The couple was married by [[Cardinal (Catholicism)|Cardinal]] [[Francis Spellman]] on November 29, 1958, at [[Church of St. Joseph (Bronxville)|St. Joseph's Church]] in [[Bronxville, New York]],<ref name="bg-series-1"/><ref name="kennedyism"/> with the reception being held at the nearby [[Siwanoy Country Club]].{{sfn|Bly|1996|p=195}} Ted and Joan had three children: [[Kara Kennedy|Kara]] (1960–2011), [[Edward M. Kennedy Jr.|Edward Jr.]] (b. 1961) and [[Patrick J. Kennedy|Patrick]] (b. 1967). By the 1970s, the marriage was in trouble due to Ted's [[infidelity]] and Joan's growing [[alcoholism]].{{sfn|Canellos|2009|p=119}}

Ted and Joan established [[Massachusetts]] residency after buying a townhouse on Charles River Square in [[Boston]], and a home on Squaw Island, [[Cape Cod]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Farrell |first1=John A. |title=Ted Kennedy: A Life |date=2022 |publisher=Penguin Publishing Group |page=55}}</ref> During Ted's tenure in the U.S. Senate, the Kennedys lived in a townhouse in [[Georgetown (Washington, D.C.)|Georgetown]], Washington, D.C., and later, a 12,500-square-foot house in [[McLean, Virginia]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Klein |first1=Edward |title=Ted Kennedy: The Dream That Never Died |date=2010 |publisher=Three Rivers Press |pages=63–64}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Gabler |first1=Neal |title=Catching the Wind Edward Kennedy and the Liberal Hour, 1932-1975 |date=2020 |publisher=Crown |page=543}}</ref> From 1982 until his death in 2009, the [[Kennedy Compound]] in [[Hyannis Port, Massachusetts]] became Ted's principal residence.<ref>{{cite web |title=Kennedys in Hyannis Port; How it happened |url=https://jfkhyannismuseum.org/11366-2/ |website=John F. Kennedy Hyannis Museum|date=April 11, 2022 }}</ref> 

In 1959, Kennedy was admitted to the [[Massachusetts Bar Association|Massachusetts Bar]].<ref>{{cite web |access-date=May 20, 2008 |url=http://www.law.virginia.edu/html/news/2006_spr/pubservice.htm |title=Sen. Ted Kennedy to Keynote Public Service Conference |date=March 1, 2006 |publisher=[[University of Virginia School of Law]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080617225920/http://www.law.virginia.edu/html/news/2006_spr/pubservice.htm |archive-date=June 17, 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1960, Ted's brother John announced his candidacy for [[1960 United States presidential election|President of the United States]] and Ted managed his campaign in the Western states.<ref name="bg-series-1"/> Kennedy learned to fly and during the [[Democratic Party (United States) presidential primaries, 1960|Democratic primary campaign]] he barnstormed around the western states, meeting with delegates and bonding with them by trying his hand at [[ski jumping]] and [[bronc riding]].<ref name="kennedyism"/> The seven weeks he spent in [[Wisconsin]] helped his brother win the first contested primary of the season there and a similar time spent in [[Wyoming]] was rewarded when a unanimous vote from that state's delegates put his brother over the top at the [[1960 Democratic National Convention]].{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=27–30}}

Following his victory in the presidential election, John resigned from his seat as U.S. Senator from Massachusetts, but Ted was not eligible to fill the vacancy until his thirtieth birthday on February 22, 1962.<ref>Per Article One of the United States Constitution.</ref> Kennedy initially wanted to stay out west rather than run for office right away; he said, "The disadvantage of my position is being constantly compared with two brothers of such superior ability."<ref name="bg-series-2"/> Kennedy's brothers were not in favor of his running immediately, but Kennedy ultimately coveted the Senate seat as an accomplishment to match his brothers, and their father overruled them.<ref name="kennedyism"/> John asked Massachusetts governor [[Foster Furcolo]] to name Kennedy family friend [[Benjamin A. Smith II|Ben Smith]] as interim senator for John's unexpired term, which he did in December 1960.<ref>This was done so under the authority of the [[Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution]] and Massachusetts state law.</ref> This kept the seat available for Ted.<ref name="kennedyism">{{cite news |title=Teddy & Kennedyism |url=http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,940066,00.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130204190352/http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,940066,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 4, 2013 |date=September 28, 1962 |access-date=May 23, 2008 | magazine=Time}}</ref>
[[File:TedKennedy 1962.jpg|thumb|First Senate campaign, 1962]]

Meanwhile, Kennedy started work in February 1961 as an [[assistant district attorney]] at the [[Suffolk County, Massachusetts]] District Attorney's Office (for which he took a nominal [[One-dollar salary|$1 salary]]), where he developed a hard-nosed attitude towards crime.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=33–35}} He took many overseas trips, billed as fact-finding tours with the goal of improving his foreign policy credentials.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=33–35}}{{sfn|Hersh|2010|pp=121–132}}<ref name="bg-fbi-61"/> On a nine-nation [[Latin American]] trip in 1961, FBI reports from the time showed Kennedy meeting with [[Lauchlin Currie]], an alleged former Soviet spy, together with locals in each country whom the reports deemed left-wingers and Communist sympathizers.<ref name="bg-fbi-61"/><ref name="ap-fbi-61"/> Reports from the FBI and other sources had Kennedy renting a brothel and opening up bordellos after hours during the tour.<ref name="bg-fbi-61">{{cite news | url=https://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2011/03/01/fbi_memo_tied_kennedy_to_brothel_leftists_in_61/ | title=FBI memo tied Kennedy to brothel, leftists in '61 | author=Stockman, Farah | newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]] | date=March 1, 2011 | access-date=March 1, 2011}}</ref><ref name="ap-fbi-61">{{cite news | author=Miga, Andrew | date=February 28, 2011 | url=http://www.salon.com/news/ted_kennedy/index.html?story=/news/feature/2011/02/28/Ted_Kennedy_rented_brothel_in_chile | title=Ted Kennedy rented a brothel in 1961 | magazine=[[Salon.com|Salon]] | agency=[[Associated Press]] | access-date=February 28, 2011 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110302123511/http://www.salon.com/news/ted_kennedy/index.html?story=%2Fnews%2Ffeature%2F2011%2F02%2F28%2FTed_Kennedy_rented_brothel_in_chile | archive-date=March 2, 2011 | df=mdy-all }}</ref>{{sfn|Hersh|2010|p=132}} The Latin American trip helped to formulate Kennedy's foreign policy views, and in subsequent ''[[Boston Globe]]'' columns he warned that the region might turn to communism if the U.S. did not reach out to it in a more effective way.<ref name="bg-fbi-61"/>{{sfn|Hersh|2010|p=132}} Kennedy also began speaking to local political organizations.<ref name="bg-series-2">{{cite news | url=https://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2009/02/16/chapter_2_the_youngest_brother/ | title=Chapter 2: The Youngest Brother: Turbulence and tragedies eclipse early triumphs | author=Swidey, Neil | newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]] | date=February 16, 2009 | access-date=February 24, 2009}}</ref>
[[File:Edward M. Kennedy for U.S. Senator (1).jpg|thumb|A brochure for Kennedy's 1962 campaign]]

In the [[1962 United States Senate special election in Massachusetts|1962 U.S. Senate special election in Massachusetts]], Kennedy initially faced a Democratic Party primary challenge from [[Edward J. McCormack Jr.]], the [[Massachusetts Attorney General|state Attorney General]]. Kennedy's slogan was "He can do more for Massachusetts", the same one his brother John had used in his first campaign for the seat ten years earlier.{{sfn|Barone|Cohen|2008|p=791}} McCormack had the support of many liberals and intellectuals, who thought Kennedy inexperienced and knew of his suspension from Harvard, a fact which became public during the race.<ref name="bg-series-2"/> Kennedy also faced the notion that with one brother President and another [[U.S. Attorney General]], "Don't you think that Teddy is one Kennedy too many?" But Kennedy proved to be an effective street-level campaigner.<ref name="kennedyism"/> His charm was such that one delegate at the party convention said "He's completely unqualified and inexperienced. And I'm going to be with him".{{r|cnioverr}} In a televised debate, McCormack said "The office of United States Senator should be merited, and not inherited", and said that if his opponent's name was Edward Moore, not Edward Moore Kennedy, his candidacy "would be a joke".<ref name="bg-series-2"/> Voters thought McCormack was overbearing—a Kennedy supporter said "McCormack was able to make a millionaire an underdog"{{r|cnioverr}}—and with the family political machine's finally getting fully behind him, Kennedy won the September 1962 primary by a two-to-one margin. In the November special election, Kennedy defeated Republican [[George Cabot Lodge II]], product of another noted Massachusetts political family, gaining 55&nbsp;percent of the vote.<ref name="kennedyism"/><ref name="wt-bio">{{cite news | title=Edward Kennedy (Dem) | newspaper=[[The Washington Times]] | date=May 5, 2006}}</ref>

==United States Senator==
{{Progressivism US|politicians}}
===First years, brothers' assassinations===
Kennedy was sworn into the Senate on November 7, 1962.<ref name="Senate-longest"/> He maintained a deferential attitude towards the senior Southern members when he first entered the Senate, avoiding publicity and focusing on committee work and local issues.<ref name="ascent"/>{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=43, 45–47}} He lacked his brother John's sophistication and Robert's intense, sometimes grating drive, but was more affable than either.<ref name="ascent"/> He was favored by Senator [[James Eastland]], chair of the powerful Judiciary Committee. Vice President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]], despite his feuds with John and Robert, liked Ted and told aides that he "had the potential to be the best politician in the whole family."<ref>Neal Gabler, ''Catching the Wind: Edward Kennedy and the Liberal Hour, 1932-1975'' (2020).</ref>
[[File:Kennedy family in JFK funeral procession-crop.png|thumb|Ted Kennedy, accompanied by his brother [[Robert F. Kennedy|Robert]] and sister-in-law [[Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis|Jacqueline]], walks from the [[White House]] for the funeral procession accompanying President Kennedy's casket to [[Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle (Washington, D.C.)|Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle]].]]

On November 22, 1963, Ted was [[Presiding Officer of the United States Senate|presiding over the Senate]]—a task given to junior members—when an aide rushed in to tell him his brother, President John F. Kennedy, [[Assassination of John F. Kennedy|had been shot]]. His brother Robert soon told him that the President was dead.<ref name="bg-series-2"/> Ted and his sister [[Eunice Kennedy Shriver|Eunice]] flew to the family home in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, to give the news to their invalid father, who had had a stroke two years earlier.<ref name="bg-series-2"/>

On June 19, 1964, Kennedy was a passenger in a private [[Aero Commander 500|Aero Commander 680]] airplane that was flying in bad weather from Washington, D.C. to Massachusetts. The plane crashed into an [[apple orchard]] in [[Southampton, Massachusetts]], on [[Final approach (aviation)|final approach]] to the [[Barnes Municipal Airport]] in [[Westfield, Massachusetts|Westfield]].<ref name="time062664">{{cite news|date=June 26, 1964|title=Teddy's Ordeal|magazine=Time|url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,898150,00.html|access-date=May 19, 2020|archive-date=August 8, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200808011328/http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,898150,00.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.check-six.com/Crash_Sites/Kennedy-N344S.htm | publisher=Check-Six.com | title=The Luck of the Kennedys | access-date=February 24, 2009 | date=May 8, 2008 | archive-date=July 26, 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170726111723/http://www.check-six.com/Crash_Sites/Kennedy-N344S.htm | url-status=live }}</ref> The pilot and Edward Moss (one of Kennedy's aides) were killed.<ref name="misfortunes">{{cite news |title=John F. Kennedy Jr. – Timeline: Misfortunes of a Family |url=http://www.cnn.com/interactive/specials/9907/kennedy.tragedy.glance/frameset.exclude.html |agency=[[CNN]]|date=July 1999 |access-date=May 23, 2008 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080323142249/http://www.cnn.com/interactive/specials/9907/kennedy.tragedy.glance/frameset.exclude.html |archive-date = March 23, 2008}}</ref> Kennedy was pulled from the wreckage by Senator [[Birch Bayh]],<ref name="time062664"/> and spent months in hospital recovering from a back injury, a [[Pneumothorax|punctured lung]], broken ribs and internal bleeding.<ref name="bg-series-2"/> He suffered chronic back pain for the rest of his life.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=244, 305, 549}}<ref name="time-rules">{{cite news | url=http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1807447,00.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080519204457/http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1807447,00.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=May 19, 2008 | title=In the Senate, Ted Kennedy Still Rules | last=Newton-Small|first=Jay | magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | date=May 17, 2008 | access-date=June 20, 2009}}</ref> Kennedy took advantage of his convalescence to meet with academics and study issues more closely, and the hospital experience triggered his lifelong interest in the provision of [[health care]].<ref name="bg-series-2"/> His wife Joan did the campaigning for him in the [[1964 United States Senate election in Massachusetts|regular 1964 U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts]],<ref name="bg-series-2"/> and he defeated his Republican opponent by a three-to-one margin.<ref name="wt-bio"/>

Kennedy was walking with a cane when he returned to the Senate in January 1965.<ref name=bg-series-2/> He employed a stronger and more effective legislative staff.<ref name="bg-series-2"/> He took on President Johnson and almost succeeded in amending the [[Voting Rights Act of 1965]] to explicitly ban the [[Poll tax (United States)|poll tax]] at the state and local level,<ref name="bg-series-2"/><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/highwayhistory/road/s38.cfm | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110624035922/http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/highwayhistory/road/s38.cfm | url-status=dead | archive-date=June 24, 2011 | title=The Road to Civil Rights: The Voting Rights Act of 1965 | publisher=[[Federal Highway Administration]] | access-date=September 18, 2011}}</ref> gaining a reputation for legislative skill.{{sfn|Moritz|1978|p=226}} He was a leader in pushing through the [[Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965]], which ended a quota system based upon national origin. He played a role in the creation of the [[National Teachers Corps]].<ref name="bg-series-2"/>{{sfn|Barone|Cohen|2008|p=792}}

Kennedy initially said he had "no reservations" about the expanding U.S. role in the [[Vietnam War]] and acknowledged it would be a "long and enduring struggle".{{sfn|Moritz|1978|p=226}} Kennedy held hearings on the plight of refugees in the conflict, which revealed that the U.S. government had no coherent policy for refugees.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=80–82}} Kennedy tried to reform "unfair" and "inequitable" aspects of [[Conscription in the United States|conscription]].{{sfn|Moritz|1978|p=226}} By the time of a January 1968 trip to Vietnam, Kennedy was disillusioned by the lack of progress, and suggested publicly that the U.S. should tell [[South Vietnam]], "Shape up or we're going to ship out."{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=99–103}}
[[File:Edward Kennedy 1966.jpg|thumb|Kennedy in 1966]]
[[File:Draft Ted campaign button.png|thumb|Following [[Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy|Robert Kennedy's assassination]], there was an attempt to draft Ted either as the Democratic presidential or vice-presidential nominee for the [[1968 United States presidential election|1968 presidential election]], but all the attempts failed.]]

Ted initially advised his brother Robert against challenging the incumbent Johnson for the Democratic nomination in the [[1968 United States presidential election|1968 presidential election]].<ref name="bg-series-2"/> Once Senator [[Eugene McCarthy]]'s strong showing in the [[New Hampshire primary]] led to [[Robert F. Kennedy 1968 presidential campaign|Robert's presidential campaign]] starting in March 1968, Kennedy recruited political leaders for endorsements to his brother in the western states.<ref name="bg-series-2"/><ref name=Poulsen>{{cite news
  | last = Poulsen
  | first = Thad
  | title = When Teddy Came to Town: A Sitka Memoir
  | work = [[Daily Sitka Sentinel]]
  | date = August 27, 2009
}}</ref> Ted was in San Francisco when his brother Robert won the crucial California primary on June 4, 1968, and then after midnight, [[Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy|Robert was shot in Los Angeles]] and died the next day.<ref name="bg-series-2"/> Ted was devastated, as he was closest to Robert among those in the Kennedy family.{{sfn|McGinnis|1993}}{{page needed|date=May 2020}} Kennedy aide [[Frank Mankiewicz]] said of seeing Ted at the hospital where Robert lay mortally wounded: "I have never, ever, nor do I expect ever, to see a face more in grief."<ref name="bg-series-2"/> At Robert's funeral at [[St. Patrick's Cathedral (Midtown Manhattan)|St. Patrick's Cathedral]], Kennedy eulogized his older brother:

{{blockquote|My brother need not be idealized, or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life; to 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. Those of us who loved him and who take him to his rest today, pray that what he was to us and what he wished for others will some day come to pass for all the world. As he said many times, in many parts of this nation, to those he touched and who sought to touch him: "Some men see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and say why not."<ref>{{cite web |title=Tribute to Robert F. Kennedy, St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York City, June 8, 1968 |url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/the-kennedy-family/edward-m-kennedy/edward-m-kennedy-speeches/tribute-to-robert-f-kennedy-st-patricks-cathedral-new-york-city-june-8-1968 |publisher=[[John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum]] |date=July 21, 2021 |access-date=March 11, 2025 |archive-date=November 26, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241126212938/https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/the-kennedy-family/edward-m-kennedy/edward-m-kennedy-speeches/tribute-to-robert-f-kennedy-st-patricks-cathedral-new-york-city-june-8-1968 |url-status=live }}</ref>}}

At the chaotic August [[1968 Democratic National Convention]], Mayor of Chicago [[Richard J. Daley]] and other party factions feared that [[Hubert Humphrey]] could not unite the party, and so encouraged Kennedy to make himself available for a [[Draft (politics)|draft]].<ref name="bg-series-2"/><ref name="white-1968">{{cite book | last=White | first=Theodore H. | author-link=Theodore H. White | title=The Making of the President 1968 | publisher=[[Atheneum Publishers]] | location=New York | year=1969 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/makingofpresiden0000whit_z6y4/page/280 280–285] | isbn=0-224-61796-6 | url=https://archive.org/details/makingofpresiden0000whit_z6y4/page/280 }}</ref> The 36-year-old Kennedy was seen as the natural heir to his brothers,{{sfn|Barone|Cohen|2008|p=791}} and "Draft Ted" movements sprang up from various quarters.<ref name="white-1968"/>{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=123–126}} Thinking he was only being seen as a stand-in for his brother and that he was not ready for the job, and getting an uncertain reaction from McCarthy and a negative one from Southern delegates, Kennedy rejected moves to place his name before the convention as a candidate.<ref name="white-1968"/>{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=123–126}} He declined consideration for the vice-presidential spot.<ref name="ascent"/> Senator [[George McGovern]] remained the symbolic standard-bearer for Robert's delegates instead.<ref>{{Citation
 | title=McGovern Decides To Run In Demo Nomination
 | newspaper=The Virgin Islands Daily News
 | location=The Virgin Islands
 | date=August 12, 1968
 | page=2
 |url= https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=2WAwAAAAIBAJ&sjid=kkQDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6396,3117892
 }}</ref>

After the deaths of his brothers, Kennedy took on the role of a surrogate father for their children.<ref name="CNN_Black1999">{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/US/9907/24/kennedy.plane.01/ |access-date=December 26, 2006 |title=Final memorial set for victims of Kennedy crash |publisher=[[CNN]] |date=July 24, 1999 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061221153256/http://www.cnn.com/US/9907/24/kennedy.plane.01/ |archive-date = December 21, 2006}}</ref>{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=141–142}} By some reports, he also negotiated the October 1968 marital contract between [[Jacqueline Kennedy]] and [[Aristotle Onassis]].<ref>{{cite book|last= Evans |first= Peter |title= Ari: The Life and Times of Aristotle Onassis |publisher=[[Summit Books]] |year= 1986 |isbn= 0-671-46508-2 |page= [https://archive.org/details/arilifetimesofar00evan/page/255 255] |url= https://archive.org/details/arilifetimesofar00evan/page/255 }}</ref> Kennedy denied this.<ref>{{harvnb|Clymer|1999|p=130}}.</ref>

Following Republican [[Richard Nixon]]'s victory in November, Kennedy was assumed to be the front-runner for the 1972 Democratic nomination.<ref name="bg-series-3">{{cite news | url=https://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2009/02/17/chapter_3_chappaquiddick/ | title=Chapter 3: Chappaquiddick: Conflicted ambitions, then, Chappaquiddick | last=Russell|first=Jenna | newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]] | date=February 17, 2009 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100221041557/http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2009/02/17/chapter_3_chappaquiddick/|archive-date = February 21, 2010}} Also published in the book ''The Last Lion: The Fall and Rise of Ted Kennedy'', Simon & Schuster, 2009, chapter 3.</ref>
In January 1969, Kennedy defeated [[Louisiana]] Senator [[Russell B. Long]] by a 31–26 margin to become [[Assistant party leaders of the United States Senate|Senate Majority Whip]], the youngest person to attain the position.<ref name="ascent">{{cite news |title=The Ascent of Ted Kennedy |url=http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,839703,00.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130204181515/http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,839703,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 4, 2013 |magazine=Time |date=January 10, 1969 |access-date=May 23, 2008}}</ref>{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=131–132}} While this further boosted his presidential image, he appeared conflicted by the inevitability of having to run for president;{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=141–142}}<ref name="bg-series-3"/> "Few who knew him doubted that in one sense he very much wanted to take that path", ''Time'' magazine reported, but "he had a fatalistic, almost doomed feeling about the prospect". The reluctance was in part due to the danger; Kennedy reportedly observed, "I know that I'm going to get my ass shot off one day, and I don't want to."<ref name="time19680801">{{Cite magazine|date=August 1, 1969 |title=The Mysteries of Chappaquiddick |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,901159-1,00.html |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090831015242/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0%2C9171%2C901159-1%2C00.html |archive-date=August 31, 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="kelly"/> Indeed, there were death threats made against Kennedy for much of the rest of his career.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/ted-kennedy-got-constant-death-threats-fbi-files-show/ | title=Ted Kennedy got constant death threats, FBI files show | first1=William | last1=Douglas | first2=David | last2=Lightman | newspaper=[[The Seattle Times]] | date=June 14, 2010 | access-date=March 1, 2011 | archive-date=October 17, 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151017024525/http://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/ted-kennedy-got-constant-death-threats-fbi-files-show/ | url-status=live }}</ref>

===Chappaquiddick incident===
{{Main|Chappaquiddick incident}}
On the night of July 18, 1969, Kennedy was at [[Chappaquiddick Island]] hosting a party for the [[Boiler Room Girls]], a group of young women who had worked on his brother Robert's presidential campaign.<ref name="bg-series-3"/> Kennedy left the party with 28-year-old [[Mary Jo Kopechne]].

Driving a [[Oldsmobile Delmont 88#1965–68|1967 Oldsmobile Delmont 88]], he attempted to cross the Dike Bridge, which did not have a guardrail. Kennedy then lost control and crashed in the [[Poucha Pond]] inlet, a tidal channel. Kennedy escaped from the overturned vehicle, and, by his description, dove below the surface seven times, vainly attempting to rescue Kopechne. He swam to shore and left the scene, with Kopechne still trapped inside the vehicle. Kennedy did not report the accident to authorities until the next morning, by which time Kopechne's body had already been discovered.<ref name="bg-series-3"/> Kennedy's cousin [[Joseph Gargan|Joe Gargan]] said that he and Kennedy's friend [[Paul Markham]], both of whom were at the party and came to the scene, had urged Kennedy to report it.<ref>{{cite book|first=Ronald|last=Kessler|title=The Sins of the Father: Joseph P. Kennedy and the Dynasty He Founded|url=https://archive.org/details/sinsoffatherjose00kess|url-access=registration|publisher=Warner Books|location=New York City|date=1996|page=[https://archive.org/details/sinsoffatherjose00kess/page/419 419]|isbn=9780446518840 }}</ref>

A week after the incident, Kennedy pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident and was given a [[suspended sentence|suspended]] sentence of two months in jail.<ref name="bg-series-3"/> That night, he gave a national broadcast in which he said, "I regard as indefensible the fact that I did not report the accident to the police immediately," but he denied driving under the influence of alcohol and denied any immoral conduct between him and Kopechne.<ref name="bg-series-3"/> Kennedy asked the Massachusetts electorate whether he should stay in office or resign; after getting a favorable response in messages sent to him, Kennedy announced on July 30 that he would remain in the Senate and run for re-election the next year.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=4AwwAAAAIBAJ&pg=6648,3488972 | title=Kennedy Stays in Senate; Will Seek New Term | agency=[[Associated Press]] | newspaper=[[Toledo Blade|The Blade]] | location=Toledo | date=July 31, 1969 | page=1 | archive-date=October 14, 2020 | access-date=May 25, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201014164503/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=4AwwAAAAIBAJ&pg=6648,3488972 | url-status=live }}</ref>

In January 1970, an inquest into Kopechne's death was held in [[Edgartown, Massachusetts]].<ref name="bg-series-3"/> At the request of Kennedy's lawyers, the [[Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court]] ordered the inquest to be conducted in secret.<ref name="bg-series-3"/><ref>{{cite book|title=Fighting for Air: In the Trenches With Television News|isbn=0-8262-0952-1|year=1994|first=Liz|last=Trotta|location=Columbia, Missouri|publisher=University of Missouri Press|page=184}}</ref>{{sfn|Bly|1996|p=213}} The presiding judge, James A. Boyle, concluded that some aspects of Kennedy's story of that night were untrue, and that negligent driving "appears to have contributed" to the death of Kopechne.{{sfn|Bly|1996|p=213}} A [[grand jury]] conducted an investigation in April 1970 but issued no indictment, after which Boyle made his inquest report public.<ref name="bg-series-3"/> Kennedy deemed its conclusions "not justified."<ref name="bg-series-3"/> Questions about the incident generated many articles and books.{{sfn|Moritz|1978|p=227}}

===1970s===
[[File:Senator Kennedy speaks on health services.jpg|thumb|Kennedy giving a presentation on his healthcare proposal in June 1971]]
At the end of 1968, Kennedy had joined the new Committee for National Health Insurance at the invitation of its founder, [[United Auto Workers]] president [[Walter Reuther]].<ref name="Jacobs 1987">{{cite book|last=Jacobs|first=David C.|year=1987|editor1-last=Lewin|editor1-first=David|editor2-last=Lipsky|editor2-first=David|editor3-last=Sockell|editor3-first=Donna|chapter=The UAW and the Committee for National Health Insurance: the contours of social unionism|title=Advances in industrial and labor relations: a research annual|volume=4|location=Greenwich, Connecticut|publisher=JAI Press|isbn=0-89232-909-2|pages=119–140}}</ref>{{sfn|Clymer|1999|p=159}} In May 1970, Reuther died and Senator [[Ralph Yarborough]], chairman of the full [[United States Senate Committee on Labor and Public Welfare|Senate Labor and Public Welfare Committee]] and its Health subcommittee, lost his primary election, propelling Kennedy into a leadership role on the issue of [[national health insurance]].{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=159–160, 173}} Kennedy introduced a bipartisan bill in August 1970 for [[single-payer healthcare|single-payer]] [[universal health care|universal]] national health insurance with no [[cost sharing]], paid for by payroll taxes and general federal revenue.<ref>{{cite book|author=Congressional Quarterly|year=1971|chapter=National health insurance|title=Congressional Quarterly almanac, 91st Congress 2nd session....1970|volume=26|location=Washington, D.C.|publisher=Congressional Quarterly|pages=603–605|issn=0095-6007|oclc=1564784}}</ref>

Despite the Chappaquiddick controversy, [[1970 United States Senate election in Massachusetts|Kennedy easily won re-election]] to the Senate in November 1970 with 62% against underfunded Republican candidate [[Josiah Spaulding]], although he received about 500,000 fewer votes than in 1964.{{sfn|Moritz|1978|p=227}}

[[File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F033699-0003, Bonn, Ehmke empfängt Edward Kennedy.jpg|thumb|right|Senator Kennedy meeting with West German Justice Minister [[Horst Ehmke]] at [[Bonn]], [[West Germany]], in April 1971]]
In January 1971, Kennedy lost his position as [[Party leaders of the United States Senate|Senate Majority Whip]] to Senator [[Robert Byrd]] of West Virginia, 31–24,<ref>{{cite news|last1=Martin|first1=Jonathan|title=Kennedy memoir has Senate memories|url=https://www.politico.com/story/2009/09/kennedy-memoir-has-senate-memories-027158|access-date=January 2, 2018|work=[[Politico]]|date=September 15, 2015}}</ref> probably because of Chappaquiddick. He later told Byrd that the defeat had allowed Kennedy to focus more on issues and committee work,{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=171–173}}{{r|bg-obit}} where he could exert influence independently from the Democratic party apparatus.{{sfn|Hersh|1997|p=13}} Kennedy began a decade as chairman of the Subcommittee on Health and Scientific Research of the [[United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions|Senate Labor and Public Welfare Committee]].

In February 1971, Nixon proposed health insurance reform—an employer mandate to offer private health insurance if employees volunteered to pay 25 percent of premiums, federalization of [[Medicaid]] for the poor with dependent minor children, and support for [[health maintenance organization]]s.<ref name="NHI: CQ Almanac 1971">{{cite book|author=Congressional Quarterly|year=1972|chapter=Health insurance: hearings on new proposals|title=Congressional Quarterly almanac, 92nd Congress 1st session....1971|volume=27|location=Washington, D.C.|publisher=Congressional Quarterly|pages=541–544|issn=0095-6007|oclc=1564784}}</ref><ref name="HMO: CQ Almanac 1973">{{cite book|author=Congressional Quarterly|year=1974|chapter=Limited experimental health bill enacted|title=Congressional Quarterly almanac, 93rd Congress 1st session....1973|volume=29|location=Washington, D.C.|publisher=Congressional Quarterly|pages=499–508|issn=0095-6007|oclc=1564784}}</ref> Hearings on national health insurance were held in 1971, but no bill had the support of House Ways and Means and Senate Finance Committee chairmen Representative [[Wilbur Mills]] and Senator [[Russell B. Long|Russell Long]].<ref name="NHI: CQ Almanac 1971"/>{{sfn|Clymer|1999|p=187}} Kennedy sponsored and helped pass the limited [[Health Maintenance Organization Act of 1973]].<ref name="HMO: CQ Almanac 1973"/>{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=198–199}} He played a leading role, with Senator [[Jacob K. Javits|Jacob Javits]], in the creation and passage of the [[National Cancer Act of 1971]].{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=173–177}}

In October 1971, Kennedy made his first speech about [[The Troubles]] in [[Northern Ireland]]: he said that "Ulster is becoming Britain's Vietnam", advocating for the withdrawal of British troops, called for a [[united Ireland]],{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=180–183}} and declared that [[Unionism in Ireland|Ulster Unionists]] who could not accept this "should be given a decent opportunity to go back to Britain" (a position he backed away from within a few years).<ref>{{cite book|last=Hachey|first=Thomas E.|title=The Irish Experience: A Concise History|url=https://archive.org/details/irishexperience00hach|url-access=registration|edition=Revised|publisher=[[M.E. Sharpe]]|location=Armonk, New York|year=1996|page=[https://archive.org/details/irishexperience00hach/page/252 252]|isbn=1-56324-791-7}}</ref> Kennedy was sharply criticised by the British and Ulster unionists, and he formed a long political relationship with [[Social Democratic and Labour Party]] founder [[John Hume]].{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=180–183}} In scores of anti-war speeches, Kennedy opposed Nixon's policy of [[Vietnamization]], calling it "a policy of violence [that] means more and more war".{{sfn|Moritz|1978|p=227}} In December 1971, Kennedy strongly criticized the Nixon administration's support for Pakistan and its ignoring of "the brutal and systematic repression of East Bengal by the Pakistani army".<ref name="time-nov29-1971">{{cite news | url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,878970,00.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070507092655/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,878970,00.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=May 7, 2007 | title=A Policy in Shambles | magazine=Time | date=November 29, 1971}}</ref> He traveled to India and wrote a report on the plight of the [[East Bengali Refugees#1970s|10&nbsp;million Bengali refugees]].<ref name="cnn-saeed-ahmed">{{cite news | url=http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/08/27/bangladesh.kennedy.impact/ | title=In Bangladesh, Ted Kennedy Revered | author=Ahmed, Saeed | date=August 27, 2009 | agency=[[CNN]] | archive-date=March 4, 2016 | access-date=August 27, 2009 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304063305/http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/08/27/bangladesh.kennedy.impact/ | url-status=live }}</ref> In February 1972, Kennedy flew to Bangladesh and delivered a speech at the [[University of Dhaka]], where [[1971 Bangladesh atrocities|a killing rampage]] had begun a year earlier.<ref name="cnn-saeed-ahmed"/>

The Chappaquiddick incident had greatly hindered Kennedy's presidential prospects,{{r|time19680801}} and shortly afterwards he declared he would not be a candidate in the [[1972 United States presidential election|1972 presidential election]].<ref name="bg-series-3"/> Nevertheless, polls in 1971 suggested he could win the nomination, and Kennedy gave thought to running. In May he decided not to, saying he needed "breathing time" to gain more experience and take care of his brothers' children, and that "it feels wrong in my gut."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F10B1FFB355F127A93C1AB178ED85F458785F9|title=Despite His Lead in the Gallup Poll, Kennedy Insists He Won't Run for President in '72|last=Apple|first=R.W. Jr.|author-link=R. W. Apple Jr.|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=May 23, 1971}}</ref> Nevertheless, in November 1971, a [[Gallup Poll]] still had him in first place in the Democratic nomination race with 28&nbsp;percent.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.gallup.com/poll/149990/Cain-Surges-Nearly-Ties-Romney-Lead-GOP-Preferences.aspx | publisher=[[The Gallup Organization]] | title=Cain Surges, Nearly Ties Romney for Lead in GOP Preferences | date=October 10, 2011 | archive-date=October 11, 2011 | access-date=October 11, 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111011124524/http://www.gallup.com/poll/149990/Cain-Surges-Nearly-Ties-Romney-Lead-GOP-Preferences.aspx | url-status=live }}</ref> [[George McGovern]] was close to clinching the Democratic nomination in June 1972, when various anti-McGovern forces tried to get Kennedy to enter the contest at the last minute, but he declined.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=187–190}} At the [[1972 Democratic National Convention]], McGovern repeatedly tried to recruit Kennedy as his vice presidential running mate, but Kennedy turned him down.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=187–190}} When McGovern's choice of [[Thomas Eagleton]] stepped down soon after the convention, McGovern again tried to get Kennedy to take the nod, again without success.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=187–190}} McGovern instead chose Kennedy's brother-in-law [[Sargent Shriver]].

In 1973, Kennedy's 12-year-old son [[Edward Kennedy Jr.|Edward Jr.]], was diagnosed with [[chondrosarcoma|bone cancer]]; his leg was amputated and he underwent a long, difficult, experimental two-year drug treatment.<ref name="bg-series-3"/>{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=205–208}} The case brought international attention among doctors and in the media,{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=205–208}} as did the young Kennedy's return to skiing half a year later.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=FB0A13F8385515738DDDAE0894DC405B848BF1D3|title=When cancer strikes at children|author1=Cherry, Rona  |author2=Cherry, Laurence |name-list-style=amp |magazine=[[The New York Times Magazine]]|date=April 7, 1974}}</ref> Son [[Patrick J. Kennedy|Patrick]] was suffering from severe [[asthma attack]]s.<ref name="bg-series-3"/> The pressure of the situation mounted on Joan Kennedy. On several occasions, she entered facilities for treatment of alcoholism and emotional strain, and was arrested for [[drunk driving]] after a traffic accident.<ref name="bg-series-3"/><ref>{{cite news|url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F40E12F6395E1A7493C2A8178BD95F408785F9|title=Kennedy's Wife Faces Drunken Driving Count|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date= October 10, 1974}}</ref>

In February 1974, Nixon proposed more comprehensive health insurance reform—an employer mandate to offer private health insurance if employees volunteered to pay 25 percent of premiums, replacement of Medicaid by state-run health insurance plans available to all with income-based premiums and cost sharing, and replacement of Medicare with a federal program that eliminated the limit on hospital days, added income-based out-of-pocket limits, and added outpatient prescription drug coverage.<ref name="NHI: CQ Almanac 1974">{{cite book|author=Congressional Quarterly|year=1975|chapter=National health insurance: no action in 1974|title=Congressional Quarterly almanac, 93rd Congress 2nd session....1974|volume=30|location=Washington, D.C.|publisher=Congressional Quarterly|pages=386–394|issn=0095-6007|oclc=1564784}}</ref>{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=199–200}} In April 1974, Kennedy and Mills introduced a bill for near-universal national health insurance with benefits identical to the expanded Nixon plan—but with mandatory participation by employers and employees through payroll taxes—both plans were criticized by labor, consumer, and senior citizen organizations because of their substantial cost sharing.<ref name="NHI: CQ Almanac 1974"/>{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=217–219}}<ref name="NHI: CQ Almanac 1974"/><ref name="Wainess 1999">{{cite journal|last=Wainess|first=Flint J.|date=April 1999|title=The Ways and Means of national health care reform, 1974 and beyond|journal=Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law|volume=24|issue=2|pages=305–333|issn=0361-6878|oclc=2115780|pmid=10321359|doi=10.1215/03616878-24-2-305}}</ref>

In the wake of the [[Watergate scandal]], Kennedy pushed [[Campaign finance reform in the United States|campaign finance reform]]; he was a leading force behind passage of the [[Federal Election Campaign Act Amendments of 1974]], which set contribution limits and established public financing for presidential elections.{{sfn|Moritz|1978|p=228}}<ref name="usa051708">{{cite news | url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-05-17-3340753434_x.htm | title=Kennedy: liberal legend, able legislator | author=Babington, Charles | agency=[[Associated Press]] | newspaper=USA Today | date=May 17, 2008 | access-date=June 11, 2009 | archive-date=August 15, 2009 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090815121051/http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-05-17-3340753434_x.htm | url-status=live }}</ref> In 1974, Kennedy travelled to the [[Soviet Union]], where he met with leader [[Leonid Brezhnev]] and advocated a full nuclear test ban as well as relaxed emigration, met with [[Soviet dissidents]], and secured an exit visa for cellist [[Mstislav Rostropovich]].{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=212–215}} Kennedy's Subcommittee on Refugees and Escapees continued to focus on Vietnam, especially after the [[Fall of Saigon]] in 1975.{{sfn|Moritz|1978|p=227}}

Kennedy had initially opposed [[Desegregation busing in the United States|busing schoolchildren across racial lines]], but grew to support the practice as it became a focal point of civil rights efforts.{{sfn|Canellos|2009|pp=236–237}} After federal judge [[W. Arthur Garrity]] ordered the [[Boston Public Schools|Boston School Committee]] in 1974 to racially integrate Boston's public schools via busing, Kennedy made a surprise appearance at a September 1974 anti-busing rally in [[City Hall Plaza (Boston)|City Hall Plaza]] to express the need for peaceful dialogue and was met with hostility.{{sfn|Canellos|2009|pp=236–237}}<ref name="thecrisis"/><ref name="Tager pp. 198–199">{{cite book|last=Tager|first=Jack|year=2001|title=Boston Riots: Three Centuries of Social Violence|publisher=[[University Press of New England|Northeastern University Press]]|place=Boston|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bostonriotsthree00tage/page/198 198–199]|isbn=978-1555534615|url=https://archive.org/details/bostonriotsthree00tage}}</ref> The predominantly white crowd yelled insults about his children, hurled tomatoes and eggs at him as he retreated into the [[John F. Kennedy Federal Building]], and broke one of its glass walls.{{sfn|Canellos|2009|pp=236–237}}<ref name="thecrisis">{{cite magazine | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yM8wABaRtYIC&pg=PA10 |magazine=[[The Crisis]] | title=Backdrop to Boston | pages=7–11 | volume=82 | issue=1 | date=January 1975}}</ref><ref name="Tager pp. 198–199" />

Kennedy was again much talked about as a contender in the [[1976 United States presidential election|1976 presidential election]], with no strong front-runners among the other possible Democratic candidates.<ref name="nyt092474">{{cite news | url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F30B1FF73E5E1A7493C6AB1782D85F408785F9 | title=Kennedy Rules Out '76 Presidential Race |last=Apple |first=R. W. Jr. | newspaper=[[The New York Times]]| date=September 24, 1974 | author-link=R. W. Apple Jr.}}</ref> Kennedy's concerns about his family were strong, and Chappaquiddick was still in the news, with ''[[The Boston Globe]]'', ''[[The New York Times Magazine]]'', and ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine all reassessing the incident and raising doubts about Kennedy's version of events.<ref name="bg-series-3"/><ref>{{cite news | url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F70F15FC3A5C1A7A93C6A8178CD85F408785F9 | title=Chappaquiddick + 5 | author=Sherrill, Robert | magazine=[[The New York Times Magazine]] | date=July 14, 1974 | author-link=Robert Sherrill}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,943016,00.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081222071555/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,943016,00.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=December 22, 2008 | title=The Memory That Would Not Fade | magazine=Time | date=October 7, 1974}}</ref> In 1977, the ''Times'' described Chappaquiddick as Kennedy's Watergate.{{r|weinraub19770305}} In September 1974, Kennedy announced that for family reasons he would not run in 1976, declaring that his decision was "firm, final, and unconditional."<ref name="nyt092474"/> Kennedy was [[1976 United States Senate election in Massachusetts|up for Senate re-election in 1976]]. He defeated a primary challenger who was angry at his support for [[Desegregation busing in the United States#Boston, Massachusetts|school busing in Boston]]. Kennedy won the general election with 69&nbsp;percent.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=245–250}}

[[File:Senator Edward Kennedy meets with Jimmy Carter - NARA - 177025.tif|thumb|left|President [[Jimmy Carter]] (right) with Senator Ted Kennedy in the [[Oval Office]] of the [[White House]], December 1977]]
The [[Carter administration]] years were difficult for Kennedy; he had been the most important Democrat in Washington since his brother Robert's death, but now Carter was, and Kennedy at first did not have a full committee chairmanship to wield influence.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=252–256}} Carter in turn sometimes resented Kennedy's status as a political celebrity.<ref name="bg-obit"/> Despite similar ideologies, their priorities were different.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=252–256}}<ref name="time-kc">{{cite news |url=http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,912496,00.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130204101416/http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,912496,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 4, 2013 |title=The Kennedy Challenge |magazine=Time |date=November 5, 1979}}</ref> Kennedy told reporters he was content with his congressional role and denied presidential ambitions,<ref name=weinraub19770305>{{cite news |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date= March 5, 1977 |page=1 | author=Weinraub, Bernard |title=Kennedy, Out of the Limelight, Is Content in Senate |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/03/05/archives/kennedy-out-of-the-limelight-is-content-in-senate-kennedy-out-of.html | format=fee required}}</ref> but by late 1977 Carter reportedly saw Kennedy as a future challenger to his presidency.<ref name="evansnovak19791121">{{Cite news |last1=Evans |first1=Rowland |last2=Novak |first2=Robert |date=22 November 1977 |title=Eastland's vast power |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32141039/pottsville_republican/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190601114213/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32141039/pottsville_republican/ |archive-date=1 June 2019 |work=Pottsville Republican |page=4 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>

Kennedy and his wife Joan separated in 1977, though they still staged joint appearances.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|p=259}} He held Health and Scientific Research Subcommittee hearings in March 1977 that led to public revelations of extensive [[scientific misconduct]] by contract research organizations, including [[Industrial Bio-Test Laboratories]].<ref>{{cite news | title = Poisoned Research | magazine = [[Mother Jones (magazine)|Mother Jones]] | date = June 1982 | first = Douglas | last = Foster | author2 = Mark Dowie | author3 = Steve Hubbell | author4 = Irene Moosen | author5 = Peter Waldman | author6 = Center for Investigative Reporting | pages = 38–40, 42–43, 45–48 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=nuYDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA37 | archive-date = September 27, 2024 | access-date = October 27, 2015 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20240927070849/https://books.google.com/books?id=nuYDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA37#v=onepage&q&f=false | url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | first = Morton | last = Mintz | title = Indictment Accuses Drug-Testing Firm of Falsifying Results | date = June 1, 1979 | newspaper = The Washington Post | page=A9}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | first = Bill | last = Richards | title = Wide Errors, Possible Fraud Found in Private Lab Testing | date = September 8, 1977 | newspaper = The Washington Post | pages = 1, A11 }}</ref> Kennedy visited China on a goodwill mission in December 1977, meeting with leader [[Deng Xiaoping]] and eventually gaining permission for several mainland Chinese nationals to leave the country; in 1978, he visited the Soviet Union and Brezhnev and dissidents there again.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=270, 273–274}} During the 1970s, Kennedy showed interest in [[nuclear disarmament]], and as part of his efforts in this field visited [[Hiroshima]] in January 1978 and gave a speech to that effect at [[Hiroshima University]].<ref>[https://aad.archives.gov/aad/createpdf?rid=10395&dt=2694&dl=2009 U.S. diplomatic cable on Kennedy's visit to Hiroshima]. U.S. Department of State, January 30, 1978; and [https://aad.archives.gov/aad/createpdf?rid=6&dt=2694&dl=2009 U.S. diplomatic cable containing the speech transcript]. U.S. Department of State, January 10, 1978.</ref> He became chairman of the [[United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary|Senate Judiciary Committee]] in 1978, by which time he had amassed a wide-ranging Senate staff of a hundred.{{sfn|Hersh|1997|p=27}}

As a candidate, Carter had proposed health care reform that included key features of Kennedy's national health insurance bill, but in December 1977, Carter told Kennedy his bill must preserve a large role for private insurance companies, minimize federal spending (precluding payroll tax financing), and be phased-in to not interfere with Carter's paramount domestic policy objective—balancing the budget.<ref name="Morris 1984">{{cite book|last=Morris|first=Jonas|year=1984|chapter=The Carter years|title=Searching for a cure: national health policy considered|location=New York|publisher=Pica Press|pages=92–171|isbn=0-87663-741-1}}</ref><ref name="Gottschalk 2000">{{cite book|last=Gottschalk|first=Marie|year=2000|chapter=Labor embraces a new idea: the journey from national health insurance to an employer mandate|title=The shadow welfare state: labor, business, and the politics of health care in the United States|location=Ithaca, N.Y.|publisher=ILR Press|pages=65–85|isbn=0-8014-3745-8|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iJ5X5AT1xbYC&pg=PA79|archive-date=September 27, 2024|access-date=October 27, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240927070849/https://books.google.com/books?id=iJ5X5AT1xbYC&pg=PA79#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=245–247}} Kennedy and labor compromised and made the requested changes, but broke with Carter in July 1978 when he would not commit to pursuing a single bill with a fixed schedule for phasing-in comprehensive coverage.<ref name="Morris 1984"/><ref name="Gottschalk 2000"/>{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=269–270}} Frustrated by Carter's budgetary concerns and caution,<ref name="nyt-obit"/> in a December 1978 speech on national health insurance at the Democratic midterm convention, Kennedy said regarding liberal goals that "sometimes a party must sail against the wind" and in particular should provide health care as "a basic right for all, not just an expensive privilege for the few."<ref>{{cite news|last=Walsh|first=Edward|date=December 10, 1978|title=Lackluster convention lights up; invocations of liberalism rouse a lifeless party|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|page=A1|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost_historical/access/136760932.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130216161912/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost_historical/access/136760932.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 16, 2013}}</ref>{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=276–278}}<ref>{{cite web | url=http://tedkennedy.org/ownwords/event/1978_health_care | title=In His Own Words: Democratic National Convention Health Care | author=Kennedy, Edward M. | publisher=Tedkennedy.org | date=December 9, 1978 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130324000935/http://tedkennedy.org/ownwords/event/1978_health_care | archive-date=March 24, 2013 | df=mdy-all }}</ref>
[[File:Ted Kennedy 1979.jpg|thumb|upright=.85|Kennedy in 1979]]

In May 1979, Kennedy proposed a new bipartisan universal national health insurance bill—choice of competing federally regulated private health insurance plans with no cost sharing financed by income-based premiums via an employer mandate and individual mandate, replacement of Medicaid by government payment of premiums to private insurers, and enhancement of [[Medicare (United States)|Medicare]] by adding prescription drug coverage and eliminating premiums and cost sharing.<ref name="NHI: CQ Almanac 1979">{{cite book|author=Congressional Quarterly |year=1980|chapter=National health insurance|title=Congressional Quarterly Almanac, 96th Congress 1st Session....1979|volume=35|location=Washington, D.C.|publisher=Congressional Quarterly|pages=536–540|issn=0095-6007|oclc=1564784}}</ref><ref name="Starr 2011">{{cite book|last=Starr|first=Paul|year=2011|chapter=Stumbling toward comprehensive reform: Political deadlock, 1969–1980|title=Remedy and reaction: the peculiar American struggle over health care reform|location=New Haven|publisher=Yale University Press|pages=52–63}}</ref> In June 1979, Carter proposed more limited health insurance reform—an employer mandate to provide catastrophic private health insurance plus coverage without cost sharing for pregnant women and infants, federalization of Medicaid with extension to all of the very poor, and adding catastrophic coverage to Medicare.<ref name="NHI: CQ Almanac 1979"/> Neither plan gained any traction in Congress,<ref name="time062579"/><ref name="nyt081180">{{cite news |url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F20B10FC3A5F12728DDDA80994D0405B8084F1D3 |title=How Carter and Kennedy Differ on Major Issues of the Campaign |author=Herbers, John |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=August 11, 1980}}</ref> and the failure to come to agreement represented the final political breach between the two.<ref name="bg-series-4"/> Carter wrote in 1982 that Kennedy "ironically" thwarted Carter's efforts to provide a comprehensive health-care system.{{sfn|Carter|1982|pp=86–87 ff}} In turn, Kennedy wrote in 2009 that his relationship with Carter was "unhealthy" and that "Carter was a difficult man to convince&nbsp;– of anything."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/09/03/teddy-kennedys-memoir-he-spent-his-life-atoning-for-kopechnes/4 |title=Teddy Kennedy's Memoir: He Spent His Life Atoning for Kopechne's Death |author=Henneberger, Melinda |publisher=[[Politics Daily]] |date=September 3, 2009 |access-date=September 28, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100921051033/http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/09/03/teddy-kennedys-memoir-he-spent-his-life-atoning-for-kopechnes/4 |archive-date=September 21, 2010 }}</ref>

===1980 presidential campaign===
{{Main|Ted Kennedy 1980 presidential campaign}}
{{See also|1980 United States presidential election|1980 Democratic Party presidential primaries}}
[[File:Ted Kennedy 1980 presidential campaign logo.png|thumb|right|Kennedy's 1980 presidential campaign logo]]
Kennedy decided to seek the Democratic nomination in the [[1980 United States presidential election|1980 presidential election]] by launching an unusual, insurgent campaign against the incumbent Carter. A midsummer 1978 poll showed that Democrats preferred Kennedy over Carter by a 5-to-3 margin.{{sfn|Moritz|1978|p=227}} Through summer 1979, as Kennedy deliberated whether to run, Carter was not intimidated despite his 28&nbsp;percent approval rating, saying publicly: "If Kennedy runs, I'll whip his ass."<ref name="time062579">{{cite news | url=http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,912449,00.html | archive-url=https://archive.today/20130204090412/http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,912449,00.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=February 4, 2013 | title=On Who Will Whip Whom | magazine=Time | date=June 25, 1979}}</ref><ref name="bg-series-4"/> Carter later asserted that Kennedy's constant criticism of his policies was a strong indicator Kennedy was planning to run.{{sfn|Carter|1982|p=463}} Labor unions urged Kennedy to run, as did some Democratic party officials who feared Carter's unpopularity could result in heavy losses in the 1980 congressional elections.{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=38–39}} Kennedy decided to run in August 1979, when polls showed him with a 2-to-1 advantage over Carter;{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=284–285}} Carter's approval rating slipped to 19&nbsp;percent.{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=38–39}} Kennedy formally announced his campaign on November 7, 1979, at Boston's [[Faneuil Hall]].<ref name="bg-series-4">{{cite news | url=https://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2009/02/18/chapter_4_sailing_into_the_wind/ | title=Chapter 4: Sailing into the Wind: Losing a quest for the top, finding a new freedom | author=Allis, Sam | newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]] | date=February 18, 2009 | access-date=March 10, 2009 | archive-date=March 3, 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303174031/https://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2009/02/18/chapter_4_sailing_into_the_wind/ | url-status=live }}</ref> He had already received substantial negative press from a rambling response to the question "Why do you want to be President?" during an [[Roger Mudd#Ted Kennedy interview|interview with Roger Mudd]] of [[CBS News]] a few days earlier.<ref name="bg-series-4"/><ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.c-span.org/video/?204450-1/qa-roger-mudd-part-1 | title=Roger Mudd: Fmr. CBS Correspondent & Author – Part II | work=Q&A | author=Lamb, Brian | publisher=[[C-SPAN]] | date=April 6, 2008 | access-date=November 30, 2014 | author-link=Brian Lamb | archive-date=November 9, 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141109040255/http://www.c-span.org/video/?204450-1/qa-roger-mudd-part-1 | url-status=live }}</ref> The [[Iranian hostage crisis]], which began on November 4, and the [[Soviet invasion of Afghanistan]], which began on December 27, prompted the electorate to rally around the president and allowed Carter to pursue a [[Rose Garden strategy]] of staying at the White House, which kept Kennedy's campaign out of the headlines.<ref name="bg-series-4"/>{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=294–299}}

Kennedy's campaign staff was disorganized and he was initially an ineffective campaigner.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=294–299}}{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=45–47}} There is little evidence Kennedy truly wanted to be president;<ref name="bg-series-4"/> to observers such as [[Ellen Goodman]] and [[Anthony Lewis]], the Mudd interview confirmed their belief that he did not want the job. The incoherent answer to Mudd was an example of what [[Walter Mondale]], who knew Kennedy well from the Senate, described as his way of avoiding a topic by "using words, but they didn't come together somehow".<ref name="bg20090826">{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5TkhNWPspM |title=The interview that blindsided the Ted Kennedy presidential campaign |date=August 26, 2009 |via=YouTube |publisher=[[The Boston Globe]]}}</ref> [[Chris Whipple]] of ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'', who was present for the interview, wondered if Kennedy's answer was "consciously or otherwise, an act of political self-destruction ... The campaign was over. His heart just wasn't in it".<ref name="whipple20090828">{{Cite news |last=Whipple |first=Chris |date=August 28, 2009 |title=Ted Kennedy: The Day the Presidency Was Lost |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/TedKennedy/story?id=8436488 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090830231214/https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/TedKennedy/story?id=8436488 |archive-date=August 30, 2009 |access-date=January 18, 2024 |agency=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]]}}</ref> The Chappaquiddick incident emerged as a more significant issue than the staff had expected, with columnists and editorials criticizing Kennedy's answers on the matter.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=294–299}} In the January 1980 [[Iowa caucuses]] that initiated the primaries season, Carter demolished Kennedy by a 59–31 percent margin.<ref name="bg-series-4"/> Kennedy's fundraising immediately declined and his campaign had to downsize, but he remained defiant, saying "[Now] we'll see who is going to whip whose what."<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,950228,00.html | archive-url=https://archive.today/20120912134052/http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,950228,00.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=September 12, 2012 | title=To Sail Against the Wind | magazine=Time | date=February 11, 1980}}</ref> Nevertheless, Kennedy lost three New England contests.<ref name="bg-series-4"/> Kennedy did form a more coherent message about why he was running, saying at [[Georgetown University]]: "I believe we must not permit the dream of social progress to be shattered by those whose premises have failed."{{sfn|Hersh|1997|p=50}} However, concerns over Chappaquiddick and issues related to character prevented Kennedy from gaining the support of many who were disillusioned with Carter.<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date= March 18, 1980 |page=A1 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1980/03/18/archives/carters-onjob-rating-falls-in-poll-because-of-foreign-policy.html | author=Smith, Hedrick | title=Carter's On-Job Rating Falls in Poll Because of Foreign Policy Concerns | format=fee required |author-link= Hedrick Smith}}</ref> During a [[St. Patrick's Day Parade]] in Chicago, Kennedy had to wear a bullet-proof vest due to assassination threats, and hecklers yelled "Where's Mary Jo?" at him.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=303–304}} In the key March 18 primary in Illinois, Kennedy failed to gain the support of Catholic voters, and Carter won 155 of 169 delegates.{{sfn|Barone|Cohen|2008|p=792}}<ref name="bg-series-4"/>

With little mathematical hope of winning the nomination and polls showing another likely defeat in New York, Kennedy prepared to withdraw.<ref name="bg-series-4"/> However, partially due to Jewish voter unhappiness with a U.S. vote at the United Nations against [[Israeli settlements]] in the [[West Bank]], Kennedy staged an upset and won the March 25 vote by 59–41 percent.<ref name="bg-series-4"/> Carter responded with an advertising campaign that attacked Kennedy's character without explicitly mentioning Chappaquiddick, but Kennedy still managed a narrow win in the April Pennsylvania primary.<ref name="bg-series-4"/> Carter won 11 of 12 primaries held in May, while on the June 3 [[Super Tuesday]] primaries, Kennedy won California, New Jersey, and three smaller states out of eight contests.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=309, 312}} Overall, Kennedy had won 10 presidential primaries against Carter, who won 24.<ref>{{cite book | last=Alexander | first=Herbert E. | title=Financing the 1980 Election | url=https://archive.org/details/financing1980ele0000alex | url-access=registration | publisher=[[Lexington Books]] | year=1983 | isbn=0-669-06375-4 | page=[https://archive.org/details/financing1980ele0000alex/page/229 229]}}</ref>

{{listen
| filename     = Ted Kennedy - And The Dream Shall Never Die excerpt.ogg
| description  = Final 17 seconds of Ted Kennedy's speech at the [[1980 Democratic National Convention]]
| title        = "And the Dream Shall Never Die"
| filetype     = [[Ogg]]
| image        = none
}}

Although Carter now had enough delegates to clinch the nomination,{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=309, 312}} Kennedy carried his campaign on to the [[1980 Democratic National Convention]] in August in New York, hoping to pass a rule there that would free delegates from being bound by primary results and open the convention.<ref name="bg-series-4"/> This move failed on the first night, and Kennedy withdrew.<ref name="bg-series-4"/> On the second night, August 12, Kennedy delivered the [[The Dream Shall Never Die|most famous speech]] of his career, written in part by speech writer [[Bob Shrum]].<ref>{{Cite web|title= Bob Shrum Recalls Ted Kennedy's Greatest Speech |url=https://time.com/archive/6689352/bob-shrum-recalls-ted-kennedys-greatest-speech/ |website=TIME |access-date=20 October 2025}}</ref><ref name="guard082608">{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/aug/26/democrats2008.uselections2008 | title=Ted Kennedy defies cancer diagnosis to inspire Democrats in Denver | author=Goldberg, Suzanne | newspaper=[[The Guardian]] | date=August 26, 2008 | access-date=March 18, 2009 | location=London}}</ref> Drawing on allusions to and quotes of [[Martin Luther King Jr.]], [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt]], and [[Alfred Lord Tennyson]] to say that [[American liberalism]] was not passé,{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=316–319}} he concluded with the words:
{{blockquote|For me, a few hours ago, this campaign came to an end. For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die.}}

The [[Madison Square Garden]] audience reacted with wild applause and demonstrations for half an hour.<ref name="bg-series-4"/> On the final night, Kennedy arrived late after Carter's acceptance speech and while he shook Carter's hand, he failed to raise Carter's arm in the traditional show of party unity.{{sfn|Barone|Cohen|2008|p=792}}{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=316–319}}

===1980s===
[[File:President Ronald Reagan meeting with Senator Edward Kennedy.jpg|thumb|right|Kennedy with [[President of the United States|President]] [[Ronald Reagan]] in 1986]]
The 1980 election saw the Republicans capture not just the presidency but the Senate as well, and Kennedy was in the minority party for the first time in his career. Kennedy did not dwell upon his presidential loss,<ref name="bg-series-4"/> but instead reaffirmed his public commitment to American liberalism.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|p=321–322}} He chose to become the ranking member of the [[United States Senate Committee on Labor and Public Welfare|Labor and Public Welfare Committee]] rather than of the Judiciary Committee, which he would later say was one of the most important decisions of his career.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|p=321–322}} Kennedy became a committed champion of women's issues,{{sfn|Clymer|1999|p=321–322}} and established relationships with select Republican senators to block [[Presidency of Ronald Reagan|Reagan's actions]] and preserve and improve the [[Voting Rights Act]], funding for [[AIDS]] treatment, and equal funding for women's sports under [[Title IX]].<ref name="bg-series-4"/> To combat being in the minority, he worked long hours and devised a series of hearings-like public forums to which he could invite experts and discuss topics important to him.<ref name="bg-series-4"/> Kennedy could not hope to stop all of Reagan's reshaping of government, but was often nearly the sole effective Democrat battling him.{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=55–58}}

In January 1981, Ted and Joan Kennedy announced they were getting a divorce.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=325, 354}} The proceedings were generally amicable,{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=325, 354}} and she received a reported $4&nbsp;million settlement when the divorce was granted in 1982.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/02/25/kennedys_children_become_her_guardians/ | title=Kennedy's children become her guardians | author=Johnson, Glen | newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]] | date=February 25, 2005 | access-date=April 11, 2009}}</ref> Later that year, Kennedy created the [[Friends of Ireland (U.S. Congress)|Friends of Ireland]] organization with Senator [[Daniel Patrick Moynihan|Daniel Moynihan]] and [[Speaker of the United States House of Representatives|House Speaker]] [[Tip O'Neill]] to support initiatives for peace and reconciliation in [[Northern Ireland]].<ref>[http://tedkennedy.org/service/item/foreign_policy Providing a Leading Voice for Human Rights and Democracy around the Globe] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120327210850/http://tedkennedy.org/service/item/foreign_policy |date=March 27, 2012 }} TedKennedy.org. Retrieved: April 27, 2012.</ref>

Kennedy easily defeated Republican businessman [[Ray Shamie]] to [[1982 United States Senate election in Massachusetts|win re-election in 1982]].{{sfn|Hersh|1997|p=63}} Senate leaders granted him a seat on the [[United States Senate Armed Services Committee|Armed Services Committee]], while allowing him to keep his other major seats despite the traditional limit of two such seats.{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=60–63}} Kennedy became very visible in opposing aspects of the [[foreign policy of the Reagan administration]], including U.S. intervention in the [[Salvadoran Civil War]] and U.S. support for the [[Contras]] in [[Nicaragua]], and in opposing Reagan-supported weapons systems, including the [[B-1 bomber]], the [[MX missile]], and the [[Strategic Defense Initiative]].{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=60–63}} Kennedy became the Senate's leading advocate for a [[nuclear freeze]]{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=60–63}} and was a critic of Reagan's confrontational policies toward the Soviet Union.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/06/22/world/kennedy-denouces-regan-for-voodoo-arms-control.html |title=Kennedy Denounces Reagan for 'Voodoo Arms Control' |agency=[[United Press International]] |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=June 22, 1982 |archive-date=December 22, 2017 |access-date=February 13, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171222110059/http://www.nytimes.com/1982/06/22/world/kennedy-denouces-regan-for-voodoo-arms-control.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/12/09/world/reagan-finds-a-lesser-evil-in-indefinite-recess-of-talks.html |title=Reagan Finds a Lesser Evil in Indefinite Recess of Talks |last=Smith |first=Hedrick |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=December 9, 1983 |author-link=Hedrick Smith |archive-date=December 22, 2017 |access-date=February 13, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171222105722/http://www.nytimes.com/1983/12/09/world/reagan-finds-a-lesser-evil-in-indefinite-recess-of-talks.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/29858499/edward_kennedy_on_president_reagan_a_state_of_disunion/print |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090906135854/http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/29858499/edward_kennedy_on_president_reagan_a_state_of_disunion/print |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 6, 2009 |title=Edward Kennedy on President Reagan: A State of Disunion |last=Kennedy |first=Edward M. |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=March 15, 1984}}</ref>

A 1983 KGB memo indicates that Kennedy engaged in back-channel communication with the Soviet Union.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2006/oct/27/20061027-084248-4386r/|title=Kennedy-KGB collaboration|newspaper=The Washington Times|date=October 27, 2006|access-date=May 22, 2020|archive-date=August 8, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200808044656/https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2006/oct/27/20061027-084248-4386r/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.investors.com/politics/commentary/when-democrats-wanted-moscows-political-help/|title=When Democrats Wanted Moscow's Political Help |newspaper=Investor's Business Daily|date=December 19, 2016|access-date=April 8, 2020}}</ref><ref name="SovietGambit">{{cite web |url=https://www.forbes.com/2009/08/27/ted-kennedy-soviet-union-ronald-reagan-opinions-columnists-peter-robinson.html#14a424fa359a |title=Ted Kennedy's Soviet Gambit |magazine=Forbes |date=August 27, 2009 |access-date=May 22, 2020 |archive-date=May 30, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200530213753/https://www.forbes.com/2009/08/27/ted-kennedy-soviet-union-ronald-reagan-opinions-columnists-peter-robinson.html#14a424fa359a |url-status=live }}</ref> According to a May 1983, memorandum from [[Chairman of the KGB]] [[Viktor Chebrikov]] to general secretary [[Yuri Andropov]], former U.S. Senator [[John V. Tunney]]—a friend of Kennedy's—visited Moscow that month and conveyed a message from Kennedy to Andropov.<ref name="SovietGambit"/><ref name="times020292"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/1983KennedyAndropovMemo|title=1983 Kennedy-Andropov memo (original followed by translation)|date=May 14, 1983|via=Internet Archive}}</ref><ref name="SecretMessage">{{Cite web|url=https://timeline.com/teddy-kennedy-used-a-secret-message-to-get-the-russians-to-intervene-in-reagans-1984-re-election-e4d45af01368|title=Teddy Kennedy used a secret message to get the Russians to intervene in Reagan's 1984 re-election|first=Allen|last=McDuffee|date=July 27, 2017|website=Timeline|access-date=July 1, 2019|archive-date=October 18, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191018162123/https://timeline.com/teddy-kennedy-used-a-secret-message-to-get-the-russians-to-intervene-in-reagans-1984-re-election-e4d45af01368|url-status=live}}</ref> The memo indicates that the stated purpose of the communication was to "'root out the threat of nuclear war', 'improve Soviet-American relations' and 'define the safety of the world'".<ref name="SecretMessage"/> Kennedy reportedly offered to visit Moscow "'to arm Soviet officials with explanations regarding problems of nuclear disarmament so they may be better prepared and more convincing during appearances in the USA'" and to set up U.S. television appearances for Andropov.<ref name="SecretMessage"/><ref name="SovietGambit"/>

Chebrikov also noted "a little-hidden secret that [Kennedy] intended to run for president in 1988 and that the Democratic Party 'may officially turn to him to lead the fight against the Republicans' in 1984 — turning the proposal from one purely about international cooperation to one tinged with personal political aspiration."<ref name="SecretMessage"/> Andropov was unimpressed by Kennedy's overtures.<ref name="times020292">{{cite news |url=https://www.scribd.com/doc/19401082/Teddy-the-KGB-and-the-Top-Secret-File-Tim-Sabastian-the-Sunday-Times-Feb-2-1992 |title=Teddy, the KGB and the top secret file |last=Sebastian |first=Tim |newspaper=[[The Sunday Times]] |date=February 2, 1992 |author-link=Tim Sebastian |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150510030402/http://www.scribd.com/doc/19401082/Teddy-the-KGB-and-the-Top-Secret-File-Tim-Sabastian-the-Sunday-Times-Feb-2-1992 |archive-date=May 10, 2015}}</ref> After the Chebrikov memo was unearthed, Tunney and a Kennedy spokesperson denied it was true.<ref name="SecretMessage"/> Former Reagan administration negotiator [[Max Kampelman]] has asserted that Kennedy did engage in back-channel communications, but added that "'the senator never acted or received information without informing the appropriate United States agency or official'". [[Kenneth Adelman]], a deputy ambassador to the United Nations under Reagan, has asserted that the Reagan administration knew of back-channel communications between senators and the Soviet Union and were unconcerned.<ref name="SecretMessage"/>

Kennedy's staff drew up detailed plans for a candidacy in the [[1984 United States presidential election|1984 presidential election]] that he considered, but with his family opposed and his realization that the Senate was a fully satisfying career, in 1982 he decided not to run.<ref name="kelly"/><ref name="bg-series-4"/>{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=341–342}} Kennedy campaigned hard for Democratic presidential nominee Mondale and defended vice presidential nominee [[Geraldine Ferraro]] from criticism over being a pro-choice Catholic, but Reagan was re-elected in a landslide.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=360–361}}

Kennedy staged a tiring, dangerous, and high-profile trip to South Africa in 1985.{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=77–78}} He defied both the [[South Africa under apartheid|apartheid government]]'s wishes and militant leftist [[AZAPO]] demonstrators by spending a night in the [[Soweto]] home of [[Bishop Desmond Tutu]] and visited [[Winnie Mandela]], wife of imprisoned black leader [[Nelson Mandela]].<ref name="bg-series-4"/>{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=77–78}} Upon returning, Kennedy became a leader in the push for economic sanctions against South Africa; collaborating with Senator [[Lowell Weicker]], he secured Senate passage, and the overriding of Reagan's veto, of the [[Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986]].{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=77–78}} Despite their many political differences, Kennedy and Reagan had a good personal relationship,{{sfn|Clymer|1999|p=326}} and with the administration's approval Kennedy traveled to the Soviet Union in 1986 to act as a go-between in arms control negotiations with reformist Soviet leader [[Mikhail Gorbachev]].<ref name="bg-series-4"/> The discussions were productive, and Kennedy helped gain the release of [[Refusenik|Soviet Jewish refuseniks]], including [[Anatoly Shcharansky]].<ref name="bg-series-4"/>{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=391–393}}

Although Kennedy was an accomplished legislator, his personal life was troubled during this time.<ref name="bg-series-5">{{cite news | url=https://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2009/02/19/chapter_5_trials__redemption/ | title=Chapter 5: Trials & Redemptions: An untidy private life, then a turn to stability | author=Kahn, Joseph P. | newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]] | date=February 19, 2009 | access-date=April 11, 2009 | archive-date=February 22, 2009 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090222080513/http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2009/02/19/chapter_5_trials__redemption | url-status=live }}</ref> His weight fluctuated wildly and he drank heavily&nbsp;– though not when it would interfere with his Senate duties.<ref name="bg-series-5"/>{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=66–67}} Kennedy later acknowledged, "I went through a lot of difficult times over a period in my life where [drinking] may have been somewhat of a factor or force."<ref name="bg-series-5"/> He chased women frequently,{{sfn|Clymer|1999|p=385}} and was in a series of more serious relationships but did not want to commit to anything long-term.{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=83–84}} He often caroused with fellow Senator [[Chris Dodd]];{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=83–84}} twice in 1985 they were in drunken incidents in Washington restaurants, with one involving a waitress claiming the pair sexually assaulted her.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|p=385}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/04/joe-biden-names-sex-creep-and-sex-creep-enabler-chris-dodd-to-vp-team.html|title=Biden Announces That Accused Sex Creep and Sex Creep Enabler Christopher Dodd Will Help Him Pick a Running Mate|first=Ben|last=Mathis-Lilley|date=April 30, 2020|website=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]|access-date=May 27, 2020|archive-date=May 27, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200527195530/https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/04/joe-biden-names-sex-creep-and-sex-creep-enabler-chris-dodd-to-vp-team.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1987, Kennedy and a young female lobbyist were surprised in the back room of a restaurant in a state of partial undress.<ref name="kelly"/> Female Senate staffers from the late 1980s and early 1990s recalled that Kennedy was on an informal list of male Senators who were known for harassing women regularly.<ref>{{Cite news|last1=Desjardins|first1=Lisa|last2=Bush|first2=Daniel|date=May 15, 2020|access-date=February 28, 2021|title=What 74 former Biden staffers think about Tara Reade's allegations|work=[[PBS Newshour]]|url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/what-74-former-biden-staffers-think-about-tara-reades-allegations|archive-date=February 1, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210201041646/https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/what-74-former-biden-staffers-think-about-tara-reades-allegations|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:EdwardKennedyUSSTheodoreRooseveltFeb1987.jpeg|thumb|left|Senator Kennedy talking to sailors aboard [[USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71)|USS ''Theodore Roosevelt'']], February 1987]]
After again considering a candidacy for the [[1988 United States presidential election|1988 presidential election]],<ref name="kelly"/> in December 1985 Kennedy publicly declined to run. This decision was influenced by his personal difficulties, family concerns, and contentment with remaining in the Senate.<ref name="bg-series-4"/>{{sfn|Clymer|1999|p=385}} He added: "I know this decision means I may never be president. But the pursuit of the presidency is not my life. Public service is."<ref name="bg-series-4"/>  Kennedy used his legislative skills to achieve passage of the [[Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985|COBRA Act]], which extended employer-based health benefits after leaving a job.<ref name="bg-series-6">{{cite news | url=https://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2009/02/20/a_towering_record_painstakingly_built/ | title=Chapter 6: Master of the Senate: A towering record, painstakingly built | author=Milligan, Susan | newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]] | date=February 20, 2009 | access-date=May 21, 2009}}</ref>{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=382–383}} Following the [[1986 United States Senate elections|1986 congressional elections]], the Democrats regained control of the Senate, and Kennedy became chair of the Labor and Public Welfare Committee.  Kennedy had become what colleague and future President [[Joe Biden]] termed "the best strategist in the Senate".<ref name="bg-series-4"/> Kennedy continued his close working relationship with ranking Republican Senator [[Orrin Hatch]],<ref name="bg-series-6"/> and they were close allies on many health-related measures.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|p=415}}

One of Kennedy's biggest battles in the Senate came with [[Robert Bork Supreme Court nomination|Reagan's July 1987 nomination]] of Judge [[Robert Bork]] to the [[U.S. Supreme Court]].<ref name="bg-series-4"/> Kennedy saw a possible Bork appointment as leading to a dismantling of civil rights law that he had helped put in place, and feared Bork's [[originalist]] judicial philosophy.<ref name="bg-series-4"/> Kennedy's staff had researched Bork's writings and record, and within an hour of the nomination&nbsp;– which was initially expected to succeed&nbsp;– Kennedy went on the Senate floor to announce his opposition:
{{blockquote|Robert Bork's America is a land in which women would be forced into back-alley abortions, blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters, rogue police could break down citizens' doors in midnight raids, schoolchildren could not be taught about evolution, writers and artists could be censored at the whim of the Government, and the doors of the Federal courts would be shut on the fingers of millions of citizens ...{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=73–75}} }}

The incendiary rhetoric of what became known as the "Robert Bork's America" speech enraged Bork supporters, who considered it [[Defamation|slanderous]], and worried some Democrats as well.<ref name="kelly"/>{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=73–75}}<ref name=Miranda>{{cite news|title=The Original Borking|author=Miranda, Manuel|newspaper=[[The Wall Street Journal]]|date=August 24, 2005|access-date=August 10, 2007|url=http://www.opinionjournal.com/nextjustice/?id=110007149|archive-date=October 28, 2005|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051028035123/http://www.opinionjournal.com/nextjustice/?id=110007149|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Kennedy And Bork |access-date=April 28, 2008 |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE5DF1E3EF936A35754C0A961948260 |author=Reston, James |date=July 5, 1987 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |author-link=James Reston |archive-date=December 6, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101206023601/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE5DF1E3EF936A35754C0A961948260 |url-status=live }}</ref> Bork responded, "There was not a line in that speech that was accurate."<ref name=econ>{{cite news|title=A hell of a senator|url=http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14327160|newspaper=[[The Economist]]|date=August 29, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090830041146/http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14327160|archive-date=August 30, 2009}}</ref> In 1988, an analysis published in the ''[[Political Research Quarterly|Western Political Quarterly]]'' of ''[[amicus curiae]]'' briefs filed by [[Solicitor General of the United States|U.S. Solicitors General]] during the [[Warren Court|Warren]] and [[Burger Court]]s found that during Bork's tenure in the position during the [[Presidency of Richard Nixon|Nixon]] and [[Presidency of Gerald Ford|Ford Administrations]] (1973–1977), Bork took liberal positions in the aggregate as often as [[Thurgood Marshall]] did during the [[Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson|Johnson Administration]] (1965–1967) and more often than [[Wade H. McCree]] did during the [[Presidency of Jimmy Carter|Carter Administration]] (1977–1981), in part because Bork filed briefs in favor of the litigates in civil rights cases 75 percent of the time (contradicting a previous review of his civil rights record published in 1983).<ref>{{cite journal|last=Segal|first=Jeffrey A.|title=Amicus Curiae Briefs by the Solicitor General during the Warren and Burger Courts: A Research Note|year=1988|journal=[[Political Research Quarterly|The Western Political Quarterly]]|volume=41|issue=1|pages=135–144|publisher=[[SAGE Publishing|SAGE Publications]]|doi=10.2307/448461|jstor=448461| issn = 0043-4078 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=O'Connor|first=Karen|title=The Amicus Curiae Role of the U.S. Solicitor General in Supreme Court Litigation|year=1983|journal=Judicature|volume=66|pages=256–264|url=https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/judica66&div=48&id=&page=|access-date=August 30, 2019|archive-date=August 6, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806170758/https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/judica66&div=48&id=&page=|url-status=live}}</ref>

However, the Reagan administration was unprepared for the assault, and the speech froze some Democrats from supporting the nomination and gave Kennedy and other Bork opponents time to prepare the case against him.{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=73–75}}<ref name=Chaddock>{{cite news|title=Court nominees will trigger rapid response|newspaper=[[The Christian Science Monitor]]|date=July 7, 2005|access-date=August 10, 2007|url=https://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0707/p02s01-uspo.html|author=Chaddock, Gail Russell|archive-date=February 1, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210201235132/https://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0707/p02s01-uspo.html|url-status=live}}</ref> When the September 1987 Judiciary Committee hearings began, Kennedy challenged Bork forcefully on civil rights, privacy, women's rights, and other issues.<ref name="bg-series-4"/> Bork's own demeanor hurt him,{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=73–75}} and the nomination was defeated both in committee and the full Senate.<ref name="bg-series-4"/> The tone of the Bork battle changed the way Washington worked&nbsp;– with controversial nominees or candidates now experiencing all-out war waged against them&nbsp;– and the ramifications of it are still being felt today{{when|date=December 2025}}.<ref name=Miranda/><ref name=Chaddock/>{{sfn|Clymer|1999|p=428}}

During the 1988 presidential election, Kennedy supported the eventual Democratic nominee, Massachusetts governor [[Michael Dukakis]].{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=407, 349}} In the fall, Dukakis lost to [[George H. W. Bush]], but Kennedy [[1988 United States Senate election in Massachusetts|won re-election to the Senate]] over Republican [[Joseph D. Malone]] in the easiest race of his career.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|p=443}} Kennedy remained a powerful force in the Senate.  In 1988, Kennedy co-sponsored an amendment to the [[Fair Housing Act]] of 1968, which prohibits discrimination in the rental, sale, marketing, and financing of the nation's housing; the amendment strengthened the ability of the [[Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity]] to enforce the Act and expanded the protected classes to include disabled persons and families with children.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=sGsaAAAAIBAJ&pg=6887,1166518&dq=kennedy+fair-housing-act&hl=en | title=Senate approves fair housing bill | agency=[[Los Angeles Times]] | newspaper=[[The Milwaukee Journal]] | date=August 3, 1988 | page=3A }}{{Dead link|date=June 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> After prolonged negotiations during 1989 with Bush chief of staff [[John H. Sununu]] and Attorney General [[Richard Thornburgh]] to secure Bush's approval, he directed passage of the landmark [[Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990]].<ref name="bg-series-6"/>{{sfn|Hersh|1997|p=73}} Kennedy had personal interest in the bill due to his sister Rosemary's condition and his son's lost leg, and he considered its enactment one of the most important successes of his career.<ref name="bg-series-6"/> In the late 1980s Kennedy and Hatch staged a prolonged battle against Senator [[Jesse Helms]] to provide funding to combat the [[AIDS epidemic]] and provide treatment for low-income people affected; this would culminate in passage of the [[Ryan White Care Act]].{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=437–439, 463–466}} In late November 1989, Kennedy traveled to see first-hand [[Fall of the Berlin Wall|the newly fallen Berlin Wall]]; he spoke at [[John-F.-Kennedy-Platz]], site of the famous "[[Ich bin ein Berliner]]" speech in 1963, and said "Emotionally, I just wish my brother could have seen it."{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=457–459}}

===Early 1990s===
Kennedy's personal life came to dominate his image. In 1989, [[paparazzi]] stalked him on a vacation in Europe and photographed him having sex on a motorboat.<ref name="bg-series-5"/> In February 1990, [[Michael Kelly (editor)|Michael Kelly]] published his lengthy profile "Ted Kennedy on the Rocks" in ''[[GQ]]'' magazine.<ref name="kelly">{{cite news | url=http://men.style.com/gq/features/landing?id=content_5585 | title=Ted Kennedy on the Rocks | author=Kelly, Michael | magazine=[[GQ]] | date=February 1990 | access-date=April 19, 2009 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071101021225/http://men.style.com/gq/features/landing?id=content_5585 |archive-date = November 1, 2007 | author-link= Michael Kelly (editor)}}</ref> It captured Kennedy as "an aging Irish boyo clutching a bottle and diddling a blonde," portrayed him as an out-of-control [[English Regency|Regency]] [[Rake (character)|rake]], and brought his behavior to the forefront of public attention.<ref name="kelly"/><ref name="bg-series-5"/>{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=83–84}} Kennedy's brother-in-law, [[Stephen Edward Smith]], died from cancer in August 1990; Smith was a close family member and troubleshooter, and his death left Kennedy emotionally bereft.<ref name="bg-series-5"/>{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=86–88}} Kennedy pushed on, but even his legislative successes, such as the [[Civil Rights Act of 1991]], which expanded employee rights in discrimination cases, came at the cost of being criticized for compromising with Republicans and Southern Democrats.<ref name="time-10-best"/>

On [[Easter weekend]] in March 1991, Kennedy was at a get-together at the family's [[Palm Beach, Florida]], estate. After reminiscing about his brother-in-law, Kennedy was restless and maudlin when he left for a late-night visit to a local bar. He got his son [[Patrick J. Kennedy|Patrick]] and nephew [[William Kennedy Smith]] to accompany him.<ref name="bg-series-5"/>{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=89, 94–97}} Patrick and Smith returned with women they met there, Michelle Cassone and Patricia Bowman.  Cassone said that Ted Kennedy subsequently walked in on her and Patrick; Ted was dressed only in a nightshirt and had a weird look on his face.<ref name="bg-series-5"/>{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=89, 94–97}} Smith and Bowman went out on the beach, where they had sex that he said was consensual but she said was rape.<ref name="bg-series-5"/> The local police made a delayed investigation; Kennedy sources were soon feeding the press with negative information about Bowman's background, and several mainstream newspapers broke an unwritten rule by publishing her name.{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=89, 94–97}} The case quickly became a [[media frenzy]].<ref name="bg-series-5"/>{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=89, 94–97}} While not directly implicated in the case, Kennedy became the frequent butt of jokes on ''[[The Tonight Show]]'' and other late-night television programs.<ref name="bg-series-5"/>{{sfn|Clymer|1999|p=487}} ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine said Kennedy was being perceived as a "Palm Beach boozer, lout and tabloid grotesque" while ''[[Newsweek]]'' said Kennedy was "the living symbol of the family flaws".{{sfn|Hersh|1997|p=100}}

Bork and [[Clarence Thomas]] were the two most contentious Supreme Court nominations in United States history to that point.{{sfn|Barone|Cohen|2008|p=364}} When the [[Clarence Thomas Supreme Court nomination|Thomas hearings]] began in September 1991, Kennedy pressed Thomas on his unwillingness to express an opinion about ''[[Roe v. Wade]]'', but the nomination appeared headed for success.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|p=495}} When [[Anita Hill]] brought the sexual harassment charges against Thomas the following month, the nomination battle dominated public discourse. Kennedy was hamstrung by his past reputation and the ongoing developments in the William Kennedy Smith case.<ref name="bg-series-5"/>{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=493–499}} He said almost nothing until the third day of the Thomas–Hill hearings, and when he did it was criticized by Hill supporters for being too little, too late.<ref name="bg-series-5"/>

Biographer [[Adam Clymer]] rated Kennedy's silence during the Thomas hearings as the worst moment of his Senate career.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=493–499}} Writer [[Anna Quindlen]] said "[Kennedy] let us down because he had to; he was muzzled by the facts of his life".{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=493–499}} On the day before the full Senate vote, Kennedy gave an impassioned speech against Thomas, declaring that the treatment of Hill had been "shameful" and that "[t]o give the benefit of the doubt to Judge Thomas is to say that Judge Thomas is more important than the Supreme Court."<ref>{{cite news | author=Welch, William | title='Benefit of the Doubt' – Key Senators Give Thomas Support for Confirmation | newspaper=[[The Seattle Times]] | date=October 15, 1991 | url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19911015/1311090/benefit-of-the-doubt----key-senators-give-thomas-support-for-confirmation | access-date=December 4, 2009 | archive-date=May 1, 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110501152021/http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19911015&slug=1311090 | url-status=live }}</ref> He then voted against the nomination.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=493–499}} Thomas was confirmed by a 52–48 vote, one of the narrowest margins ever for a successful nomination.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=493–499}}

Due to the Palm Beach media attention and the Thomas hearings, Kennedy's public image suffered. A [[Gallup Poll]] gave Kennedy a 22&nbsp;percent national approval rating.<ref name="bg-series-5"/> A ''[[Boston Herald]]''/[[WCVB-TV]] poll found that 62 percent of Massachusetts citizens thought Kennedy should not run for re-election, by a 2-to-1 margin thought Kennedy had misled authorities in the Palm Beach investigation, and had Kennedy losing a hypothetical Senate race to Governor [[William Weld]] by 25&nbsp;points.{{sfn|Hersh|1997|p=98}} Meanwhile, at a June 17, 1991, dinner party, Kennedy saw [[Victoria Reggie Kennedy|Victoria Anne Reggie]], a Washington lawyer, a divorced mother of two, and the daughter of an old Kennedy family ally, [[Louisiana]] judge Edmund Reggie.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=492–493}} They began dating and by September were in a serious relationship.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=492–493}} In a late October speech at the [[John F. Kennedy School of Government]], Kennedy sought to begin a political recovery, saying: <blockquote>I am painfully aware that the criticism directed at me in recent months involves far more than disagreements with my positions ... [It] involves the disappointment of friends and many others who rely on me to fight the good fight. To them I say, I recognize my own shortcomings&nbsp;– the faults in the conduct of my private life. I realize that I alone am responsible for them, and I am the one who must confront them.<ref name="bg-series-5"/></blockquote> In December 1991, the [[William Kennedy Smith#1991 sexual assault charge|William Kennedy Smith rape trial]] was held; it was nationally televised and the most watched until the [[O. J. Simpson murder case]] three years later.<ref name="bg-series-5"/> Kennedy's testimony at the trial seemed relaxed, confident, and forthcoming, and helped convince the public that his involvement had been peripheral and unintended.{{sfn|Hersh|1997|p=104}} Smith was acquitted.

Kennedy and Reggie continued their relationship, and he was said to be devoted to her two children, Curran and Caroline.<ref name="bg-series-5"/><ref name=TheLedger>{{cite news | url=http://www.theledger.com/article/20080607/NEWS/806070382/1326%26 | title=Senator's Wife Is His First Mate, Adviser and Caregiver | author=Romano, Lois | newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] | via=[[The Ledger]] | date=June 7, 2008 | access-date=April 19, 2009 | archive-date=September 1, 2009 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090901112931/http://www.theledger.com/article/20080607/NEWS/806070382/1326%26 | url-status=dead }}</ref> They became engaged in March 1992,<ref>{{cite news | author=Trueheart, Charles | title=Kennedy Announces Plans to Wed Washington Lawyer | newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] | date=March 15, 1992 | page=A05}}</ref> and were married in a civil ceremony by Judge [[A. David Mazzone]] on July 3, 1992,  at Kennedy's home in [[McLean, Virginia]].{{sfn|Clymer|1999|p=512}} She would gain credit for reportedly stabilizing his personal life and helping him resume a productive Senate career.<ref name="bg-series-5"/><ref name=TheLedger/>

Kennedy had no further presidential ambitions. Despite having initially backed former fellow Massachusetts Senator [[Paul Tsongas]] in the [[1992 Democratic Party presidential primaries|1992 Democratic presidential primaries]], Kennedy formed a good relationship with Democratic President [[Bill Clinton]] upon the latter taking office in 1993.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=513, 519–523}} Kennedy floor-managed passage of Clinton's National and Community Service Trust Act of 1993 that created the [[AmeriCorps]] program, and despite reservations supported the president on the [[North American Free Trade Agreement]] (NAFTA).{{sfn|Hersh|1997|p=114}} On the issue Kennedy cared most about, national health insurance, he supported but was not much involved in formation of the [[Clinton health care plan of 1993|Clinton health care plan]], which was run by First Lady [[Hillary Clinton]] and others.<ref name="bg-series-6"/> It failed badly and damaged the prospects for such legislation for years to come.<ref name="bg-series-6"/> In 1994, Kennedy's strong recommendation of his former Judiciary Committee staffer [[Stephen Breyer]] played a role in Clinton appointing Breyer to the [[U.S. Supreme Court]].{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=539–541}} During 1994 Kennedy became the first senator with a home page on the [[World Wide Web]]; the product of an effort with the [[MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory]], it helped counter the image of Kennedy as old and out of touch.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.newsweek.com/brave-new-world-cybertribes-185320 | title=The Brave New World of Cybertribes | first=Howard | last=Fineman | author-link=Howard Fineman | magazine=[[Newsweek]] | date=February 26, 1995 | archive-date=January 29, 2015 | access-date=January 30, 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150129040759/http://www.newsweek.com/brave-new-world-cybertribes-185320 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/iiip/home-page.html | title=Intelligent Information Infrastructure Project | publisher=[[MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory]] | access-date=January 29, 2015}}</ref>

[[File:1994 United States Senate election in Massachusetts results map by municipality.svg|thumb|upright=1.1|Results of Kennedy's re-election to the U.S. Senate from Massachusetts in 1994 against Republican challenger [[Mitt Romney]]]]

In the [[1994 United States Senate election in Massachusetts|1994 U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts]], Kennedy faced his first serious challenger, the young, telegenic, and very well-funded [[Mitt Romney]].<ref name="bg-series-5"/> Romney ran as a successful entrepreneur and Washington outsider with a strong family image and moderate stands on social issues, while Kennedy was saddled not only with his recent past but the 25th anniversary of Chappaquiddick and his first wife Joan seeking a renegotiated divorce settlement.<ref name="bg-series-5"/> By mid-September 1994, polls showed the race to be even.<ref name="bg-series-5"/><ref name=NYT1994-bank-family>{{cite news |first=Sarah |last=Rimer |title=Kennedy's Wife Is Giving Him a Political Advantage in a Difficult Contest |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E00EEDF123AF937A1575AC0A962958260 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=September 24, 1994 |archive-date=June 2, 2020 |access-date=February 13, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200602062806/https://www.nytimes.com/1994/09/24/us/1994-campaign-kennedy-s-wife-giving-him-political-advantage-difficult-contest.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Kennedy's campaign ran short on money, and belying his image as endlessly wealthy, he was forced to take out a [[second mortgage]] on his Virginia home.{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=137–139}} Kennedy responded with a series of [[attack ad]]s, which focused both on Romney's shifting political views and on the treatment of workers at a paper products plant owned by Romney's [[Bain Capital]].<ref name="bg-series-5"/>{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=141–142}} Kennedy's new wife Vicki proved to be a strong asset in campaigning.<ref name=NYT1994-bank-family/> Kennedy and Romney held a widely watched late October debate without a clear winner, but by then Kennedy had pulled ahead in polls and stayed ahead afterward.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60D10FA395B0C748EDDA90994DC494D81 | title=Kennedy and Romney Look to Round 2 | author=Clymer, Adam | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | date=October 27, 1994 | author-link=Adam Clymer}}</ref> In the November election, despite a [[Republican Revolution|very bad outcome for the Democratic Party nationally]], Kennedy won re-election by a 58&nbsp;percent to 41&nbsp;percent margin,{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=152, 153}} the closest re-election race of his career.

Kennedy's mother [[Rose Kennedy|Rose]] died in January 1995. From then on, Kennedy intensified the practice of his Catholic faith, often attending [[Mass (liturgy)|Mass]] several times a week.<ref name="nyt-ending"/>

===Late 1990s===
Kennedy's role as a liberal lion in the Senate came to the fore in 1995, when (after the [[1994 United States House of Representatives elections|1994 US House of Representatives elections]]) the [[Republican Revolution]] took control and legislation intending to fulfill the [[Contract with America]] was coming from [[Newt Gingrich]]'s House of Representatives.{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=155–158}} Many Democrats in the Senate and the United States overall felt depressed but Kennedy rallied forces to combat the Republicans.{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=155–158}} 
By the beginning of 1996, the Republicans had overreached; most of the Contract had failed to pass the Senate and the Democrats could once again move forward with legislation, almost all of it coming out of Kennedy's staff.{{sfn|Hersh|1997|pp=163–164}}

[[File:TedKennedy(D-MA).jpg|thumb|right|Kennedy's official Senate portrait in the 1990s]]
In 1996, Kennedy secured an increase in the [[Minimum wage in the United States|minimum wage]], which was one of his favorite issues;{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=578–581}} there would not be another increase for ten years.  Following the failure of the [[Clinton health care plan of 1993|Clinton health care plan]], Kennedy went against his past strategy and sought incremental measures instead.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|p=570}} Kennedy worked with Republican Senator [[Nancy Kassebaum]] to create and pass the [[Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act]] in 1996, which set new marks for portability of insurance and confidentiality of records.<ref name="bg-series-6"/> The same year, Kennedy's [[Mental Health Parity Act]] forced insurance companies to treat mental health payments the same as others with respect to limits reached.<ref name="bg-series-6"/> In 1997, Kennedy was the prime mover behind the [[State Children's Health Insurance Program]],<ref name="Hatch Joins Kennedy">{{cite news | first=Robert | last=Pear | title= Hatch Joins Kennedy to Back a Health Program | date=March 14, 1997 | newspaper=[[The New York Times]]| url =https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=980CE4D81E39F937A25750C0A961958260 | access-date = January 6, 2008 }}</ref> which used increased [[Cigarette taxes in the United States|tobacco taxes]] to fund the largest expansion of taxpayer-funded health insurance coverage for children in the U.S. since [[Medicaid]] began in the 1960s.  Senator Hatch and Hillary Clinton also played major roles in SCHIP passing.<ref name="fc031808">{{cite news|url=http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/giving_hillary_credit_for_schip.html |title=Giving Hillary Credit for SCHIP |author=Brooks Jackson |publisher=[[FactCheck.org]] |date=March 18, 2008 |access-date=March 19, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080322032750/http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/giving_hillary_credit_for_schip.html |archive-date=March 22, 2008 }}</ref>

Kennedy was a stalwart backer of President Clinton during the 1998 [[Clinton–Lewinsky scandal]], often trying to cheer up the president and getting him to add past Kennedy staffer [[Greg Craig]] to his defense team, which helped improve the president's fortunes.{{sfn|Clymer|1999|pp=600–603}} In the trial after the 1999 [[impeachment of Bill Clinton|impeachment of Clinton]], Kennedy voted to acquit Clinton on both charges, saying "Republicans in the House of Representatives, in their partisan [[Feud|vendetta]] against the President, have wielded the impeachment power in precisely the way the framers rejected, recklessly and without regard for the Constitution or the will of the American people."<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/02/13/us/clinton-s-acquittal-excerpts-senators-talk-about-their-votes-impeachment-trial.html?pagewanted=4 | title=Clinton's Acquittal: Excerpts: Senators Talk About Their Votes in the Impeachment Trial | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | date=February 13, 1999 | access-date=May 25, 2009 | archive-date=May 11, 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511120141/http://www.nytimes.com/1999/02/13/us/clinton-s-acquittal-excerpts-senators-talk-about-their-votes-impeachment-trial.html?pagewanted=4 | url-status=live }}</ref>

On July 16, 1999, Kennedy's nephew [[John F. Kennedy Jr.]] was killed when his [[Piper PA-32R|Piper Saratoga]] aircraft [[John F. Kennedy Jr. plane crash|crashed]] into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of [[Martha's Vineyard]]. John Jr.'s wife, [[Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy]], and his sister-in-law, Lauren Bessette, were also killed.<ref name="bg-series-7">{{cite news | url=https://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2009/02/22/chapter_7_the_patriarch/ | title=Chapter 7: The Patriarch: Their sorrows, his cause | author=Aucoin, Don | newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]] | date=February 22, 2009 | access-date=May 25, 2009}}</ref> Ted was the family patriarch, and he and President Clinton consoled his extended family at the public memorial service.<ref name="bg-series-7"/> He paraphrased [[W. B. Yeats]] by saying of his nephew: "We dared to think, in that other Irish phrase, that this John Kennedy would live to comb gray hair, with his beloved Carolyn by his side. But like his father, he had every gift but length of years."<ref name="bg-series-7"/> ''[[The Boston Globe]]'' wrote of the changed role: "It underscored the evolution that surprised so many people who knew the Kennedys: Teddy, the baby of the family, who had grown into a man who could sometimes be dissolute and reckless, had become the steady, indispensable patriarch, the one the family turned to in good times and bad."<ref name="bg-series-7"/>

===2000s===
[[File:Kennedy Feinstein Bush signing.JPG|thumb|right|upright|Kennedy at the 2002 signing of a border security bill, with Senator [[Dianne Feinstein]] and President [[George W. Bush]]]]
Kennedy had an easy time with [[2000 United States Senate election in Massachusetts|his re-election to the Senate in 2000]], as Republican lawyer and entrepreneur Jack E. Robinson III was sufficiently damaged by his past personal record that Republican state party officials refused to endorse him.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.businessweek.com/archives/2000/b3706108.arc.htm | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090815024724/http://www.businessweek.com/archives/2000/b3706108.arc.htm | url-status=dead | archive-date=August 15, 2009 | title=Commentary: A Two-Party System in Name Only  | author=Symonds, William | magazine=Business Week | date=November 6, 2000 | access-date=June 10, 2009}}</ref> Kennedy got 73&nbsp;percent of the general election vote, with Robinson splitting the rest with [[Libertarian Party (United States)|Libertarian]] [[Carla Howell]].  During the [[2000 United States presidential election in Florida|long, disputed post-presidential election battle in Florida in 2000]], Kennedy supported Vice President [[Al Gore]]'s legal actions.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/09/us/contesting-vote-vice-president-miraculous-revival-brings-elation-but-no-rest-for.html | title=A Miraculous Revival Brings Elation but No Rest for Gore | author=Seelye, Katharine Q. | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | date=December 9, 2000 | access-date=June 11, 2009 | archive-date=May 12, 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110512181252/http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/09/us/contesting-vote-vice-president-miraculous-revival-brings-elation-but-no-rest-for.html | url-status=live }}</ref> After the bitter contest, many Democrats in Congress did not want to work with incoming President [[George W. Bush]].<ref name="bg-series-6"/> Kennedy, however, saw Bush as genuinely interested in a major overhaul of education, Bush saw Kennedy as a potential major ally in the Senate, and the two partnered together on the legislation.<ref name="bg-series-6"/><ref name="tac080105"/> Kennedy accepted provisions governing mandatory student testing and teacher accountability that other Democrats and the [[National Education Association]] did not like, in return for increased funding levels for education.<ref name="bg-series-6"/> The [[No Child Left Behind Act]] was passed by Congress in May and June 2001 and signed into law by Bush in January 2002.  Kennedy soon became disenchanted with the implementation of the act, however, saying for 2003 that it was $9&nbsp;billion short of the $29&nbsp;billion authorized.<ref name="bg-series-6"/> Kennedy said, "The tragedy is that these long overdue reforms are finally in place, but the funds are not,"<ref name="tac080105">{{cite news | url=http://www.amconmag.com/article/2005/aug/01/00025/ | title=Leaving No Child Left Behind | last=Antle | first=W. James III | magazine=[[The American Conservative]] | date=August 1, 2005 | access-date=June 10, 2009 | archive-date=August 7, 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110807032854/http://www.amconmag.com/article/2005/aug/01/00025/ | url-status=dead }}</ref> and accused Bush of not living up to his personal word on the matter.<ref name="bg-series-6"/><ref name="time-10-best"/> Other Democrats concluded that Kennedy's penchant for cross-party deals had gotten the better of him.<ref name="bg-series-6"/> The White House defended its spending levels given the context of two wars<ref>[[War on terror]] since [[9/11]] and [[Iraq war]] since 20 March 2003.</ref> going on.<ref name="bg-series-6"/>

Kennedy was in his Senate offices meeting with First Lady [[Laura Bush]] when the [[September 11 attacks|September 11, 2001, attacks]] took place.<ref name="bg-series-7"/> Two of the airplanes involved had taken off from Boston, and Kennedy telephoned each of the 177 Massachusetts families who had lost members in the attacks.<ref name="bg-series-7"/> He pushed through legislation that provided healthcare and grief counseling benefits for the families, and recommended the appointment of his former chief of staff [[Kenneth Feinberg]] as Special Master of the government's [[September 11th Victim Compensation Fund]].<ref name="bg-series-7"/> Kennedy maintained an ongoing bond with the Massachusetts 9/11 families in subsequent years.<ref name="bg-series-7"/><ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.necn.com/Boston/Politics/2009/06/16/911-widow-reflects-on/1245158107.html | title=9/11 widow reflects on relationship with Senator Kennedy | author=King, Alison | publisher=[[New England Cable News]] | date=June 16, 2009 | access-date=June 22, 2009 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090618095709/http://www.necn.com/Boston/Politics/2009/06/16/911-widow-reflects-on/1245158107.html | archive-date=June 18, 2009 | df=mdy-all }}</ref>

[[File:Edward Moore Kennedy.jpg|thumb|left|Portrait of Kennedy in the mid-2000s]]
Kennedy was a supporter of the [[War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)|American-led 2001 overthrow]] of the [[Taliban|Taliban government]] in [[Afghanistan]]. However, Kennedy strongly opposed the [[Iraq War]] from the start, and was one of 23 senators voting against the [[Iraq War Resolution]] in October 2002.<ref name="bg-series-7"/> As the [[Iraqi insurgency (Iraq War)|Iraqi insurgency]] grew in subsequent years, Kennedy pronounced that the conflict was "Bush's [[Vietnam War|Vietnam]]."<ref name="bg-series-7"/> In response to losses of Massachusetts service personnel to [[Improvised explosive device|roadside bombs]], Kennedy became vocal on the issue of [[Humvee]] vulnerability, and co-sponsored enacted 2005 legislation that sped up production and Army procurement of up-armored Humvees.<ref name="bg-series-7"/>

Despite the strained relationship between Kennedy and Bush over 'No Child Left Behind' spending, the two attempted to work together again on extending [[Medicare (United States)|Medicare]] to cover [[prescription drug]] benefits.<ref name="bg-series-6"/> Kennedy's strategy was again doubted by other Democrats, but he saw the proposed $400&nbsp;billion program as an opportunity that should not be missed.<ref name="bg-series-6"/> 
However, when the final formulation of the [[Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act]] contained provisions to steer seniors towards private plans, Kennedy switched to opposing it.<ref name="bg-series-6"/> It passed in late 2003, and led Kennedy to again say he had been betrayed by the [[Presidency of George W. Bush|Bush administration]].<ref name="bg-series-6"/>

In the [[Democratic Party (United States) presidential primaries, 2004|2004 Democratic Party presidential primaries]], Kennedy campaigned heavily for fellow Massachusetts Senator [[John Kerry]]<ref name="bg-series-7"/> and lent his chief of staff, [[Mary Beth Cahill]], to the Kerry campaign.  Kennedy's appeal was effective among [[Blue Collar Comedy Tour|blue collar]] and minority voters, and helped Kerry stage a come-from-behind win in the [[Iowa Democratic caucuses, 2004|Iowa caucuses]] that propelled him on to the Democratic nomination.<ref name="bg-series-7"/>

[[File:Santorum Makes Good on Friendly Wager with Kennedy.jpg|thumb|right|Kennedy and Pennsylvania Senator [[Rick Santorum]] after [[Super Bowl XXXIX]] in 2005, where the [[New England Patriots|Patriots]] defeated the [[Philadelphia Eagles|Eagles]]. Here Santorum wears a Patriots hat and presents Kennedy a bag of [[Cheesesteaks|Philly cheesesteaks]] as part of a [[Gambling|wager]]]]
After Bush won a second term in the [[2004 United States presidential election|2004 general election]], Kennedy continued to oppose him on Iraq and many other issues.<ref name="usa051708"/><ref name="bg-series-6"/> However, Kennedy sought to partner with Republicans again on the matter of [[immigration reform]] in the context of the ongoing [[United States immigration debate]].<ref name="bg-series-6"/> Kennedy was chair of the [[United States Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security, and Refugees]], and in 2005, Kennedy teamed with Republican Senator [[John McCain]] on the [[Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act]].  The "McCain-Kennedy bill" did not reach a Senate vote, but provided a template for further attempts at dealing comprehensively with legalization, [[guest worker program]]s, and [[Illegal immigration to the United States#Enforcement|border enforcement]] components.  Kennedy returned again with the [[Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007]], which was sponsored by an ideologically diverse, bipartisan group of senators<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna18842287 | title='Gang of 12' mulls over immigration bill | agency=[[Associated Press]] | publisher=[[NBC News]] | date=May 24, 2007 | access-date=May 11, 2009 | archive-date=October 29, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201029195305/https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna18842287 | url-status=live }}</ref> and had strong support from the Bush administration.<ref name="bg-series-6"/> 
The bill aroused furious grassroots opposition among [[talk radio]] listeners and others as an "amnesty" program,<ref>{{cite news | author=Preston, Julia | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/10/washington/10oppose.html | title=Grass Roots Roared and Immigration Plan Collapsed | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | date=July 10, 2007 | access-date=July 27, 2008 | archive-date=April 15, 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160415031750/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/10/washington/10oppose.html | url-status=live }}</ref> and despite Kennedy's last-minute attempts to salvage it, failed a cloture vote in the Senate.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/09/washington/09immig.html | title=Kennedy Plea Was Last Gasp for Immigration Bill | author=Hulse, Carl | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | date=June 9, 2007 | access-date=June 11, 2009}}</ref> Kennedy was philosophical about the defeat, saying that it often took several attempts across multiple Congresses for this type of legislation to build enough momentum for passage.<ref name="bg-series-6"/>

In 2006, Kennedy released a children's book from the view of his dog [[Splash (dog)|Splash]], ''[[My Senator and Me: A Dog's-Eye View of Washington, D.C.]]''<ref>{{cite news | title=Ted Kennedy pens children's book | publisher=[[CBC News]] | date=January 9, 2006}}</ref> Also in 2006, Kennedy released a political history entitled ''America Back on Track''.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5353270 | title=Sen. Ted Kennedy and 'America Back on Track' | publisher=[[NPR]] | date=April 20, 2006 | access-date=February 22, 2007}}</ref>

In 2006, a [[Cessna Citation 550]] in which Kennedy was flying lost electrical power after being struck by lightning and had to be diverted.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/14/us/14kennedy.html Kennedy's Plane Is Struck by Lightning] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170206111052/http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/14/us/14kennedy.html |date=February 6, 2017 }}, [[Associated Press]] (May 14, 2006).</ref>

In November 2006, Kennedy again easily [[2006 United States Senate election in Massachusetts|won re-election to the Senate]], winning 69&nbsp;percent of the vote against Republican language school owner [[Kenneth Chase]], who suffered from very poor name recognition.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/vote2006/MA/MA.htm | title=Democrat Deval Patrick elected governor in Massachusetts, Kennedy re-elected | agency=[[Associated Press]] | newspaper=USA Today | date=November 8, 2006 | access-date=June 11, 2009 | archive-date=April 29, 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110429105218/http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/vote2006/MA/MA.htm | url-status=live }}</ref>

===Obama, illness===
[[File:Barack Obama and Ted Kennedy in Hartford, February 4, 2008.jpg|thumb|right|Following his endorsement of [[Barack Obama]], Kennedy staged a campaign appearance with Obama in [[Hartford, Connecticut]], on February 4, 2008, the day before the [[Super Tuesday, 2008|Super Tuesday primaries]].]]

Kennedy initially stated that he would support John Kerry again if he were to make another bid for president in 2008, but in January 2007, Kerry said he would not make a second attempt for the White House.<ref>{{cite news |first=Rick |last=Klein |title=Kerry won't run for president in '08 |url=https://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/01/24/kerry_to_bow_out_of_08_presidential_race/ |newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]] |date=January 24, 2007 |access-date=January 25, 2007 |archive-date=January 26, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070126234443/http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/01/24/kerry_to_bow_out_of_08_presidential_race/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Kennedy then remained neutral as the [[Democratic Party (United States) presidential primaries, 2008|2008 Democratic nomination battle]] between Senators Hillary Clinton and [[Barack Obama]] intensified, because his friend [[Chris Dodd]] was also running for the nomination.<ref name="wapo-battle">{{cite news | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/03/AR2009080303184.html | title=How Obama Snared the Lion of the Senate | first=Dan | last=Balz | author-link=Dan Balz | author2=Haynes Johnson | newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] | date=August 3, 2009 | access-date=August 5, 2009 | author2-link=Haynes Johnson | archive-date=February 14, 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110214075501/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/03/AR2009080303184.html | url-status=live }}</ref> The initial caucuses and primaries were split between Clinton and Obama. When Dodd withdrew from the race, Kennedy became dissatisfied with the tone of the Clinton campaign and what he saw as racially tinged remarks by Bill Clinton.<ref name="wapo-battle"/><ref name="nyt012808e">{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/28/us/politics/28cnd-dems.html | title=Kennedy Calls Obama 'New Generation of Leadership' | author=Zeleny, Jeff | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | date=January 28, 2008 | access-date=June 17, 2009 | archive-date=May 11, 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511120050/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/28/us/politics/28cnd-dems.html | url-status=live }}</ref> Kennedy gave an endorsement to Obama on January 28, 2008, despite appeals by both Clintons not to do so.<ref name="nyt012808k">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/28/us/politics/28kennedy.html|title=Kennedy Chooses Obama, Spurning Plea by Clintons|first1=Jeff|last1=Zeleny|first2=Carl|last2=Hulse|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=January 28, 2008|access-date=January 28, 2008|archive-date=December 10, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081210221628/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/28/us/politics/28kennedy.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In a move that was seen as a symbolic passing of the torch,<ref name="bg-series-7"/> Kennedy said that it was "time again for a new generation of leadership," and compared Obama's ability to inspire with that of [[#First years, brothers' assassinations|his fallen brothers]].<ref name="nyt012808e"/> In return, Kennedy gained a commitment from Obama to make universal health care a top priority of his administration if he were elected.<ref name="wapo-battle"/> Kennedy's endorsement was considered among the most influential that any Democrat could get,<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/us/politics/27cnd-campaign.html | title=Kennedy Plans to Back Obama Over Clinton | first1=Jeff | last1=Zeleny | first2=Brian | last2=Knowlton | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | date=January 27, 2008 | access-date=January 27, 2008 | archive-date=April 25, 2009 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090425033157/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/us/politics/27cnd-campaign.html | url-status=live }}</ref> and raised the possibility of improving Obama's vote-getting among unions, [[Hispanic and Latino Americans|Hispanics]], and traditional base Democrats.<ref name="nyt012808k"/> It dominated the political news, and gave national exposure to a candidate who was still not well known in much of the USA, as the [[Super Tuesday, 2008|Super Tuesday primaries]] across the nation approached.<ref name="wapo-battle"/><ref>{{cite book|first=Richard |last=Wolffe |author-link=Richard Wolffe |title=Renegade: The Making of a President |publisher=[[Crown Publishers]] |location=New York |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-307-46312-8 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/renegademakingof00wolf/page/200 200–201] |url=https://archive.org/details/renegademakingof00wolf/page/200 }}</ref>

On May 17, 2008, Kennedy suffered a [[seizure]], which was followed by a second seizure as he was being rushed from the [[Kennedy Compound]] to [[Cape Cod Hospital]] and then by helicopter to [[Massachusetts General Hospital]] in Boston.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2008/05/ted_kennedy_sai.html |title=Ted Kennedy not in immediate danger; seizure cause sought |newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]] |first1=Peter |last1=Schworm |last2=Viser |first2=Matt |date=May 17, 2008 |access-date=May 18, 2008 |archive-date=May 20, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080520215059/http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2008/05/ted_kennedy_sai.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Within days, doctors announced that Kennedy had a [[Glioblastoma|malignant glioma]], a type of [[brain tumor]].<ref name="msn052008">{{cite news |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna24728667 |title=Kennedy diagnosed with malignant brain tumor |publisher=[[NBC News]] |date=May 20, 2008 |access-date=May 19, 2009 |archive-date=October 29, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201029215541/https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna24728667 |url-status=live }}</ref> 
The grim diagnosis<ref name="msn052008"/><ref name="bg-year-after" /><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/20/AR2008052001376.html | title=Kennedy's Cancer Is Highly Lethal | first=Rob | last=Stein | date=May 21, 2008 | newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] | access-date=August 27, 2009 | archive-date=October 14, 2008 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081014013017/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/20/AR2008052001376.html | url-status=live }}</ref> brought shocked reactions from many senators of both parties and from President Bush.<ref name="msn052008"/>

Doctors initially informed Kennedy that the tumor was inoperable, but Kennedy followed standard procedure and sought other opinions. He decided to follow the most aggressive course of treatment possible.<ref name="bg-year-after">{{Cite news |last1=Milligan |first1=Susan |last2=Wangsness |first2=Lisa |date=May 10, 2009 |title=The man at the center |url=https://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/05/10/the_man_at_the_center/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090513202544/https://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/05/10/the_man_at_the_center/ |archive-date=May 13, 2009 |access-date=June 20, 2009 |work=[[The Boston Globe]]}}</ref> 
On June 2, 2008, Kennedy underwent [[brain surgery]] at [[Duke University Hospital|Duke University Medical Center]] in an attempt to remove as much of the tumor as possible.<ref name="Viser">{{cite news |author1=Viser, Matt  |author2=Levenson, Michael  |name-list-style=amp | url=https://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2008/06/sen_kennedy_to.html | title=Kennedy's brain tumor surgery deemed a success | newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]] | date= June 2, 2008 | access-date=June 3, 2008}}</ref><ref name="Fay">{{cite news | last=Cortez | first=Michelle Fay | url=https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aM7kTi777dTo&refer=us | title=Kennedy's Brain Surgery Can Reduce, Not Cure, Tumor (Update 2) | publisher=[[Bloomberg News]] | date=June 2, 2008 | access-date=June 19, 2009 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090122224028/http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103 | archive-date=January 22, 2009 | df=mdy-all }}</ref> The 3½-hour operation—conducted by Dr. [[Allan Friedman]] while Kennedy was conscious to minimize any permanent neurological effects—was deemed successful.<ref name="Viser"/><ref name="Fay"/> Kennedy left the hospital a week later to begin a course of [[chemotherapy]] and [[radiation treatment]].<ref>{{cite news | url=http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/06/09/kennedy/index.html | title=Kennedy released from hospital | agency=[[CNN]] | date=June 9, 2008 | access-date=June 9, 2008 | archive-date=June 12, 2008 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080612035047/http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/06/09/kennedy/index.html? | url-status=live }}</ref> 
Opinions varied regarding Kennedy's prognosis: the surgery typically extends survival time for only a few months, but people can sometimes live for years.<ref name=Fay/><ref name="DailyNewsSurgery">{{cite news |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world/2008/06/02/2008-06-02_sen_edward_kennedy_undergoes_surgery_for.html |newspaper=[[New York Daily News]] |title=Sen. Edward Kennedy undergoes surgery for brain tumor |access-date=June 4, 2008 |date=June 3, 2008 |last=Kennedy |first=Helen |archive-date=August 31, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090831223908/http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world/2008/06/02/2008-06-02_sen_edward_kennedy_undergoes_surgery_for.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

[[File:Ted Kennedy DNC 2008.jpg|thumb|right|Kennedy speaks during the first night of the [[2008 Democratic National Convention]] in [[Denver, Colorado]], while delegates hold signs reading "KENNEDY"]]
The operation and follow-up treatments left Kennedy thinner, prone to additional seizures, weak and short on energy, and hurt his balance.<ref name="bg-year-after" />
Kennedy made his first post-illness public appearance on July 9, when he surprised the Senate by showing up to supply the added vote to break a Republican [[filibuster]] against a bill to preserve [[Medicare (United States)|Medicare]] fees for doctors.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9504E0DB163AF933A25754C0A96E9C8B63 | title=Kennedy's Surprise Return Helps Democrats Win the Day  |last1=Hulse|first1=Carl|last2=Pear|first2=Robert | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | date=July 10, 2008 | access-date=June 20, 2009}}</ref> In addition, Kennedy was ill from an attack of [[kidney stone]]s. Against the advice of some associates,<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/27/us/politics/27kennedy.html | title=Determined to Give Speech, Kennedy Left Hospital Bed | first=Adam | last=Nagourney | author-link=Adam Nagourney | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | date=August 26, 2008 | access-date=June 20, 2009 | archive-date=May 11, 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511120204/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/27/us/politics/27kennedy.html | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="cnn082508"/> 
he insisted on appearing during the first night of the [[2008 Democratic National Convention]] on August 25, 2008, where a video tribute to him was played. Introduced by his niece [[Caroline Kennedy]], the senator said, "It is so wonderful to be here. Nothing&nbsp;– nothing&nbsp;– is going to keep me away from this special gathering tonight."<ref name="bg-series-7"/> He then delivered a speech to the delegates (which he had to memorize, as his impaired vision left him unable to read a teleprompter)<ref name="nyt-ending"/> in which, reminiscent of his speech at the [[1980 Democratic National Convention]], he said, "this November, the torch will be passed again to a new generation of Americans. So, with Barack Obama and for you and for me, our country will be committed to his cause. The work begins anew. The hope rises again. And the dream lives on."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/08/25/kennedy-speaks-at-the-democratic-convention/ |title=Kennedy Speaks at Democratic Convention, Vows to 'Keep Dream Alive' |work=[[Fox News]] |date=August 25, 2008 |access-date=May 27, 2009 |archive-date=October 23, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231023110407/https://myfox.okta.com/app/akamai/exkr5nsl9cYbvvxII356/sso/saml?SAMLRequest=fVJbT8IwGP0rS9%2B37sLANYwENkmWqCFqTPTF1NJBQ9fOfh2Of%2B9WooEHfT09p%2BfSzoE2siXLzu7VI%2F%2FsOFivb6QC4g5y1BlFNAUBRNGGA7GMPC3v70gchKQ12mqmJbqQ%2FK%2BgANxYoRXyqjJH75NZuZpk5c0qzorkdl1OiyJN1nG5XKdZXKxi5L1wAwM%2FR4N8EAF0vFJgqbIDFMaJH4V%2BnDxHEQknJJy9Ia8cOghFrVPtrW2BYNycat0H%2BmBpwHSDadtieqANFZj3B5MqkBl7%2FTge%2B6pK0ikG0Hhsg7y1Noy7eXJUUwl8DLEZeogj%2F0EW85FLXDizuLL0naXUO6GCnQ7Onj5ljAO4JKMSQ4sNh1Yr4HN8edf8%2FDwPw5BVudFSsNOYqKH2752jIHKI2Pq1o5JOQcuZqAXfIm8ppf4qDKf2Nz9enF2v%2F8HiGw%3D%3D&RelayState=1893781024815937672&SigAlg=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2001%2F04%2Fxmldsig-more%23rsa-sha256&Signature=Qap8m3Uq3Ekp54zxxxEySPlf4tE8OEuq9ciauUoE7Fae5WM06l%2Fa2Usr3DQEyt%2FJDdUpw9gwS8pOoGG4VkYjlpsWe550MQFAcHvuYEU6nbLFl5ObyUSQ6ZakW69kRL6ohE6AhG2rmCjylJGAHqVlYb7wtbLgbsWv3zX1tQHW6MU8Ea%2F%2BtSNjv0SoJPSLlrvf3h4UeunHgdPjI4%2BzL%2FVlTqDew2fBTNSSl9gnzyBcO4Ujod2H5LocADLzyW5KU0QmhTTD%2BaOatiw9GbezgmuaZu%2BOaOBfIxZ8mglzxNxotpRM5Fa1T%2BpWimVdgyiK39twziJjJ7RK1aUDUslWvgBQYQ%3D%3D |url-status=live }}</ref> 
The dramatic appearance and speech electrified the convention audience,<ref name="bg-series-7"/><ref name="cnn082508">{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/25/ted.kennedy/index.html |title=Kennedy electrifies Democratic convention with appearance |agency=[[CNN]] |date=August 25, 2008 |access-date=November 8, 2008 |archive-date=December 9, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081209182339/http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/25/ted.kennedy/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Reuters20080926"/> as Kennedy vowed that he would be present to see Obama inaugurated.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/ted-kennedy-turns-out-for-democrat-convention-despite-cancer-908331.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220526/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/ted-kennedy-turns-out-for-democrat-convention-despite-cancer-908331.html |archive-date=May 26, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live | title=Ted Kennedy turns out for Democrat convention despite cancer | author=Cornwell, Rupert | newspaper=[[The Independent]] | date=August 26, 2008 | access-date=June 20, 2009 | location=London}}</ref>

On September 26, 2008, Kennedy suffered a mild seizure while at home in Hyannis Port; he immediately went to the hospital, was examined and released later that same day. Doctors believed that a change in his medication triggered the seizure.<ref name="Reuters20080926">{{cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE48P8YL20080927 |title=U.S. Sen. Kennedy released from hospital |date=September 26, 2008 |work=[[Reuters]] |access-date=September 26, 2008 |first=Scott |last=Malone |archive-date=August 27, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210827130324/https://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE48P8YL20080927 |url-status=live }}</ref> Kennedy relocated to Florida for the winter; he continued his treatments, did a lot of sailing, and stayed in touch with legislative matters via telephone.<ref name="bg-year-after" /> In his absence, many senators wore blue "Tedstrong" [[Gel bracelet|bracelets]].<ref name="bg-year-after" />

On January 20, 2009, Kennedy attended [[First inauguration of Barack Obama|Barack Obama's presidential inauguration]], but then suffered a seizure at the luncheon immediately afterwards. He was taken by ambulance to [[MedStar Washington Hospital Center]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/01/20/kennedy-suffers-seizure-inaugural-lunch/ |title=Kennedy Suffers Seizure at Inaugural Lunch |access-date=January 20, 2009 |work=[[Fox News]] |date=January 20, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090122042514/http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/01/20/kennedy-suffers-seizure-inaugural-lunch/ |archive-date=January 22, 2009 }}</ref> 
Doctors attributed the episode to "simple fatigue". He was released from the hospital the following morning, and he returned to his home in Washington, D.C.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7841151.stm|title=Senator Kennedy leaves hospital|access-date=January 21, 2009|work=[[BBC News]]|date=January 21, 2009|archive-date=January 23, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090123020626/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7841151.stm|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Senator Edward Kennedy with President Barack Obama 4-21-09.jpg|left|thumb|Kennedy with President Obama, the day the [[Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act]] was signed, April 21, 2009, four months before Kennedy's death]]
When the [[111th Congress]] began, Kennedy dropped his spot on the Senate Judiciary Committee to focus all his attentions on national health care issues, which he regarded as "the cause of my life".<ref name="bg-year-after" /><ref>{{cite news |title=Health care reform was Sen. Ted Kennedy's unfinished life's work |author=Sisk, Richard |newspaper=[[New York Daily News]] |date=August 27, 2009 |access-date=August 27, 2009 |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2009/08/27/2009-08-27_health_care_reform_was_sen_ted_kennedys_unfinished_lifes_work.html#ixzz0POkt0GBl |archive-date=August 29, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090829140644/http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2009/08/27/2009-08-27_health_care_reform_was_sen_ted_kennedys_unfinished_lifes_work.html#ixzz0POkt0GBl |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Kennedy Did His Life's Work Until the End |last1=Gerhart|first1=Ann |last2=Balz|first2=Dan |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=August 27, 2009 |access-date=August 27, 2009 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/26/AR2009082603736.html?hpid=topnews}}</ref>  
He saw the characteristics of the [[Obama administration]] and the Democratic majorities in Congress as representing the third and best great chance for universal health care, following the lost 1971 Nixon and [[Clinton health care plan of 1993|1993 Clinton opportunities]],<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.newsweek.com/id/187995|title= His Time Is Now|last=Clift|first=Eleanor|author-link=Eleanor Clift|magazine=[[Newsweek]]|date=March 6, 2009|access-date=June 20, 2009}}</ref> and as his last big legislative battle.<ref name="bg-year-after" /> 
Kennedy made another surprise appearance in the Senate to break a Republican filibuster against the [[Obama stimulus package]].<ref name="hill060909"/> When spring arrived, Kennedy appeared on [[Capitol Hill]] more frequently, although staffers often did not announce his attendance at committee meetings until they were sure Kennedy was well enough to appear.<ref name="bg-year-after" /> On March 4, 2009, [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom]] [[Gordon Brown]] announced that Kennedy had been granted an honorary [[knighthood]] by [[Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom|Queen Elizabeth II]] for his work in the [[Northern Ireland peace process]], and for his contribution to [[United Kingdom – United States relations|UK–US relations]],<ref>{{cite news |title=Ted Kennedy to receive knighthood |work=[[BBC News]] |date=March 4, 2009 |access-date=March 4, 2009 |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7922703.stm }}</ref><ref>As an American citizen, the British title would be purely honorary, and therefore Kennedy was not entitled to "Sir", though he is able to use the post-nominal [[Order of the British Empire|Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire]] (KBE) outside of the United States. See {{cite news|url=https://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2009/03/kennedy_to_be_k.html|title=Kennedy to be knighted|access-date=March 4, 2009|newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]]|first=Foon|last=Rhee|date=March 4, 2009|archive-date=March 9, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090309002928/http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2009/03/kennedy_to_be_k.html|url-status=live}}</ref> although the move caused some controversy in the UK due to his connections with [[Gerry Adams]] of the [[Irish republican]] political party [[Sinn Féin]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Tory backlash over Kennedy honour | work=[[BBC News]] | url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7925769.stm | date=March 5, 2009 | access-date=March 6, 2009}}</ref> Later in March, a bill reauthorizing and expanding the [[AmeriCorps]] program was renamed the [[Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act]] by Senator Hatch in Kennedy's honor.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705293391,00.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090401031627/http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705293391,00.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=April 1, 2009 | title=Hatch names service bill in Kennedy's honor | last=Davidson|first=Lee | newspaper=[[Deseret News]] | date=March 26, 2009 | access-date=June 20, 2009}}</ref> Kennedy threw the [[ceremonial first pitch]] at [[Fenway Park]] before the [[Boston Red Sox]] season opener in April, echoing what his grandfather "Honey Fitz"&nbsp;– a member of the [[Royal Rooters]]&nbsp;– had done to open the park in 1912.<ref name=RedSox>{{cite news | url=http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sports/2009001343_apbbakennedyfirstpitch.html | title=Mass. Sen. Kennedy throws Red Sox first pitch | last=Ullman | first=Howard | agency=[[Associated Press]] | newspaper=[[The Seattle Times]] | date=April 7, 2009 | access-date=January 15, 2011 | archive-date=June 29, 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629081318/http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sports/2009001343_apbbakennedyfirstpitch.html | url-status=live }}</ref> 
Even when his illness prevented him from being a major factor in health plan deliberations, his symbolic presence still made him one of the key senators involved.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/morning-fix/061609-morning-fix.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110513223335/http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/morning-fix/061609-morning-fix.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=May 13, 2011 | title=Morning Fix: Six Senators To Watch On Health Care | last=Cillizza|first=Chris | newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] | date=June 16, 2009 | access-date=June 20, 2009}}</ref>

However, Kennedy's tumor had spread  by spring 2009 and treatments for it were no longer effective; this information was not disclosed to the public.<ref name="nyt-ending">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/27/us/politics/27year.html | title=After Diagnosis, Determined to Make a 'Good Ending{{'-}} |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=August 26, 2009 |access-date=October 14, 2009 | first=Mark | last=Leibovich}}</ref> By June 2009 Kennedy had not cast a Senate vote in three months,<ref>{{cite news | url=http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/morning-fix/062209-morning-fix-the-kennedy.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090709045142/http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/morning-fix/062209-morning-fix-the-kennedy.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=July 9, 2009 | title=Morning Fix: The Kennedy Legacy | last=Cillizza|first=Chris | newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] | date=June 22, 2009 | access-date=June 22, 2009}}</ref> and his deteriorating physical health had forced him to retreat to Massachusetts, where he  underwent another round of chemotherapy.<ref name="hill060909">{{cite news | url=http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/kennedy-may-not-return-this-month-2009-06-09.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090611071452/http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/kennedy-may-not-return-this-month-2009-06-09.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=June 11, 2009 | title=Kennedy may not return this month  | last=Bolton|first=Alexander | newspaper=[[The Hill (newspaper)|The Hill]] | date=June 9, 2009 | access-date=June 22, 2009}}</ref> In his absence, premature release of his health committee's expansive plan resulted in a poor public reception.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.politico.com/story/2009/06/how-obama-could-lose-health-fight-023906 | title=How Obama could lose health fight | author-link=Michael Allen (journalist)|last=Allen|first=Mike|author2=Jim VandeHei  | newspaper=[[Politico]] | date=June 19, 2009 | access-date=June 20, 2009| author2-link=Jim VandeHei }}</ref> 
Kennedy's friend [[Chris Dodd]] had taken over his role on the [[Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee]],<ref name="hc062809"/> but Republican senators and other observers said that the lack of Kennedy's physical presence had resulted in less consultation with them and was making successful negotiation more difficult.<ref name="hill060909"/><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=105489379 | title=Kennedy Absent As His Health Bill Launches | last=Rovner|first=Julie | publisher=[[NPR]] | date=June 17, 2009 | access-date=June 20, 2009}}</ref> Democrats also missed Kennedy's ability to smooth divisions on the health proposals.<ref name="pol081909">{{cite news | url=https://www.politico.com/story/2009/08/kennedy-absence-felt-by-dems-026265 | title=Ted Kennedy absence felt by Democrats | last1=Bresnahan | first1=John | last2=Raju | first2=Manu | newspaper=[[Politico]] | date=August 19, 2009 | access-date=August 20, 2009 | archive-date=August 20, 2009 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090820063316/http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0809/26265.html | url-status=live }}</ref> 
Kennedy did cut a television commercial for Dodd, who was struggling early on in his [[2010 United States Senate election in Connecticut|2010 re-election bid]].<ref name="hc062809">{{cite news | title=Dodd And Kennedy Know, Trust, And More Than Ever Rely on Each Other | last=Altamari|first=Daniela | newspaper=[[The Hartford Courant]] | date=June 28, 2009}}</ref> In July, [[HBO]] began showing a documentary tribute to Kennedy's life, ''Teddy: In His Own Words''.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-teddy13-2009jul13,0,6303105.story | title=HBO's 'Teddy: In His Own Words' | last=McNamara|first=Mary | newspaper=Los Angeles Times | date=July 13, 2009 | access-date=August 1, 2009}}</ref> A health care reform bill was voted out of the committee with content Kennedy favored, but still faced a long, difficult process before having a chance at becoming law.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://swampland.time.com/2009/07/15/ted-kennedys-health-bill/ | title=Ted Kennedy's Health Bill | last=Tumulty|first=Karen | magazine=Time | date=July 15, 2009 | access-date=July 18, 2009}}</ref> 
At the end of July 2009, Kennedy was awarded the [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]].<ref>{{cite press release |url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the_press_office/President-Obama-Names-Medal-of-Freedom-Recipients/ |title=President Obama Names Medal of Freedom Recipients |publisher=[[White House Office of the Press Secretary]] |date=July 30, 2009 |access-date=July 30, 2009 |archive-date=December 15, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091215034234/http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/President-Obama-Names-Medal-of-Freedom-Recipients/ |url-status=live }}</ref> He could not attend the ceremony to receive this medal, and attended a private service but not the public funeral when his sister [[Eunice Kennedy Shriver]] died at age 88 on August 11, 2009.<ref name="pol081909"/> In his final days, Kennedy was in a wheelchair and had difficulty speaking, but consistently stated that "I've had a wonderful life".<ref name="nyt-ending"/>

==Death==
[[File:Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help.jpg|thumb|[[Basilica and Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help|Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help]] in Boston]]
[[File:Ted Kennedy gravesite.jpg|thumb|Kennedy's grave at [[Arlington National Cemetery]] ]]
Kennedy died of a brain tumor on August 25, 2009, at the age of 77, at his home in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, two weeks after the death of his sister [[Eunice Kennedy Shriver]].<ref name="ABC">{{cite news | title=Ted Kennedy Dies of Brain Cancer at Age 77 | date=August 26, 2009 | publisher=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] | url=https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/TedKennedy/story?id=6692022 | access-date=August 26, 2009 | archive-date=February 1, 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190201043650/https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/TedKennedy/story?id=6692022 | url-status=live }}</ref> In a statement, Kennedy's family thanked "everyone who gave him care and support over this last year, and everyone who stood with him for so many years in his tireless march for progress toward justice".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/08/statement_from_24.html|title=Statement from the Kennedy family|newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]]|date=August 26, 2009|access-date=August 29, 2009|archive-date=August 29, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090829152155/http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/08/statement_from_24.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Reaction===
President Obama said that Kennedy's death marked the "passing of an extraordinary leader"<ref>{{cite news|url=http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/08/26/obama-praises-kennedy-as-extraordinary-leader/|title=Obama praises Kennedy as 'extraordinary leader'|date=August 26, 2009|access-date=August 26, 2009|agency=[[CNN]]|archive-date=December 22, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171222053229/http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/08/26/obama-praises-kennedy-as-extraordinary-leader/|url-status=dead}}</ref> and that he and First Lady [[Michelle Obama]] were "heartbroken",<ref>{{cite press release|url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the_press_office/Statement-by-the-President-on-the-Death-of-Senator-Ted-Kennedy/|title=Statement by the President on the Death of Senator Ted Kennedy|date=August 26, 2009|via=[[NARA|National Archives]]|work=[[whitehouse.gov]]|access-date=August 26, 2009}}</ref> while Vice President Biden said "today we lost a truly remarkable man,"<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2009/08/vice_president_kennedy_changed.html|title=Biden: Kennedy 'Changed The Political Landscape For Almost Half A Century'|date=August 26, 2009|access-date=August 26, 2009|publisher=[[NPR]]|first=David|last=Gura}}</ref> and that Kennedy "changed the circumstances of tens of millions of Americans".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2009/08/biden_kennedy_r.html|title=Biden: Kennedy restored by idealism|date=August 26, 2009|access-date=August 26, 2009|newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]]|first=Foon|last=Rhee}}</ref> [[Mitt Romney]], former Massachusetts governor and Kennedy's opponent in the 1994 Senate race, called Kennedy "the kind of man you could like even if he was your adversary"<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/08/kennedy_remembe.html|title=Kennedy remembered as patriarch of the senate|date=August 26, 2009|access-date=August 30, 2009|first=Andrew|last=Ryan|newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]]}}</ref> and former first lady [[Nancy Reagan]] said she was "terribly saddened".  She went on, "Given our political differences, people are sometimes surprised how close Ronnie and I have been to the Kennedy family.&nbsp;... I will miss him."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/27/us/27react.html|title=Allies and Adversaries React to Kennedy's Death|date=August 26, 2009|access-date=August 26, 2009|author=Barron, James|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|archive-date=March 31, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110331060622/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/27/us/27react.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite press release|url=http://kennedy.senate.gov/newsroom/press_release.cfm?id=F17EFA9C-8420-40F5-9D55-F09BF77A9718|title=Nancy Reagan Statement on Senator Kennedy|date=August 26, 2009|access-date=August 26, 2009|publisher=[[United States Senate]]|archive-date=August 29, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090829151908/http://kennedy.senate.gov/newsroom/press_release.cfm?id=F17EFA9C-8420-40F5-9D55-F09BF77A9718|url-status=live}}</ref> Senator [[Robert Byrd]], the [[President pro tempore of the United States Senate|President pro tempore of the Senate]], issued a statement on Kennedy's death in which he said "My heart and soul weeps at the loss of my best friend in the Senate, my beloved friend";<ref>{{Cite web |title=Obama calls Kennedy 'greatest U.S. senator of our time' |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/08/26/ted.kennedy.reax/index.html |access-date=April 24, 2024 |agency=CNN |archive-date=May 21, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240521035713/https://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/08/26/ted.kennedy.reax/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Byrd had cried uncontrollably on the Senate floor when Kennedy's cancer diagnosis was made public the previous year.<ref>{{cite news |last=Kady II |first=Martin |date=May 20, 2008 |title=Byrd offers weeping tribute to Kennedy |url=https://www.politico.com/blogs/politico-now/2008/05/byrd-offers-weeping-tribute-to-kennedy-008941 |access-date=March 27, 2025 |newspaper=[[Politico]] |archive-date=February 3, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150203052407/http://www.politico.com/blogs/thecrypt/0508/Byrd_offers_weeping_tribute_to_Kennedy.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

There were also tributes from outside politics. Before a [[Boston Red Sox]] game, flags at [[Fenway Park]] were flown at half-staff and "[[Taps (bugle call)|Taps]]" was performed as players stood along the baselines,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.espn.com/espn/print?id=4425035&type=story|title=Red Sox play taps, fly flag at half mast|date=August 26, 2009|agency=[[Associated Press]]|publisher=[[ESPN]]|access-date=December 12, 2010}}</ref> and the [[New York Yankees|Yankees]] observed a moment of silence before a game at [[Yankee Stadium]].<ref name=Rivalry>{{cite web|title=Steinbrenner reflects on loss of Kennedy|url=http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/news/print.jsp?ymd=20090827&content_id=6645650&vkey=news_nyy&fext=.jsp&c_id=nyy|date=August 27, 2009|access-date=January 16, 2011|first=Bryan|last=Hoch|work=[[MLB.com]]|archive-date=March 20, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100320213335/http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/news/print.jsp?ymd=20090827&content_id=6645650&vkey=news_nyy&fext=.jsp&c_id=nyy|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Funeral services===
Kennedy's funeral procession traveled {{convert|70|mi|km}} from the Kennedy Compound in Hyannis Port to the [[John F. Kennedy Library]] in Boston, where his corpse [[lay in repose]];<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090828/ap_on_re_us/us_kennedy_memorial |title=Sen. Kennedy's body takes final poignant tour |access-date=August 28, 2009 |date=August 27, 2009 |last=LeBlanc |first=Steve |agency=[[Associated Press]] |work=[[Yahoo! News]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090831225703/http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090828/ap_on_re_us/us_kennedy_memorial |archive-date=August 31, 2009 }}</ref> over 50,000 members of the public filed by to pay their respects.<ref name="mourners">{{cite news |url=https://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/08/29/mourners_drawn_to_pay_respects_by_senators_personal_touch/ |title=Mourners drawn by a personal connection |last=Schworm |first=Peter |author2=Ballou, Brian |date=August 29, 2009 |newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]] |access-date=August 29, 2009 |archive-date=August 30, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090830235906/http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/08/29/mourners_drawn_to_pay_respects_by_senators_personal_touch/ |url-status=live }}</ref> On Saturday, August 29, a procession traveled from the library to the [[Basilica and Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Roxbury|Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica]] in Boston, for a funeral Mass.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/08/26/kennedy-to-lie-in-repose-in-boston-be-buried-at-arlington/|title=Kennedy to lie in repose in Boston, be buried at Arlington|date=August 26, 2009|access-date=August 26, 2009|agency=[[CNN]]|archive-date=December 22, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171222053218/http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/08/26/kennedy-to-lie-in-repose-in-boston-be-buried-at-arlington/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Present at the funeral service were President Obama and former presidents [[Jimmy Carter]], [[Bill Clinton]], and [[George W. Bush]] (also representing his father, former president [[George H. W. Bush]], who decided not to attend),<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/elder-bush-sitting-out-kennedy-funeral/|title=Elder Bush Sitting Out Kennedy Funeral|agency=[[Associated Press]]|publisher=[[CBS News]]|date= August 28, 2009|access-date=October 6, 2023}}</ref> along with Vice President Biden, three former vice presidents, 58 senators, 21 former senators, many members of the House of Representatives, and several foreign dignitaries.<ref name="CSM">{{cite news|url=https://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2009/08/29/senator-kennedy-eulogized-by-his-sons-and-president-obama/|title=Senator Kennedy eulogized by his sons and President Obama|last=Cook|first=David T.|date=August 29, 2009|newspaper=[[The Christian Science Monitor]]|access-date=August 30, 2009|archive-date=August 31, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090831073832/http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2009/08/29/senator-kennedy-eulogized-by-his-sons-and-president-obama/|url-status=live}}</ref> President Obama delivered the [[eulogy]].<ref name="funeral"/>

The funeral service also drew attendees from outside politics from Boston, Washington, and across the United States, including journalists [[Bob Woodward]], [[Tom Brokaw]] and [[Gwen Ifill]]; singers [[Tony Bennett]] and [[Plácido Domingo]]; cellist [[Yo-Yo Ma]]; actors [[Jack Nicholson]], [[Lauren Bacall]], and [[Brian Stokes Mitchell]]; presidents and chancellors of Boston-area colleges and universities including [[President of Harvard University|Harvard University President]] [[Drew Gilpin Faust|Drew G. Faust]] and [[University of Massachusetts]] President [[Jack M. Wilson]]; and sports figures including former [[Boston Celtics]] basketball player [[Bill Russell]], as well as the top management of the Red Sox.<ref name="funeral">{{cite news|title=At funeral Mass, Obama hails Kennedy as a 'kind and tender hero'|first=Matt|last=Viser|newspaper=The Boston Globe|date=August 30, 2009|page=B1}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=In church and streets, one theme|first1=Peter|last1=Schworm|first2=Brian|last2=MacQuarrie|newspaper=The Boston Globe|date=August 30, 2009|page=B1}}</ref>

Kennedy's remains were returned to Washington, D.C., and laid to rest at [[Arlington National Cemetery]], near the graves of his assassinated brothers.<ref name="funeral"/> Former Cardinal and Washington, D.C., Archbishop [[Theodore McCarrick]] presided over his burial service, which was attended by Biden, Kennedy's widow Vicki, and other members of the [[Kennedy family]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.c-span.org/video/?288601-1/senator-edward-kennedy-burial-arlington-national-cemetery|title=Senator Edward Kennedy Burial at Arlington National Cemetery|publisher=[[C-SPAN]]|date=August 29, 2009|access-date=February 16, 2019}}</ref> Kennedy's grave marker is identical to his brother Robert's: a white oak cross and a white marble foot marker bearing his name and years of birth and death.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/sen-ted-kennedy-laid-rest-arlington-national-cemetery-article-1.401079?print=1&page=all|title=Sen. Ted Kennedy laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery|date=August 30, 2009|access-date=August 30, 2009|first1=Kenneth|last1=Bazinet|first2=Richard|last2=Sisk|author3=Thomas M. DeFrank|newspaper=[[New York Daily News]]|archive-date=October 5, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151005190905/http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/sen-ted-kennedy-laid-rest-arlington-national-cemetery-article-1.401079?print=1&page=all|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Aftermath===
''[[True Compass]]'', the memoir that Kennedy worked on throughout his illness, was published three weeks after his death.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.lawweekly.org/?module=displaystory&story_id=2592&edition_id=126&format=html |title=Ted Kennedy's Compass Points to Faith and Family |author=Smitha, Dante |newspaper=[[Virginia Law Weekly]] |date=September 18, 2009 |access-date=October 14, 2009}}</ref> It debuted atop the [[New York Times Best Seller list]]<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/04/books/bestseller/besthardnonfiction.html | title=Hardcover Nonfiction – List | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | date=September 25, 2009 | first=Jennifer | last=Schuessler}}</ref> and by mid-December 2009 had sold some 400,000 copies.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://blog.al.com/scenesource/2009/12/senator_ted_kennedys_book_true.html | title=Senator Ted Kennedy's book, 'True Compass' sale surge, paperback held back | agency=[[Associated Press]] | newspaper=[[The Birmingham News]] | date=December 10, 2009 | archive-date=May 1, 2011 | access-date=December 13, 2010 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110501152025/http://blog.al.com/scenesource/2009/12/senator_ted_kennedys_book_true.html | url-status=live }}</ref>

[[2010 United States Senate special election in Massachusetts|A special election]] was scheduled for January 19, 2010, for the U.S. Senate seat from Massachusetts left vacant by Kennedy's death.<ref name="Massachusetts special election calendar">
{{cite web | url=http://www.sec.state.ma.us/ele/elespeif/senatorincongressma.htm | title=Election Calendar | publisher=[[Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth]] | access-date=September 6, 2009}}</ref> Shortly before his death, Kennedy had written to Democratic [[Governor of Massachusetts]] [[Deval Patrick]] and the [[Massachusetts legislature]], asking them to change state law to allow an appointee to fill a U.S. Senate vacancy for a term expiring upon the special election.<ref name = "Kennedy Letter-Patrick-2009-07-02">{{cite news | author = Edward M. Kennedy | url = http://cache.boston.com/bonzai-fba/Third_Party_PDF/2009/08/20/kennedy_letter__1250757221_6262-2.pdf | title = Letter to Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, President of the Senate Therese Murray, and Speaker of the House Robert DeLeo | work = via Boston Globe | archive-date = May 15, 2011 | access-date = November 13, 2009 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110515094353/http://cache.boston.com/bonzai-fba/Third_Party_PDF/2009/08/20/kennedy_letter__1250757221_6262-2.pdf | url-status = live }} July 2, 2009. Delivered to recipients August 18, 2009. Published August 20, 2009.</ref><ref name = "AP-Boston Globe-LeBlanc-2009-08-20">{{cite news | url = https://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/08/20/ailing_kennedy_seeks_to_change_law_on_succession/?page=full | title = Ailing Kennedy seeks to change law on succession | last = LeBlanc | first = Steve | work = The Boston Globe | date = August 20, 2009 | agency = Associated Press}}</ref><ref name = "Globe-Phillips-2009-08-19">{{cite news | url= https://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/08/kennedy_headlin.html | title=Kennedy looks to set stage for successor | author=Phillips, Frank | newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]]| date=August 19, 2009 | access-date=August 20, 2009}}</ref> Kennedy had been instrumental in the prior 2004 alteration of this law to prevent Governor [[Mitt Romney]] from appointing a Republican senator should John Kerry's presidential campaign succeed.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2004/06/11/special_election_bill_gets_new_life/ | title=Special election bill gets new life | author=Phillips, Frank | newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]] | date=June 11, 2004 | access-date=September 26, 2009 | archive-date=August 29, 2009 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090829071727/http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2004/06/11/special_election_bill_gets_new_life/ | url-status=live }}</ref> The law was amended, and on September 24, 2009, [[Paul G. Kirk]], former [[Democratic National Committee]] chairman and former aide to Kennedy, was appointed to occupy the Senate seat until the completion of the special election.<ref name = "Boston Globe-Viser & PHillips-2009-09-24">{{cite news|last=Viser|first=Matt|author2=Phillips, Frank|title=Kirk named interim senator|newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]]|date=September 24, 2009|url=https://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/09/kirk_to_be_name.html|access-date=September 24, 2009|archive-date=April 6, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140406225631/http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/09/kirk_to_be_name.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Kirk announced that he would not be a candidate in the special election.<ref name = "Boston Globe-Viser & PHillips-2009-09-24"/> In that election, Republican State Senator [[Scott Brown (politician)|Scott Brown]] won the seat in a stunning upset,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/20/us/politics/20election.html |title=G.O.P. Takes Massachusetts Senate Seat |author=Cooper, Michael |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=January 19, 2010 |access-date=January 19, 2010 |archive-date=January 21, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100121032516/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/20/us/politics/20election.html |url-status=live }}</ref> ending Democratic control of it going back to 1953.

Brown's victory ended the 60-vote supermajority in the Senate that the Democrats had held since mid-2009.<ref name="nyt032010">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/21/health/policy/21reconstruct.html |title=Health Vote Caps a Journey Back From the Brink |author=Stolberg, Sheryl Gay |author2=Zeleny, Jeff |author3=Hulse, Carl |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=March 20, 2010 |access-date=March 24, 2010 |archive-date=September 26, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190926074207/https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/21/health/policy/21reconstruct.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="nyt032310"/> Democrats rallied and passed health care reform legislation; Speaker [[Nancy Pelosi]], who was instrumental in doing so, credited Kennedy in her closing remarks on the House floor before the final vote.<ref name="nyt032010"/><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.necn.com/03/21/10/Pelosi-credits-Kennedy-for-his-lifes-wor/landing_politics.html?blockID=201835&feedID=4212 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120905025903/http://www.necn.com/03/21/10/Pelosi-credits-Kennedy-for-his-lifes-wor/landing_politics.html?blockID=201835&feedID=4212 |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 5, 2012 |title=Pelosi credits Kennedy for 'his life's work' |publisher=[[NECN]] |date=March 21, 2010 |access-date=March 24, 2010 }}</ref> Kennedy's widow Vicki attended the signing of the [[Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act]], at which both she and President Obama wore blue "Tedstrong" bracelets.<ref name="nyt032310">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/24/health/policy/24health.html |title=Obama Signs Health Care Overhaul Bill, With a Flourish |author=Stolberg, Sheryl Gay |author2=Pear, Robert |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=March 23, 2010 |access-date=March 28, 2010 |archive-date=March 25, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100325200505/https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/24/health/policy/24health.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Congressman [[Patrick J. Kennedy|Patrick Kennedy]] brought a copy of a national health insurance bill his father had introduced in 1970 as a gift for the president.<ref name="nyt032310"/> He laid a note on his father's grave that said, "Dad, the unfinished business is done."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.necn.com/03/24/10/Kennedy-note-Dad-the-unfinished-business/landing_politics.html?blockID=203295&feedID=4212 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120907112743/http://www.necn.com/03/24/10/Kennedy-note-Dad-the-unfinished-business/landing_politics.html?blockID=203295&feedID=4212 |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 7, 2012 |title=Kennedy note: 'Dad, the unfinished business is done' |publisher=[[NECN]] |date=March 24, 2010 |access-date=March 24, 2010 }}</ref> Patrick's earlier decision not to seek re-election meant that in January 2011, a 64-year-long period in which a Kennedy held Federal elective office came to an end,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.boston.com/news/local/rhode_island/articles/2010/02/13/pondering_a_congress_without_kennedys/ |title=Pondering a Congress without Kennedys |author=Levenson, Michael |newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]] |date=February 13, 2010 |access-date=March 28, 2010}}</ref> but resumed in January 2013 (due to the November 2012 election) with Ted's great-nephew, [[Joseph P. Kennedy III]], becoming a member of the House.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://bostonglobe.com/metro/2012/11/06/kennedy-takes-fourth-congressional-seat-decisive-win-over-bielat/CIzhjHtyVRaVaWBykvO10J/story.html | title=Joseph P. Kennedy III wins decisively over Sean Bielat | author=Arsenault, Mark | newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]] | date=November 7, 2012 | archive-date=November 12, 2012 | access-date=November 7, 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121112012106/http://bostonglobe.com/metro/2012/11/06/kennedy-takes-fourth-congressional-seat-decisive-win-over-bielat/CIzhjHtyVRaVaWBykvO10J/story.html | url-status=live }}</ref> Democratic control of Kennedy's former Senate seat was also regained following Brown's [[2012 United States Senate election in Massachusetts|2012 loss]] to [[Elizabeth Warren]].

==Political positions==
{{Main|Political positions of Ted Kennedy}}
Political scientists gauge [[ideology]] in part by comparing the annual ratings by the [[Americans for Democratic Action]] (ADA) with the ratings by the [[American Conservative Union]] (ACU).<ref>{{cite news|author=Mayer, William|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A28761-2004Mar27?language=printer|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041019040829/http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A28761-2004Mar27?language=printer|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 19, 2004|title=Kerry's Record Rings a Bell|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|access-date=August 24, 2008|date=March 28, 2004|quote=The question of how to measure a senator's or representative's ideology is one that political scientists regularly need to answer. For more than 30 years, the standard method for gauging ideology has been to use the annual ratings of lawmakers' votes by various interest groups, notably the Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) and the American Conservative Union (ACU).}}</ref> Kennedy had a lifetime [[American liberalism|liberal]] 90 percent score from the ADA through 2004,<!-- Really want through 2007 or 2008, but ADA does not supply lifetime averages, and have not yet found a more recent reliable media source for it--><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/judicial/2005-09-11-judiciarycommitteeprofiles_x.htm|title=Judging Judge Roberts: A look at the Judiciary Committee|newspaper=USA Today|date=September 12, 2005|access-date=March 2, 2009|author=Kiely, Kathy|archive-date=March 5, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090305101625/http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/judicial/2005-09-11-judiciarycommitteeprofiles_x.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> while the ACU awarded Kennedy a lifetime [[American conservatism|conservative]] rating of 2 percent through 2008.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.acuratings.org/2008senate.htm |title=2008 U.S. Senate Votes |publisher=[[American Conservative Union]] |access-date=March 20, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090330124737/http://www.acuratings.org/2008senate.htm |archive-date=March 30, 2009 }} Lifetime rating is given.</ref> Using another metric, Kennedy had a lifetime average liberal score of 88.7 percent, according to a ''[[National Journal]]'' analysis that places him ideologically as the third-most liberal senator of all those in office in 2009.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Committed Senate Liberals |url=http://www.nationaljournal.com/njmagazine/cs_20090228_5247.php |date=February 28, 2009 |access-date=March 3, 2009 |journal=[[National Journal]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090304004716/http://www.nationaljournal.com/njmagazine/cs_20090228_5247.php |archive-date=March 4, 2009 }} Kennedy's composite average only goes back to 1981, when ''National Journal'' began their ratings.</ref> A 2004 analysis by political scientists Joshua D. Clinton of [[Princeton University]] and Simon Jackman and Doug Rivers of [[Stanford University]] examined some of the difficulties in making this kind of analysis, and found Kennedy likely to be the 8th-to-15th-most liberal Senator during the [[108th Congress]].<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.apsanet.org/imgtest/TheMostLiberalSenator-Clinton.pdf |title="The Most Liberal Senator"? Analyzing and Interpreting Congressional Roll Calls |journal=[[Political Science & Politics]] |date=October 2004 |pages=805–811 |author1=Clinton, Joshua D. |author2=Jackman, Simon |author3=Rivers, Doug |volume=37 |issue=4 |doi=10.1017/S1049096504045196 |s2cid=155197878 |archive-date=September 2, 2009 |access-date=August 26, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090902091155/http://www.apsanet.org/imgtest/TheMostLiberalSenator-Clinton.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> ''[[The Almanac of American Politics]]'' rates congressional votes as liberal or conservative on the [[political spectrum]], in three policy areas: economic, social, and foreign. For 2005–2006, Kennedy's average ratings were as follows: the economic rating was 91 percent liberal and 0 percent conservative, the social rating was 89 percent liberal and 5 percent conservative, and the foreign rating was 96 percent liberal and 0 percent conservative.<ref>{{harvnb|Barone|Cohen|2008|p=791|ps=In 2005, the ratings were E 95 0, S 90 0, F 95 0; in 2006, E 87 0, S 88 11, F 98 0.  Examination of two previous volumes of ''The Almanac of American Politics'' shows similar scores for 2001–2002 and 1997–1998.}}</ref>

Various [[interest group]]s gave Kennedy scores or grades as to how well his votes aligned with the positions of each group.<ref name="pvs">{{cite news | url=http://www.votesmart.org/issue_rating_category.php?can_id=53305 | title=Senator Edward M. 'Ted' Kennedy, Sr. (MA) | publisher=[[Project Vote Smart]] | access-date=March 3, 2009 | archive-date=May 1, 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110501151926/http://www.votesmart.org/issue_rating_category.php?can_id=53305 | url-status=dead }}</ref> The [[American Civil Liberties Union]] gave him an 84 percent lifetime score as of 2009.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://action.aclu.org/site/VoteCenter?congress=111&repId=320&session_num=0&page=legScore|title=ACLU Congressional Scorecard|publisher=[[American Civil Liberties Union]]|access-date=March 2, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090423014553/http://action.aclu.org/site/VoteCenter?congress=111&repId=320&session_num=0&page=legScore|archive-date=April 23, 2009}}</ref> During the 1990s and 2000s, [[NARAL Pro-Choice America]] and [[Planned Parenthood]] typically gave Kennedy ratings of 100 percent, while the [[National Right to Life Committee]] typically gave him a rating of less than 10 percent.<ref name="pvs"/> The [[Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence]] gave Kennedy a lifetime rating of 100 percent through 2002, while the [[NRA Political Victory Fund]] gave Kennedy a lifetime grade of "F" (failing) as of 2006.<ref name="pvs"/>

==Cultural and political image==
[[File:President Kennedy and his brothers. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, Senator Edward Moore Kennedy, President John... - NARA - 194238 (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, Senator Ted Kennedy, and President John F. Kennedy in 1963]]
When Kennedy died in August 2009, he was the [[List of United States Senators in the 111th Congress by seniority|second-most senior]] member of the Senate (after [[President pro tempore of the United States Senate|President pro tempore]] [[Robert Byrd]] of [[West Virginia]]) and the third longest-serving senator of all time, behind Byrd and [[Strom Thurmond]] of [[South Carolina]]. Later that same year, he was passed by [[Daniel Inouye]] of [[Hawaii]].<ref name="Senate-longest">{{cite web |url=https://www.senate.gov/senators/Biographical/longest_serving.htm |title=Longest Serving Senators |access-date=November 17, 2009 |publisher=[[United States Senate]] |archive-date=November 5, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091105162949/https://www.senate.gov/senators/Biographical/longest_serving.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Kennedy therefore held the record as the longest-serving Democratic member of Congress to solely serve as a senator until October 2021, when he was surpassed by fellow Democrat [[Patrick Leahy]] of [[Vermont]].

During his tenure, Kennedy became one of the most recognizable and influential members of his party and was sometimes called a "Democratic icon"<ref>{{cite news |last=Chaddock |first=Gail Russell |title=Democratic primary: Quiet battle for the other delegates |newspaper=[[The Christian Science Monitor]] |date=January 30, 2008 |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0130/p01s03-uspo.html}}</ref> as well as "The Lion of the Senate".<ref name="time-rules"/><ref>{{cite news | publisher=[[KNTV]] | url=http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/us_world/Ted-Kennedy-Returning-to-Senate-Reports.html | title=Ted Kennedy Returning to Senate | last=Macht | first=Daniel | date=May 20, 2009 | access-date=June 20, 2009 | archive-date=June 2, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200602062728/https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/national-international/ted-kennedy-returning-to-senate-reports/1875597/ | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="fox011309">{{cite news | url=https://www.foxnews.com/politics/senate-lion-ted-kennedy-roars-once-more-for-national-health-care/ | title=Senate Lion Ted Kennedy Roars Once More for National Health Care | last=Clark|first=Stephen | work=[[Fox News]]| date=January 13, 2009 | access-date=June 20, 2009}}</ref><ref name="time-100"/> Kennedy and his Senate staff authored around 2,500&nbsp;bills, of which more than 300 were enacted into law.<ref name="bg-series-6"/> Kennedy co-sponsored another 550&nbsp;bills that became law after 1973.<ref name="bg-series-6"/> Kennedy was known for his effectiveness in dealing with Republican senators and administrations, sometimes to the irritation of other Democrats.<ref name="espo"/> During the [[101st United States Congress|101st Congress]] under President [[George H. W. Bush]], at least half of the successful proposals put forward by the [[Democratic Policy Committee Chairman of the United States Senate|Senate Democratic policy makers]] came out of Kennedy's Labor and Human Resources Committee.{{sfn|Hersh|1997|p=82}} During the 2000s, almost every bipartisan bill signed during the [[George W. Bush administration]] had significant involvement from Kennedy.<ref name="time-rules"/> A late 2000s survey of Republican senators ranked Kennedy first among Democrats in bipartisanship.<ref name="time-100">{{cite news | url=http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1894410_1893847,00.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090503144659/http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1894410_1893847,00.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=May 3, 2009 | title=The 2009 Time 100: Edward Kennedy | author-link=Arnold Schwarzenegger|last=Schwarzenegger|first=Arnold| magazine=Time | access-date=June 20, 2009 | date=April 30, 2009}}</ref> Kennedy strongly believed in the principle "[[Perfect is the enemy of good|never let the perfect be the enemy of the good]]," and would agree to pass legislation he viewed as incomplete or imperfect with the goal of improving it down the road.<ref name="time-rules"/> In April 2006, Kennedy was selected by ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' as one of "America's 10 Best Senators"; the magazine noted that he had "amassed a titanic record of legislation affecting the lives of virtually every man, woman and child in the country" and that "by the late 1990s, the liberal icon had become such a prodigious cross-aisle dealer that Republican leaders began pressuring party colleagues not to sponsor bills with him".<ref name="time-10-best">{{cite magazine | url=http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1183965,00.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060614065125/http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1183965,00.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=June 14, 2006 | title=Ted Kennedy: The Dogged Achiever | magazine= Time | date=April 14, 2006 | access-date=May 6, 2007}}</ref> In May 2008, soon-to-be Republican presidential nominee [[John McCain]] said, "[Kennedy] is a legendary lawmaker and I have the highest respect for him. When we have worked together, he has been a skillful, fair and generous partner."<ref name="time-rules"/> Republican [[Governor of California]] and Kennedy relative [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]] described "Uncle Teddy" as "a liberal icon, a warrior for the less fortunate, a fierce advocate for health-care reform, a champion of social justice here and abroad" and "the rock of his family".<ref name="time-100"/> At the time of Kennedy's death, sociologist and ''[[The Nation|Nation]]'' board member [[Norman Birnbaum]] wrote that Kennedy had come to be viewed as the "voice" and "conscience" of [[American progressivism]].<ref>{{cite magazine | url=http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090914/birnbaum | title=Memories of Ted Kennedy | author=Birnbaum, Norman | magazine=[[The Nation]] | date=August 28, 2009 | access-date=September 6, 2009 | author-link=Norman Birnbaum | archive-date=September 1, 2009 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090901074335/http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090914/birnbaum | url-status=live }}</ref>

Despite his bipartisan legislative practices, Kennedy was a polarizing symbol of [[American liberalism]] for many years.<ref name="time-10-best"/><ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=ted_kennedy__a_liberals_bipartisan | title=Ted Kennedy: A Liberal's Bipartisan | author-link=Robert Kuttner | last=Kuttner | first=Robert | magazine=[[The American Prospect]] | date=August 26, 2008 | access-date=June 20, 2009 | archive-date=August 10, 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110810211737/http://prospect.org/cs/articles?article=ted_kennedy__a_liberals_bipartisan | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine | url=http://www.life.com/image/51829475/in-gallery/22947/polarizing-politicians | title=Ted Kennedy Leads the Liberals | magazine=[[Life (magazine)|Life]] | access-date=June 20, 2009 | archive-date=June 13, 2009 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090613044659/http://www.life.com/image/51829475/in-gallery/22947/polarizing-politicians | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="babington">{{cite news | url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-05-17-3340753434_x.htm | title=Kennedy: liberal legend, able legislator | last=Babington | first=Charles | agency=[[Associated Press]] | newspaper=USA Today | date=May 17, 2008 | access-date=June 20, 2009 | archive-date=August 15, 2009 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090815121051/http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-05-17-3340753434_x.htm | url-status=live }}</ref> Republican and conservative groups long viewed Kennedy as a reliable "[[bogeyman]]" to mention in fundraising letters,<ref name="espo">{{cite news | url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-05-20-1235456825_x.htm | title=Unlike brothers, Ted Kennedy grew old in public | last=Espo|first=David | agency=[[Associated Press]] | newspaper=USA Today | date=May 20, 2008 | access-date=June 20, 2009}}</ref> on par with Hillary Clinton and similar to Democratic and liberal appeals mentioning [[Newt Gingrich]].<ref name="nyt071099">{{cite news  |author-link=Don Van Natta Jr.|last=Van Natta|first=Don Jr.|title=Hillary Clinton's Campaign Spurs A Wave of G.O.P. Fund-Raising |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=July 10, 1999 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/10/us/hillary-clinton-s-campaign-spurs-a-wave-of-gop-fund-raising.html?pagewanted=all&pagewanted=print|quote=One Republican strategist involved in the New York Senate race doubted that the contributions aimed at defeating Mrs. Clinton would help her Republican opponent, or even that much of the money would wind up in New York. He said most of the donations would pay for direct-mail costs and other overhead. 'I don't see it as a tremendous benefit to any candidate,' this strategist said. 'This is what the Republicans did with Ted Kennedy and the Democrats did with Newt Gingrich. Every fund-raising group in the world loves a bogyman.{{'-}}}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.politico.com/news/stories/0309/19630_Page2.html | title=GOP finds Pelosi an elusive target | last=Thrush | first=Glenn | newspaper=[[Politico]] | date=March 5, 2009 | access-date=June 20, 2009 | quote=James Carville, Bill Clinton's top adviser in 1992 and a longtime Pelosi watcher, said vitriol toward the speaker is confined to a relatively small corner of the GOP base and hasn't yet crossed over to independents or conservative Democrats. 'Our recent history in this country is we look for "hooks," people who get you really fired up&nbsp;– Ted Kennedy, Newt Gingrich, Hillary Clinton,' Carville said. 'People come in and out and we try out these hooks on 'em.{{'-}} | archive-date=March 10, 2009 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090310141025/http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0309/19630_Page2.html | url-status=live }}</ref> The famous racially motivated "[[Hands (advertisement)|Hands]]" attack ad used in North Carolina Senator [[Jesse Helms]]'s 1990 re-election campaign against [[Harvey Gantt]] accused Gantt of supporting "Ted Kennedy's racial quota law".<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Lee |first=Deron |title=Ad Spotlight Classic: Jesse Helms, 1990 |magazine=[[National Journal]] |date=July 8, 2008 |url=http://adspotlight.nationaljournal.com/2008/07/jesse_helms.php |access-date=June 20, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090817073443/http://adspotlight.nationaljournal.com/2008/07/jesse_helms.php |archive-date=August 17, 2009 }}</ref> [[University of California, San Diego]] political science professor [[Gary Jacobson]]'s 2006&nbsp;study of [[partisan polarization]] found that in a state-by-state survey of job approval ratings of the state's senators, Kennedy had the largest partisan difference of any senator, with a 57&nbsp;percentage point difference in approval between Massachusetts's Democrats and Republicans.<ref name="jacob-paper">{{cite journal |author-link=Gary Jacobson|last=Jacobson|first=Gary|title=Partisan Differences in Job Approval Ratings of George W. Bush and U.S. Senators in the States: An Exploration |journal=Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association |date=August 2006 }}</ref> The [[Associated Press]] wrote that, "Perhaps because it was impossible, Kennedy never tried to shake his image as a liberal titan to admirers and a left-wing caricature to detractors."<ref name="babington"/>

After Robert Kennedy's assassination in 1968, Ted was the most prominent living member of the [[Kennedy family]] and the last surviving son of Joseph P. Kennedy and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. John F. Kennedy had said in 1957, "Just as I went into politics because Joe died, if anything happened to me tomorrow, my brother Bobby would run for my seat in the Senate. And if Bobby died, Teddy would take over for him."<!--TODO really need to find the actual Eleanor Harris "The Senator Is in a Hurry" article in August 1957 McCall's --><ref>{{cite news| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZlIEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT56| title=His Enduring Images and Words| magazine=[[Life (magazine)|Life]] (John F. Kennedy Memorial Edition)| date=December 1963| archive-date=September 27, 2024| access-date=October 27, 2015| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240927070849/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZlIEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT56#v=onepage&q&f=false| url-status=live}}</ref> However, Ted was never able to carry on the "Camelot" mystique in the same way that both of his fallen brothers had, with much of it disappearing during his failed 1980 presidential bid.<ref name="espo"/> His negligence in the death of Mary Jo Kopechne at Chappaquiddick and his well-documented later personal problems further tarnished his image in relation to the Kennedy name,<ref name="bg-series-1"/> and significantly damaged his chances of ever becoming president.<ref name="nyt-obit"/>{{sfn|Barone|Cohen|2008|p=792}}<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/08/26/mary-jo-kopechne-and-chappaquiddick-americas-selective-memory/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090827091934/http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/08/26/mary-jo-kopechne-and-chappaquiddick-americas-selective-memory/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 27, 2009 |title=Mary Jo Kopechne and Chappaquiddick: America's Selective Memory |last=Cannon |first=Carl M. |publisher=[[Politics Daily]] |date=August 26, 2009 |access-date=August 28, 2009 }}</ref> The [[Associated Press]] wrote, "Unlike his brothers, Edward M. Kennedy has grown old in public, his victories, defeats and human contradictions played out across the decades in the public glare."<ref name="espo"/> But Kennedy's legislative accomplishments remained, and as ''[[The Boston Globe]]'' wrote, "By the early 21st century, the achievements of the younger brother would be enough to rival those of many presidents."<ref name="bg-series-1"/> His death prompted the realization that the "Camelot era" was truly over.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna32564413 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090828134251/http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/32564413/ | url-status=live | archive-date=August 28, 2009 | title=Kennedy's death marks the end of Camelot | last=Celizic|first=Mike | publisher=[[MSNBC]] | date=August 26, 2009 | access-date=August 28, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-kass-27-aug27,0,7997781.column | title=Ted Kennedy's death heralds Camelot's end | last=Kass | first=John | newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]] | date=August 27, 2009 | access-date=August 28, 2009 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090828012436/http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-kass-27-aug27,0,7997781.column | archive-date=August 28, 2009 | url-status=dead }}</ref> Kennedy's ''[[The New York Times]]'' obituary described him via a [[character sketch]]: <blockquote>He was a [[François Rabelais|Rabelaisian]] figure in the Senate and in life, instantly recognizable by his shock of white hair, his florid, oversize face, his booming Boston brogue, his powerful but pained stride. He was a celebrity, sometimes a self-parody, a hearty friend, an implacable foe, a man of large faith and large flaws, a melancholy character who persevered, drank deeply and sang loudly. He was a Kennedy.<ref name="nyt-obit">{{cite news |first=John M. |last=Broder |title=Edward Kennedy, Senate Stalwart, Dies |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=August 26, 2009 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/27/us/politics/27kennedy.html |pages=A1, A18–A20 |archive-date=January 5, 2015 |access-date=February 13, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150105205707/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/27/us/politics/27kennedy.html |url-status=live }}</ref></blockquote>

==Awards and honors==
{{Main|List of awards and honors received by Ted Kennedy}}

Kennedy's honors include an honorary [[knighthood]] bestowed by [[Queen Elizabeth II]] of the United Kingdom, the [[Order of the Aztec Eagle]] from Mexico, the U.S. [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]], the [[Order of Merit (Chile)|Order of Merit]] of Chile, and honorary degrees from several institutions including [[Harvard University]].

==Electoral history==
{{Main|Electoral history of Ted Kennedy}}

==Writings==
* {{Cite book | editor-last=Kennedy | editor-first=Edward M. | title=The Fruitful Bough (Collected essays on Joseph P. Kennedy) | publisher=privately published | year=1965 |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book | last=Kennedy | first=Edward M. | title=Decisions for a Decade: Policies and Programs for the 1970s | publisher=Doubleday | year=1968 |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book| last=Kennedy | first=Edward M. | title=In Critical Condition: The Crisis in America's Health Care | publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] | year=1972 | isbn=978-0-671-21314-5 | url=https://archive.org/details/incriticalcondit00kenn |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book| editor-last=Kennedy | editor-first=Edward M. | title=Our Day and Our Generation: The Words of Edward M. Kennedy | publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] | year=1979 | isbn=978-0-671-24133-9 | url=https://archive.org/details/ourdaygeneration00kenn |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book | last1=Kennedy | first1=Edward M. | last2=Hatfield | first2=Mark |author-link2= Mark Hatfield| title=Freeze!: How You Can Prevent Nuclear War | publisher=Bantam Books | year=1982 | isbn=978-0-553-14077-4 |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book| last=Kennedy | first=Edward M. | title=America Back on Track | publisher=Viking Adult | year=2006 | isbn=978-0-670-03764-3 | url=https://archive.org/details/americabackontra00kenn |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book | last=Kennedy | first=Edward M. | title=My Senator and Me: A Dog's-Eye View of Washington, D.C. | others=[[David Small|Small, David]] (illus.) | publisher=Scholastic Press | year=2006 | isbn=978-0-439-65077-9| title-link=My Senator and Me: A Dog's-Eye View of Washington, D.C. |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book | last=Kennedy | first=Edward M. | title=True Compass | publisher=[[Twelve (publisher)|Twelve]]| year=2009 | isbn=978-0-446-53925-8| title-link=True Compass |ref=none}}

==See also==
{{Portal|Biography|United States|Politics|Liberalism|Law}}
* [[Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate]]
* [[List of American federal politicians convicted of crimes]]
* [[List of federal political scandals in the United States]]
* [[List of members of the United States Congress who died in office (2000–present)#2000s]]
{{Clear}}

==References==
===Citations===
{{reflist|25em}}

===Print sources===
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{Cite book |title=The Almanac of American Politics |last1=Barone |first1=Michael |author-link=Michael Barone (pundit) |author-link2=Richard E. Cohen |last2=Cohen |first2=Richard E. |year=2008 |publisher=National Journal Group |location=Washington |isbn=978-0-89234-116-0|title-link=The Almanac of American Politics }}
* {{Cite book |first=Nellie |last=Bly |year=1996 |title=The Kennedy Men: Three Generations of Sex, Scandal and Secrets |isbn=1-57566-106-3 |publisher=Kensington Books |location=New York}}
* {{cite book |first=James MacGregor |last=Burns |author-link=James MacGregor Burns |title=Edward Kennedy and the Camelot Legacy |url=https://archive.org/details/edwardkennedyca00burn |url-access=registration |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |location=New York |year=1976 |isbn=0-393-07501-X}}
* {{Cite book|last=Canellos |first=Peter S. (ed.) and The Team at ''The Boston Globe'' |year=2009 |title=The Last Lion: The Fall and Rise of Ted Kennedy |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] |isbn=978-1-4391-3817-5 |url=https://archive.org/details/lastlionfallrise00pete }}
* {{Cite book|first=Jimmy |last=Carter |author-link=Jimmy Carter |title=Keeping Faith: Memoirs of a President |publisher=Bantam Books |year=1982 |isbn=0-553-05023-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/keepingfaithmemo00cart }}
* {{Cite book|first=Adam |last=Clymer |author-link=Adam Clymer |year=1999 |title=Edward M. Kennedy: A Biography |publisher=Wm. Morrow & Company |isbn=0-688-14285-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/edwardmkennedybi00clym_0 }}
* {{Cite book|first=Burton |last=Hersh |year=1997 |title=The Shadow President: Ted Kennedy in Opposition |publisher=Steerforth Press |isbn=1-883642-30-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/shadowpresidentt00hers }}
* {{cite book|first=Burton |last=Hersh |year=2010 |title=Edward Kennedy: An Intimate Biography |publisher=Counterpoint |location=Berkeley |isbn=978-1-58243-628-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/edwardkennedyint00hers }}
* {{cite book|last=Leamer |first=Laurence |title=The Kennedy Men: 1901–1963 |publisher=Wm. Morrow & Company |year=2001 |isbn=0-688-16315-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/kennedymen19011900leam }}
* {{Cite book|author-link=Joe McGinniss |last=McGinnis |first=Joe |year=1993 |title=The Last Brother |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] |isbn=0-671-67945-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/lastbrother00mcgi }}
* {{Cite book |editor-last=Moritz |editor-first=Charles |title=Current Biography Yearbook 1978 |publisher=H. W. Wilson Company |year=1978|title-link=Current Biography Yearbook }}
{{refend}}

== Further reading ==
* {{Cite book |last1=Adler |first1=Bill |last2=Adler |first2=Bill Jr. |title=The Wit and Wisdom of Ted Kennedy |publisher=Pegasus Books |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-60598-112-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/witwisdomoftedke00kenn |ref=none }}
* {{Cite book |last=Allen |first=Gary |author-link=Gary Allen |year=1981 |title=Ted Kennedy: In Over His Head |publisher=Conservative Press |isbn=0-89245-020-7 |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book |last=Photographers and Writers at ''The Boston Globe'' |author-link=The Boston Globe |title=Ted Kennedy: Scenes from an Epic Life |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-4391-3806-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781439138069  |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book |last=Burke |first=Richard E. |year=1993 |title=The Senator: My Ten Years with Ted Kennedy |publisher=St. Martin's Press |isbn=0-312-95133-7 |ref=none}}
* Farrell, John A. ''Ted Kennedy: A Life'' (2022) major biography [https://www.amazon.com/Ted-Kennedy-Life-John-Farrell/dp/0525558071/ extract]
* Gabler, Neal. ''Catching the Wind : Edward Kennedy and the Liberal Hour, 1932-1975'' (2020), before the Senate. [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B085BW13XF/ excerpt]
* Gabler, Neal. ''Against the Wind: Edward Kennedy and the Rise of Conservatism, 1976-2009'' (2022) [https://www.amazon.com/Against-Wind-Kennedy-Conservatism-1976-2009/dp/0593238621/ excerpt], major scholarly biography covers the Senate years in great detail.
* Haas, Lawrence J. ''The Kennedys in the World: How Jack, Bobby, and Ted Remade America's Empire'' (2021) [https://www.amazon.com/Kennedys-World-Remade-Americas-Empire/dp/1640123849/ excerpt]
* {{Cite book |first=Burton |last=Hersh |year=1972 |title=The Education of Edward Kennedy: A Family Biography |publisher= Wm. Morrow & Company |location=New York |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book |last=Damore |first=Leo |year=1988 |title=Senatorial Privilege: The Chappaquiddick Cover-Up |publisher=Regnery Gateway |isbn=0-89526-564-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/senatorialprivi000damo |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book |last=David |first=Lester |title=Ted Kennedy: Triumphs and Tragedies |year=1972 |location=New York |publisher=Grosset & Dunlap |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book |last=David |first=Lester |title=Good Ted, Bad Ted: The Two Faces of Edward M. Kennedy |year=1993 |publisher=Carol Publishing Corporation |isbn=1-55972-167-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/goodtedbadtedtwo00davi |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book |last=Honan |first=William H. |author-link=William Honan |title=Ted Kennedy: Profile of a Survivor |year=1972 |location=New York |publisher=Quadrangle Books |ref=none}}
* Kashatus, William C. (2020) ''Before Chappaquiddick: The Untold Story of Mary Jo Kopechne and the Kennedy Brothers'', Potomac Books. {{ISBN|978-1-64012-269-7}} 
*{{Cite book |last=Klein |first=Ed |author-link=Edward Klein |title=Ted Kennedy: The Dream That Never Died |publisher=Crown Publishing Group |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-307-45103-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/tedkennedydreamt00klei_0 |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book |editor=Lacayo, Richard |year=2009 |title=Ted Kennedy: A Tribute |publisher=[[TIME]] |isbn=978-1-60320-125-4 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/tedkennedytribut0000unse |ref=none }}
* {{Cite book |last=Leamer |first=Laurence |title=Sons of Camelot: The Fate of an American Dynasty |publisher=Wm. Morrow & Company |year=2004 |isbn=0-06-620965-X |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/sonsofcamelotfat0000leam |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book |last=Levin |first=Murray |author-link=Murray Levin |year=1966 |title=Kennedy Campaigning: The System and the Style as Practiced by Senator Edward Kennedy |location=Boston |publisher=Beacon Press |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book |last=Levin |first=Murray |year=1980 |title=Edward Kennedy: The Myth of Leadership |isbn=0-395-29249-2 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin |location=Boston |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book |last=Lerner |first=Max |title=Ted and the Kennedy Legend: A Study in Character and Destiny |publisher=St Martins Press |year=1980 |isbn=0-312-79043-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/tedkennedylegend00lern |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book |last=Lippman |first=Theo Jr. |title=Senator Ted Kennedy: The Career Behind the Image |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |year=1976 |isbn=0-393-33526-7 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Rust | first=Zad |year=1971 | title=Teddy Bare: The Last of the Kennedy Clan |url=https://archive.org/details/teddybarelastofk00rust | url-access=registration |location=Belmont, Massachusetts |publisher=Western Islands |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book |last=USA Today |author-link=USA Today |title=Ted Kennedy: An American Icon |publisher=Triumph Books |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-60078-324-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/tedkennedyameric0000unse |ref=none}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Ted Kennedy}}
{{wikisource|works=or}}
{{Wikiquote}}
* {{C-SPAN|228}}
* [http://www.tedkennedy.com Campaign homepage]
* [http://emkinstitute.org/ Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate]
* [http://vault.fbi.gov/Senator%20Edward%20Kennedy FBI Records: The Vault - Senator Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy] at fbi.gov
* {{CongLinks | congbio=K000105 | votesmart= | fec=S6MA00015 | congress= }}<!--
Links formerly displayed via the CongLinks template:
* [http://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/300059 Congressional profile] at [[GovTrack]]
* [http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00000308 Financial information (federal office)] at [[Center for Responsive Politics|OpenSecrets.org]]
* [http://www.legistorm.com/member/56/Sen_Edward_Kennedy.html Staff salaries, trips and personal finance] at LegiStorm.com
* [http://www.ontheissues.org/Senate/Ted_Kennedy.htm Issue positions and quotes] at [[On the Issues]]
* [http://www.c-spanvideo.org/edwardkennedy Appearances] on [[C-SPAN]] programs
* -->

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{{s-ppo}}
{{s-bef|before=[[John F. Kennedy]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] nominee for [[United States Senator|U.S. Senator]] from [[List of United States Senators from Massachusetts|Massachusetts]]<br />([[Classes of United States Senators|Class 1]])|years=[[1962 United States Senate special election in Massachusetts|1962]], [[1964 United States Senate election in Massachusetts|1964]], [[1970 United States Senate election in Massachusetts|1970]], [[1976 United States Senate election in Massachusetts|1976]], [[1982 United States Senate election in Massachusetts|1982]], [[1988 United States Senate election in Massachusetts|1988]], [[1994 United States Senate election in Massachusetts|1994]], [[2000 United States Senate election in Massachusetts|2000]], [[2006 United States Senate election in Massachusetts|2006]]}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Martha Coakley]]}}
|-
{{s-bef|before=[[Russell B. Long]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Senate Democratic Whip]]|years=1969–1971}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Robert Byrd]]}}
|-
{{s-vac|last=[[Ted Stevens]]<br />[[John Jacob Rhodes]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Response to the State of the Union address]]|years=[[1982 State of the Union Address|1982]]|alongside=[[Robert Byrd]], [[Alan Cranston]], [[Al Gore]], [[Gary Hart]], [[J. Bennett Johnston]], [[Tip O'Neill]], [[Donald W. Riegle Jr.]], [[Paul Sarbanes]], [[Jim Sasser]]}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Les AuCoin]], [[Joe Biden]], [[Bill Bradley]], [[Robert Byrd]], [[Tom Daschle]], [[Bill Hefner]], [[Barbara B. Kennelly]], [[George Miller (California politician)|George Miller]], [[Tip O'Neill]], [[Paul Tsongas]], [[Tim Wirth]]}}
|-
{{s-par|us-sen}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Benjamin A. Smith II]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[List of United States Senators from Massachusetts|U.S. Senator (Class 1) from Massachusetts]]|years=1962–2009|alongside=[[Leverett Saltonstall]], [[Edward Brooke]], [[Paul Tsongas]], [[John Kerry]]}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Paul G. Kirk]]}}
|-
{{s-bef|before=[[Russell B. Long]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Party leaders of the United States Senate|Senate Majority Whip]]|years=1969–1971}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Robert Byrd]]}}
|-
{{s-bef|before=[[James Eastland]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=Chair of the [[United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary|Senate Judiciary Committee]]|years=1978–1981}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Strom Thurmond]]}}
|-
{{s-bef|before=[[Orrin Hatch]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=Chair of the [[United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions|Senate Labor Committee]]|years=1987–1995}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Nancy Kassebaum]]}}
|-
{{s-bef|before=[[Jim Jeffords]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=Chair of the [[United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions|Senate Health Committee]]|years=2001–2003}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Judd Gregg]]}}
|-
{{s-bef|before=[[Mike Enzi]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=Chair of the [[United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions|Senate Health Committee]]|years=2007–2009}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Chris Dodd]]<br />Acting}}
|-
{{s-hon}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Maurice J. Murphy Jr.]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[List of youngest members of the United States Congress|Baby of the Senate]]|years=1962–1969}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Bob Packwood]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Ted Kennedy}}
{{United States senators from Massachusetts}}
{{US Senate HELP chairs}}
{{US Senate Judiciary chairs}}
{{US Senate Majority Whips}}
{{US Senate Democratic Whips}}
{{Kennedy family}}
{{John F. Kennedy}}
{{Robert F. Kennedy}}
{{1980 United States presidential election}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kennedy, Ted}}
[[Category:Ted Kennedy| ]]
[[Category:1932 births]]
[[Category:2009 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American male writers]]
[[Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Massachusetts politicians]]
[[Category:20th-century Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:21st-century Massachusetts politicians]]
[[Category:21st-century Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:American autobiographers]]
[[Category:American expatriates in France]]
[[Category:American gun control activists]]
[[Category:American male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:American political writers]]
[[Category:American people of Irish descent]]
[[Category:American Roman Catholic writers]]
[[Category:Burials at Arlington National Cemetery]]
[[Category:Catholic politicians from Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Deaths from brain cancer in Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Deaths from glioblastoma]]
[[Category:Democratic Party United States senators from Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]
[[Category:Fessenden School alumni]]
[[Category:The Hague Academy of International Law people]]
[[Category:Harvard College alumni]]
[[Category:Harvard Crimson football players]]
[[Category:Hasty Pudding alumni]]
[[Category:Honorary Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Kennedy family|Ted]]
[[Category:Lawyers awarded knighthoods]]
[[Category:Liberalism in the United States]]
[[Category:Massachusetts Democrats]]
[[Category:Massachusetts lawyers]]
[[Category:Massachusetts politicians convicted of crimes]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Boston]]
[[Category:Milton Academy alumni]]
[[Category:Nansen Refugee Award laureates]]
[[Category:People educated at Gibbs School]]
[[Category:People from Hyannis, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Politicians from Boston]]
[[Category:Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the Companions of O. R. Tambo]]
[[Category:Survivors of aviation accidents or incidents]]
[[Category:United States Army soldiers]]
[[Category:University of Virginia School of Law alumni]]
[[Category:Writers from Boston]]
[[Category:21st-century United States senators]]
[[Category:20th-century United States senators]]