Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy
(February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009)
Edward Kennedy was a United States Senator from Massachusetts and a member of the Democratic Party. In office since November 1962, Kennedy served nine terms in the Senate. He was one of the most influential and longest-serving senators in US history - a liberal standard-bearer who was also known as a consummate congressional dealmaker - the Irish-American senator had been battling brain cancer, which was diagnosed in May 2008.
For many years the most prominent living member of the Kennedy family, he was the youngest brother of President John F. Kennedy and Senator Robert F. Kennedy, both victims of assassinations, and the father of Congressman Patrick J. Kennedy.
Kennedy was born in Boston and raised in Massachusetts, New York, Florida, and England. He graduated from Harvard in 1956 and from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1959. His 1958 marriage to Virginia Joan Bennett produced three children and ended in divorce in 1982.
He was a manager in his brother John's successful 1960 campaign for president, then worked as an assistant district attorney for Suffolk County, Massachusetts. Kennedy entered the Senate in a 1962 special election to fill the seat once held by John. Kennedy was elected to a full six-year term in 1964 and was reelected in 1970, 1976, 1982, 1988, 1994, 2000 and 2006.
Kennedy once ran for the Presidential office, in the 1980 election, but it ended in a primary campaign loss to incumbent Democratic President Jimmy Carter. Kennedy was the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. Due to his long history and influence in the legislature, he became known as "The Lion of the Senate". More than 300 bills that Kennedy wrote have been enacted into law, and he was known for his ability to work with Republicans and to find compromises among Senate members with disparate views.
Kennedy's personal life was often subject to criticism, but his 1992 marriage to Victoria Anne Reggie stabilized his life.
Kennedy died of brain cancer on Tuesday, August 25, 2009, at his home in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. He was survived by his wife Victoria, his sister Jean Kennedy Smith, and his three children.
RIP
___
No comments:
Post a Comment