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A Massachusetts Democrat, Senator Kennedy (known as Ted) was the youngest child of a powerful American family that included former President John F. Kennedy Jr.
Kennedy's father, Joseph Kennedy Sr., made a fortune on Wall Street and as manager of the Bethlehem Steel company during World War I, becoming a close friend of President Franklin Roosevelt and later an ambassador.
Joseph Kennedy and his wife, Rose, pinned their political hopes on their four sons, especially Joseph Patrick Kennedy Jr., who was killed in a World War II plane crash.
After the assassination of his other two brothers, President John Kennedy and Senator Robert Kennedy in the 1960s, Senator Kennedy became the only brother to live to old age.
Friend to President Obama and many others
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After the deaths of his brothers John Jr. and Robert in the 1960s, Ted Kennedy, right, was left to carry on the family's political legacy. |
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Ted Kennedy's former colleague in the Senate, President Barack Obama praised the achievements of the third-longest-serving senator in history.
"An important chapter in our history has come to an end," President Obama said in a statement. "Our country has lost a great leader, who picked up the torch of his fallen brothers and became the greatest United States Senator of our time."
"Even as he waged a valiant struggle with a mortal illness, I've profited from his encouragement and wisdom," the president said.
"The Kennedy family and the Senate family have together lost our patriarch," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said in a statement. "It was a thrill of my lifetime to work with Ted Kennedy. He was a friend, the model of public service and an American icon. As we mourn his loss, we rededicate ourselves to the causes for which he so dutifully dedicated his life," Reid said.
Universal health care and minimum wage
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During his 46 years in the Senate, Kennedy cast more than 15,000 votes - the fourth most in U.S. history. |
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Senator Kennedy was elected to his seat in 1962 and spent the next four decades as an advocate of liberal causes in the Senate, including government-sponsored universal health care and the minimum wage.
While Kennedy will be remembered alongside other key lawmakers in American history, his political career was not with out scandals or failures.
His reputation was severely damaged in 1969 when he drove his car off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island, Massachussetts. Kennedy left the accident site while his passenger Mary Jo Kopechne drowned.
After pleading guilty to leaving the scene of the accident, Kennedy was given a two month suspended sentence.
Scandal may have kept him from being president
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Senator Kennedy's endorsement became an important source of momentum for Barack Obama in the 2008 Democratic primaries. |
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Although he was reelected to the Senate the following year, many credit the Chappaquiddick incident for keeping him from the presidency.
Kennedy unsuccessfully ran for his party's presidential nomination in 1980, losing out to the unpopular sitting president, Jimmy Carter.
In 2008, Kennedy gave then-Senator Barack Obama's campaign a much-valued endorsement for the Democratic nomination over Hillary Clinton, a moment that many analysts believed signaled the beginning of a new generation of leadership in American politics.
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American schools and financial aid should be only for legal citizens of the United States. There should be no exceptions to this.
