Ted Kennedy

Edward Moore Kennedy (February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009) was an American lawyer and politician who represented Massachusetts in the United States Senate from 1962 until his death in 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the second-most-senior member of the Senate when he died. He is ranked fifth in U . history for length of continuous service as a senator. Kennedy was the younger brother of President John F. Kennedy and U . attorney general and U . senator Robert F. Kennedy, an uncle of incumbent U . secretary of health and human services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and the father of U . representative Patrick J. Kennedy. Born into the prominent Kennedy family in Boston, Kennedy attended Harvard University and earned his law degree from the University of Virginia. After beginning his career as an assistant district attorney in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, he won the 1962 U . Senate special election in Massachusetts to fill the vacant Senate seat previously held by his brother John, who had taken office to become president of the United States. He was 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 U . president. In 1980, Kennedy ran in the Democratic presidential primaries for the party's presidential nomination, but lost to the incumbent president, Jimmy Carter. Kennedy was known for his oratorical skills. His 1968 eulogy for his brother Robert and his 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 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 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 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. He died of a brain tumor (glioblastoma) at his home in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, at the age of 77 in August 2009, and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.