SEN. EDWARD KENNEDY: Laid to rest at Arlington

KENNEDY BROTHERS

Kennedy, the youngest and last-surviving brother of a heralded Kennedy generation, was laid to rest on a hillside at Arlington National Cemetery alongside his slain brothers, the late President John F. Kennedy and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy — both assassinated more than four decades ago.

Cardinal Theodore McCarrick read a recent letter from Kennedy to the pope at the private burial ceremony in Arlington, Virginia.

Veteran US Senator Edward Kennedy died at 77, after a long battle with a brain tumor.

He became a Democratic Massachusetts senator in 1962, replacing his brother when he resigned to become president, and was re-elected seven times. Senator Kennedy was a dominant force in US politics for almost 50 years.

Kennedy, nicknamed “Ted,” was the younger brother of slain President John F. Kennedy and New York Sen. Robert Kennedy, who was gunned down while seeking the White House in 1968. However, his own presidential aspirations were hobbled by the controversy around a 1969 auto accident that left a young woman dead, and a 1980 primary challenge to then-President Jimmy Carter that ended in defeat.

Youth is the quality that we normally associate with the Kennedys, yet it was Ted Kennedy’s longevity that made him such an irrepressible force on Capitol Hill.
Near universal is the view that he was Washington’s most influential lawmaker of the past 50 years, which is all the more remarkable given that he was such a polarising politician.

Civil rights. Disability rights. The minimum wage. Immigration. Education. Campaign finance reform. And his signature issue, healthcare. Most, if not all, of the landmark progressive legislative of the past five decades has his imprint all over it.

While it was his passion for social justice that won him the epithet “Lion of the Senate”, it was his detailed grasp of that institution’s obscure rules and procedures which helped explain his prolific success.

urgeons at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, removed as much of the tumor as possible the following month. Doctors considered the procedure a success, and Kennedy underwent follow-up radiation treatments and chemotherapy.

A few weeks later, he participated in a key vote in the Senate. He also insisted on making a brief but dramatic appearance at the 2008 Democratic convention, a poignant moment that brought the crowd to its feet and tears to many eyes. Kennedy died one year to the day after that appearance.