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Teddy Kennedy: The Only Kennedy Who Wasn't Overrated.
John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy have, for the past half century, been among the most prominent symbolic figures of American liberalism. But by any real reading of history, both men fall pretty short of what I think might be described as "progressive ideals." JFK started the Vietnam War, and as attorney general, RFK pushed the CIA into one failed plot after another to assassinate Fidel Castro, even enlisting the aid of organized crime. Both RFK and JFK were tragically murdered, but paradoxically, their early deaths are part of what makes inflating their accomplishments so easy.
Edward Kennedy lacked the mystique of his brothers, partially because he was forced to wear his flaws on his sleeve; no one will ever forget Chappaquiddick. In some ways I wonder if Teddy got all the grief people couldn't give his brothers. There was something cruel about the way he was sometimes portrayed, as if he were the loser little brother because he would never quite capture the imagination of the left the way his brothers did. But in terms of actual political accomplishments, Ted Kennedy far surpasses them: His accomplishments on expanding health-care coverage, strengthening voting rights, civil rights, and helping workers are too numerous to list here, although Harold Meyerson does a good job of summarizing: "He was the go-to-guy, the champion, the orator, the deal-maker for the uninsured, the undocumented, the unable-to-join-unions; the senior senator from Massachusetts and for all the excluded in American life."
And not just American life. When Kennedy journeyed to South Africa in 1985, he spoke to an illegal gathering outside Nelson Mandela's prison, calling for his release. When he returned to the Senate, he helped override President Ronald Reagan's veto of the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act which imposed U.S. sanctions on the apartheid regime.
Ted Kennedy wasn't a symbol of American liberalism. He was the executor of American liberalism: He was the real deal, he got it done. He couldn't make the whole country fall in love with him. But centuries from now, when the sentimental attachment of those who can remember the older Kennedy brothers are gone, it is the youngest Kennedy sibling who will be remembered, warts and all, for having most shaped America's path, and most exemplified its ideals. He is, in short, the only Kennedy who wasn't overrated, the only one we saw for who he was, the one we will remember fondly for what he did, not what he said or what he might have been.
-- A. Serwer
Photo of the Kennedy Brothers on Palm Beach in 1957 via Wikimedia
COMMENTS (10)
surely, adam, you could have written in praise of ted without writing in derogation of his brothers, at least on the day or two after his death.
Posted by: big bad wolf | August 26, 2009 11:31 AM
"He was the executor of American liberalism: he was the real deal, he got it done."
That's it, isn't it? That is who he was, and was has been lacking in the Senate - Dem Senators who are willing to be the executors of progressive liberals ideals.
Well put, and well done.
Posted by: ThucydidesJR | August 26, 2009 11:44 AM
Ah, but to Roger Simon at Pajamas Media, he was a big phony:
Kennedy left the scene of a fatal accident for which he was at least partly responsible. Then he used his extraordinary power to get off, spending the rest of his career in pseudo-remorse, playing the most liberal of Senators. It was always an act to me, even when I agreed with him politically. This was not a life well lived.
All that liberalism? Total bullshit. What are you gonna believe -- the empirical evidence, or the rich psychological insights of The Man Who Created Moses Wine And Then Became A Post-9/11 Bedwetter?
Posted by: Steve M. | August 26, 2009 12:11 PM
Centuries from now, when the generation which asserts itself by using the older Kennedy brothers to put down the baby boomers (all of whom are too young to have ever voted for JFK and almost all of whom are too young to have voted for Bobby) has long passed from the scene -- or grown up -- there will be a fairer evaluation of all three Kennedies, and I suspect it will be rather more favorable to the two elder ones and somewhat less favorable to Ted.
Posted by: Gene O'Grady | August 26, 2009 12:29 PM
Steve M.,
I will believe the empirical evidence: Ted Kennedy was one of the most effective, liberal Senators in the history of the United States. Ted Kennedy was also complicit in what amounts to murder and used his money and power to escape it.
I respect his Senatorial accomplishments. That excuses nothing in regards to his personal conduct.
Posted by: Daniel | August 26, 2009 1:06 PM
And his sisters don't count? Not even Eunice?
Posted by: Ellen | August 26, 2009 2:36 PM
Steve M. -- Even if that were true (and I understand that you're not quoting it to agree with it), he spent the greater part of his life trying to improve the lives of those less fortunate than himself -- which is a helluva lot more than Roger Simon can say. Also, I find myself thinking about Heinlein's Double Star, and wondering how long you can pretend to be something without becoming it in truth.
Since many of those who revile Kennedy claim to be pious Christians, Matthew 25:45-46 is also relevant:
45 Then he will answer them, "Truly, I say to you, as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me."
46 And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.
Posted by: Lee | August 26, 2009 6:28 PM
Centuries from now, when the generation which asserts itself by using the older Kennedy brothers to put down the baby boomers (all of whom are too young to have ever voted for JFK and almost all of whom are too young to have voted for Bobby) has long passed from the scene -- or grown up -- there will be a fairer evaluation of all three Kennedies, and I suspect it will be rather more favorable to the two elder ones and somewhat less favorable to Ted.
Really? Because JFK was so great in escalating the needless Vietnam War and paving the way for the death of 58,000 brave Americans? Because JFK and RFK dragged their feet on civil rights to the point that Martin Luther King had to hold the most famous protest in American history to get their attention? Because RFK worked hand in hand with Joe McCarthy and ordered King's phones tapped? Because JFK ordered the Bay of Pigs invasion?
JFK and RFK were both awful. Of course Ted Kennedy comes out the best of them.
Posted by: Dilan Esper | August 26, 2009 6:54 PM
Yep pity old Ted was such a liberal.It tends to skew your outlook in life to the extent that you only see the flaws you want to see. He was a great supporter of racism against the blacks in SA. But was as silent as a lamb when racism agains whites in the same SA was revealed.May he rest in peace.
Posted by: dan berriman | August 27, 2009 11:18 AM
Thank you Ellen!!
Posted by: Leigh | August 27, 2009 7:26 PM