Ted Kennedy-A Complex Man Is Gone

I had the great opportunity to work an internship in the Senate offices of Edward M. Kennedy while attending Gonzaga High School in Washington in the early 70’s. The Senator’s death last night after a long battle with brain cancer has sent the memories of that time rushing back into my consciousness.

Some kids at my school worked in soup kitchens, some at homeless shelters-and some, like me, on Capitol Hill. It was the luck of the draw that I got to intern for Teddy.

As much as he is being remembered fondly today, my stint with the Senator was some 37 years ago. Just a couple of years removed from the Chappaquiddick scandal, Senator Kennedy was being treated by some as political kryptonite. His chances for the Democratic nomination in 1972 all but dashed, there was even talk that he would retire.

Of course, all of this was lost on a high school kid who found himself shaking hands with a member of the Kennedy clan, a world-famous (or infamous) family whose stranglehold on the American political culture still endures.

I was nervous, awkward and bumbling I’m sure as I was introduced to the Senator in his expansive office, filled with photos of his brothers and other family members-loaded with mementos of a famous life, alternating between world leaders and shots of sailing off the coast of Hyannis.

Not a huge fan, given his latest scandal, I was nonetheless taken in by his charm, his seemingly genuine manner and easygoing style. Ted Kennedy put me so at ease right away that I found myself “giving him the business” as well. Noting that the “M” initial of his middle name stood for Moore, my last name, he wondered aloud with a wink whether or not we might be related. I said that was OK with me as long as I could use the family compound at Hyannis port while vacationing. Sensing I may have overstepped my bounds, I braced for a bad reaction.

Instead, Teddy laughed out loud-and told me he’d see what he could do! From that point on, our fabricated family relations were sort of a running joke- a way of connecting in the hallways during the several times I ran into him afterwards.

My job in the office was to read and sort through his mail. There were several of us—and we read everything that came to the office.

EVERYTHING.

Didn’t matter if a letter were perfumed and stamped “Personal & Confidential”. I opened and read letters from his then-wife Joan, his kids-everybody—and we all shared the letters that frightened us---and the ones that piqued our curiosity.

The vast majority were really quite boring-issue-oriented letters for pending legislation. Our job was to sort these into bins for future action and response. Health care, urban renewal, crime,---you name it, plus the huge assortment of constituents who needed this or that from their elected representative in Congress.

There were a lot of letters from women.

Most, I assumed, were from crackpots whose Teddy fantasies somehow found their way to a mailbox. There were, however, others whose legitimacy seemed more plausible. Coherent language, details of places and events—and sometimes OTHER details that I’d better not mention here. Suffice it to say that this Kennedy brother really got around-much like his now deceased older siblings.

There were also the death threats.

These also were sorted into a bin, but one that went directly to the FBI and the Secret Service. Less than four years after the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, there were no chances being taken with the last surviving Kennedy brother.

There is much you can glean from reading another man’s mail-and while I felt uncomfortable about doing so at first, I soon got used to it knowing that:
a) it WAS my job and
b) the Senator was very aware that his staff was reading even the personal stuff.

What I learned about Teddy could probably be extended by DNA to both John and Robert as well. They were all larger-than-life figures. Their triumphs were as big as it gets—and their failings likewise matched the successes in scope and enormity.

Perhaps one of Teddy’s finest moments came in the way he eulogized his fallen brother Bobby in 1969-below is an excerpt:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkhqTlL2pP0


Teddy was no doubt used to being compared to his brothers-and perhaps that was all so unfair over a lifetime, but the similarities are hard to ignore. Teddy was a complex man of enormous appetites. Those flaws of character often got him into trouble-and trouble for a Kennedy (unlike that for most of us) makes headlines.

Still, a long career in the Senate, a resume that includes passionate work on pressing issues that affected the disadvantaged especially--will be the things he'll be remembered for.

And while I still don’t agree with many of his political positions over the years, it is true that Democrats and Republicans alike found him an engaging leader, a person who didn’t let politics affect personal relations—and an effective Senator---whatever your political persuasion. He got things done—and in a world where gridlock is the norm, perhaps this ability to turn stalemate into compromise through personal persuasion will be Teddy’s lasting legacy.


If you’d like my blog in your box daily, just let me know: tim.moore@citcomm.com