The Life and Legacy of Sen. Kennedy

 

His high school years were spent at Milton Academy, where he became a star in football. Continuing in the legacies of his brothers and father, Kennedy enrolled at Harvard College in 1950, where he was a popular, spirited student with a concentration in government studies and a member of the football team. In 1951, Kennedy took time off from Harvard and enlisted in the United States Army. Much of his time in the military was spent as a military police officer in Paris; he left the service two years later as a private first-class and returned to Harvard to finish his degree. Kennedy graduated from Harvard in 1956, and then followed in his older brother Bobby’s footsteps and enrolled at the University of Virginia Law School. By 1958, Kennedy was running the senate campaign of his other brother, John F. Kennedy. Two years later, Kennedy was the campaign manager of the western states for JFK’s presidential campaign. After JFK was inaugurated in 1961 as President of the United States, Kennedy had his eye on the senate seat that his brother had vacated. 

 

Kennedy finally assumed the post as Senator to Massachusetts via a special election in 1962. His Senate debute came on November 7th of that year, and just over a year later, the junior Senator received the news that President John F. Kennedy, his older brother, had been assassinated in Dallas, Texas. On June 4, 1968, Kennedy lost another brother when Robert F. Kennedy, while running for President, was shot and killed in Los Angeles. With the passing of his elder brothers, Kennedy seemed the logical choice to succeed them into the presidency, but was not yet poised for the position. He instead rose to the occasion as the head patriarch of the Kennedy family, and became the youngest Senate Majority Whip in history.

 

After a sequence of health tragedies struck the Senator, including a plane crash that left two dead and Kennedy in severe condition with back injuries, and the cancer and severe asthma diagnoses of his sons, Edward Jr. and Patrick, respectively, Senator Kennedy adopted health care as his main legislative issue.

 

Finally the timing felt right for Senator Kennedy to try his hand at the Democratic Presidential nomination in 1980. Challenging incumbent Democratic President Jimmy Carter proved to be too formidable a task, and Kennedy did not win the nomination against the sitting President. While the results were a sombering blow to Kennedy, it reinvigorated his commitment to the Senate and his ability to serve the public in the legislative capacity.

 

Ever since, he worked tirelessly for Massachusetts as its most dedicated public servant. To learn more about his Senate accomplishments, click here.