Though his home was on the East Coast, U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, who died late Tuesday night after a yearlong struggle with a malignant brain tumor, was no stranger to Austin — or the UT campus.
A former UT student body president, several professors and a congressman recall their personal encounters with the “The Lion of the Senate” for The Daily Texan.
A champion of equality
“We had a reception for Ted Kennedy, and we presented him with a Stetson [cowboy] hat at a Longhorn football game,” said Frank Cooksey, a former UT student body president and Austin mayor, as he recalled a Texas spirit rally that Kennedy attended in late 1960.
“He was very personable and very pleasant.”
Cooksey followed Kennedy’s career closely and had the chance to work with him on several occasions as the mayor of Austin. He remembers the senator, who played a key role in landmark civil rights and health care legislation, as a champion of equality.
“We believed in a lot of the same things,” Cooksey said. “From his first term as a senator, he was committed to the passage of many civil rights acts.”
A close friend
Kennedy’s dedication to health care became more personal for Ray Marshall, Kennedy’s personal friend and a professor emeritus at the LBJ School, when both men’s sons were diagnosed with similar types of cancer at the same time.
“His son survived and mine didn’t,” Marshall said. “When we got home from the hospital after our son died, there was Ted Kennedy waiting for us on the front porch. He just had a really unusual level of compassion.”
After Kennedy’s son became ill, the nine-term Massachusetts senator became a strong advocate for health care reform.
“He thought it ought to be a fundamental right for everyone to have quality health care,” Marshall said.
Because of his ability to connect with so many people, Marshall said the Democratic senator, whose life was marked by scandals and personal tragedy, was able to achieve an almost unheard-of level of bipartisan support in both the House and the Senate. Outside of the Senate, Marshall said Kennedy was always great company, had a good sense of humor and displayed a great deal of interest in discussing issues.
“But he also knew the limit on [bipartisan support],” Marshall said. “He thought if you went too far and compromised, you gave up the integrity of what you were trying to do. That’s what he felt happened with the recent immigration reform.”
A hard worker
Kennedy’s persistence and hard work still resonates with Bob Mann, a journalism lecturer and former Kennedy press secretary, who wrote speeches for the senator from 1984 to 1987.
“Once you work for Ted Kennedy, you always work for Ted Kennedy,” Mann said.
Mann remembers finishing one job for the Senator and immediately being rewarded with a list of 10 new tasks.
“But there was no question to his commitment to helping minorities, gay people and women,” Mann said. “He was one of the most courageous people I knew.”
Mann said finding someone to replace Kennedy as an advocate for health care reform will be a challenge for President Barack Obama.
“If Ted Kennedy had been sitting here during all this silliness that’s going on right now concerning health care reform, I can tell you, it would not be happening,” Mann said. “His absence is already being felt there.”
An age-old enthusiasm
U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett remembers attending an Obama rally with Kennedy and being inspired by the then-76-year-old senator’s enthusiasm.
“He really moved everyone there with his compelling call for change and strong support for Barack Obama,” Doggett said in a statement addressed to The Daily Texan. “Inspired by his lifetime of leadership, we must redouble our efforts to provide access to affordable, quality health care to all Americans.”
The future of the liberal senate
A week before he died, Kennedy wrote a letter to Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, urging Patrick to appoint an interim senator upon Kennedy’s death to serve until a special election takes place, according to The Boston Globe. The governor said Wednesday that he supports the idea but did not suggest any replacements as of press time
“When you lose someone with 47 years of experience, they are really hard to replace,” Cooksey said. “Ted Kennedy, along with the rest of his family, had a legacy; a place in history that really was very unique.”
6 comments
As a student:
1. He was caught cheating at Harvard when he attended it. He was expelled twice, once for cheating on a test, and once for paying a classmate to cheat for him.
2. While attending law school at the University of Virginia, he was cited for reckless driving four times, including once when he was clocked driving 90 miles per hour in a residential neighborhood with his headlights off after dark.. Yet his Virginia driver's license was never revoked.
He was known around Washington as a public drunk, loud, boisterous, and very disrespectful to ladies. JERK is a better description than "great American". "A blonde in every pond" is his motto.
How quickly the American public forgets what his real legacy is.