Top 10 Surprising Facts about Ted Kennedy

Top 10 Surprising Facts about Ted Kennedy

Ted Kennedy by City of Boston Archives from Wikimedia Commons

Edward Moore Kennedy, sometimes known as Ted Kennedy, was a Democratic politician and President John F. Kennedy’s younger brother (JFK). Between 1962 and 2009, he served as a US senator for 47 years, making him one of the longest-serving senators in American history and garnering him the moniker “liberal lion of the Senate.”

Ted has built a reputation as a powerful member on Capitol Hill, but he has also courted controversy over the years. On Chappaquiddick Island, Massachusetts, he drove his automobile off a bridge in 1969. Mary Jo Kopechne, Ted’s passenger, perished as Ted fled. He fled the site and did not report the event for another 9 hours.

Ted’s ambitions of becoming president were dashed as a result of the Chappaquiddick Incident: he ran for president in 1980 but was defeated by Jimmy Carter. Ted settled for the Senate instead, where he implemented a slew of liberal measures and reforms throughout the course of his lengthy career.

Here are some interesting facts about Ted Kennedy.

1. He was John F. Kennedy’s younger brother

Ted Kennedy by Bernard Gotfryd from Wikimedia Commons

Ted Kennedy was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on February 22, 1932, to Rose Fitzgerald and Joseph P. Kennedy, the affluent patriarch of the Kennedy clan.

Ted was the youngest of the nine children born to Rose and Joseph. He and his brothers were taught from a young age to strive for achievement and to one day hold the country’s highest political office: the president. John F. Kennedy, Ted’s older brother, would go on to accomplish just that.

2. By the time he was eleven, he had moved schools ten times

Joseph Sr., Ted’s father, was a powerful businessman and politician. His job required him to travel across the nation frequently, which meant the family had to relocate frequently. As a result, Ted is said to have moved schools ten times before turning eleven.

3. Tragic events occurred early in his life

President Kennedy and his brothers by Cecil (Cecil William) from Wikimedia Commons

The Kennedys have a history of tragedy and controversy. Throughout Ted’s childhood, the Kennedys were subjected to a number of tragic events.

Ted’s sister Rosemary, for example, had a botched lobotomy in 1941. She spent the remainder of her life in a mental hospital. Ted’s brother Joe Jr. was killed in combat during World War II in 1944. Ted’s sister Kathleen was murdered in an aircraft disaster just 4 years later. Ted is reported to have taken on the role of the family clown during this time, attempting to bring some light to the Kennedys’ gloomy era of misfortune.

4. Harvard University kicked him out

Ted, like his brothers before him, was a Harvard University student. He showed great promise as a footballer there, but he battled with the Spanish language. Ted had a student take his Spanish exam for him rather than flunk the class. Ted was expelled once the plot was exposed.

Ted served in the military for two years after his expulsion before being permitted to return to Harvard. He received his diploma in 1956 and went on to study at the International Law School in The Hague, Holland, and then the Virginia Law School, where he received his diploma in 1959.

5. He was elected to JFK’s Senate seat

George Bruce, Rod McGregor and Ted Kennedy by Wikimedia Commons

Ted campaigned for his brother JFK’s victorious 1960 presidential campaign after graduation. When JFK resigned from the US Senate to run for president, Ted ran for and won his old seat, becoming a Massachusetts congressman at the age of 30. JFK was assassinated three years later, in 1963.

6. In 1964, he survived a plane crash in 1964

Ted had a near-miss with death in a tiny plane over Massachusetts in June 1964. The plane ran into terrible weather and crashed, killing two of the passengers.

Ted survived with his life, but not without a fractured back and internal haemorrhaging. He spent six months in the hospital rehabilitating and would suffer from severe pain for the next few years.

7. Ted’s public image was harmed by the Chappaquiddick incident

Ted Kennedy Chappaquiddick_bridge by Arwcheek from Wikimedia Commons

Ted was driving himself and Mary Jo Kopechne, a campaign volunteer, across Chappaquiddick Island, Massachusetts, on July 18, 1969. He drove the automobile off an unmarked bridge by mistake.

Ted was able to get out of the truck, but Kopechne perished. Ted then departed the scene of the event, reporting it to authorities 9 hours later, reportedly due to a concussion and exhaustion from attempting to save Kopechne. He received a 2-month suspended sentence after being found guilty of fleeing the scene of an accident.

Ted survived the collision at Chappaquiddick with his life, but his goal of becoming president did not. Ted’s public image was severely harmed as a result of the episode, which became a nationwide scandal. In 1980, he ran for President against incumbent Jimmy Carter, but his campaign was harmed by both weak organization and the Chappaquiddick Incident investigation. His bid for the presidency was a flop.

8. Later in life, Ted courted controversy

Later in life, Ted was also the subject of investigation and scandal. Rumours of Ted’s infidelity and alcoholism circulated in the American press and public during the 1980s, and he and his wife Joan Bennett Kennedy separated in 1982 after a 24-year marriage. 

Decades later, in 2016, Ted’s son Patrick Kennedy published a book, A Common Struggle: A Personal Journey Through the Past and Future of Mental Illness and Addiction. In it, he described Ted’s alleged struggles with alcohol and mental illness:

“My father suffered from PTSD, and because he denied himself treatment — and had chronic pain from the back injury he received in a small plane crash in 1964 when he was a very young senator — he sometimes self-medicated in other ways.”

9. Throughout his later years, he remained a renowned liberal politician

Ted Kennedy with comedians by Laura Patterson from Wikimedia Commons

Despite the public examination of his personal life, Ted remained a powerful politician for decades. He was re-elected to the US Senate on a continuous basis, serving for 47 years between 1962 and 2009, making him one of the country’s longest-serving senators.

10. On August 25, 2009, he passed away

In the summer of 2008, Ted was diagnosed with a brain tumour. On August 15, 2009, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and in March 2009, he was made an honorary Knight of the British Empire for his contributions to Northern Ireland and British-American relations.

After his death, it became clear that the “Camelot age” had come to an end. In his obituary in the New York Times, Kennedy was characterized as follows:

“His shock of white hair, his florid, enormous face, his booming Boston accent, and his muscular but tortured stride made him a Rabelaisian figure in the Senate and in life. He was a celebrity, a self-parody at times, a loyal friend, an unforgiving opponent, a guy of great faith and great weaknesses, a sad figure who persevered, drank profoundly, and sang loudly. He was a member of the Kennedy family.”