I entered politics in 1962 along with Ted Kennedy. Well, not exactly. Actually, I entered politics against Ted Kennedy. No, I was not for Edward McCormack, who was Speaker McCormack's nephew and was running against Teddy in the Democratic primary. And I was also not for George Cabot Lodge, Ted's G.O.P. opponent and descendant of many Massachusetts Cabots and Lodges going back to George Cabot, who served as the Bay State's United States Senator from 1791 to 1796. (The family still lives but not the party of its ancestors.) I actually supported H. Stuart Hughes, an intellectual historian at Harvard and the grandson of Charles Evans Hughes--Chief Justice of the United States and the 1916 Republican nominee for president against Woodrow Wilson. So there were four eminent scions in the race.
Hughes was one of the first post-war peace candidates and ended up with 2.4% of the vote. The issue was not Vietnam. There were two issues then: nuclear disarmament and "fair play for Cuba." Hughes and Dr. Benjamin Spock, on whom many of you were raised, were co-chairmen of the National Committee for a SANE Nuclear Policy. The dyad attracted high-borns who disdained Teddy's father Joe and brothers Jack (by then president of the United States) and Robert (attorney general on the New Frontier); ideological sandal wearers; Quakers plus other pacifists; Communists and ex-Communists (yes, Virginia, there were Communists) and fellow-travelers who somehow decided they'd go politically underground during the Red Scare. It was folks like these who dominated the adult "peace movement" for several years until Gene McCarthy and masses of dissident Democrats came along. The child peace movement was, well, childish and destructive. Plus Abbie Hoffman, Norman Mailer and some professors. Actually wicked.
The Cuban missile crisis intruded on the senatorial campaign and made Ted's victory inevitable. It was a time of high danger, but in America no one wanted to capitulate to what nearly everyone saw as Khrushchev's blackmail--and fraudulent blackmail, at that. I have to confess that Teddy, who was 30 at the time, seemed exactly 30 ... and more than a bit overwhelmed.
And then the president was murdered, targeted on a hill in Dallas by a nut-case lefty. And some years later, on the night of his narrow victory over McCarthy in the 1968 California Democratic primary, Bobby was assassinated in a kitchen at Los Angeles' Ambassador Hotel--gunned down (dare we forget?) by one of the first Palestinian terrorists operating internationally. Sirhan Sirhan was his name, and it was he to whom Bill Ayers dedicated his book Prairie Fire.
Then there was the Mary Jo Kopechne matter. Forty years ago. I have great sympathy. But I no longer judge. And who am I to judge anyway?
I've read the biographies, his and those of his brothers. And of his father and mother. These are the most crucial. Even if you've read the most pious and flattering of them, you cannot believe that Teddy had an easy life ... or even a pampered life, which is not exactly the same. The father was a monster. The mother lived in another world--populated with angels, burdened with sin, relieved by prayer, animated by pieties, surrounded by priests ... The psychology of incoherence lived on among her grandchildren.
Senator Kennedy was burdened by his brothers. This may be a cliché. But he carried the burden soberly. I actually believe that he was more serious--or became more serious--than his brothers. While they had become idols before they were entitled to the station, he escaped it by his mishaps--by his failure, pre-eminently, to defeat Jimmy Carter, who was on his own way to defeat, both political and historical.
But Ted, whom many considered shaky, was steady ... very steady. His brothers were born into privilege, and he matured into responsibility, rather more the ideal of responsibility than the responsibility of ideals which can blind you. He also worked extremely hard. He was lucky: he did not need to keep the Bay State home fires burning. He was a shoo-in every time he ran after 1962. What he worked on was his real work, the business of the United States Senate.
So here he was, until the zillionaire class reached the Senate a decade or so ago, the richest person in that body. And I believe he was an egalitarian. On health care, on taxes, on education (the intricacy of which he probably was not sufficiently aware), he believed that the privileged must bear the burdens of the luckless and the unreasonably punished.
Ted knew that we are bound to each other even if each of us does not know it. That is the purpose of law and of the law ... at least according to Edward M. Kennedy, the unexpected titan.
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COMMENTS (14)
Ted Kennedy in the course of his career committed what can only be called an act of treason.
This letter which details Senator Edward Kennedy’s offer to help the Soviet Union defeat Reagan’s efforts to build up the nuclear deterrent in Europe was unearthed by a Times of London reporter in the 1990s after the KGB files were opened.
http://sweetness-light.com/archive/kgb-letter-details-kennedy-offer-to-ussr
Ted Kennedy in the course of his career committed what can only be called an act of treason.
This letter which details Senator Edward Kennedy’s offer to help the Soviet Union defeat Reagan’s efforts to build up the nuclear deterrent in Europe was unearthed by a Times of London reporter in the 1990s after the KGB files were opened.
http://sweetness-light.com/archive/kgb-letter-details-kennedy-offer-to-ussr
bulb:
...Edward Kennedy offer[ed] to help the Soviet Union defeat Reagan’s efforts to build up the nuclear deterrent in Europe...
george:
And when Ronald Reagan shredded the Constitution in his end run around the Boland Amendment; when he secretly conducted his own private foreign policy selling weapons to Iran; when he took that money to fund his own private war against the Contras in Nicaragua...
That's not a reasonable assessment of treasonous behavior? Or does this not count because his intentions were pure as the driven snow? In other words, in alignment with your own political values.
So, it's treason when liberals do it. But when conservatives do it, it's okay because the treasonous libe ... view full comment
bulb:
...Edward Kennedy offer[ed] to help the Soviet Union defeat Reagan’s efforts to build up the nuclear deterrent in Europe...
george:
And when Ronald Reagan shredded the Constitution in his end run around the Boland Amendment; when he secretly conducted his own private foreign policy selling weapons to Iran; when he took that money to fund his own private war against the Contras in Nicaragua...
That's not a reasonable assessment of treasonous behavior? Or does this not count because his intentions were pure as the driven snow? In other words, in alignment with your own political values.
So, it's treason when liberals do it. But when conservatives do it, it's okay because the treasonous liberals left them no choice.
Something like that?
This is how hypocrisy ever unfolds in the battle between Good and Evil. Liberals do this too, of course. But they never quite achieve the sheer arrogance of conservatives. The current health care debate may have broken new ground even for them, but let's never forget they have had decades of practice.
george
reposted from the old forum:
I had a lot of respect for Ted Kennedy and was glad that I got to vote for him in a number of elections. Still, the news reports, here in Mass, have been overwhelming and I seem to have Kennedy fatigue.
I always thought the Chappaquiddick incident not least because of the loss of life but also because it kept Ted from running for President in 1976. What a different country this would have been had he instead of Carter become commander in chief. We also would not have had to put up with Reagan presidency.
reposted from the old forum:
I had a lot of respect for Ted Kennedy and was glad that I got to vote for him in a number of elections. Still, the news reports, here in Mass, have been overwhelming and I seem to have Kennedy fatigue.
I always thought the Chappaquiddick incident not least because of the loss of life but also because it kept Ted from running for President in 1976. What a different country this would have been had he instead of Carter become commander in chief. We also would not have had to put up with Reagan presidency.
Oh me god, little old georgie wallton is back!
Oh me god, little old georgie wallton is back!
Hey I worked for HSH too, for a while, until the Cuban missile crisis ended that little adventure. As for Teddy Kennedy, I am sorry
for his friends and family but it's not like when we lost John and Bobbby (and Martin Luther King). My whole life, the way I
feel about America, and my hopes for this country have never been the same since JFK was killed, even though he had not been
particularly effective when he died and turned out to have been less than a paragon of virtue. I never recovered from MLK's
death either, although he was floundering when he died (but might have made it back) and was also something of a bounder.
Teddy did some good things in his life, was ... view full comment
Hey I worked for HSH too, for a while, until the Cuban missile crisis ended that little adventure. As for Teddy Kennedy, I am sorry
for his friends and family but it's not like when we lost John and Bobbby (and Martin Luther King). My whole life, the way I
feel about America, and my hopes for this country have never been the same since JFK was killed, even though he had not been
particularly effective when he died and turned out to have been less than a paragon of virtue. I never recovered from MLK's
death either, although he was floundering when he died (but might have made it back) and was also something of a bounder.
Teddy did some good things in his life, was apparently a skilled legislative technician, and very good at reading speeches written
by others (though not very quick on his feet). He also behaved inexcusably when he was old enough to know better but bought
his way out of it anyway--and he was damaged by the Kopechne affair for a long time, just as Clinton was damaged by his more mundane
moral failings. It remained true that if Teddy's name had been Edward Moore, he would not have been where he was
and would not have been the lion of anything. All in all, like most of us Teddy had some good qualities (including kindness and a lack of pretense) as well some that were not so good, and he tried, at times, to make the most of what he was given. That does not make him one of the immortals.
" ... The psychology of incoherence lived on among her grandchildren."
Exactly what is meant by this statement?
" ... The psychology of incoherence lived on among her grandchildren."
Exactly what is meant by this statement?
jack, I'm working my way through the new format. Is More lost to us?
jack, I'm working my way through the new format. Is More lost to us?
...Then there was the Mary Jo Kopechne matter. Forty years ago. I have great sympathy. But I no longer judge. And who am I to judge anyway?...
Never knew this to be a problem for you.
The question you rhetorically ask sounds tendentious to me.
And you have "great sympathy" for whom?
...Then there was the Mary Jo Kopechne matter. Forty years ago. I have great sympathy. But I no longer judge. And who am I to judge anyway?...
Never knew this to be a problem for you.
The question you rhetorically ask sounds tendentious to me.
And you have "great sympathy" for whom?
“jack, I'm working my way through the new format. Is More lost to us?”
The post have been preserved, Itzik, here:
http://www.tnr.com/blog/john-mcwhorter/should-we-have-read-the-bard-hear...
It looks like some new threads have transferred all the old post while others did not, at least not yet.
Luckily our thread has been preserved mostly intact.
We’ll have to find another thread to discuss James Wood’s article, though. I suggest,
view full comment
“jack, I'm working my way through the new format. Is More lost to us?”
The post have been preserved, Itzik, here:
http://www.tnr.com/blog/john-mcwhorter/should-we-have-read-the-bard-hear...
It looks like some new threads have transferred all the old post while others did not, at least not yet.
Luckily our thread has been preserved mostly intact.
We’ll have to find another thread to discuss James Wood’s article, though. I suggest,
http://www.tnr.com/blog/the-avenue/21st-century-governing-18th-century-t...
if it’s ok with you and LR?
Itzik, do you have to sign in all over again each time you access TNR website?
Itzik, do you have to sign in all over again each time you access TNR website?
Nice post. jackson, oddly enough, I hadn't played out that 1976 scenario that you mentioned. Yes, if Teddy had been able to run in 76, he surely would have won and we would have been spared the Carter-Reagan years. That would have been sweet.
Interesting new format. I am warming to it. In a week or so, it will be like clockwork.
Nice post. jackson, oddly enough, I hadn't played out that 1976 scenario that you mentioned. Yes, if Teddy had been able to run in 76, he surely would have won and we would have been spared the Carter-Reagan years. That would have been sweet.
Interesting new format. I am warming to it. In a week or so, it will be like clockwork.
...Itzik, do you have to sign in all over again each time you access TNR website...
So far yeah.
By the way here is the site for Wood that we were going to use.
It seems in tact.
http://www.tnr.com/blog/alan-wolfe/further-thoughts-untenable-distinction
Is that okay?
I was going to try to get something up this weekend on the essay, but my week itself has been very busy and so, sadly, is my weekend for differering reasons.
Hope to have something soon.
LR seems to come and go a lot.
btw It's my impression that you seem in "fighting tr ... view full comment
...Itzik, do you have to sign in all over again each time you access TNR website...
So far yeah.
By the way here is the site for Wood that we were going to use.
It seems in tact.
http://www.tnr.com/blog/alan-wolfe/further-thoughts-untenable-distinction
Is that okay?
I was going to try to get something up this weekend on the essay, but my week itself has been very busy and so, sadly, is my weekend for differering reasons.
Hope to have something soon.
LR seems to come and go a lot.
btw It's my impression that you seem in "fighting trim".
The site you suggested is fine.
"Hope to have something soon."
Take yout ime.
"LR seems to come and go a lot."
Yes, I hope he'll be back soon.
"btw It's my impression that you seem in "fighting trim"."
Mentally, yes, though I still can't sit for a long time and type.
I should be completely recovered in a few weeks.
The site you suggested is fine.
"Hope to have something soon."
Take yout ime.
"LR seems to come and go a lot."
Yes, I hope he'll be back soon.
"btw It's my impression that you seem in "fighting trim"."
Mentally, yes, though I still can't sit for a long time and type.
I should be completely recovered in a few weeks.
MrCookie1
"Nice post. jackson, oddly enough, I hadn't played out that 1976 scenario that you mentioned. Yes, if Teddy had been able to run in 76, he surely would have won and we would have been spared the Carter-Reagan years. That would have been sweet. "
Thanks, I realized back in the 80's what a loss Kennedy's accident was. It's all history now, though.
MrCookie1
"Nice post. jackson, oddly enough, I hadn't played out that 1976 scenario that you mentioned. Yes, if Teddy had been able to run in 76, he surely would have won and we would have been spared the Carter-Reagan years. That would have been sweet. "
Thanks, I realized back in the 80's what a loss Kennedy's accident was. It's all history now, though.