Camelot Ends, Again: The Passing of Senator Ted Kennedy

Senator Ted Kennedy's dramatic speech to the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver on August 25, 2008. "The hope rises again, and the dream lives on."

Camelot has ended. Again.

The death late last night in Massachusetts of Ted Kennedy, one of the historic lions of the United States Senate, followed swiftly on the heels of his sister, the Special Olympics founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who passed away on August 11th. With the passing of these two very public personalities, only one of the siblings of JFK and RFK, the much more private former Ambassador to Ireland Jean Kennedy Smith, remains.

Camelot has ended again. Which means that it has ended before. And probably will again. For it is a legend, and legend seldom dies for long, if at all.

Camelot was the nickname for John F. Kennedy's thousand day administration of the early 1960s, chosen because of the young president's fondness for the hit Broadway musical about the legendary court of King Arthur.

But it was really about much more than a single presidential administration, or the immediate promise of another under a President Robert F. Kennedy, or the long lingering promise of yet another under a President Edward M. Kennedy, or even the transferred promise of another under a President Barack Obama.

Camelot's beginning, with President-elect John F. Kennedy's victory speech at the Hyannis Armory on November 9, 1960.

It's about a spirit, a spirit which to many seemed to have been captured like lightning in a bottle in the early 1960s, an exciting time of promise and peril, which accounts for that era's powerful hold on the American popular imagination.

Ted Kennedy himself captured the spirit of the thing in his great eulogy for Robert F. Kennedy at New York's St. Patrick's Cathedral on June 8th, 1968 when he quoted from his second slain brother's speech to the youth of South Africa on their Day of Affirmation a few years earlier.

"The answer is to rely on youth. Not a time of life but a state of mind, a temper of the will, a quality of imagination, a predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease."

Ted Kennedy's great eulogy of his brother Robert, at New York's St. Patrick's Cathedral on June 8, 1968.

Ted Kennedy was never to have been the leader of his family nor its standard-bearer in national politics. That was to have been eldest brother Joe Kennedy. But he died over the English Channel in World War II, killed in the explosion of an experimental weapons system, earning the Navy Cross and the thanks of a grateful nation. If not the thanks of his next youngest brother, John Kennedy, a more ironical type who wanted to be a writer instead of a politician but ended as the youngest man ever elected to the presidency. Robert Kennedy, of course, then took up the briefly fallen standard but after his assassination it came to the baby brother of the family.

Who did not fare so well challenging a sitting president of his own party but ended, following a Senate career beginning with his inauguration in 1962, as the third longest serving senator in American history. Rather than the lightning strikes which characterized his brothers' forays in national politics, Ted Kennedy became the master of the long slog, placing a deep imprint on the American fabric.

From his perch on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which he once chaired and where he served longer than anyone else in history, he shaped the judicial system. Through his chairmanship of Senate committees on labor, education, and health issues, and through sheer assertiveness, determination, and skill as a sort of senator at large, Kennedy played a critical role in developing education, housing, and health care opportunities, advancing the civil rights of women, minorities, gays, immigrants, and the disabled, and promoting human rights, arms control while opposing unwise intervention around the world.

And his early endorsement last year of a then trailing Barack Obama provided a forceful counterweight to former President Bill Clinton and helped the freshman senator win a rugged nomination fight against Hillary Clinton as he, niece Caroline Kennedy, and other members of the Kennedy family worked to attach the aura of the Kennedy legacy to Obama.

Senator Ted Kennedy's 1980 Democratic convention speech conceded nothing in defeat, delivering a powerful rebuke not to the president, Jimmy Carter, who had won the nomination but to the rising conservatism of a president to come, Ronald Reagan. "The dream shall never die."

It was then that it became apparent that Ted Kennedy was ailing. While his speeches were vigorous and well-received, Kennedy tired easily and found it difficult to move around much on the campaign trail. Never the healthiest of men in his later years -- he really didn't work out with nephew Arnold Schwarzenegger -- it seemed at first that the problem was related to earlier health problems. But in May of last year, the truth became apparent after Kennedy suffered a seizure, leading to a diagnosis of a cancerous brain tumor.

He made a brave and dramatic appearance at last year's Democratic National Convention in Colorado, a state he ran for his brother John in the 1960 presidential campaign.

As fate would have it, it was a year to the day before his death.

"This November," he declared, "the torch will be passed again to a new generation of Americans. So, with Barack Obama and for you and for me, our country will be committed to his cause. The work begins anew. The hope rises again. And the dream lives on."

He went on to vow to attend Obama's inauguration. Which he did, only to suffer another seizure at the Inaugural luncheon immediately after in Statuary Hall.

He returned to the Senate to break the Republican filibuster against Obama's economic recovery program, but mostly faded after that, his absence felt most critically in the health care debate, where a powerful Senate presence has been sorely lacking.

Imagine how the current health care debate would have been different, had Ted Kennedy, with his powerful advocacy for progressive principle coupled with the ability to find a way to work, when possible, with a few Republicans, been able to bring his force and focus to bear this year.

He was able to participate in the re-authorization of Americorps, in the form of the Edward Kennedy Serve America Act, and threw out the ceremonial first pitch to open the Boston Red Sox season in April.

But when sister Eunice, who suffered a series of strokes over the last several years that did not rob her of her essential verve, passed away two weeks ago, he was only able to attend a private family gathering, but not the public wake and funeral service.

Camelot has ended, again. But as Ted Kennedy himself pointed out, the legend is ever renewable. "The hope rises again, and the dream lives on."

For it is not about "a time of life but a state of mind, a temper of the will, a quality of imagination, a predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease."

Though a most imperfect man, Ted Kennedy made his choice over a life of ease, and America is much the better for it.

You can check things during the day on my site, New West Notes ... www.newwestnotes.com.

Comments

[creolechild]

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[SparkyDash]

Farewell dear Senator. Thank you.

[natalie0nine]

Camelot ended on Nov 22 , 1963.

[messy]

Camelot never happened. It was a myth to begin with.

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

In the sense that it is a legend.

[FearlessFreep]

What most Democrats don't appreciate is that the Kennedy legacy has mostly worked against their party, allowing the Republicans to depict them as elitists.

[LizM]

I've always had a hard time understanding what is the big problem with political leaders being of the 'elite' variety. When did 'elite' become such a bad word?

[SparkyDash]

Elite is not a bad word.

Neither is education.

Nor is the term "appreciation of the arts."

I've never considered it a bad choice to view public television or listen to public radio.

I don't see the negative in providing affordable, accessible, quality healthcare for all Americans.

And I find it especially difficult to find much fault in caring for the welfare of others for no other reason than because it is the right thing to do.

But then, that's just me ;-)


"Teddy spent a lifetime working for a fairer and more just America. It was never about him; it was always about you." VP Joe Biden, 8/26/09

[Winning09]

Probably because it ain't true.

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

Actually, that's been a problem for the Democratic alliance with Hollywood, not with the Kennedys.

[LizM]

That was a wonderful tribute to Ted Kennedy and a very moving retrospective on the Kennedy brothers and the legend that IS Camelot.

As you know, the sense of the dream and the hope that Senator Kennedy worked tirelessly in the senate to keep alive extends well beyond the borders of the US. The United States Senate just became a different place and he will be missed.

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

Thank you. And, as you say, his impact is global.

[Solja]

I just signed this petition (below) to honor Ted Kennedy, which will be delivered to senators on Monday:

"Ted Kennedy was a courageous champion for health care reform his entire life. In his honor, name the reform bill that passed Kennedy's health committee 'The Kennedy Bill' -- then pass it, and nothing less, through the Senate."

Kennedy's bill includes a public health insurance option, and it would be an honor to Kennedy's memory if it passed the Senate. Will you sign the petition? You can sign here.

Thanks! Here's the petition (pass it on!)
http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/5649/t/4922/content.jsp?content_KEY=2763&tag=hk2_auto1

[luvly56]

Ted Kennedy was a inspiration to all. He had enormous strength and exceeded beyond his own incapabilities. This man endured the pain of sickness to help out our country. Many times I believed Ted was not feeling good or had the strength to proceed in his office but he knew there were work that needed to be done so he continued to press the issues of health care and many things that made our country the way we are today. Many cheers and thanks should never be forgotten for the greatness that this man betrayed during the years. He will be missed by me personally.

[Winning09]

The greatness he betrayed? I think you meant something else. But it's a good sentiment.

[mythster]

Met any "perfect men" lately? I hear Demosthenes is still looking

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

You're referring to the pull quote, I take it, which is hardly the core of the piece. Demosthenes wasn't looking for a perfect man, by the way.

[Steamboater]

Bradley: Robert Kennedy would have given us Camelot if he had lived and become president and Ted Kennedy surely gave us Camelot or at least tried to as a senator but John F. Kennedy and Camelot was more than myth; it was a lie. JFK, for hall his grace and intelligence increased the level of troops and our commitment into the Vietnam War, the very war that his broither Robert eventually opposed and would have ended and we know that because of RFK's record in regard to that. No use speculating what JFK would have done because there's no hard evidence he would have done any different. So let's not play this bleary-eyed game of JFK as somehow King Arthur fighting the good fight. That same illusion is now played by democrats who don't want to see the raging parallels between Afghanistan and the Vietnamese war--both civil wars etc--and somehow connect Obama to Camelot when there's also a total disconnect. Whatever the outcome on healthcare, it's not his failure for real comprehensive healthcare that will send Obama back to Chicago; it's the Afghanistan war.

[Winning09]

Hey, no wingnuts here but... I really like how you turn a piece about the Kennedys into your Afghanistan Is Vietnam fantasy.

Stay classy. lol

[Steamboater]

Stay tuned Winning09. Vietnam was no fantasy and neither the belief that JFK would have pulled our troops out of Vietnam..I berated JFK and Obama for similar recklessness and not RFK or Ted Kennedy. What we're doing in Afghanistan, propping up a drug-invested goverment, occupying a country in the midst of a civil war and using the excuse that it's all in the name of democracy which Afghanistan with it's thousands of years of religious mania will never become and focusing on al Queda as somehow an occupying force when in fact the enemy is the Talbian--A­FGHANS--is the Vietnamese War Part II.

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

Thank you for this rather tortured exercise in serial non sequitur ...

[Steamboater]

If you were talking to me, you must work for Disney.

[Winning09]

Do you know anything about the family funeral arrangements yet?

Will he be buried in Arlington National Cemetery?

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

Yes, he will be buried at Arlington, near the grave of his brother Robert. The timing and particulars are being worked out.

[Winning09]

That is very fitting, for he was the one who had to carry on after Robert's assassination.

[Winning09]

I also like the footage and commentary on Ted Kennedy's speech at the 1980 convention. He really laid down the marker for American liberalism in that speech.

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

That speech has echoed for decades.

[Winning09]

Ted Kennedy's eulogy of brother Bobby is really great. What a time, what a time.

[rubinoff]

You got that right....I have never cried so much about a family that I've never met, don't personally know, but all the while realizing the 'service they have rendered' to we the people. They really didn't have to do 'anything,'.....but they "DID"...and for that I'm ever grateful, thankful and humbled by all of their good deeds toward people. :) Of course, no one is perfect, we've all fallen short; however, at some point, people get the 'memo' and step up to the plate.

I truly believe that at some point in time, when everyone passes over, the Good Lord will say, 'What did you Do in My Name?' and we will all have to give an account.


Can I get an Amen?

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

It's hard to listen to that speech without tearing up, even before today.

[Winning09]

My God, that footage of JFK arriving and delivering his 1960 victory speech is great!

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

What's striking about it is how contemporary JFK seems and yet how different a time it was. Besides the old cars, notice how close the camera is to Kennedy, as he passes through an encroaching crowd.

[Winning09]

The people can never get that close today.

I think we've lost a lot in our politics because of the hatred and violence in American life.

You know the crazies of the '60s are a lot like the crazies of today.

[Winning09]

What a great speech he gave a year ago in Denver. A brave speech. You wouldn't know how sick he was there.

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

Not to look at the speech itself, no.

[shel3364]

yeah, you could tell he was struggling a bit on the stage. It appeared that he had to be guided to the microphone. But, man, did he bring the crowd to its feet.

He'll be sorely missed.

[Winning09]

What an amazing senator and what an amazing life, and what an amazing legacy he leaves behind.

[silvatopp]

he was amazing and I am pleased that we were allowed to have him and his wisdom in our lives for awhile. God loved him best!

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

Perhaps so. He was blessed with the longest life, and the most continuing achievement.