The End of the Kennedy Era

Camelot ended today, as it lay to rest the last Kennedy son at Arlington Cemetery. He was the baby of the Kennedy family, but became the patriarch as the torch was handed down by some unfortunate circumstance. He lived his life in the most public way ever, he has buried family member, after family member, dealt with two of his off-springs cancer struggles, a car crash, plane crash and in his finals days his own battle of a brain tumor.

Ted entered politics while in college, as he managed his brother John’s campaign for the senate seat of Massachusetts. It wasn't after John won the presidency that Teddy took the chance and ran for his older brother’s seat in 1962 and won a full six-terms and won seven times after that, making him the senior senator of Massachusetts. Known as the Democratic Icon or the Lion of the Senate, he is the second most senior senator, the first is from West Virginia. Republican Governor of California and Kennedy relative Arnold Schwarzenegger described "Uncle Teddy" as "a liberal icon, a warrior for the less fortunate, a fierce advocate for health-care reform, a champion of social justice here and abroad" and "the rock of his family". That was what he was, a voice to those who didn’t have a voice, sometimes literally. Although Ted became the face and voice of the Kennedy family, he sadly never got the chance to reside at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, like his older brother John did and where Robert was also heading. Ted’s car crash after a party and the loss of a life damaged his political figure and it threatened his run for presidency.

Getting through all his convictions and mishaps, Teddy became an icon in Washington. An icon that used his name and stature to bring about change and to be the voice and leader for those who were struggling because of government. Ted and his brothers loved this country and served it whole heartily. In the 1990’s he secure a raise in minimum wage, his passion for health- care was like no other to date. It was Ted, who cheered President Clinton up during the Lewinsky Trials, voting to have him acquitted on both charges. Ted stating that it was a personal vendetta from the republicans against the President. He was also the one, whose comforting ways, helped Vice-President Joe Biden get through the death of his first wife and his brain aneurysm. It was also him who made sure that with all the deaths suffered by the Kennedy family, that no one drifted a part and their family remain as close as possible. The Boston Globe wrote in 1999 during the loss of John F. Kennedy Jr. and his wife "It underscored the evolution that surprised so many people who knew the Kennedys: Teddy, the baby of the family, who had grown into a man who could sometimes be dissolute and reckless, had become the steady, indispensable patriarch, the one the family turned to in good times and bad.”

Today Senator Eward Moore Kennedy will once again reunited with his older brothers Robert and John. May you rest in peace and your works be remembered by a nation who loved and respected your voice, because it was your voice that brought about change.