Ted Kennedy

Ted Kennedy was born on February 22, 1932, in Boston, Massachusetts, the youngest child of Joseph P. KennedyJoseph P. KennedyJoseph P. Kennedy (1888–1969) was an American businessman and diplomat who served as the first chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission from 1934 to 1935, chairman of the United States Maritime Commission from 1937 to 1938 and U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom from 1938 to 1940.Open the full entry and Rose Kennedy.⁠[1][2]

From 1951 to 1953 he served in the U.S. Army.⁠[1]

He studied government at Harvard UniversityHarvard UniversityHarvard University is a private research university in Massachusetts, established by the Massachusetts Bay Colony legislature in 1636 and named in 1639 for early benefactor John Harvard. Its principal campuses are in Cambridge and the Allston and Longwood neighborhoods of Boston. It includes Harvard College, graduate and professional schools, and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Two governing boards share oversight. Alan M. Garber was president as of October 2026, and the endowment stood at $56.9 billion at the end of fiscal 2025.Open the full entry, receiving a B.A. in 1956; he played right end on the football team and caught a five-yard touchdown pass against YaleYale UniversityYale University is a research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Its predecessor, the Collegiate School, received a charter in 1701. Trustees chose New Haven in 1716; the institution became Yale College in 1718 and Yale University in 1887. Yale provides undergraduate, graduate and professional education and has 14 undergraduate residential colleges. As of October 2026, its president was Maurie McInnis, who took office in July 2024. In 2026, Yale expanded aid for incoming undergraduates and celebrated its 325th anniversary.Open the full entry in 1955, and Green Bay PackersGreen Bay PackersThe Green Bay Packers are an NFL professional American football team formed in Green Bay, Wisconsin, in 1919 and admitted to the NFL’s predecessor, the APFA, in 1921. A community-owned nonprofit organization, they play at Lambeau Field in Green Bay and have won 13 NFL championships, including four Super Bowls.Open the full entry head coach Lisle Blackbourn invited him to try out, an offer he declined in favor of law school and politics. He attended the International Law School in The Hague, Netherlands, in 1958 and received an LL.B. from the University of Virginia in 1959.⁠[1]

In 1960 he campaigned for his brother John F. KennedyJohn F. KennedyJohn F. Kennedy (1917–1963) was an American politician who represented Massachusetts in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate and served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 to 1963. The youngest person elected president and the first Roman Catholic to hold the office, he was assassinated in Dallas on November 22, 1963.Open the full entry’s presidential bid, including an appearance at the Weirton Steel Company in Weirton, West VirginiaWest VirginiaWest Virginia is a U.S. state formed from the western counties of Virginia during the Civil War; its capital and largest city is Charleston. It became the 35th state on June 20, 1863. Its population was 1,793,716 in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020).Open the full entry, on April 21, 1960.⁠[2][3]

From 1961 to 1962 he was an assistant district attorney in Suffolk County, Massachusetts.⁠[1]

On November 6, 1962, at age 30, he won a special election to the Massachusetts Senate seat left vacant when John F. Kennedy became president; he served as senator from November 7, 1962, and the certification of his election was issued on November 21, 1962.⁠[4][5][6]

In April 1964 he gave his maiden Senate speech on the Civil Rights Act of 1964, for which he voted on June 19, 1964; he also strongly backed the Economic Opportunity Act, signed on August 20, 1964.⁠[4][3]

In 1964, although an injury kept him from campaigning actively, he won a full term by a landslide; his certificate of election was issued on December 11, 1964. He was reelected seven more times, winning eight full terms in all.⁠[2][6][1]

In 1965 he cosponsored and managed the Immigration and Nationality Act in the Senate, and won passage of a bill establishing the National Teacher Corps, which offered scholarships in exchange for at least two years of teaching in economically distressed areas.⁠[4][7]

In 1966 he created a national system of health centers through an amendment to the Economic Opportunity Act, and the nation’s first comprehensive neighborhood health center opened that year at the Columbia Point housing project in Dorchester. In 1968 he championed the Bilingual Education Act of 1968, the first time Congress endorsed funding for bilingual education. That year he supported his brother Robert F. KennedyRobert F. KennedyRobert F. Kennedy (1925–1968) was an American politician and lawyer, a Democrat who served as U.S. attorney general and as a U.S. senator from New York; he was assassinated in Los Angeles in 1968 while seeking the Democratic presidential nomination.Open the full entry’s campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination.⁠[7][2]

From January 3, 1969, to January 3, 1971, he was Senate majority whip. In 1970 he passed a law lowering the voting age to 18 and supported the extension of the Voting Rights Act; in 1971 he became chairman of the Senate Health Subcommittee and helped pass the National Cancer Act, whose conference report was dated December 8, 1971.⁠[5][7][4][6]

In 1972 he was a key supporter of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972; in 1973 he sponsored bipartisan campaign-finance legislation that set contribution limits and created public financing of presidential elections; in 1975 he was an original cosponsor of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, later renamed IDEA; and in 1978 he led the effort to deregulate the airline industry.⁠[7]

From January 3, 1979, to January 3, 1981, he chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee, where he promoted access for women and minorities to judicial nominations. In 1980 he authored the Refugee Act of 1980 and introduced the Civil Rights for Institutionalized Persons Act.⁠[5][7]

He was a serious contender for the 1980 Democratic presidential nomination but withdrew from the race during the convention.⁠[2]

In 1982 he was chief sponsor of the Voting Rights Act amendments, which extended the law by 25 years, and sponsored the Job Training Partnership Act with Senator Dan Quayle. In 1983 he joined the Senate Armed Services Committee, opposed the “Star WarsStar WarsStar Wars is a space-fantasy film and entertainment franchise created by George Lucas and now owned by Lucasfilm, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company.Open the full entry” program and supported nuclear arms control.⁠[4][7]

In 1984 he helped enact the Comprehensive Crime Control Act, which created the U.S. Sentencing Commission. In 1986 he supported the Anti-Apartheid Act; after President Ronald ReaganRonald ReaganRonald Reagan (1911–2004) was an American politician and actor who worked as a radio sports announcer and film actor before serving as governor of California from 1967 to 1975 and as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989.Open the full entry vetoed it, the Senate overrode the veto 78–21.⁠[4]

From January 3, 1987, to January 3, 1995, he chaired the Senate committee responsible for health matters, then called the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee, the longest of his several terms as its chairman.⁠[5][7]

In 1990 he cosponsored the Americans with Disabilities Act, enacted on July 26, 1990, introduced the Ryan White CARE Act with Senator Orrin Hatch and was lead sponsor of the Immigration Act. In 1991 he was chief sponsor of the Civil Rights Act of 1991.⁠[7][4]

In 1993 he sponsored the National and Community Service Trust Act, which created AmeriCorps; in 1994, as chairman of that committee, he led passage of the School-to-Work Opportunities Act. In 1996 he cosponsored the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) with Senator Nancy Kassebaum, on which the Senate held a roll-call vote on August 2, 1996; in 1997 he helped establish the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).⁠[7][6]

In 2001, as chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, he worked with both parties and with the George W. BushGeorge W. BushGeorge W. Bush (born 1946) is an American politician and Republican who worked in the energy business and was a part owner of the Texas Rangers baseball team before becoming the 46th governor of Texas in 1995 and serving as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009.Open the full entry administration to pass the No Child Left Behind Act. In 2002 he introduced the bipartisan Bioterrorism Preparedness Act and sponsored the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act; in 2003 he led passage of the PROTECT Act, which funded AMBER Alert systems.⁠[7][4]

In 2005 he worked with Senator John McCain on a comprehensive immigration bill that passed the Senate. In 2006 he helped pass universal health care in Massachusetts, signed by Governor Mitt Romney. He led the increase in the federal minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour, and in 2008 his long-standing effort to give mental health the same insurance coverage as physical illness was realized in law.⁠[4][3]

In 2008, after being hospitalized for a seizure, he was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. In March 2009 he was made an honorary Knight of the British Empire. In 2009 his Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee drafted health reform legislation, and President Barack Obama signed the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act.⁠[2][4]

In August 2009 he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which his children accepted on his behalf. He died of brain cancer at his home in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, on August 25, 2009, at the age of 77.⁠[2][8]

Eligible through his Army service and his public career, he was buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Section 45, Grave S-45-B, just south of his brother Robert F. Kennedy; his grave is marked by a white wooden cross and a marble footstone.⁠[8]

His brothers included John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy, and his sisters included Rosemary Kennedy, Eunice Kennedy Shriver and Jean Kennedy Smith.⁠[2][3]

His wife was Victoria Reggie Kennedy. His children were Kara, Edward Jr. and Patrick, and his stepchildren were Curran and Caroline Raclin.⁠[1][3]

His autobiography, True Compass, was published in September 2009.⁠[2]

In his eulogy, President Barack Obama called him the “soul of the Democratic Party” and the “greatest legislator of our time.” The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum notes that he was known as the “Lion of the Senate” and records that he called health care “the cause of my life.”⁠[2][3]

The Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate bears his name. The Center for Legislative Archives of the National Archives and Records Administration presents his Senate career through records in its holdings, including the Senate roll call of May 26, 1965, on final passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.⁠[4][6]

Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate: Official website: https://emkinstitute.org/ (opens in a new window).⁠[4]

John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum: Official website: https://www.jfklibrary.org/ (opens in a new window).⁠[3]

National Archives and Records Administration: Official website: https://www.archives.gov/ (opens in a new window).⁠[6]

Arlington National Cemetery: Official website: https://www.arlingtoncemetery.mil/ (opens in a new window).⁠[8]