The Royal Family of The United States
Tonight I would like to take a break from European Royalty to write about the The Royal Family of The United States- The Kennedy’s.
Tonight, Ted Kennedy was laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery. He was finally reunited with the two brothers that inspired him and created the vision that he helped carried out as a Senator for 46 years. Personal demons and public tragedies aside, The Kennedy’s have been the most important family in the United States. They have been committed to public service and fought against injustice wherever they saw it. They worked tirelessly in support of helping others. John, Robert, Eunice and Ted were single-handedly responsible for helping immigrants, minorities, the poor and handicapped Americans. I have always loved Robert Kennedy the most but Ted was able to live longer and carry out “The Kennedy Vision”. I can’t imagine the pain that he must have endured in his life. First, when he was a child and his oldest brother and idol, Joe, died and then shortly after, his sister Kathleen died in a plane crash. Then he grew up to lose his two older brothers. They inspired him, they were his best friends and they were taken away too soon.
When they died, Ted was never the same but he went on to take care of the Kennedy family. He also helped take care of their children, he never missed a family party, a holiday, he was even the man that walked his nieces down the aisle. Shortly after Ted walked Caroline Kennedy down the aisle and gave her away at the altar, he received a note from Jacqueline Kennedy that read,
”On you the carefree youngest brother fell a burden a hero would have begged to be spared. We are all going to make it because you were always there with your love.” Since, he passed away from brain cancer a few days ago, I have gone back and reflected on all of the things that he and his family has done.
As United States Senators, The Kennedy brother’s served on the Labor and Human Resources and Judicial Committees. As a result of their efforts, legislation has passed into law that created equal pay for women, increases in the minimum wage, time and a half for overtime work, meals on wheels, parental leave, Head Start, child health insurance, health insurance portability, education funding, teacher training, childhood immunization, Indian education, occupational safety, civil rights for the disabled, consumer protection, the war on cancer, nurses training, legal services, support for people with mental retardation, the Age Discrimination Act, Literacy Corps, fair housing, Satellite Education, and job training programs to name just a few.
As President, John F. Kennedy was the first to call the challenge of civil rights “a moral issue” for the United States of America. Robert and Ted Kennedy lead the way on civil rights legislation from the elimination of the poll tax, and protection of voting rights to the integration of schools and right to public accommodations. Eighteen year-olds gained the right to vote under the sponsorship of Senator Ted Kennedy, and women got an equal right to athletic program funding because of his efforts on behalf of Title IX legislation. To preserve our environment and keep our citizens safer, the Kennedy brothers were on the forefront of the drive to insure clean air and water, and obtain gun control legislation.
Reaching out to the rest of the world President Kennedy created the Peace Corps, which embodied his ethic of public service. Because he looked to the future, he challenged us to go to the moon. And in marshalling all of our resources and talent to accomplish that historic goal, great discoveries were made that benefit our daily life here on earth. Robert Kennedy fought to end the Vietnam War and in South Africa, to end apartheid. Picking up their fallen dreams after they died, it was Ted Kennedy who carried on those efforts and became a champion of human rights around the globe.
The sisters of John, Robert and Ted Kennedy have made significant contributions in the area of public service as well. Eunice Kennedy Shriver started the Special Olympics in her backyard and guided it into becoming a worldwide effort and International Organization that has greatly enhanced the lives of people with mental retardation. President Reagan presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her outstanding work. Eunice just passed away two weeks ago at age 88. Ted was too sick to go to her funeral.
The members of the Kennedy family have always believed in public service, and that there are many ways one can serve one’s country and community without being in elective office. John, Robert and Ted Kennedy have followed the credo that “One person can make a difference and every one should try.” I am going to end this post with a quote that Bobby Kennedy recited at his brother, John’s funeral. Jacqueline Kennedy gave this to him to read from Shakespeare’s, Romeo and Juliet:
and when [he] shall die
Take him and cut him out in little stars
And he will make the face of heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night
And pay no worship to the garish sun.
Excellent post. Ted was a consummate legislator and a strong leader who knew how to put political issues aside to find common ground on this country’s issues. He was a committed to making America better.
I feel the same way I did when John and Bobby passed. Hopeless. What are we gonna do now? When we loose a Kennedy we loose someone that we knew perssonaly. No other politicians have our back the way the Kennedy’s have. True champions of the common people. I don’t know how Ted did it. If I had lost two brothers the way he did I would have sought revenge in a totally different way. Teddy got his revenge by doing it the right way he became a cursador and statesman keeping his head held high and persevering. If nothing else he overcame the worst and redemed himself through circumstances that would have broken most men. Jackie said it best when she said that heros would have shuned what he had to go through. God Bess you Ted Kennedy and your family my prayers and hopes still lie with the Kennedy family. The fight goes on…
Bobby Kennedy proved to many that out of trauma can come hope, that from despair emerges vision. But it was Ted Kennedy — the only son to go the distance — who died a natural death. He wrote more than 300 pieces of legislation over his long Senate career, and was both a lightning rod and a champion in American liberal politics over multiple generations.