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Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy defined the modern voice. He shaped his own agendas and delivered his blunt messages, rousing liberal party members and right-wing believers alike.

Kennedy has left behind a spirited health care debate, if not a debacle, that he helped frame and forward but now can no longer fix. In the coming days and weeks, as we articulate his achievements and lament his loss, eulogizing him in news specials and print magazines, in public ceremonies and private moments, his legacy will remind us that we are very capable of holding on to him forever.

Perhaps Kennedy, the last of the four brothers to pass away, has long been immortalized. The Kennedys have influenced governance through legislation for more than four decades while stirring our national conscience by leaving behind iconographic images of tragedy and grief. As a man who endured Chappaquiddick, who exposed more than his flaws, who nearly died in a plane crash, and who had to observe the passing of his brothers, Joseph, John and Robert; his sisters, Rosemary, Patricia, Kathleen and Eunice; his parents, Joseph and Rose; and his nephews, including Michael, David and John, he made us pause.

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« Ted Kennedy – Why He Could Never Be President
Kennedy to Healthcare Connection »

It has been written a man does what he must in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles, and dangers, and pressures, and that is the basis of human morality. Whatever may be the sacrifices he faces, if he follows his conscience — the loss of his friends, his fortune, his contentment, even the esteem of his fellow man — each man must decide for himself the course he will follow. The stories of the past courage cannot supply courage itself. For this, each man must look into his own soul.
– Ted Kennedy’s Chappaquiddick Speech, July 25, 1969

Kennedy was a lot of things, but he never backed down

He served the public tirelessly, engaging in battles and authoring bills as sweeping and consequential, if not entirely effective, as the No Child Left Behind Act, the Goldwater-Nichols Act, and the Medicare Modernization Act.    

Persistently tackling issues he had wished were settled, Kennedy rooted himself in our daily concerns by promoting a bipartisan, liberal agenda to close inequities and gaps wherever they arose. He and his Senate staff passed hundreds of bills to that effect, although the Senator himself would go on to discredit whatever legislation he believed fell short, including the No Child Left Behind Act, a major tenet of his term. For Kennedy, paperwork and signatures had to measure up to real world practice.

His colleagues and associates, fellow senators and cabinet members, Democrats and Republicans, recognized him as an indispensable leader not simply because of his long tenure but because of his abilities to articulate an argument and galvanize the debate.

In part it is the raw force of Kennedy’s personality, along with his tremendous smile and shock of white hair, which will make his transition into the past tense feel so thunderous. He leaves us with both a deep appreciation for his vital breath in our public forums and with some real promise that in spite of the ongoing, polarizing politics, his legacy of civil discourse and needed union will prevail.

Laurene Williams is the writer/director of Phil Cobb’s Dinner for Four.