Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy最近也過逝了，使得Kennedy家族快逐漸凋零，
歷史上的Kennedy總統被暗殺，也是家族成員之一，況且Kennedy家族有如中了詛咒一般，
使得家族成員中的部分成員在年輕時就面臨死亡，所以Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy
還算比較長壽，以下文章在介紹Kennedy家族的族史和Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy
，請各位看倌仔細的慢慢看完吧！
Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy dies after cancer battle
資料來源：
http://www.cnn.com./2009/POLITICS/08/26/obit.ted.kennedy/index.html
(CNN) -- Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy, the patriarch of the first family
of Democratic politics, died late Tuesday at his home in Hyannis Port,
Massachusetts. He was 77.
Kennedy, known as the "Lion of the Senate," died after a lengthy battle with
brain cancer.
"We've lost the irreplaceable center of our family and joyous light in our
lives, but the inspiration of his faith, optimism and perseverance will live
on in our hearts forever," a family statement said. "We thank everyone who
gave him care and support over this last year, and everyone who stood with
him for so many years in his tireless march for progress toward justice."
Kennedy will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery, just a few feet from
the graves of his brothers. He is eligible for burial at Arlington due to his
congressional service and his tenure in the Army from 1951 to 1953.
Kennedy, nicknamed "Ted," was the younger brother of slain President John F.
Kennedy and New York Sen. Robert Kennedy, who was gunned down while seeking
the White House in 1968. However, his own presidential aspirations were
hobbled by the controversy around a 1969 auto accident that left a young
woman dead, and a 1980 primary challenge to then-President Jimmy Carter that
ended in defeat.
But while the White House eluded his grasp, the longtime Massachusetts
senator was considered one of the most effective legislators of the past few
decades. Kennedy played major roles in passage of the Civil Rights Act of
1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act
and the 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act, and was an outspoken liberal
standard-bearer during a conservative-dominated era from the 1980s to the
early 2000s.
President Obama will deliver a eulogy at Kennedy's funeral on Saturday.
He was "not only one of the greatest senators of our time, but one of the
most accomplished Americans ever to serve our democracy," Obama said,
speaking to reporters during his vacation in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.
"His extraordinary life on this earth has come to an end. The extraordinary
good that he did lives on. For his family, he was a guardian. For America, he
was the defender of a dream."
Obama said that Americans knew Kennedy's death was coming for some time, but
have been "awaiting it with no small amount of dread."
Choking back tears, Vice President Joe Biden said his family was "truly
distressed" by Kennedy's death.
"We lost a truly remarkable man," Biden said during an event in Washington.
"He's left a great void in our public life."
"He was probably best known for the ability to work with Republicans," said
Adam Clymer, Kennedy's biographer. "The Republican Party raised hundreds of
millions of dollars with direct appeal to protect the country from Ted
Kennedy, but there was never a piece of legislation that he ever got passed
without a major Republican ally."
Kennedy recently urged Massachusetts officials to change a law to allow for
an immediate temporary replacement should a vacancy occur for one of his
state's two Senate seats.
Under a 2004 Massachusetts law, a special election must be held 145 to 160
days after a Senate seat becomes vacant. The winner of the election would
serve the remainder of a senator's unexpired term.
Kennedy asked Gov. Deval Patrick and state leaders to "amend the law through
the normal legislative process to provide for a temporary gubernatorial
appointment until the special election occurs," according to the letter,
dated July 2.
Kennedy suffered a seizure in May 2008 at his home on Cape Cod. Shortly
after, doctors diagnosed a brain tumor -- a malignant glioma in his left
parietal lobe.
Surgeons at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, removed
as much of the tumor as possible the following month. Doctors considered the
procedure a success, and Kennedy underwent follow-up radiation treatments and
chemotherapy.
A few weeks later, he participated in a key vote in the Senate. He also
insisted on making a brief but dramatic appearance at the 2008 Democratic
convention, a poignant moment that brought the crowd to its feet and tears to
many eyes. Kennedy died one year to the day after that appearance.
"I have come here tonight to stand with you to change America, to restore its
future, to rise to our best ideals and to elect Barack Obama president of the
United States," Kennedy told fellow Democrats in a strong voice.
Kennedy's early support for Obama was considered a boon for the candidate,
then a first-term senator from Illinois locked in a tough primary battle
against former first lady Hillary Clinton. Kennedy predicted Obama's victory
and pledged to be in Washington in January when Obama assumed office -- and
he was, though he was hospitalized briefly after suffering a seizure during a
post-inaugural luncheon.
Kennedy was one of only six senators in U.S. history to serve more than 40
years. He was elected to eight full terms to become the second-most senior
senator after West Virginia Democrat Robert Byrd.
He launched his political career in 1962, when he was elected to finish the
unexpired Senate term of his brother, who had become president in 1961. He
won his first full term in 1964.
He seemed to have a bright political future, and many Democratic eyes turned
to him after the killings of his brothers. But a July 18, 1969, car wreck on
Chappaquiddick Island virtually ended his ambitions.
After a party for women who had worked on his brother Robert's presidential
campaign, Kennedy drove his car off a bridge on Chappaquiddick, off Cape Cod
and across a narrow channel from Martha's Vineyard. While Kennedy managed to
escape, his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne, drowned.
In a coroner's inquest, he denied having been drunk, and said he made "seven
or eight" attempts to save Kopechne before exhaustion forced him to shore.
Although he sought help from friends at the party, Kennedy did not report the
accident to police until the following morning.
Kennedy eventually pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident. In a
televised address to residents of his home state, Kennedy called his conduct
in the hours following the accident "inexplicable" and called his failure to
report the wreck immediately "indefensible."
Despite the dent in his reputation and career, Kennedy remained in American
politics and went on to win seven more terms in the Senate. Kennedy
championed social causes and was the author of "In Critical Condition: The
Crisis in America's Health Care." He served as chairman of the Judiciary and
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committees and was the ranking
Democrat on the Judiciary and Armed Services committees during periods when
Republicans controlled the chamber.
Obama named Kennedy as one of 16 recipients of the 2009 Presidential Medal of
Freedom, America's highest civilian honor. A White House statement explained
that the 2009 honorees "were chosen for their work as agents of change."
"Senator Kennedy has dedicated his career to fighting for equal opportunity,
fairness and justice for all Americans. He has worked tirelessly to ensure
that every American has access to quality and affordable health care, and has
succeeded in doing so for countless children, seniors, and Americans with
disabilities. He has called health care reform the "cause of his life."
Born in Boston on February 22, 1932, Edward Moore Kennedy was the last of
nine children of Joseph P. Kennedy, a prominent businessman and Democrat, and
Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. Joseph Kennedy served as ambassador to Britain
before World War II and pushed his sons to strive for the presidency, a
burden "Teddy" bore for much of his life as the only surviving Kennedy son.
His oldest brother, Joe Jr., died in a plane crash during World War II when
Kennedy was 12. John was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, in 1963, and Robert
was killed the night of the California primary in 1968.
Ted Kennedy delivered Robert's eulogy, urging mourners to remember him as "a
good and decent man who saw wrong and tried to right it; who saw suffering
and tried to heal it; who saw war and tried to stop it."
The family was plagued with other tragedies as well. One sister, Kathleen,
was killed in a plane crash in 1948. Another sister, Rosemary, was born
mildly retarded, but was institutionalized after a botched lobotomy in 1941.
She died in 2005 after more than 60 years in mental hospitals.
Joseph Kennedy was incapacitated by a stroke in 1961 and died in November
1969, leaving the youngest son as head of the family. He was 37.
"I can't let go," Kennedy once told an aide. "If I let go, Ethel [Robert's
widow] will let go, and my mother will let go, and all my sisters."
His sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founder of the Special Olympics, died
August 11. The ailing senator was unable to attend her funeral. His mother,
Rose Kennedy, died in Hyannis Port at age 104 in 1995.
Kennedy himself survived a 1964 plane crash that killed an aide, suffering a
broken back in the accident. But he recovered to lead the seemingly
ill-starred clan through a series of other tragedies: Robert Kennedy's son
David died of a drug overdose in a Florida hotel in 1984; another of Robert's
sons, Michael, was killed in a skiing accident in Colorado in 1997; and
John's son John Jr., his wife Carolyn and sister-in-law Lauren Bessette died
in a 1999 plane crash off Martha's Vineyard.
In addition, his son Edward Jr. lost a leg to cancer in the 1970s, and
daughter Kara survived a bout with the disease in the early 2000s.
Kennedy was forced to testify about a bar-hopping weekend that led to sexual
battery charges against his nephew, William Kennedy Smith. Smith was
acquitted in 1991 of charges that he raped a woman he met while at a Florida
nightclub with the senator and his son Patrick, now a Rhode Island
congressman.
Like brothers John and Robert, Edward Kennedy attended Harvard. He studied in
the Netherlands before earning a law degree from the University of Virginia
Law School, and worked in the district attorney's office in Boston before
entering politics.
Kennedy is survived by his second wife, Victoria Ann Reggie Kennedy, whom he
married in 1992; his first wife, Joan Bennett; and five children -- Patrick,
Kara and Edward Jr. from his first marriage, and Curran and Caroline Raclin
from his second.
--
※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc)
◆ From: 118.170.39.3