Ted Kennedy's Romantic History
Ted Kennedy was as notorious for his scandalous private life as he was for his career.
Ted Kennedy, the last of the living Kennedy brothers and renowned Massachusetts senator who held office as a Democrat since 1964, died Tuesday of brain cancer at the Kennedy estate in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts.
Formally named Edward Moore Kennedy, Ted was as known for his questionable private life as his political feats. YourTango's Celebrity Love has constructed a timeline of the scandals that went on behind Ted Kennedy's loosely-closed doors for five decades.
1958 - After a yearlong courtship, Ted Kennedy married beauty queen and college classmate Virginia Joan Bennett (known now as Joan Kennedy) in November 1958 in Bronxville, New York. They had three children, Kara (now 49), Edward Jr. (47) and Patrick (42). Joan campaigned for Ted's 1964 senatorial seat, and he won. It was the first of his eight terms as senator.
1969 - Ted had been partying with a bunch of campaign girls on Chappaquiddick Island in Martha's Vineyard when he drove into a lake on his way home from the party. His only passenger, twenty-eight-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne died in the wreck, and Ted didn't report it until the next day after her body was found (he pled guilty). The nature of his relationship with Kopechne was never clarified.
1970s - In just over a decade after his wedding, Ted's extramarital flings were spinning out of control. In 1979 Time Magazine reported on an infamous Washington, D.C. dinner party where "14 talented and interesting men and women talked of nothing but (Ted's) sexual activities."
1982 - After nearly three decades of Ted's drinking and liaisons with other women, he and Joan divorced in 1982. She received a $4 million settlement.
1983 to 1989 - Ted was known throughout the mid-to-late '80s for his series of hookups and the occasional serious dating relationship, but he refused to commit. In 1989 paparazzi caught him having sex with an unnamed woman on a motorboat while on holiday in Europe. The Boston Globe reports that when the photos hit the press, "Alabama senator Howell Heflin joked he was glad to see Kennedy had 'changed his position on offshore drilling.'"
Discussion
I can't relate to a reporter who can't get her facts straight or omits an important one in order to make her article more salacious.
First, Ted Kennedy served 47 years in the U.S. Senate, NOT "nearly 4 decades". Last time I checked, a decade was ten years. You're saying he served nearly 40 years, not nearly 50 years.
Secondly, with regard to the Chappaquiddick incident, you say that he was partying "with his brothers". Since brother Joe was killed in a plane crash in the 1940s, JFK was assassinated in 1963, and brother Bobby was assassinated in 1968, which of his deceased brothers was he partying with in 1969. Did he get permission to transport them from Arlington National Cemetary where they were buried especially to attend the party in Chappaquiddick?
Finally, although the focus on your article dwells on the prurient aspects of Kennedy's life, you do point out that he was remarried in 1992. Your only comment on that is to remark on how much younger she was than he was. What you fail to mention, and it is very much to the Senator's credit, is the fact that after he remarried, his wild and crazy private life and womanizing came to a halt. Yes, as you say, he became a devoted stepfather. What you neglect to say is that he became a devoted husband, too.
So, Ms Reporter, please, learn to get your facts straight and tell all the truth, not just the truth that gives spin to your point of view. A journalist is supposed to write an unbiased presentation of the truth. I don't think you did that, and you did a great disservice to a man who went from being a joke to becoming one of the greatest statesmen of our time.
Uhhhhh, I think you took a wrong turn at MSNBC.com.....you might wanna go back there if you're looking for liberal fluff articles. Look at the web address this is "YourTango.com" not the State run media. Maybe try Google Maps, maybe that will help you....
Don't be so hurt. The man was a joke to some, even after being a politician. There are very few (if any) honorable politicians left.
Besides, this article is not a biographical article on the man, and it's not posted on a site intended to display "serious journalistic work." It's a story about the filanderous (?) side of a frat boy-turned-politician.
And you apparently take great exception to it.
