The Kennedy BrothersPhoto: The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, Boston
I admit not knowing too much about Edward Kennedy prior to his cancer diagnosis. I knew and supported some of his politics, and knew about his dark history as well. I respect him because he was a flawed person who tried to do better.
The day after his death, NPR was eulogizing him and told a story of when President Reagan nominated Robert Bork to the Supreme Court. Immediately following the announcement of Bork's nomination on July 1, 1987, Senator Kennedy took to the floor of the Senate to say:
Robert Bork's America is a land in which women would be forced into back-alley abortions, blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters, rogue police could break down citizens' doors in midnight raids, schoolchildren could not be taught about evolution, writers and artists could be censored at the whim of the Government, and the doors of the Federal courts would be shut on the fingers of millions of citizens for whom the judiciary is -- and is often the only -- protector of the individual rights that are the heart of our democracy.... (highlighted for emphasis)It has been a while since I heard a politician defend artists from censorship.
Robert Kennedy
I am two degrees separated from Robert Kennedy. In the late spring of 1968, my mom met him after a campaign speech in Pocatello, ID. She said she shook his hand, introduced herself and told him she was a public health nurse. He gave her the Kennedy smile and started to talk about nurses and.... she did not hear a word he said because she was instantly infatuated with him. She said she was a gushing school girl with a big crush. Mom also said that if he had asked, she would have ran off with him to elope.
As an epilogue to that little story: Kennedy was killed less than couple of weeks later. I was born nine months later. I know I am not an illegitimate Kennedy, but I bet my mom was in a loving mindset from meeting him.
I understand your mother's feelings completely. I met JFK in the summer of 1960, was able to talk to him and shake his hand, and did hear and remember every word he said, but I thought I was going to faint. He was glorious and actually had an aura. It was not so much sexual attraction as the sense of being in the presence of a god.
ReplyDeleteSo both our lives have been touched by a Kennedy. The three assassinations of the 1960s dashed my young idealism, although I somehow recovered to celebrate the 1970s.