Ted Kennedy

American politician, member of a noted family, the fabled Kennedy clan and the youngest member of U.S. Senate. The youngest son of Joseph and Rose Kennedy's nine children, Ted Kennedy was a privileged child. He had the benefit of a Harvard education that was abruptly interrupted in 1951 when he was suspended for cheating on an exam. Enlisting in the army shortly after, he served in France and Germany and after an honorable discharge, was readmitted to Harvard where he graduated with honors in 1956.

After marrying Joan Bennet in 1958, Kennedy graduated from the University of Virginia Law School the following year and became the assistant to the district attorney of Suffolk County, Massachusetts in 1960. Two years later, at 30 he became the youngest member of the Senate, thus making the record as being the first time an incumbent president had a brother in the Senate. A string of devastating events struck in the '60s beginning with the assassination of his brother, President John F. Kennedy on 22 November 1963 in Dallas, Texas that sent shock waves around the world. One year later, a plane carrying Kennedy and four others crashed, killing two, and Kennedy suffered a broken back that required a six month hospital rehabilitation. On 5 June 1968, brother Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in Los Angeles.

Kennedy's political career was called into question in 1969 when he drove his car off a bridge in Chappaquidick, Massachusetts, causing the death of his passenger Mary Jo Kopechne, a campaign worker. He waited ten hours to report the accident and many were unconvinced of innocent circumstances surrounding the incident. With his credibility now tarnished, he was voted out of the majority whip post in 1971 and his presidential bid subsequently disappeared for the 1972 election. During this year a biography by Burton Hersh entitled "The Education of Edward Kennedy" was published.