On Wednesday morning, America had lost a legend. The “Lion of the Senate,” Ted Kennedy, who had served in the US Senate since 1962, died after a yearlong battle with brain cancer.
For nearly 50 years, Kennedy fought for the poor and the downtrodden so they too could experience the American Dream. He influenced virtually every piece of legislation concerning civil rights, health care, immigration and education over the last half century, and though many will follow him, few if any will touch and impact as many lives as he did.
Kennedy was always there to be a voice for the voiceless. He crusaded for civil rights and was instrumental in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. He continued to advocate for the rights of minorities his entire life, pushing through anti-discrimination legislation such as the Civil Rights Act of 1991, which dealt with job discrimination.
Kennedy was an ardent supporter of giving 18-year-olds the right to vote, which was finally enacted with the 26th Amendment in 1971. He was one of the leaders in passing the Occupational Health and Safety Act, which protects workers’ safety on the job. He also cosponsored and helped push through the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, which prohibits discrimination against the disabled.
He even publicly supported gay rights as early as 1980, when open bigotry against homosexuals was not considered taboo by society. He was one of only 14 senators to oppose the backward Defense of Marriage Act in 1996, and his 1994 Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would have made it illegal for employers to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, still has yet to pass. Even in today’s more accepting atmosphere, he is still only one of five senators ever to endorse same-sex marriage.
While many Americans today remain bigoted against immigrants, Kennedy was always their advocate. In 1965, he cosponsored the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which ended the preference of Canadians and Western Europeans as immigrants and allowed people from all parts of the world to come to America based on their skills and family relations.
Even this decade, Kennedy worked to establish guest worker programs that would allow illegal immigrants to come out of the shadows without fear of the wrath of the crazier elements of society. He also worked with Republicans to enact new immigration policy and border enforcement programs.
Indeed, despite his strong liberal beliefs, Kennedy was always one to reach across the aisle and work with conservatives. In fact, biographer Adam Clymer said, “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.”
In 2001, Kennedy worked with President George W. Bush and a number of Republicans to pass the No Child Left Behind Act, which held schools and teachers responsible for poor performance of students. (Unfortunately the program was underfunded, but that’s the subject for another column.)
Kennedy’s compassion did not only extend to Americans. As South Africa was under the chains of apartheid, Kennedy visited South Africa in 1985, meeting anti-apartheid leaders and defying police orders by protesting for Nelson Mandela’s release. Upon his return to the United States, he introduced the Anti-Apartheid Act of 1985, which imposed economic sanctions against the South African government. In 1986, thanks to Kennedy’s leadership, the act passed over President Reagan’s veto.
But Kennedy’s greatest crusade was for the cause of health care. As a first term senator, he helped establish 30 health centers across the country designed to treat low-income patients. Referring to health care as “the cause of [his] life,” he was the chief mover in passing the Ryan White Care Act, which increased funding for AIDS-related programs in 1990, when HIV was largely misunderstood by the general population, and in the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), which helps provide coverage to children of low-income families that did not qualify for Medicaid.
Even at the time of his death, Kennedy was working on enacting universal health care for all Americans, which he first advocated as far back as 1969. Though he died before his dream became a reality, we can remember this quote from his concession speech for the 1980 Democratic presidential nomination: “For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dream shall never die.” We can only hope that Congress will use their current opportunity to pass meaningful health care reform in Kennedy’s memory.
Ted Kennedy stands alone as the 20th century’s giant of the US Senate in the same way that Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, and John Calhoun were in the 19th century. His brothers, John and Robert, were gunned down before their time, leaving only Ted to stand and fight for those no one else cared for. Though others will follow in his path, we will never see another Ted Kennedy. He now belongs to the ages.
Harry Nelson is the opinion editor of The Reflector. He can be contacted at [email protected].