Ted Was the Greatest Kennedy

(NEWSER) - Ted Kennedy will be buried at Arlington Cemetery near his brothers, MSNBC reports. Other details are firming up: His funeral will be Saturday at Mission Church in Boston, and a two-day wake will take place Thursday and Friday at the JFK Library and Museum, also in Boston. Kennedy will be buried somewhere near JFK's eternal flame gravesite, where Bobby also lies. More»

Yes, he's a Kennedy, but Ted is loved for effectiveness, not flash

(NEWSER) - Ted Kennedy's malignant brain tumor adds yet another chapter to the tragic epic of the Kennedy clan, Robert Kaiser writes in the Washington Post. The youngest of Joe Kennedy's sons got a huge boost from his older brothers when he entered politics, Kaiser notes, but he built his legacy of different stuff than theirs—not so much brilliance and charisma, but effectiveness, admired on both sides of the aisle, at making government work. More»

Thousands of letters promised his demise

(NEWSER) - After the death of his brothers, Ted Kennedy lived in constant fear that he’d be assassinated as well—and with good reason. The FBI has just released 2,352 pages from its files on Kennedy, and they’re dominated by death threats, both from anonymous enemies and groups like the Ku Klux Klan or the Minutemen, MSNBC reports. Many are written in the same hand, and postmarked from Boston. “They’re going to shoot my ass off the way they shot off Bobby’s,” Kennedy once remarked. More»

'Heartfelt' memoir depicts pursuit of public good, atonement

(NEWSER) - In True Compass, Ted Kennedy’s memoir, he writes with “searching candor” about the personal losses he endured, the mistakes he made, and the struggle to live up to his family reputation, writes Michiko Kakutani for the New York Times. The result is a powerful tribute to perseverance and the satisfaction that can be gained from slow, steady work in “pursuit of a cause” or “atonement for one’s failures.” More»

Senator writes openly of his worst moments

(NEWSER) - Ted Kennedy tells of his anguish after Chappaquiddick in a memoir to be published this month, reports the New York Times, admitting that he "made terrible decisions" in the accident that killed his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne. In True Compass, Kennedy deals unsparingly with the low points in his life, telling of his self-destructive drinking after brother Robert was assassinated, but blasting the "false, bizarre, and evil theories" about his life written in some books and tabloids. More»