Ted Kennedy

In 2004 Massachusetts Democrats had taken away the governor's power to appoint an interim senator, replacing it with a special election, at a time when Republican governor Mitt Romney could have replaced John Kerry had Kerry been elected president. In August 2009, gravely ill, Ted Kennedy wrote to Democratic governor Deval Patrick and the state's legislative leaders asking them to restore an interim appointment. Republicans denounced a partisan reversal.

State of the evidence

Letter and debate reported by the press.

Legal status — source text

No proceedings.

Attribution

Request to change an electoral rule in his party's interest.

A 1983 memo from KGB chief Viktor Chebrikov to Soviet leader Yuri Andropov, revealed in 1992 by the London Times, says that former senator John Tunney, a friend of Ted Kennedy, passed on Kennedy's interest in meeting Andropov to ease tensions between the two countries, as Ronald Reagan was deploying missiles in Europe. No meeting took place. Conservative commentators see it as back-channel diplomacy against Reagan, an interpretation that is disputed.

State of the evidence

Soviet document whose significance is disputed; no meeting.

Legal status — source text

No proceedings.

Attribution

Alleged approach to the Soviet leadership.

On the evening of 29 March 1991 in Palm Beach, Ted Kennedy went out to a bar with his son Patrick and his nephew William Kennedy Smith; a woman they met that night later accused Smith of raping her at the family estate. Ted Kennedy was called as a prosecution witness at the highly publicised trial, and Smith was acquitted on 11 December 1991. The affair revived criticism of the senator's personal conduct.

State of the evidence

Jury verdict.

Legal status — source text

William Kennedy Smith acquitted on 11 December 1991.

Attribution

Ted Kennedy faced no criminal charge; he was a witness.

Person targeted by the proceedings

William Kennedy Smith

Role of the person profiled

Protagonist is a witness

In 1987, after Ronald Reagan nominated Judge Robert Bork to the Supreme Court, Ted Kennedy gave a Senate speech saying, among other things, that 'Robert Bork's America' would be a land in which women would be forced into back-alley abortions. His opponents saw it as a caricature and a personal attack; the term 'borked' has since been used for such attacks. The Senate rejected the nomination, with Bork receiving only 42 votes.

State of the evidence

Public speech and vote.

Legal status — source text

No proceedings.

Attribution

Alleged caricature of a Supreme Court nominee's positions.

In late 1979 Ted Kennedy entered the race for the Democratic nomination against incumbent president Jimmy Carter. His campaign got off to a poor start after a CBS interview in which journalist Roger Mudd asked him why he wanted to be president and his answer seemed confused. He lost the nomination to Carter, who was defeated by Ronald Reagan in November 1980.

State of the evidence

Campaign documented by the press.

Legal status — source text

No proceedings.

Attribution

Challenge to a president of his own party.

On the night of 18–19 July 1969, the car Ted Kennedy was driving went off Dike Bridge on Chappaquiddick Island into the water; his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne, a former worker on Robert Kennedy's campaign, died. Kennedy did not inform the police until about ten hours later. On 25 July he pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident causing bodily injury and was given a 60-day suspended jail sentence and a one-year licence suspension. An inquest was held in January 1970; a grand jury convened in April did not indict him.

State of the evidence

Guilty plea and court decision.

Legal status — source text

Final conviction for leaving the scene (25 July 1969); no grand jury indictment in 1970.

Attribution

Leaving the scene of a fatal accident in which he was the driver.

As a Harvard freshman, Ted Kennedy had a friend take his spring 1951 Spanish exam for him. The cheating was discovered and he was expelled for two years, during which he served as a military police officer; he was later readmitted.

State of the evidence

Facts admitted and reported by the press.

Legal status — source text

University sanction, no legal proceedings.

Attribution

Cheating on an exam.