per Natalie's request

Natalie, since I am just now tiptoeing into the political arena, your request to post my findings on Ted Kennedy makes me nervous! But onward I go. Here is what I have learned and have discussed with my boys.

As to the question of "was he wise" I can't help but focus on his many mistakes in his personal life. He cheated on his Spanish test in his Freshman year of college and was expelled from Harvard because of it. I can't forget his infedelities against his wife. Then there's the very suspicious Chappaquiddick Island accident where he drove his car off a bridge into the water below and the woman in the car with him died. He plead guilty to leaving the scene of an accident because the police were not summoned until 10 hours later. Was he drunk? We don't know, but again, that whole incident is very suspicious. Lastly, there was a 1991 incident where he roused his son and nephew out of bed in the morning to go drinking with him. Richard Lacayo's article in the September issue of Time magazine says, "...the image of the capering Senator leading two younger men out to play reawakened all the old misgivings about Kennedy, women and alcohol. The man who had once been Prince Hal, the reluctant heir to the throne, was in danger of turning into Falstaff, the aging reprobate." The cheating, the womanizing, the boozing is too much for me to say he was wise.

As to the question of did he make good laws, I will leave that up to you to decide, but here were some of the laws he helped create. He helped author over 300 laws, so these are just a few of the ones highlighted in the September Time magazine. The quick blurbs about them are from Wikipedia.

*Freedom of Information Act of 1966
This act allows for the full or partial disclosure of previously unreleased information and documents controlled by the United States Government.

*Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970
Its main goal is to ensure that employers provide employees with an environment free from recognized hazards, such as exposure to toxic chemicals, excessive noise levels, mechanical dangers, heat or cold stress, or unsanitary conditions.

*Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
The ADA is a wide-ranging civil rights law that prohibits, under certain circumstances, discrimination based on disability. It affords similar protections against discrimination to Americans with disabilities as the Civil Rights Act of 1964[3], which made discrimination based on race, religion, sex, national origin, and other characteristics illegal. Disability is defined as "a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity."

*voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1964

*Ryan White Care Act of 1990
an Act of the U.S. Congress named in honor of Ryan White, an Indiana teenager who contracted AIDS through a tainted hemophilia treatment in 1984, and was expelled from school because of the disease. White became a well-known advocate for AIDS research and awareness, until his death on April 8, 1990.[1]
The act is the United States's largest federally funded program for people living with HIV/AIDS. The act sought funding to improve availability of care for low-income, uninsured and under-insured victims of AIDS and their families.[2]
The act passed in the United States House of Representatives by a vote for 402 to 4.

*Family and Medical Leave Act
The FMLA is a labor law allowing an employee to take job-protected unpaid leave due to a serious health condition that makes the employee unable to perform his or her job, to care for a sick family member, or to care for a new child (including by birth, adoption or foster care). The FMLA is administered by the Employment Standards Administration's Wage and Hour Division within the U.S. Department of Labor.

Wikipedia also had this information on Ted Kennedy;

Kennedy was known for his oratorical skills; his 1968 eulogy for his brother Robert and his 1980 Democratic National Convention rallying cry for modern American liberalism were among his best-known speeches. He became known as "The Lion of the Senate" through his long tenure and influence. More than 300 bills that Kennedy and his staff wrote were enacted into law. He was a proud liberal who believed government can and should play a role to make America a more economically just society, but was also known for working with Republicans to find compromises among senators with disparate views. Kennedy played a major role in passing many laws, including laws addressing immigration, cancer research, health insurance, apartheid, disability discrimination, AIDS care, civil rights, mental health benefits, children's health insurance, education and volunteering. In the 2000s, he led several unsuccessful immigration reform efforts. Over the course of decades, Kennedy's "cause of my life" was the enactment of universal health care, which he continued to work toward during the Obama administration.


That's what we've found so far. Could research so much more, but I think I'll be moving on to other things now. Hope this helps, Natalie!