In the last few days, scores of testimonies and obituaries have been written about the man, his life and his accomplishments.
Somehow, none of them have revealed the true Ted Kennedy, the man I have known for over 45 years.
Ted Kennedy was first and foremost, a man who lived, breathed and felt his Irish roots every single day of his life. It seems to me that the myriad obituaries have missed their mark by failing to recognize the essential Irishness of the man.
I first met Ted Kennedy in 1963. I was a freshman at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. and was eager to intern with the recently elected senator from Massachusetts.
Along with many of my generation I had a profound admiration bordering on adulation of the Kennedy family.
John Kennedy had been a friend of my father’s, and I was truly excited to have met him in 1958 when he was the guest of honor at the Irish Institute dinner.
To me, as to many of my generation, JFK represented the best of our people. As a young Irish Catholic I was profoundly aware of the changes that had occurred in our community during the ’50s and early ’60s.
As a result of the Cold War, our community, which had spawned such great progressive leaders like Al Smith and James Farley, was becoming increasingly conservative.
Indeed, to the outside world, Irish Catholics represented a narrow sectarianism that rejected new ideas and spoke to the most repressive parts of American society.
It is for that reason that I was excited to work for Ted Kennedy, for he represented to me the finest ideals of Ireland and Irish America.
I was not disappointed. Of course, the work of an intern is neither glamorous nor profound, but I gained tremendous insight into the workings of a Senate office by just being there.
An added bonus was that Senator Kennedy would always take time to have a kind word with the lowliest of interns.
There was no particular advantage to Ted Kennedy spending a few precious moments with those of us manning the phones or operating the copiers, yet the essence of the of the man (and his essential Irishness) was that he felt a responsibility and a joy in dealing with those who served him, and who he in turn served.
Years later, I experienced that same sense of giving of self. Ten years ago, my wife and I endowed the Paul O’Dwyer lecture on political ethics at the George Washington University.
My father was a profound admirer of Ted Kennedy and was an early supporter of his failed quest for the presidency. I was in charge of marshaling the many members of Congress whom Paul O’Dwyer had supported and helped over his decades of service to attend the inaugural ceremonies for the lecture series.
It was Ted Kennedy alone who left Capitol Hill and traveled to the campus to pay tribute to the work of his friend Paul O’Dwyer.
Ted Kennedy’s love for Ireland is well-known.
Many have claimed credit for the courageous decision of President Bill Clinton to grant a visa to Gerry Adams, and many deserve a share of the credit.
But it can truly be said that without the support of Ted Kennedy and Senator Chris Dodd there was very little likelihood that such a visa would have been granted.
During the times of the Troubles, Ted Kennedy was in constant communication with the political leaders both North and South and regularly voiced his concern for the well-being of both the nationalist and unionist populations
It is this quality of concern for others, that cannot be taught, and represents the best of our people.
Kennedy’s personal relationships in the Senate were at the same time both cultivated and genuine. He combined a passion for justice born in the crucible of a 500 year oppression of his people, with a political instinct formed in the Irish American experience and learned as part of the legacy of a truly gifted political family.
His legislative accomplishments are legion and certainly documented elsewhere, but I submit that they never would have been accomplished without those unique qualities that came from his Irish heritage.
The Irish diaspora has given many gifts to America; among the greatest of these is the life of Senator Edward Moore Kennedy.
We shall not see the likes of him again.