Aug. 26, 2009
Ted Kennedy — The Last Brother
Tonight, CBS News Will Look Back At Sen. Edward "Teddy" Kennedy's Life and Legacy in a Primetime Special Report
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Play CBS Video Video Special Report: "The Last Brother" Tonight at 8 p.m. ET/PT: CBS News looks back at the life and legacy of Sen. Edward Kennedy with the primetime special "Ted Kennedy: The Last Brother," anchored by Katie Couric.
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(CBS)
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Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., speaks during the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Monday, Aug. 25, 2008. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
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Photo Essay Ted Kennedy Long-serving Democratic U.S. Senator and member of dynastic political family
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Photo Essay Legacy Of Tragedy Many Kennedy successes have been overshadowed by heartbreak
Featuring exclusive footage culled from CBS News' vast archives, the program is an intimate look at Kennedy - both the public face and the private man - as told through intimate interviews and candid moments captured over the last 40 years.
Complete Coverage
Highlights from the broadcast will include:
Kennedy giving Lesley Stahl a tour of his office where shows her a framed hand-written note from his brother Jack from Choate School. The letter, written when Ted was born, read:
"Dear Mother, It's the night before exams so I will write you Wednesday. Lots of love. Can I be godfather to the baby?"
Kennedy, overcome with emotion during an interview with correspondent Gloria Borger just months after his nephew John F. Kennedy Jr., wife Carolyn and her sister Lauren were killed in a place crash. "We've had, you know, difficult losses in the family," he says as he walks along the beach. "I remember the Friday night, the night we actually knew that he was lost and we gathered at Ethel's house…." Choking back tears he does not finish his thought, simply saying, "We better walk along."
Asked by Lesley Stahl about what he would like to be remembered for, Kennedy answers, "I think making a difference, in the country, for the country. The family set high standards and they're always worth measuring up to. And exceeding them when I can."
Kennedy reminisces about his mother's ritual of playing the piano before suppertime and sings one of her favorite songs, "Sweet Rosie O'Grady."
Kennedy talking to CBS correspondent Ed Bradley about the amputation of his 12-year-old son's leg due to cancer. A prideful Kennedy shows Bradley one of his favorite pictures, that of his son Teddy Jr. racing in a handicapped skier's race, with a note that says:
"A favor to Dad, who taught me that you can always be a winner."
Kennedy listening to Gloria Borger read a letter from Jackie Kennedy after he gave niece Caroline Kennedy away at her wedding. In the letter Jackie writes:
"…you have always been there. Every graduation, every big decision, every trouble, every sad and every happy day. On you, the carefree youngest brother, fell a burden a hero would beg to be spared. Sick parents, lost children, desolate wives. You are a hero. Everyone is going to make it because you are always there with your love."
A touched Kennedy responds simply, "It's about as nice as you can get."
More On Kennedy's Death:
Arrangements for Kennedy Funeral Announced Kennedy Memoir Set for Release Next Month Flags to Fly at Half-Staff for Kennedy
"Liberal Lion" Remembered
No Immediate Action on Succession
In His Own Words
"The Last Brother"
Life in the Public's Glare
In Pictures: The Kennedys
Obits from U.S. Newspapers
Brothers "Would Have been Proud"
© MMIX, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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Add a Comment See all 28 Comments
- Heartfelt respect to the family and what great sons were turned out. Ted did much for our country and his state as well. God Bless the family and Ted enjoy seeing your brothers, sisters, children and nephews when you reach Heaven.
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- Ted Kennedy: The Last Brother was a beautiful tribute to Senator Kennedy. Would you please consider airing it again as an encore presentation over the weekend? More people need an opportunity to see it! Thank you.
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- Dude NICE SPELL CHECK YOU MORON...what, are you an undergrad intern? A "place" crash killed JFK JR? What, did he follow uncle teddy's path and get so drunk that he face-planted into a set of nice china? Hence the "place crash" killed him? Holy crap, the "c" isn't even anywhere near the "n" on the keyboard!!! How about some PRIDE in what you do, you mope!!!
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- Please tell me how we can purchase a dvd copy of this show.
we missed the first half hour and want to watch it - Reply to this comment
- THANK YOU TED KENNEDY FOR DOING ALL OF US THE GREATEST FAVOR OF ALL FINALLY KICKING THE BUCKET, AND TO ALL YOU IDIOTS WHO THOUGHT OF HIM AS A GREAT MAN, CLEAN THE COW PATTIES OUT FROM BETWEEN YOUR EARS, WAKE UP AMERICA BEFORE ITS TOO LATE||||||||
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- all i have to say is that anyone who thinks this idiot was a good man is about brain dead, its about time this ************** died, he is a real life look into the dumb ***** we appoint to congress, this man was a lier a thief and a murderer, he should have done
the world a favor and stayed in the car also. and any of those bleeding hearts who think he was a good person are all screwed in the head, it just proves if you are rich, the country dont care what kind of a dumb ass you are, or even if your a murderer they will stand behind them and kiss there ass, we need to do something about the whole lot of idiots that we have running this country,THERE IS NO AMERICA ANYMORE AINT THAT RIGHT COMRADE OBAMA. - Reply to this comment
- I truly appreciated CBS Lesley Stahl's coverage and story. I had always had a very low opinon of Senator Ted Kennedy;the Chappaquiddick
event and then other stories. I have a totally changed prespective of a much greater man. He admited he'd made mistakes along the way but he learned and in the end, left a legacy of love; for his family and the nation who so proudly served. Thank you for such a gracious, honest and up close interview of a man, a brother, father and leader who may have made a horrible decison on a night, but never forgot and spent his entire life dedicated to doing good for all man kind, everyone. I thought it was so selfless and amazing that he gave his time, once a week, for four years to teach a young child to read. Senator Ted Kennedy did that. He didn't send someone, didn't appoint someone, he went to meet with her and read with her-Wow! - Reply to this comment
- Thank you CBS News for a wonderful program! Clearly those who worked on this program viewed this as a labor of love. What a wonderful tribute for a great American.
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- Today, this day....is Senator Ted Kennedy's day. This day Ted Kennedy is dead. Tuesday night, Ted Kennedy breathed his last breath. Today, Ted Kennedy will be remembered. Today, Ted Kennedy will be mourned. Today, Teddy Kennedy's accomplishments, failures, faults, foibles, strengths and courageous and uplifting nature will be considered. The passing of Ted Kennedy is a moment in the history of the United States. This moment, now, will be remembered in the history books of America for as long as our history is written.
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- It?s about time! The man was an immoral drunken fool who was an embarrassment to the Kennedy name and to our country. He never could pass up a drink or an opportunity to spend taxpayer money. Hopefully Massachusetts can now get past their need to have a poor excuse for a Kennedy in office and vote for someone qualified and sober in the next election.
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- We lost a great American today.
A true hero in many respects.
Thank you for all you have done for us, Mr. Kennedy.
Our country will miss you and never be quite the same
without you. - Reply to this comment
- Wow, a lot of following sheep in here I read.
Anyone think for yourselves, or you just blindly attracted to drunk, corrupt murderers and Communists?
The dumbing down of America is ever present here.
Congrats on that sheeples. - Reply to this comment
- Touch football with the big guy today. Three brothers reunited full of dreams fulfilled. Three brothers as boys again tumbling down a heavenly hill entwined with arms and legs flying to and fro, squealing, laughing, filled with the joy of a fulfillment of the American dream for all of America. RIP. Teddy, yourself, your brothers and your family have given more to your country than can be put into mere words, or could've been imagined. Yours is truly the stuff of legend.
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- In Edward Kennedy the world has lost a great servant, leader, statesman, senator and patriarch.
And if think this is liberal bias, go read the statements by Nancy Reagan, both Bushes, Mitch McConnel, John McCain, Orrin Hatch and other opponents (who knew him much better than any of us) express their friendship and respect with appropriateness and grace.
RIP, Senator Kennedy. - Reply to this comment
- RIP TED - I agree with President Obama that you were the Greatest Senator of All Time. You will also be noted for being the brave & courageous Senator to stand up to those evil right wing conspirators.
Rest assured, that our agenda & history would have suffered greatly, if you didn't make it out alive, and were the one to have drowned, instead of Mary JO at Chappaquiddick. Your remarkable courage & quick thinking during that tragedy saved the day. You're A Great American Hero, Icon, An Example to all of Our Children & The People. We're so very proud of you! - Reply to this comment
- Like a dying leaf.
Perhaps, in a
fantasy, there's
the silence of
your past life,
and every moment
becomes in a
dream the luminous
sunshine of
sincere behaviour,
with delicate
cares and the
light of a weeping;
and always remains,
near the sound
of a mournful
profile: here, in
my heart, like
a dying leaf.
Francesco Sinibaldi - Reply to this comment
- Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah:
"Today America lost a great elder statesman, a committed public servant, and leader of the Senate. And today I lost a treasured friend. Ted Kennedy was an iconic, larger than life United States senator whose influence cannot be overstated. Many have come before, and many will come after, but Ted Kennedy's name will always be remembered as someone who lived and breathed the United States Senate and the work completed within its chamber." - Reply to this comment
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- OMG! That's right about Mary Jo. May she now Rest In Peace. Perhaps her family can have closure to so much pain visted upon her family so long ago.
- Ted Kennedy ? The Last Brother. Thank God!
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- Ted Kennedy was soooo right on so many things and wrong on soooo many things.
A man, born into extradornary priviledge, he was a stalwart for the less fortunate, a champion for the rights of the common man. It'll be 100 years, if ever, that we witness as great a Senator - truly the Lion of the Senate has passed.
Ted Kennedy, despite his failings, was, never-the-less, respected by the world for his tireless efforts to shore up the rights of the less fortunate, to champion the causes of the common man.
America will miss him - I know I will. - Reply to this comment
- The many derisive comments posted here just show how utterly devoid of class so many republican sheep are.
The American Taliban Revolutionary Republican Fascist Party has released the trolls and they are hungry for their daily dose of bashing just about everything including this great man and Senator.
The American Taliban Revolutionary Republican Facist Party needs to be outlawed and renamed what it, and all its little ignorant and evil trolls represent, a domestic terrorist organization. - Reply to this comment
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- What's the matter woe - don't like it when the shoe is on the other foot ? I'm just positive you had all sorts of sympathy for Reagan when he passed. You are such a hypocrite.
