Kennedy's Bad Boy Days

Sen. Ted Kennedy was widely considered to be the rock of the Kennedy clan, but for many years following his brothers' deaths, he seemed ill-suited for the part.

CBS News correspondent Michelle Miller reported Kennedy seemed a man with two sides: he was a prolific elder statesman on one side and a brazen bad boy on the other.

Biographer Edward Klein says the youngest of the Kennedy nine seemed to get a free pass.

Klein said, "He was like the playboy of the Western world. ... The (other Kennedy children) had to achieve according to their father and mother's standards, (but) he could get the attention by being the clown."

Klein says Kennedy's demerits were many. He'd been kicked out of college for cheating. And in 1969 there was there Chappaquiddick accident, when the passenger in his car, Mary Jo Kopechne, died in the crash. Kennedy left the scene, and didn't notify authorities until his young companion's body was discovered the following day.

Klein said, "He drove a car off a bridge and drowned a woman. ... He left her in the car when she still had an air bubble in the car, and probably could have been saved."

Chappaquiddick haunted Kennedy, Miller said, and by 1980, his first marriage crumbled. The rest of the decade, Klein says, his reputation with women and booze spun out of control.

And by 1991, Miller reported, Kennedy hit rock bottom. After a night of bar-hopping with relatives, he was forced to testify in the rape trial of his nephew, William Kennedy Smith.

Klein said, "This is a mature man taking these young boys out for a romp with some women."

The press was relentless: Time magazine called him a "Palm Beach Boozer." GQ magazine dubbed him "an aging Irish boy clutching a bottle."

Peter Cannellos, editor of "Last Lion: The Fall and Rise of Ted Kennedy" said on "The Early Show" Kennedy's drinking and serial dating were "undignified for someone in his position."

Complete coverage: Ted Kennedy's life and legacy
But then Kennedy got married. Klein called the senator's second marriage to Victoria Reggie Kennedy in 1992 a change agent in his life.

And for the next 17 years, Klein says, Kennedy tossed the bad boy image and grew up. However, reflecting on those troubled years was never easy.

Read more stories on Sen. Kennedy's life and death at CBSNews.com:

CBS News Special: Ted Kennedy - The Last Brother
Mourners Gather For Kennedy Memorial
Kennedy To Be Missed in Health Care Fight
Across the Pond, Irish Praise Hero Abroad
Kennedy Did His Life's Work Until the End
Kennedy's Bad Boy Days
Who Is Heir to Kennedy's Liberal Legacy?
Brothers "Would Have been Proud"

In an interview with "60 Minutes," Kennedy told correspondent Lesley Stahl he never looked at how he would be remembered.

"I never looked at it, really, in terms of the questions of legacy," Kennedy said. "I think I've always wanted to try and be a better person."

But does the good outweigh the bad?

Klein said, "My guess is, 50 years from now, a hundred years from now, when Ted Kennedy makes his appearance in these history books, his bad behavior will be footnotes."

13 Comments Add a Comment

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woeisme1 says:: So there you have it anti-Kennedy people from the right. Republicans such as Romney praising Democrat Kennedy.

One would think that would tell you something about the insidious remarks you have been posting about Kennedy, would'nt it?

Like maybe it's okay to acknowledge Kennedy's greatness even if you're a republican?

Like maybe you guys, are out of step with the many republicans praising Kennedy's historic achievements just as your entire party is out of touch with the times?

Like maybe you are a real minority along with your mis-guided views?

I mean there is so much there for you to ponder. So much that the life of Kennedy can teach you.

But alas, you won't ponder. You will go through life effected positively from Kennedy but you won't admit it. And therein is the magic, the power of Kennedy - you berate him yet his legacy lives on in you.; reply

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jab232 says:: The good doesn't outweigh the bad for any of us. The good is just all you can do when you decide to change. Once Ted Kennedy changed, he did a lot of good.; reply

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daodeh says:: Oh those fun-loving mad-cap Kennedys.....; reply

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TheMasses2002 says:: Great posts above!; reply

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DaVicar5 says:: Killing young women and leaving their bodies in a creek is "Bad Boy Days"? Sound like a pretty mellow moniker for it, huh?; reply

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calvinthecat says:: Kennedy was a sorry excuse for a human being. He had no morals and was still voted by his State to be their Senator. They scrapped the bottom of the barrel each election year. What a shame. He might have been in the senate for a number of years but what did his private life show? His nephews followed after his example and have turned out to be just as bad or worse than he was. Look at their records. The State of Mass. will probably elect one of them to take his place.; reply

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MaryJeff says:: I totally agree with swin5. That is the problem with the Kennedy family - all the pesky little "footnotes" that seem to damage their fake Camelot image. The man should've been in prison for manslaughter in 1969. That whole family has the values and morals of a pack of dogs. And I would like to add one thing: could someone tell Caroline "Kennedy" that her last name is Schlossberg????; reply

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pkward says:

The biggest scandal in Mr. Kennedy's life was the accident that killed Ms. Kopechne. The piles of misinformation and bad reporting on this incident aren't helped by Mr. Klein's comment about the "air bubble". This information came into the record from a diver who was speculating based on what he saw; his speculation comprised a conclusion (based on a diver's experience?) that Ms. Kopechne may have been alive for two hours in the car.

Two key points: the evidence that this was not an accident, and that Mr. Kennedy may have been forced off the bridge, is not insubstantial; and the evidence surrounding the precise nature of Ms. Kopechne's death is surprisingly speculative.

While any serious student of Mr. Kennedy's life cannot be sure what happened that night, those same students can be very sure that the Senator was a tenacious and effective advocate for the common citizen, and has left a legacy of hard work, vision and belief in the decency of all Americans. Please, CBS, some proportionality here.

Thank you.


swin5 replies:: linkicon reporticon emailicon; Give me a break. Anything found out after the accident would not have been known to Kennedy. What he did know was that there was a woman trapped in that car and he left her there to die while he sobered up and figured out how to protect his political career. What is wrong with this country that we choose such scumbags to be our leaders and our heroes? And no I don't consider Kennedy a 'tenacious and effective advocate for the common citizen'. I want a country free of socialism and Kennedy did a lot to destroy the principles that this country was founded on. He never represented me and I would never have voted for him if I had had the chance.

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AlfredENeumann says:

Too bad CNN doesn't have the courage to run an accurate report like yours.

It's totally positive Ted Kennedy 24/7.

At Chappaquiddic he never came forth and told the truth - he took his secrets to the grave and yet people see him as some sort of a saint.


User_00000000002945496845 replies:: linkicon reporticon emailicon; Sainthood. Good idea. He was pretty saintly.

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swin5 says:

To biographer Edward Klein:

Maybe killing a young woman will be a 'footnote' to you but in my estimation Ted Kennedy was a jerk from a family of jerks. He was a drunk and the murder made him even more of one, the article seems to affirm this. So he was 'haunted' by Mary Jo's death - where was the admission of guilt, the apology, the restitution? He was only 'haunted' by how the death affected his political career and how it cost him any chance of attaining the presidency. At least in that respect, something good came out of something so terrible. Folks, as you listen and read all the hype the next few days, think about the young woman alive and trapped in a submerged car, using up all her air. And think about the man who left her there to die while he figured out how to protect his political career and waited long enough to sober up so that he could not be tested and charged with manslaughter


User_00000000002945496845 replies:: linkicon reporticon emailicon; All concerned parties need to come together to pass comprehensive healthcare reform as a memorial to the late Senator Edward Kennedy, honored statesman and great American.