Chappaquiddick

The Kennedys are often called America's Royalty, and I always understood that not to be a reference to their wealth or their political power, but to the potential for drama in their lives. Ever since the assassination of John and Robert, every calamity that befalls a member of the Kennedy family is explained in the media by the fact that they are a Kennedy. A family with that much wealth and power is also understood to be incredibly passionate, willing to take risks, living life on the edge. When terrible things happen to them, it is not an accident, but a further sign of the extraordinary nature of the family.

I have always been hesitant to buy into that narrative frame, preferring instead to see them as regular people who are trying their best with their circumstances.

And I think that has something to do with Chappaquiddick. I was born in 1972, so I missed of course the national trauma that the assassinations surely were. Instead my first association with the Kennedys came when I heard my father talking about the Chappaquiddick incident. It seemed sad to me that the girl had drowned, but also very normal for Ted to have simply been in too much shock to really know what to do or how to handle the situation. People say of course that he purposely and very slyly left the scene, but I never thought so.

With Edward Kennedy's passing, it occurs to me in fact that Chappaquiddick may have been the best thing that ever happened to him. His brothers' ambitions knew no bounds, in my opinion, but through the humbling experience of Chappaquiddick, Ted's were checked. He came to focus not on perpetually advancing his political career, but on doing all he could for those around him through the egis of his position. He found the balance, he became satisfied. And by putting aside his ego just a tiny, tiny bit (still using it whenever needed to give a dash of panache to every speech and a touch of daring to every piece of legislation he submitted), he did real good in the world.

He's always been my favorite Kennedy. In the words of his son, 'I miss him already.'

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