This biography of Edward M. Kennedy is from the Senator's official web site http://kennedy.senate.gov/
Senator Edward M. Kennedy has represented Massachusetts in the United States Senate for more than four decades. He was elected in 1962 to complete the final two years of the Senate term of his brother, Senator John F. Kennedy, who was elected President in 1960. Since then, Kennedy has been re-elected to eight full terms, and is now the second most senior member of the Senate.
Throughout his career, Kennedy has fought for issues that benefit the citizens of Massachusetts and the nation. His effort to make quality health care accessible and affordable to every American is a battle that Kennedy has been waging ever since he arrived in the Senate. In addition, Kennedy is active on a wide range of other issues, including opposition to the war in Iraq, education reform and immigration reform, raising the minimum wage, defending the rights of workers and their families, strengthening civil rights, assisting individuals with disabilities, fighting for cleaner water and cleaner air, and protecting and strengthening Social Security and Medicare.
Kennedy is currently the Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. He also serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee, where he is Chairman of the Senate Immigration, Refugees, and Border Security Subcommittee, and on the Senate Armed Services Committee, where he is Chairman of the Senate Seapower Subcommittee. He is also a member of the Congressional Joint Economic Committee and the Congressional Friends of Ireland, and a trustee of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.
Kennedy is the youngest of nine children of Joseph P. Kennedy and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, and is a graduate of Harvard University and the University of Virginia Law School. Kennedy lives in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, with his wife Victoria Reggie Kennedy. Together, they have five children – Kara, Edward Jr., and Patrick Kennedy, and Curran and Caroline Raclin. They also have four grandchildren.
Hometown: Hyannis Port
Born: February 22, 1932; Boston, Mass.
Religion: Roman Catholic
Family: Wife, Victoria Reggie Kennedy; three children, two stepchildren
Education: Harvard U., B.A. 1956 (government); International Law School, The Hague (The Netherlands), attended 1958; U. of Virginia, LL.B. 1959
Military Service: Army, 1951-53
Career: Lawyer
Elected: 1962 (7th full term)
Political Highlights: Suffolk County assistant district attorney, 1961-62; sought Democratic nomination for president, 1980
Chronology:
1962
Edward M. Kennedy is elected to the United States Senate.
1964
Senator Kennedy made his maiden speech on the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which was signed by President Johnson on July 2, 1964. The senator also strongly supported the Economic Opportunity Act, which was signed on August 20, 1964. The EOA mandated that programs would be "developed, conducted and administered with the maximum feasible participation and the residents of the areas and members of the groups served." It also established community action programs, including ABCD, to mobilize resources that could be used in a direct attack on the roots of poverty.
1966
Senator Kennedy, through an amendment to the Economic Opportunity Act, helped create a national health center system. In 1966, the nation's first comprehensive neighborhood health center was established by Tufts University in cooperation with ABCD at the Columbia Point Housing Project in Dorchester.
1968
As a result of Senator Kennedy's championing of bilingual education, the Bilingual Education Act was passed by Congress in 1968-- the first time Congress had endorsed funding for bilingual education. The Bilingual Program, a federally funded program through Title VII of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, was updated with the Improving American's Schools Act of 1994.
1970
Senator Kennedy continued his commitment to senior citizens by supporting Older American Community Service Employment. He also supported the Voting Rights Act Extension, in order to protect the Civil Rights gains made in the 60's. In response to the skyrocketing costs of home heating, which particularly affected low-income families and elders, the Senator actively worked on creating a fuel assistance program.
1971
Senator Kennedy became Chairman of the Senate Health Subcommittee, enhancing his ability to champion the cause of quality health care for all Americans.
1972
Senator Kennedy has a special commitment to the Meals on Wheels program for senior citizens, which he helped strengthen in 1972. This program offers nutritional meals to homebound seniors. Another priority for Senator Kennedy was the Women, Infants, and Children Nutrition Program. This program, popularly known as WIC, offers food, nutrition counseling, and access to health services for low-income women, infants, and children under the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children.
1973
Senator Kennedy worked to continue and improve legal services and emergency health services for the poor and improved educational opportunities for the handicapped.
1975
As part of his work on a wide range of domestic programs affecting the poor, Senator Kennedy championed the national Family Planning Initiatives.
1979
Senator Kennedy became Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and was influential in providing access for women and minorities in judicial nominations.
1981
Senator Kennedy garnered Congressional support for Low-Income Energy Assistance Programs (Fuel Assistance) ensuring that low-income and working poor families do not have to choose between eating and heating their homes.
1982
In the wake of budget restraints under President Reagan, Senator Kennedy sponsored the Job Training Partnership Act with Senator Dan Quayle of Indiana, which proposed to educate and train the nation's front-line workforce, It strengthened program requirements, provided better targeting of services to reach those most in need, and provided higher quality services. Senator Kennedy also successfully resisted efforts to eliminate the Summer Jobs Program.
1983
On becoming a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, he opposed the untested Star Wars Program and strongly supported Nuclear Arms Control.
1987
Senator Kennedy supported a Minimum Wage Increase and the Welfare-to-Jobs Incentives, increasing the job-readiness skills and disposable income for low-income and working poor individuals.