together in the immediate aftermath of the news he had passed and i suggested his legacy might be endurance and perpetual position of being in a comeback. was that true do you think of senator kennedy ultimately? >> i think it was true. this was a guy whose life was not in any way easy, especially after 1968. he did not go through a day in which he could be entirely certain that he would not meet the same fate as his brothers did. you know, all sorts of other problems within that family. this was not a plaster saint but looking at the story over all, you look at the way that an individual conquers these demons and look at the way ted kennedy did that. >> michael beschloss, nbc news presidential historian, with the last word for us and great thanks for it and your time tonight, sir. >> a pleasure, keith. be well. >> one final note which may summarize how senator edward moore kennedy sr. did what he did and left the wake that he has left. it may come across as sel self-engran diesing.

if it does i'm sorry. i'm actually just a bit player in this anecdote. my last contact with the senator came the day before the inauguration at a luncheon his son ted jr. introduced himself and said his father had hoped to be with him for the specific purpose of telling me this. but that he was husbanding his faculties for the big day that was to follow. and he decided to stay in. my father wanted you to know, he told me, that he was always a viewer but since he's been at home so much, you've become his newscast. so he said, tell keith to keep up the good work. it was a compliment and then came the instruction wrapped in humor. he also said, don't screw it up because he's watching. a lesson one hopes for those who succeed him in this fight for reform and in all things. good night and good luck. a son of a political dynasty. >> i will introduce myself.

>> that faced unimaginable tragedy. >> those of us who loved him and take him to his rest today. >> his past stained by scandal. >> i think that chappaquiddick kept him from being president. >> yet he became one of the most influential politicians of his generation. >> as a senator, edward kennedy probably changed more things in american life than any presidents have. >> this is the issue. this is the time. >> even during the most challenging personal struggles, always fighting for what he believed in. >> i have come here tonight to stand with you, to change america. >> he will be one of the greatest united states senators. there's no question about it. >> it is a mark of ted's greatness that he does not care who gets the credit as long as the job gets done. >> edward moore kennedy.

>> ladies and gentlemen. >> he's been a democratic stalwart for morning four decades. champion of such social causes as civil rights, immigration reform and universal health care. in his personal life, senator edward kennedy has suffered great pain and been in the midst of great controversy, enduring what many called the curse of the kennedys. but tlhrough all of his politicl triumphs and personal tragedies, there has been one constant in the life of senator kennedy, a commitment to public service, a commitment first instilled by his parents, joseph and rose fitzgerald kennedy. childhood friends joseph patrick kennedy and rose fitzgerald

marry on october 7, 1914. he is the son of a successful businessman, an irish-catholic community leader. she the daughter of john francis fitzgerald, the legendary honey fitz, a former congressman and democratic mayor of boston. by 1930 after 16 years of marriage, the couple have eight children, joe jr., john, rosemary, kathleen, eunice, patricia, robert and gene. the kennedy children dote on rosemary, who was born mentally handicapped. rose kennedy would later write that it was rosemary who instilled in her siblings the desire to help the less fortunate, a value reinforced by their farther. >> joe kennedy impossessed on all of the children, you had advantages. that doesn't make you better than the next guy. because you had advantages, you have a duty to give something back. >> joe kennedy sr. is a shrewd businessman who makes a fortune in stocks, banks and the movie

business. he cashes out of the stock market before the crash of 1929, saving his fortune. during the depression that follows, he decides to change paths and focus on a future in politics. >> joe sr. really felt that public life was the most exciting, fascinating part of american life in the '30s and the '40s and the '50s. >> in 1932 joe kennedy sr. makes his first foray into public life. he enlists in franklin delano roosevelt's presidential campaign in the hopes of landing a job in the new administration. the year also marks a personal milestone for the kennedy family. edward moore kennedy, nicknamed teddy, is born on february 22nd, 1932. he is joe and rose's ninth child. when teddy is born, 15-year-old john fitzgerald kennedy is a student at the choate school in wallingford, connecticut. jack writes to his mother asking to be named teddy's godfather. >> the fact that he asked to be the godfather makes it seem almost as if early on he wanted

to take a certain protective role towards teddy. >> not long after teddy's birth, joe kennedy sr. is named chairman of the securities and exchange commission, and then in 1937, he is appointed american ambassador to great britain. the kennedy family, including 6-year-old teddy, moves to london in march of 1938. >> there was a great affection i think between joe and teddy. i mean teddy was, as they say, the caboose in the family. it was said that on saturday mornings or sunday mornings, he would hop into his father's bed and they would read the cartoons together. >> joe kennedy sr.'s political aspirations, which include a run for the presidency, change with europe on the brink of war. kennedy opposes any u.s. involvement in the war. president roosevelt views things differently. so in 1940, ambassador kennedy resigns. >> he was close to fdr for a time, and sort of hoped that he would be nominated for president after fdr. that was a pretty remote, so he was grooming joe, and joe

kennedy jr. to be president. >> joe jr., the oldest son, is a law student at harvard when the united states enters the war. he puts his studies on hold and enlists in the navy, becoming a bomber pilot. two years into his service, joe jr. is killed when his b-24 liberator explodes over the english channel. >> when joe died in the war, it fixed on jack, joe wanted his sons to give something back in public service and prominent public service. >> it's clear that in this family, public life and doing something in government became the brass ring that they all wanted to reach for. >> and after the war, the kennedy children began reaching for that brass ring. jack kennedy wins election to the u.s. house of representatives. bobby, who also served in the navy during the war, is at the university of virginia law school, poised to begin his own career in government. ted, 15 years jack's junior,

first enters milton academy and then goes onto harvard. like his brothers, he is a popular student. however, he does not follow in their academic footsteps. >> he wasn't a particularly good student. at the end of his freshman year, he was afraid he was going to flunk a spanish exam, which would make him ineligible to play varsity football the next year. >> afraid of disappointing his father, for whom varsity football was a staple of college life, ted concocts a plan. >> he got a friend to take the exam for him but the friend was recognized, and before the day was out, they both had been in the dean's office and told to leave. >> ted and his friend are expelled from harvard but told they can reapply in two years. it is june of 1951, and the war in korea is raging. ted attempts to get himself back on track by joining the army. >> he enlisted, did two years in the army. >> congressman kennedy, how do you feel about your race for the senate? >> while chad is in the army, jack kennedy is see elected

massachusetts senator with bobby as his campaign manager. one year later in the fall of 1953, after serving two years with the army, ted is readmitted to harvard. this time he puts more energy into studying, but still his focus lies elsewhere, on the football field. >> he played in two harvard yale games. the first one, his junior year, he played for only a few seconds. joe was very unhappy because ted hadn't played enough to win his varsity letter. the next year harvard gets beaten in the yale bowl in a blizzard, and they lose 21-7. but ted caught a touchdown pass on a deflection. it was a good catch. and everyone else in the locker room was terribly depressed and joe was wandering around telling his friend, my boy caught a touchdown pass. >> ted graduates from harvard in 1956, and then heads south to the university of virginia law school, where he wins the prestigious moot court competition.

coming up -- things seem to be falling into place for the young kennedy, bringing him one step closer to a future in politics. >> for the kennedy boys, i think the desire to go into politics was both instinctive and impressed upon them. that's outlast lipstain from covergirl. light as air lipwear that does what a lipstick can't. it's never sticky cuz it's a stain. and it won't leave your lips cuz it's outlast lipstain. [ male announcer ] from easy, breezy, beautiful covergirl.

after a rocky academic start, ted kennedy is pave ago smoother course for himself at the university of virginia law school. during his second year, ted sets his sights on washington and his brother jack's senate re-election campaign. >> ted was campaign manager set up a schedule for us last summer, and now he joins us whenever he can get away from law school on weekends. >> ted proves to be a tenacious vote getter. >> they got stuck in traffic on a bridge i think in springfield.

and there was just nothing to do but wait, so he got out of the car and would knock on windows and ask if he could put one of his brother's bumper stickers on the car, and he managed to get rid of quite a few bumper stickers in that traffic jam. >> while ted is busy on the campaign trail, his sisters are busy at home campaigning for something else -- a wife for their youngest brother. gene, the second youngest sibling, sets ted up with virginia joan bennett, who she met at an event at the manhattanville college of the sacred heart. >> joan was absolutely beautiful, so one can imagine that, that first reaction to seeing her and her seeing him, who was quite handsome himself at that time, must have been a certain kind of emotional connection. >> the connection is immediate. >> she was very much in love with ted. i think she had a much more sheltered background than he had, and sort of overwhelming energy of the kennedy family, the touch football, razzing each

other. it was always a little bit fast paced for her. >> i remember once jackie told me something so interesting. she was watching joan trying to fit into this rambunctious kennedy clan, and she said, if only joan had realized that she didn't have to play tennis like ethel or eunice. all she had to do was come out onto the tennis court with her leopard skin outfit, that she would look so beautiful. why court ethel's tennis elbow, she said? >> they married in 1958 at st. joseph's church in bronxesville. standing by ted's side, his newly elected senator brother jack. >> ted hosted jack as a future president. jack toasted him as a future senator. >> those toasts proved to be prophetic. in 1960, jack kennedy wins the democratic presidential nomination. >> let me say my favorite i accent the nomination of the democratic party.

>> ted helped in the presidential campaign. when jack got laryngitis, ted would come up and deliver his speeches for him. jack would be sitting back behind him on the podium, but ted would do the talk sfwlg ted's only break in campaigning would come in february 1960. he returned home to be with joan as she gave birth to their first child, a baby girl, kara anne kennedy. there's more to celebrate in november of that year. patriarch joe kennedy's dream is finally realized. john fitzgerald kennedy is elected president of the united states. jfk and bobby, who was named attorney general, move their families to washington and anticipate the eventual arrival of their younger brother. ted stays in boston working as an assistant district attorney, and then on september 29th, 1961, ted and joan celebrate the arrival of their second child, a baby boy, edward kennedy jr. a few months later, joe kennedy

sr. suffers a series of strokes. although the strokes leave him almost unable to speak, joe emits a father's pride when ted announces his decision to leap into electoral politics, running for the senate seat left vacant by his brother jack. >> i'm announcing today my candidacy for the senate of the united states. >> president john f. kennedy does what he can to ensure that his younger brother wins the democratic primary. >> i will introduce myself. i am teddy kennedy's brother, and a and i'm glad to be here. >> capturing 69% of the vote. >> when i first met ted kennedy back when i was a kid in hike school, high school, in between high school and college, i was a full-time volunteer, full-time gopher, and he was this young, just 30-year-old candidate for the senate. and i saw a guy who was driven as a lot of the kennedy family

in public life have been, that we can do better at things. that we can change things around us. >> ted kennedy is elected to the senate in 1962, gaining the seat with virtually no prior political experience. ted and joan move their family to washington. the kennedy brothers are together once again. >> coming into the senate as he did in the 1960s, which was an age of reform for america where liberal causes were really part of the fabric of the country stamped almost indelibly i think upon him. >> he rose very quickly in the ranks in the senate, and he understood, you know, you don't stop and you don't fall down on the job, you pick up and do more. >> but for this freshman senator, that concept of moving forward despite unforeseen obstacles would soon be severely tested. >> pro-priests who were with president kennedy say he is dead.

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november 22nd, 1963, a day that changes everything for the american people. the kennedy family, and for the young senator from massachusetts. >> two priests who were with president kennedy say he is dead. >> the assassination of john f. kennedy affected that whole family almost in a way that's unimaginable for any of us because it sort of destroyed the national order of things. >> in the days following jack's death, the kennedy family struggles to console a grieving nation, while also coping with its own loss. ted and robert take a hiatus from washington and return to the family compound at hyannis port to be with jackie. >> she's had a rather overcast and stormy few days on the cape. >> reporter: when ted returns to the senate floor a few months later, the difference in his persona is clear to all in

washington. he has a renewed zeal for his work and is determined to continue his late brother's civil rights initiatives. >> the kennedys' dedication in the area of social justice is imbred. >> this is not a political issue. it is a moral issue. >> it didn't require any special education for senator kennedy to become deeply involve in causes like the civil rights moment in the 1960s. >> my brother was the first president of the united states to state publicly that segregation is morally wrong. his heart and his soul are in this bill. >> in june of 1964, the senate passes the groundbreaking civil rights bill first penned by john f. kennedy. it is a monumental moment in american history, and an emotional one for ted. after the senate vote, ted travels to massachusetts to accept his party's renomination. the plane flies into bad weather

and crashes. >> i remember hearing that rose at that point was wondering what's going on with the kennedy family, that it seems like this was too much to have to bear in such a short order. >> ted is pulled from the wreckage, but his back is broken, leaving him immoral for five months. >> i felt a tremendous impact of the -- of the crash. >> despite the severity of his injury, he amazes his constituents by continuing his run for re-election. >> i need your help and your support on november 3rd. >> for events and speaking engagements, joan steps in. >> my husband, of course, is looking forward to coming home and he's looking forward with your help to returning to the senate. >> and i just say that two years ago, when i was campaigning, we won in massachusetts by 285,000. this year we've done considerably better and joan was campaigning. so i think six years from now, we're going to see a lot more of

joan. >> while joan is campaigning for ted in massachusetts, robert kennedy, who resigned as attorney general shortly after president kennedy's death, decides he will also run for the senate, representing new york. >> i've decided to make myself available for the nomination of the democratic state convention. >> the two brothers, ted still confined to his hospital bed, congratulate each other in november, as ted is re-elected and robert elected, as the junior senator from new york. in january of 1965, the brothers walk into the senate together. they enjoy quite a bit of camaraderie on capitol hill. >> it was said that there was a joke that when r.f.k. was coming to be sworn in to the senate, that teddy offered to show him around. do you even know how to get here, he would say. >> the kennedy brothers worked side by side on the labor and public welfare committee. they would fight to eradicate the poll tax, a device use by southern states to keep poor

blacks from voting, a fight they lose. but they are successful in their effort to change the country's immigration policy, which favors immigrants from northern europe. >> he's passionate about government working effectively for people in the interests of everyday folks and people who are struggling to become middle class americans. >> then on july 14th, 1967, amidst gossip circulating in washington of ted's wandering eye and alleged womanizing, joan gives birth to the couple's third child, patrick joseph kennedy. despite these rumors of domestic discord, ted kennedy is making a professional home for himself in the senate. brother robert, however, is envisioning something different. >> i think the difference between the men was that teddy felt natural and relaxed in the senate role. i'm not sure bobby ever did. it was almost as if the senate were a launching pad for him to become president. >> i am announcing today my candidacy for the presidency of

the united states. >> ted was among the people who really didn't want bob to run for president. and one of the reasons was his concern that he might be shot, as jack had been. >> ultimately ted supports robert's decision, and as he had done for jack, he campaigns for his brother. >> my thanks to all of you, and now it's on to chicago and let's win there. >> but just three months into the campaign, tragedy again. >> he was crushed, as bob had been at jack's death. this left him without certainly the person he was closest to in life, his brother. >> and now that we see the casket being carried in. >> what is stamped in the memory of anyone who listened to teddy's eulogy was not simply the words that he spoke or the setting of the beautiful

cathedral, but rather the fact that the emotion showed in his voice. >> those of us who loved him and who take him to his rest today pray that what he was to us and what he wished for others will some day come to pass for all of the world. >> and when his voice cracked and then he picked it back up again, it was almost as if he were expressing what the country was feeling at that time, both a sense of enormous loss and at the same time the necessity to go on. >> as he said many times in many parts of this nation to those he touched and who saw to touch him, some men see things as they are and say why. i dream things that never were and say why not? >> after his brother died, teddy really had to become not just an uncle but almost like a father figure to this huge number of other kids, and it just meant

timewise just an enormous scattering of his emotional life in order to be with all of those kids. and yet because the family tradition was that each person stood up when the other one fell down, he had no choice but to try and become that person. >> any possibilities abouthighe? >> i think if there's been something that our family has learned over the period of time is that we don't make long-term plans. that's been an experience that we had. prepare your mouth for a battle against germs. protect your mouth right with crest pro-health rinse at night. it kills 99% of germs that cause gingivitis, plaque,

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i'm christina brown. here's what's happening. south carolina governor mark sanford is rejecting another call for his resignation. this time from his lieutenant governor, fellow republican andre bauer. today sanford told bauer he wouldn't, quote, be railroaded

out of office by political opponents. author dominick dunne died at his home in manhattan today. the special correspondent for "vanity fair" was best known for his coverage of crimes committed by the rich and famous. dunne was 83 years old. now back to "headliners & legends." for ted kennedy, 1969 is a pivotal year. after the assassinations of his brothers john and robert, ted is thrust into the role of family patriarch. he attempts to fill his brother's shoes at home and in washington, but there is concern over whether he can handle the pressure. will the weight of public and private responsibility prove too heavy for the youngest kennedy to handle? after the assassination of

robert kennedy, ted kennedy's personal life seems to disintegrate. on july 18th, 1969, 37-year-old ted kennedy heads to massachusetts. he is to attend a party being held on chappaquiddick island for the women known as the boiler room girls, who had worked on robert's presidential campaign. >> ted was exhausted emotionally and physically. tip o'neill told me that, you know, they were on the same plane up to boston and ted said, i'm just so tired. i don't have any energy. >> the party on chappaquiddick is still going strong when, according to kennedy, he offers to drive a young aide, mary jo kopechne, to the fairy slip. the two leave the party some time after 10:00. kennedy said he does not realize he makes a wrong turn until the car he is driving descends a hill towards a small, unlit bridge. the car plunges off the side of the bridge. kennedy manages to escape. kopechne, however, does not.

kennedy says he tries to save kopechne by swimming down to reach her. he also says that after he fails, he walks back to the party and recruits his cousin and a friend to go back to the bridge with him. after another failed rescue attempt, kennedy leaves the island alone, swims to the mainland, and returns to his hotel. approximately ten hours after the accident, he makes his way into the police station and is questioned by the police chief. >> the next morning he went in to a police station on his own with the -- after they had already been called by a couple of kids who had gone fishing in the creek where the car had gone and had discovered the car. >> when do you think you might have a statement, senator, to clear up some of the questions? >> at an appropriate time. >> from looking at the accident scene, the car, the body of the girl, in your mind, how was the senator able to get out of the car and the girl not able to get out? >> well, that's hard to say but

i did observe that the senator's car, the window on the driver's side was open. i would assume that, that was how he got out. >> word on what happened on chappaquiddick spreads quickly. there are questions about whether alcohol had been a factor in the accident, whether his conduct with kopechne was improper, and whether he attempted to cover up his involvement in the accident. >> people blamed him as -- as they should, as he blames himself. he didn't do what he ought to have done. >> do you feel that there are any inconsistencies in senator kennedy's story? >> the only inconsistencies may be that we had believed that the accident happened between 12:00 a.m. and 1:00 a.m. and in the senator's story, he stated that he had come back some time during the night to his hotel room. i don't know when he could have done this. >> kennedy is charged with leaving the scene of an accident. in a hearing that lasts only nine minutes, kennedy pleads guilty to leaving the scene and receives a two-month jail

sentence, which is later suspended. >> senator kennedy's suspended sentence was granted on the basis of his character and his worldwide reputation. >> i have made my plea, and i've requested the networks for time this evening to make a report to the people of massachusetts. >> i felt morally obligated to plead guilty to the charge of leaving the scene of an accident. no words on my part can possibly express the terrible pain and suffering i feel over this tragic incident. this last week has been an agonizing one for me, and for the members of my family and the grief we feel over the loss of a wonderful friend who will remain with us the rest of our lives.

zblm th >> that seemed to satisfy the voters of massachusetts. >> i don't think kennedy ever understood that it didn't satisfy people outside of massachusetts. coming up -- kennedy faces voters outside of massachusetts. >> i think that chappaquiddick kept him from being president. he had said, and i have no reason to doubt, that he's living with it every day.

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the accident on chappaquiddick island alters ted kennedy's political prospects and makes his personal life fodder for newshounds.

>> the real tragedy at chappaquiddick was the loss of a life. hounds. >> the real tragedy at chappaquiddick was the loss of a life. and i have accepted full and complete responsibility for that. and i will live with that all of my life. >> and the future would hold more grief and tragedy. joe kennedy sr. passes away in november of 1969. and then in november of 1973 teddy jr. is diagnosed with cancer in his right leg. the leg is amputated. six months later, the kennedy name is making headlines once again. joan is arrested in virginia for drunk driving. ted and joan's marriage is also in trouble, crumbling under the weight of joan's drinking problem and the rumors of ted's affairs. the family fractures in 1977 when joan moves out of the couple's virginia home and relocates to boston. >> their marriage had fallen apart really when joan had moved

to boston. they weren't ever legally separated and they did see each other occasionally. >> ted remains in washington. he has established himself as a major voice in the senate and is positioning himself to run for the presidency in 1980, challenging incumbent president jimmy carter. >> i had no doubt that jimmy carter was going to lose to ronald reagan, and that if the democratic party didn't put up a real alternative, someone who was strong and seen as strong, that we would lose that election. >> kennedy's main legislative interest at that point was a national health care system. kennedy became convinced that carter wasn't serious about it and thought carter was not -- not really a liberal enough democrat. >> today i formally announce that i'm a candidate for president of the united states. >> ted and joan reunite in the fall of 1979 as he becomes the third kennedy to run for president of the united states. >> you shake my hand? >> yes, i will shake your hand.

>> the 1980 presidential campaign was in fact one of the wildest rides there has ever been in american politics. >> i have a mother who's 89 years young. >> he was awful at first. one of the worst campaigners i think i had ever seen. >> i bet many of you need to care for your feet. this is a need i find for, let's see some hands on that issue, too. >> there were enormous highs and unbelievably depressing lows. >> the first of those lows comes early in the campaign. cbs news televises interviews kennedy had given to correspondent roger mudd earlier that year. >> kennedy was forewarned that these interviews he had agreed to were not going to be pattycake but tough. and yet he didn't prepare himself to answer a question that almost any senator in that

building back there can discourse for you for ten minutes. >> why do you want to be president? >> well, i'm -- um, were i to make the announcement to run, the reasons that i would run is because i have a great belief in this country that it is -- there's more natural resources than any nation of the world. >> it was a bad answer. he hadn't thought it out. kennedy speaks well but he sometimes is not good on the spur of the moment, and he was obviously terrible then. >> what is the present state of your marriage, senator? >> well, i think that it's a -- we've had some difficult times, but i think we have -- we have

been able to make some very good progress. >> rogers' interview is much more important as a symbolen metaphor than it actually was as a news event. we watched this tongue tied, unsure person who was basically at that time running for president because he thought jimmy carter had done a terrible job and he could do better but couldn't put it into words. >> the mudd interview may have hurt the kennedy campaign, but is soon e clinsed by a major story merging out of iran. >> good evening. the american embassy in tehran is in the hands of muslim students tonight. >> 53 americans are held hostage. the coverage of the hostage crisis pushes kennedy's name off the front pages and emphasizes carter's presidential authority in the face of a crisis. >> president carter was initially able to say when the american diplomats were taken hostage in iran that he wasn't going to campaign, he wasn't going to debate kennedy because he had to devote every hour and

every minute to being president and trying to free the hostages. so even people who didn't necessarily like carter as president thought they had to vote for him to send a message to the iranians. >> and no matter what the headlines, for the kennedy campaign always there lurking in the shadows is chappaquiddick. >> as kennedy began to make progress, the carter campaign began to advertise on issues like judgment, character. and they tried to use these words, the sinynonyms for chad quidic. >> the voter must weigh both morals and character. >> in the polls, people don't trust him quite as much as they trust president carter on a personal basis. >> i wish that were not the case. i don't happen to see -- i think that probably that's because of chappaquiddick. >> without chappaquiddick, it's pretty likely that teddy kennedy would have been president. it still might have been a difficult climate a certain point, but without that scar behind him, without the defense

of that, he had a good shot at being president. >> the air continued to leak out of the kennedy campaign, with losses in both iowa and new hampshire. >> how damaging would a defeat be, sir? >> well, i think it's always better to win than to lose. >> the new york primary will be a charge chapter in the story of these democratic presidential contests. it was a classic case of one candidate coming from behind to win a big and important state when no one thought he could. >> we woke up on primary morning, and there was a lou harris poll in "the new york daily news" that said we're going to lose by 20 points. and by 6:00 that evening, it was clear we were going to win by 20 points. >> the question is, is this a trend? i hope so. i like this trend better than the last trend. thank you very, very much. >> the victory in new york cheers the troops but kennedy knows his support is shallow. >> i interviewed him the first thing the next morning, and he started talking about how there

was no question as he looked at the numbers the night before that people were voting against carter and not voting for him. >> despite the win in new york, kennedy knows that he is facing seemingly insurmountable odds, and so two days before the convention, he withdraws. >> will you campaign for his re-election? >> actively. >> jimmy carter will accept the democratic nomination for his second term as president tonight. and after mr. carter's acceptance speech, senator edward kennedy, his defeated rival, will join him on the podium. >> a defeated but spirited kennedy takes the stage. >> may it be said of our party in 1980 that we found our faith again. >> he started to give the speech, and you could hear the convention responding. >> for me, a few hours ago this campaign came to an end. for all those whose cares have

been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die. >> he got clobbered politically but what he salvaged became the agenda for his party for the next 25 years. coming up -- kennedy settles into his role as a liberal leader of the senate and faces more personal tragedy.

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ronald reagan wins in a landslide victory and the democrats suffer the loss of 1 senate seats. kennedy is quick to reach across the aisle, gaining republican co-sponsorship on a variety of legislation. in a conservative senate, kennedy manages to stand his liberal ground. >> while he's a person of deep and strong principle, he's not a bitter partisan. i think people have come over time to understand that he's not just the democrat's democrat, he's the senator's senator. >> while kennedy can build consensus in congress, at home, the divisions are irreconcilable. in january of 1981, ted and joan announce they are getting divorced. >> joan later understanding that she's been an alcoholic from early on and teddy's active life both socially and politically must have drawn them apart. >> with children cara and edward in college and patrick in school near joan in boston, ted kennedy is on his own in washington.

he still harbors a desire to make another run for the presidency. but this time there is little support from his family. by 1985, kennedy announces that the senate is and will forever be his only home in washington. >> this decision means that i may never be president. but the pursuit of the presidency is not my life. public service is. >> when you run for president, people, i can tell you acquitted, questions about ted's past with women and alcohol are dredged up once again.

but then later this same year at a personal cross roads, ted kennedy makes a fundamental turn around. >> i recognize my own shortcomings. the conduct of my private life. i realize that i alone am responsible for them. and i am the one who must confront them. >> within a year, kennedy is restructuring his private life. he meets attorney victoria reggie, a divorced mother of two at a dinner party being held in honor of her parents edmond and doris reggie. kennedy's personal friends. they instantly take a liking to one another and marry in 1992. >> i had known vicki before. but this is the first time i think i really saw her. and beyond the very obvious features of being a lovely, warm

and attractive intelligent person, i realized that i wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. >> but the personal blows keep coming. >> a dark day for america -- >> by the time john f. kennedy jr. died, jackie was dead, jack was dead, ted i did had to become the member of the family who represented the family and had to carry the burden of the funeral. >> kennedy's resilience helped him not only personally but politically as well. he is at home in the senate, the consumate legislator, the liberal lion. >> this has been the go-to guy for countless organizations dealing particularly with american who's don't have much of a voice. >> it's hundreds of thousands, tens of thousands, millions of people whose lives are -- >> he believes the government exists for ordinary people, not for the powerful. the powerful don't need government in the same way that ordinary people do. >> it is a mark of ted's

greatness that he does not care who gets the credit as long as the job gets done. >> do you love america? >> yes! >> he's fought for the poor. he's fought for the disenfranchised and children and the elderly. he fights for people who don't have big lobbying budgets and big k street representatives. >> we must demand in america that helps the homeless, feeds the hungry, breaks the cycle of poverty, and replaces welfare with work. >> in his fifth decade in the u.s. senate, ted kennedy maintains considerable influence. >> the fundamental test of our society is how it treats the least powerful among us. >> kennedy remains the custodian of the heart, the mind, and the soul of the democratic party. >> as a senator, edward kennedy has probably changed more things in american the life than any

president has. >> i feel change in the air. what about you? >> in january, 2008, he creates huge buzz when he endorses president obama as presidential bid. then in may, a frightening diagnosis after kennedy suffers a seizure at his high an he is port home. he has a malignent brain tumor. kennedy keeps an upbeat attitude, even going sailing shortly after returning home from the hospital. he has surgery at duke university medical center to have as much of the tumor removed as possible. and faces radiation and chemotherapy. but his treatment does not prevent a determined kennedy from energizing the crowd at the democratic convention in august. >> i have come here tonight to stand with you, to change america, to restore its future, to rise to our best ideals, and to