tavis: good evening. from los angeles, i a tavis smey. tonit, a conversation with the eldest son of the late senator edward kennedy, ted kennedy jr. thiseek marks the releasef the kennedy memoir, "true mpass." he pes toee a health-care bill pass this year which he believes would be a laing tribe tois father's legacy. ted kennedy ., coming up right now. >> there a so many things that wal-mart is looking forwarto doing, like heing people live better. but moly, we're helping build stnger communities and relationship with your he, the best is y

to come. >> natioide insuranceroudly suppor "tavis smiley." taviand nationwide, working together to improve fancial teracy and the econom empowerment thatomes with it. >> ♪ nationwide is on yo side ♪ >> and by contributis to your pbs station from vwers like you. thank you. [captioning made possible b kcet public television] tis: ted kennedy jr. is th co-founder and president of the rwood group, a healthce advisory and financiaservices firm. he is also aongtime advocate for the disabled. his psion stems from his own experience. t age of 12, he loshis

leg to cancer, one of the sjects in the much tked- about memoir, "true compass. ted kennedy . joins us from arlington, out vginia. an hon to have you on the show. >> thank youfor having me. tavis: let start by saying, you're tribute to your ther at that service was inspiring and wering -- and i powering and algether uplifng. think you for your remembrances. i was mov to tears, as i ow many of otrs were. thank you for sharing about your fatherhe way that youdid. >> thank you, tis. it was one of the hardest things i have ever had do is morialize my dad, who loved so much, such a huge fire in my fe. how you dene somebody i5, 10 minutes, itwas one of the hardest things i d to do.

when i got emotional, of course i am sad for my father's passing, but i am just fille with gratitude tavis, for all theifferent things that my father did, it gives that he had given to me. tavis: it was a great tribute. that maytart with obvious, how does one wear the name of ted kennedy jr.? as said in euly, it has not always been esy to have theame ted kennedy jr but have never been more pro oft than i am today. growingp in a pitical family, younow, tavis, is not easy to have the scrutiny, the prs, the time ay that it takes to be involvedn public life.

it is a vy grueling business. but i sahow much satisfaction skin how much satisfaction m father got from e job. it has its benefits. thatas its good thin and it's bad. i a very proud of my family's legacy, so having that last name isomething that has de me very pro. at the same time, i think people pre-judge whyou are, what yo thk, may have alrea formed anpinion aboutme because they have an opinion about my family. of course, my dad an his brothers befor him ve made me coroversy, plitical decisionin their lives. not eryone is happy. you know that my dad has been on the liberal rt of the democric party for 50 yea, and not everyone that wknow is liberal democrat.

my father ha been a lightning rod for a lot of conservatives and other people who just dnot share his political philophy. at times, those statements, ose criticisms have been personal. would be lyg to you if told youhat if some those did not hurt my feelings psonally, even thoh i know that he was a polital being. tavis: yet aft having seen whatour had to indoors a politician -- what your fath had to endure as a politician, yohave n ruled out running for office yourlf? >> i think there are a l of different wa to help people course, growing up in the kennedy family, we all think that one dayor another abo political life, out for ouelves or at some point i the future.

i think tha perhaps i will go downhat road. but you know what, itis too soon tsay. i do not wt to be a surrogate for myad or a carbon copy of my dad. if and when i do go in to public fice, seek public office,t will be with m owndeas, my inexperiences, and my own expertise in the diffent areas of heal care andlso disabilitlaw and policy that is really the subject of my life's work. at i think is great is this book that father broke, "true ompass," has been such agift to me. he talks about all the different politicaincidents that he has been involved wh all of his life. e bears h soul. iis an incredibly spiritual book. is incredibly ipirational. that is why i wanted to me on the show and letour viers

know how much they would get out of learning more about my dad through this book. tavi one of thehings th you learn in this book, d also the who have followed your family's legacy have ard these stories but given the chce to write his first memoir, he tal about the competion within the faly. how much this competion inside theennedy fily, how much has led tthe kennedys being th type of public servants that ve? >> we love competition think our dinner table conversations areike a opardy game. you have to be -- it is the akes are high. if you want to enter a conversation on healthcare, on foreign affairs, domtic affairs, yoave to have you facts straight i think al of us were compitive and iellectually,

of course, on the legendary football fld in front of my d's home on ce cod, but, yes, we have always been comtitive, but i thinkhat we love and adore one another. in this bk, "true compass," that my dajust cmpleted writing, literally. he got a copy of this bk the morninthat he died. he was just shown a copy of is book, hot off e press. you see a family that was incredly closeknit, incrediblyupportive. ye while we were competitive with one another, we love each other and iredibly mutuly supportive of e another. tavis: he talks about it in the book, healks abouthis, what do you make o the fact that he was the one who got to live into old a, to be able -- i have

saidt twice, but it bears repeating, of all the kennedy members, of all the members of that family, he is theonly one who lved long enough to beable to write aemoir about his li. what do you ma of that? >> i feelortunate that i had myad as long as iid. am 47 years old. today, and meeting people all the time to come up d share with me how they lost a parent at age 5 age 10. i feel really gteful that i had this wonderful man in my life. of course, i see my cousins' experienc my father was also a father all of my cousins who lt their father as well. i was actually surpred, tavis, when he told me tt he wand to write a memoir. i haveo sa i was a little surpsed. t so many books have been written about the kennedys, he

thenold me had been taking these contemporaneous nos over 50 years. i knew that he took nos. i did not ow the amount of notes that he took, almost on daily basi he felt like he really hd a story to tell, a it was his story. so much has been said about the kennedys, wanted to y his pie, not just abouthe family but many political events that he had been bn involved with. tavi your dad talks about his ops and downs. as his son, the one who bears his name, and their father is going through these tumultuous time -- when yr father is gointhrough the a tumultuous tis, how did you nagate thugh that? heis your fther and you ve him, bt you see him struggling with drinking and oer things. how did you ndle that?

i tnk as a child, you fst worship your parts. then as you get older, you see them as a human being. at least at is what hpened to me. i knewhat my fatheras a human being and had strgths an weaknesses, just like everybody else. i think in this book, he wants to be remembered as a human being, and not idealized ke his brothers were. i thk thais the powerful stor tavis. here is aan who has been through so ch, who,yes, h his shortcomgs in his life, had s triumphs but who worked ard each and every day. i think wh his credo reay is is perseverance. you like him or not, i think the leon reallys, you try hard.

yes, yomake mistakeslong the way, we are all ofuman beings, but you gethe next morning and you try to do tter. lond beld, after years, youactually accomplish something. thats about my father's life. he admired people who worked hard. dad worked so hard. he was up, even on his vacations, at 6:30 a.m. that was one of the things that he really felt that he wanted to ve back. yes, it was at times hard as his soto be him cricize or in the otional agony that saw him then, t it led me to really respect him even re. tavis: what did you make of it, and how did yourocess, the way that he handled-- my word, not years -- the pressure, t responsibility tt he had, given that he washe last one?

>> well, he had a huge snse of responbility. when he was 3 -- i am 47, wn he was 37,he became the head o our family. that is a reallawesome responsility to have at that age. but you know what, hwas a peopleerson, okay? you can tell, yosee the news clips of him even a the senate en he is shouting at t top of his lungs, he would throw his arm around strom thurmond or orrin hat or john main at the enof the debate and say did you really mean toay those me things about me? you know, he justever took it personally. you see whai am saying? tavis: sure. the same is true i our family life. he led beg aroundids, playing football, going on our campg ips where we would

spend the night in a tent i the berkshires in western masshusetts. thing fancy, hot dogs o the grill, but that ishat he really led. yes, it was a big resnsibility, but at the same time i think he loved every minute oft. tavi to the extent that you can, share with me the conversations that you h with your fathe when he knew he wa battling caer and the hope at he had ithat he could beat it given that he had two kids, a daughter and son,ho had been cancer? i have to believe that h felt he could beat it, too. >> i think wheny dad was diagnosed, tis, i think he s a realist. he knew e odds. at the same time, he ways nted to keep ho. he w an eternal optimist.

buwhat is important is that he lived every sine day of the lastear-and-a-half to the full list. yes, he knew abouthis impending death. he knew that had terminal illnes but it is what we do withur lives that pnt that is ally the testament of a person. he was able to sebarackbama be inaugurated as t president of e net states. he got to go skeet -- he got to gopeak at the convention. he g to throw the first pitc of the boon red sox. he got to write s polital memoirs. he g to really enjothe accolades, not just from hi friends and the democratic rty, but from many of his sotimes political advearies in the republican party. they sent staments of admiration and respect.

i am so gteful, tavis, that my dad was able to experience all this. meanwhile,e passed mental- health parity legislation, he bought -- he got public service. president obama expanded americorps and name e bill after my dad there were incredib that this latest achievemes, even though heas not on the floor of the senate every sine day. that is what i am grateful about. tavis: given a these years of service, a the liberal nature of his polits, the are not a lot of people in the u.s. nate or the house-- are there rsons tt we can point to i th kennedy ilk of being unabhed, unafraid ofalling themselves liberal,alling themsees progressivand ghtingor an agenda tt every daconsiders the least among us? what yo make of the fact we do

not have lot of people like him to point to? --what do you make of the fct we do no have a lot of peop like to point ? >> i think there are a lot of incredible memberof congress and the senate and statouses across theountry who are willing to take th risky stance. my fatherwas for working on the emigration bill. he was concerned about priso rape. what about things like gun- control? wouldet 15 votes. did not care whether it the positionas politically popula -- he did n care whether the position was politically popular. he wanted to work onhe things th he thought were the right things to do. i think he ca from a differen political ti, tavi whe in the earl 1960's, he could jus for andevelop a personal relationship with people like senar simpson and hatch and warnernd these republicans who were his friends.

honestlyhe was friends with these members. ink that is gone,tavis. i think in this highly charge potical environment that we live in today, people do not have time to bui and delop these peonal relationsps, plus i think my father knew that he hadonstituency that would ack him up -- teachers, labor, the african-american community. many communities so that when he had to make tough standr tough vote, he did not havto worry about what would hpen to him every x years when he had to run for reeleion. he knew thatis friends would be they'reupporting him every step of the way. that allowed him to take these risky political sts. tavis: what is you sensef the way th he made of the fact that he was high regaed inside of the african-american community? >> i think my dad always felt for pele who have been left out and fopeople who have been

treed unfairly. whether it has be the african- erican experience in this country, the issue that i work on, the civ-rightsmovement for peop with disabilies, refuge. my father was always for the underdog. he always stood up. he honestly felt like had moral obligation to stand up in theace of injuice in this worl i think that african-americans know who their politil friends art. e experience it it isfresh in our country's memory. l's fa it, 1964, it w not that long ago, tavis. he was so proud, so proudf where our untry had recently, as a nation, being able to -- so

prd of where our country had come as a nation. i think he could have died at the moment that barack obama was elected and the happiest man alive. he saw the potentl. i am not ting to say there are not proems that stilexist, tavis,there ae, but i think he s really pro of that a lot ofrogress has been made. obviously, is not just my dad. my uncle bobby and uncle jack, longstanding -- in fact, m father'first speech in e senatwas on civil rights, the voting rights act and the pl tax. fighting for all of those things th a lot of african-amerins who were bor today may not really understand thextent to which many states were trying to deprive them of eir right to vote by xing them and others. its incredible. you knowhat history, but it is impoant to remind people of that history so it never happen again.

tavis:ust a few minutes left. first, your father closethis booky basically saying that we are going to remember him in any way, let's remeer h concted to passing heah care. he says itery clely. that i what you have dedicate ur life t working for the disaed. talk to me about ere you think th debate is headed on health care? >> i thin if he were he, it uldot be so tentative now in washington, d.c., becse i thk he was t masterf birtisan compromi and the legislative process. that said, i think we are on the uspof passing universal reform. what that exactly mean, tavis, i don't know, but i think the president stated a butiful caseor the other night in fronof the joint seion of

congress. tnk that we willave health care reform in this country. i thin my father always believed thahealthcare is a rightnd not a privilege of the luy few. i thanked he is i think he is, i know that he wanted to be mo involved in this dete, and i grievefor that, that he is not here to see this through, but i believe it will hapn with or wiout him. tavis: we have ferenced it but tell me spifically about th work that yodo. >> am a healthareegulatory attorney, in adtion to being a civil rights activist fo people with disabilities. my company, we do regulato analyses andhe health-care stor. work with a number o differentospitals, healthcare agencies, healthcare investors. i am based in new york. we he an offi in

washington,d.c. that is what i y to do, ke this process more understandable to people. tavis: wt are the stakes specifically for you in seeing this heal care legislation passed? >> my personal viewpnt is that we need universal health care. not just as something that is the mora thing to do b as a tpayer, quite honestly, we are paying for health care as it is. it is just coming in the form of uncompented caren coming out of t people who hav insance to our cross subsidizing those o do not. -- people whhave insurance are cross subsidizg those who did not. we ve the greatest health car syst in the world. weust need to make system that i fair and accessible to everyone. tavis: finally, some any books written about the knedy family.

what is your sense of wt is in this te that a reader will learn about eard kenny that we do not ready know? >> i think when i was reading this book -- and i was nervous aut opening is book. honestly, istarted reading it three days after he ed. i did not kn really what to exct. although i knew some of the story picks, i had not re the whole book. -- although i knew some of t stories, i had not read the whole book. i felt like m father was speaking to me. all comes acrs is my fathe's spirituality. i grew up in a catholicamily, a catholics do not really talk about the bible or their irituality, but what they -- whatomes across is a ve spiritu point. the cond point, my father had deep emotions. i think he had to hold it together because we re all standing on his shoulders for

me years. i think he was finly able to t it out. the are the twohings that i thin readers will be most surprised abo what they read of a " true compass." tavis: the nebook is called "troop campus -- true com pass." ted kennedy jr., an hor to have you on therogram. it that is rhow for tonight. cah me on the weekend on puic radio international. we will see back here nextime on pbs. unl th, good night fm los angeles. and as always, keephe faith. >> for more informion on today'show, visit tavis smiley on pbs.org. tavis: i am tis mileage. to me ntime for the story of dway betts, to transform hi life -- i am tavismiley. join me xt time for the sto

of plane that tnsformed his lifeuring his jl sentence. it>> there are so many ings that wal-maris lookingorward to doing, ke helping people live better. but stly, we're helping bui stronger communies and relationships. because with your helpthe best is yet tcome. >> tionwide insurance proudly suorts "tavis smiley." tavis and nationwide, working tother to improve financial literacy and t economic powerment that comes with it >> ♪ nionwide s on your side ♪ >> and byontributions to yr pbs statn from viewers lik you. thank u. [captioning made ssible by kcet plic television] captioneby the national ctioning initute --www.ncicap.o--