The most striking thing to me about the Ted Kennedy eulogized over the weekend was his sense of history. His nieces, nephews and children recalled how he had taken them to historic sites in Boston and Massachusetts and to Civil War battlegrounds. The sense of history weighed heavily on events, from the Friday night wake to the Saturday funeral and burial in Arlington.
The sense of history also brings a reverence for language. Human acts, the actual making of history, is remembered in language, and, of course, art. The language of the eulogies, the rememberances, the evocation of his love of the sea, showed the greatness of American speech, a special talent of the Irish, along with other ethnic groups. Kennedy, and his brothers Jack and Bobby, were masters of language, and the Kennedys in their remembrances displayed this gift, as did President Obama and Kennedy's Senate colleagues. Politics corrupts language, but the eulogies and tributes showed that language enobles politics.
The events also showed the power of the spontaneous, true emotion. One of the strongest memories I'll have is the unscripted singing of "God Bless America" and "America the Beautiful" by staffers gathered on the Capitol steps as the senator's hearse pulled away. I'll also remember the darkness at Arlington, how one of his grandchildren overcame her fear of the darkness to give a moving tribute. The moment echoed Ted Kennedy Jr.'s beautiful eulogy to his father, the highlight of the day.
The people lining the streets in Boston and Washinton evoked memories of similar outpourings for Ted's slain brothers, events which many Americans are now too young to remember. Many people seemed to want to again honor Jack and Bobby, as well as Ted. As many said, Ted's passing is the end of an era, whatever meanings can be pulled from that hackneyed phrase. Unlike the grief-stricken, stunned people lining the streets for JFK and Bobby, those saying goodbye to Ted showed joy amid their grief, as with the spontaneous applause from those on the Capitol steps.
Despite its conservative viewpoint, Fox News provided the best coverage, thanks to Chris Wallace. His sense of history and measured commentary were just right. He could actually remember viewing JFK's funeral cortage, and Dwight Eisenhower's. Of course, Mike Wallace's son would have such a sense of history, but Chris showed his own grace and sensitivity.
When the black limousines and the hearse gathered at Arlington, the eternal flame burning at JFK's grave recalled a famous piece by Jimmy Breslin. Before the JFK funeral, Breslin interviewed the man digging the slain president's grave for a memorable piece. It's a telling sign of how much newspaper writing has waned that a piece like Breslin's is unlikely to rise out of Ted Kennedy's farewell. Fox's Major Garrett showed some of the Breslin spirit when he told Wallace about speaking to the Kennedy tailor, who told Garrett that Teddy Kennedy III could be the member of the next Kennedy generation to take up the family's political legacy.
With all of the well-deserved praise given to Vicki Kennedy, I had sympathy for the ignored first wife, Joan, the mother of Ted's children. The marriage to Joan ended disastrously, marked by Kennedy's worst behavior, but surely she merited some mention. After all, as a documentary recounted during the day, she helped him to a Senate victory while he was lying on his back for months with a broken back. And, she undoubtedly had to endure much abuse, a different picture from the compassionate, concerned man so often painted during the two days. Joan was present at the funeral. Perhaps she was relieved not to be mentioned.
The gathering of the nation's powerful, and Boston's average citizens, to honor Kennedy showed the best of our country. We can hope the views of America's political, religious and literary traditions brings an elevation of civic discourse, but that is unlikely. As Kennedy understood, messiness, demagoguery and debacle are also part of democracy.
Many decry our fascination with celebrity, and the Kennedys definitely are part of this. But the farewells to Ted also showed that the family, despite all of the salacious events that have marked its reign in the public view, has also stood for our highest values. Ted Kennedy's legacy embraces the sacred and profane, the best and worst of us.