SENATOR TED KENNEDY: The Career Behind the Image

by ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 5, 1975

We're gearing up for the '76 election with a flood of campaign literature and while the Kennedy apparatus is moving slowly behind stalking-horse Shriver, this is yet another trial balloon for the presidential hopeful. With hardly a passing acknowledgement of the old scandals, Lippman, editorial writer for the Baltimore Sun who produced a Muskie book just about four years ago, concentrates on Teddy's thirteen years in the Senate, which he covers battle by legislative battle. He presents the ""Senator for the Young. . . Senator for the Underdog"" as a professional humanitarian primarily interested in the ""cutting edge"" social issues--campaign finance and tax reform, gun control, busing and voter registration, health care. Ted gets the credit for being the prime mover on both Vietnam and Watergate; and Lippman contends repeatedly that the Kennedy name with its baggage of glamour is in fact a handicap--that Teddy is in some way more serious than were his big brothers. It's established that the Massachusetts backyard is not large enough for this fair-haired boy, who has cultivated not only a national but an international constituency from the start. Furthermore, he unequivocally wants to fulfill the manifest Kennedy destiny. Teddy wants the presidency. With no smoke-filled rooms, no mention of deals or trade-offs, this is an idealized poster portrait not a political biography.

Pub Date: Jan. 5, 1975

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Norton

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1975

Categories: NONFICTION