Kennedy, Ted (Edward Moore Kennedy), 1932-, U.S. senator from Massachusetts (1962-), brother of John F. Kennedyand Robert F. Kennedy and youngest son of Joseph P. Kennedy, b. Boston, Mass. He served (1961-62) as an assistant district attorney in Massachusetts before being elected (1962) as a Democrat to the U.S. Senate. After the assassination of his brother Robert in 1968, he became the acknowledged leader of Senate liberals and served (1969-71) as assistant majority leader. His political future was marred by his involvement in the Chappaquiddick incident (July, 1969), in which Mary Jo Kopechne, a passenger, drowned when the car he was driving fell into a creek. Kennedy's reputation recovered, however, and he continued to advocate such liberal programs as national health insurance and tax reform. He was long considered a potential Democratic president, but withdrew in 1974 from the 1976 race and failed in a 1980 primary challenge to Jimmy Carter. He has chaired the Senate judiciary (1979-81), labor and human resources (1987-95), and health, education, labor, and pensions (2001-3, 2007-) committees. Kennedy is the author of Decisions for a Decade (1968) and In Critical Condition (1972).