Kennedy Wives: Triumph and Tragedy in America's Most Public Family (40 page)

269.
Despite some missed classes:
Thomas, “The Next Kennedy.”

269.
“What I remember about her”:
ibid.

269.
“[She wasn’t] bratty smart”:
ibid.

269.
Some friends noted:
ibid.

269.
In a blue pinstripe suit with pocket hankie:
ibid.

269.
One picture showed Jack Kennedy:
ibid.

270.
After high school:
ibid.

270.
“I met him for the photo . . . evidence of it”:
Clymer papers.

270.
“No? . . . it didn’t dawn on me”:
Kennedy, Vicki, “HWA Speakers Bureau—The Power of Choice,” YouTube, February 28, 2013, www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBpxyo8iwgo.

271.
With Taplin’s encouragement:
Thomas, “The Next Kennedy.”

271.
“There is nothing good”:
Kennedy, “HWA Speakers Bureau.”

271.
She also got their Nantucket:
Thomas, “The Next Kennedy.”

271.
Everything was to be “very casual”:
ibid.

271.
“But as much as Vicki”:
Kennedy,
True Compass
, p. 423.

271.
“Did I just say
yes
?”
Thomas,“The Next Kennedy.”

2. The Womanizing Ends

273.
“As the former girlfriend”:
Kelly, Michael
,
“Ted Kennedy on the Rocks,”
GQ,
February 1990.

273.
“so outrageous that I can’t imagine”:
Kennedy,
True Compass
, p. 421.

274.
“position on offshore drilling”:
Worthington, Christa, “The Curse of the Kennedys,”
The Independent
, May 25, 1997.

274.
“I’ve known Ted Kennedy a lot of years . . . when does”:
Thomas,“The Next Kennedy.”

274.
“That’s a relief, because I”:
Kennedy,
True Compass
, p. 424.

274.
“They were a little older”:
Clymer papers.

274.
Ted began keeping up on football:
Kennedy,
True Compass
, p. 424.

275.
“I remember one night I said
. . . run upstairs five times” . . . “He said, ‘No . . . beautiful sound in the world.’ ”:
Clymer papers.

275.
“There is no way”:
Kennedy,
True Compass
, p. 426.

275.
“I won’t say that I was hurt”:
ibid.

275.
“Well, listen, I was just thinking, uh”:
ibid.

275.
“We certainly had not spent . . . each other as a married couple”:
ibid., p. 183.

276.
On January 14, 1992, Ted proposed:
ibid., p. 427.

276.
“He said, ‘You know I love . . .
ask you and Doris’ . . . did it the proper way”:
Thomas, “The Next Kennedy.”

276.
she shared the secret with a friend:
Kennedy,
True Compass
, p. 427.

276.
“If they’ve come to Crowley looking . . . Teddy Kennedy, with his past”:
Thomas, “The Next Kennedy.”

276.
“So I swam down underwater”:
Clymer papers.

277.
“If anybody were looking to strategize . . . it’s ludicrous”:
Thomas,“The Next Kennedy.”

277.
“I knew I was right . . . knew the man”:
Kennedy, Vicki, “HWA Speakers Bureau—The Power of Choice,” YouTube, February 28, 2013, www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBpxyo8iwgo.

277.
Ted gave his new bride an oil:
Kennedy,
True Compass
, p. 427.

3. Battling Romney

278.
“If you don’t stand up”:
Horowitz, Jason, “Romney’s First Step Into Political Arena, vs. Ted Kennedy in 1994, Was a Cautious One,”
Washington Post
, October 17, 2012, www.washington post.com/lifestyle/style/romneys-first-step-into-political-arena-vs-ted-kennedy-in-1994-was-a-cautious-one/2012/10/17/a81b35ca-0e5e-11e2-bb5e-492c0d30bff6_story.html.

278.
“was positioning himself . . . senior senator’s outdated ways”:
Kennedy,
True Compass
, p. 438.

278.
It was to be an expensive race:
Phillips, Frank, and Scot Lehigh, “Kennedy Borrows $2m for Campaign; Estate in Virginia Used as Collateral,”
Boston Globe
, October 22, 1994.

278.
By Labor Day, a
Boston Globe
poll:
Goldman, Andrew, “Mitt Romney’s War with the
Boston Globe
,”
New Republic
, October 5, 2012, www.newrepublic.com/article/politics/magazine/108184/mitt-romneys-war-the-boston-globe.

278.
In a move that highlighted :
Kennedy,
True Compass
, p. 439.

279.
“that there would be a lot”:
Clymer papers.

279.
The firm uncovered slashed jobs:
Clymer,
Edward M. Kennedy: A Biography
, p. 536.

279.
“Do I still have my charisma?”:
Howe, Peter, “Kennedy Blasts GOP Rival; Says Romney’s Plan Attacks ‘Poor Children,’ ”
Boston Globe
, June 18, 1994.

279.
“She was a natural . . . very good friends”:
Kennedy,
True Compass
, p. 440.

279.
“No, thank you!”:
ibid., p. 441.

280.
But this campaign, Ted called Mitt out:
ibid., p. 439.

280.
“It was important to talk about”:
Clymer papers.

280.
“It doesn’t ring true to me . . . what he really was doing”:
ibid.

280.
“So, honey, is he good to you? . . . first time in my life”:
Kennedy,
True Compass
, p. 441.

280.
“said he needed the help of Aerosmith”:
“Vicki Kennedy Had Noteworthy Role in Speech,”
Boston Globe
, September 13, 1994.

280–81
.
“Well, this victory really isn’t about me . . . Not your family.
You
.”:
Kennedy,
True Compass
, p. 449.

4. New Kind of Kennedy

282.
“I was involved in every issue . . . with the love of my life”:
Kennedy, Vicki, “HWA Speakers Bureau—The Power of Choice,” YouTube, February 28, 2013, www.youtube .com/watch?v=FBpxyo8iwgo.

282.
Ted even respected:
Couric, Katie, “@KatieCouric: Vicki Reggie Kennedy & Ted Kennedy Jr.,” YouTube, December 22, 2009, www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FCBm9kBpG8.

282.
Ted dressed as Ponce de Leon:
Bickelhaupt, Susan, “Ted Kennedy Makes Some Birthday Waves,”
Boston Globe
, February 25, 1997.

282.
Vicki dressed as Anastasia:
Bickelhaupt, Susan, “ ‘Joy’ from the World,”
Boston Globe
, December 20, 1997.

283.
“He’s obviously been practicing”:
Beggy, Carol, “King Tells All About His Accident,”
Boston Globe
, October 30, 1999.

283.
“revealing the trademark Kennedy . . . Vicki, Vicki”:
Milligan, Susan, “For Senator, a Positive Loss,”
Boston Globe
, April 28, 2004.

283.
“Dear Teddy . . . but for our souls”:
Kennedy, Edward, “Excerpts from eulogy by Sen. Kennedy,”
New York Times
, January 25, 1995.

284.
“She was always there . . . in the way she did things”:
Kennedy,
True Compass
, p. 476.

284.
Though John Jr. never ran:
Seelye, Katharine Q. “John F. Kennedy Jr., Heir to a Formidable Dynasty,”
New York Times
, July 19, 1999.

284–85
.
“He had every gift but length of years”:
Kennedy, “A Man with ‘Every Gift but Length of Years,’ ” John F. Kennedy eulogy published in the
Boston Globe
, July 24, 1999.

285.
Not only did she have cancer:
Jacobs, Sally, “Kennedy, His Children, and Cancer,”
Boston Globe
, May 25, 2008.

285.
We were told that every doctor:
Kennedy,
True Compass,
p. 5.

285.
Seven years after Kara’s aggressive:
Kennedy,
True Compass
, p. 5.

285.
Some oncologists would speculate that:
Donaldson James, Susan, “Kara Kennedy’s Heart May Have Taken ‘Direct Hit’ by Cancer Cure,” ABC News, http://abcnews.go.com/Health/kara-kennedys-heart-attack-related-cancer-treatment/story?id=14558232.

285.
“One step at a time”:
Kennedy,
True Compass
, p. 5.

5. Time to Sail

286.
They had coffee:
Kennedy, Vicki, “Vicki Kennedy’s Final Remarks at UCSF Symposium,” YouTube, November 24, 2011, www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcMY7MLYZ4k.

286.
He moved toward the door:
Kennedy,
True Compass
, p. 3.

286.
“You’re going to be okay”:
ibid., p. 4.

286.
“I just knew it was”:
Kennedy, “Vicki Kennedy’s Final Remarks at UCSF Symposium.”

286.
“I went from concern to fear”:
ibid.

287.
“By the end of that day . . . they did”:
ibid.

287.
“Vicki and I privately were told”:
Kennedy,
True Compass
, p. 5.

287.
Only 30 percent:
“Glioblastoma,” American Brain Tumor Association, May 27, 2014, www.abta.org/brain-tumor-information/types-of-tumors/glioblastoma.html.

287.
“It was our brain tumor . . . in every single way”:
Kennedy, “Vicki Kennedy’s Final Remarks at UCSF Symposium.”

287.
“His perspective was . . . stay ahead of the darkness, as he put it”:
ibid.

287–88
.
“Everything seemed back to”:
Kennedy,
True Compass
, p. 7.

288.
More than a dozen experts:
Altman, Lawrence, “The Story behind Kennedy’s Surgery,”
New York Times
, July 29, 2008.

288.
In the meeting, the experts weighed:
ibid.

288.
“If I can show that there’s hope”:
Kennedy,
True Compass
, p. 8.

288.
That preparation allowed them:
Kennedy, “Vicki Kennedy’s Final Remarks at UCSF Symposium.”

288.
“We had an unspoken pact . . . it was magnificent”:
ibid.

288–89
.
“because the cancer was not . . . removed for the best chances”:
Altman, “The Story behind Kennedy’s Surgery.”

289.
It lasted a grueling three and:
Paul, Katie, “Ted Kennedy Kept Awake during Risky Brain Surgery,”
Newsweek
, June 1, 2008.

289.
“But once you’ve started . . . some manipulation up there”:
ibid.

289.
“He needed me to be his advocate . . . was the fierce lioness”:
Kennedy, “Vicki Kennedy’s Final Remarks at UCSF Symposium.”

289.
“Medicare is in jeopardy! . . . I need to get back to Washington”:
ibid.

290.
“You can’t go back . . . brain surgery”:
ibid.

290.
“It was a secret little”:
ibid.

290.
“Immediately the roll call came to a”:
Herszenhorn, David M. “Kennedy Returns to the Senate,”
New York Times
, July 9, 2008, http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/09/kennedy-returns-to-the-senate/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0.

290.
The final tally was sixty-nine:
ibid.

290.
“There wasn’t a person”:
ibid.

290.
Ted called his friend:
Kennedy,
True Compass
, p. 9.

290.
“For all those whose cares”:
Toobin, Jeffrey, “The Shrum Curse,”
New Yorker
, August 20, 2007.

290.
“I knew essentially”:
Kennedy,
True Compass
,
p. 9.

291.
They weren’t sure what kind:
Kennedy, “Vicki Kennedy’s Final Remarks at UCSF Symposium.”

291.
A minute in, he had:
Kennedy,
True Compass
,
pp. 9–10.

291.
“You know, I really don’t”:
ibid.

291.
“If you give him pain . . . worked too hard for this night”:
ibid., p. 10.

291.
“Vicki, shall we say”:
ibid.

291.
“What do you think . . . with the family and wave”:
ibid.

292.
Ted would have to play:
ibid., p. 11.

292.
Vicki was anxious and exhausted:
Kennedy, “Vicki Kennedy’s Final Remarks at UCSF Symposium.”

292.
“Nothing, nothing was going”:
Kennedy,
True Compass
, p. 12.

292.
“They liked my speech!”:
Kennedy, “Vicki Kennedy’s Final Remarks at UCSF Symposium.”

292.
Returning to his office in the:
ibid.

292.
Ted’s mahogany desk had once:
Russell, Jenna, “As Showcase and Centerpiece of the Late Senator’s Legacy, Edward M. Kennedy Institute in Boston Will Feature a Replica of His Office,”
Boston Globe
, January 31, 2010.