Kennedy Library Panel Features Famous Speakers, Draws Hundreds to Boston’s Presidential Library

Mike Barnicle, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Michael Beschloss, and E.J. Dionne at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library

Drawn by the prospect of hearing Victoria “Vicki” Reggie Kennedy, Presidential historians Michael Beschloss and Doris Kearns Goodwin, and Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne, hundreds of people convened in Boston at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum for a panel discussion on the late Senator Edward M. “Ted” Kennedy’s life and autobiography, True Compass, published shortly following his death last August. The forum sold out well in advance, with so many audience members eager to learn more about this influential man through the eyes of experts and through his own wife's words.

Drew Thomas, Lucie-Anne Dionne-Thomas, E.J. Dionne, & Raymond Cormie

The evening took on an added dimension of reverence thanks to its location: as Library Director Tom Putnam, and Vicki Kennedy mentioned, the event was held in his late brother’s Presidential Library, and also the very room in which Ted himself requested his casket be displayed as part of his multi-state funeral procession. During her opening remarks, Vicki took a moment to graciously thank the Library and its staff for “paving the way” for over 50,000 members of Ted’s beloved Commonwealth of Massachusetts to come through and pay their respects to the senator.

Victoria Reggie Kennedy speaking

Mrs. Kennedy set the tone for an evening that turned out to be more personal than political. Throughout the session, several of the speakers remarked that not only was their discussion centered mostly on Ted Kennedy’s life, passions, faith, and relationships with his peers and larger-than-life family, but also that this presented a direct reflection of the highly personal nature of his memoirs. Mrs. Kennedy stated that a copy of True Compass had arrived on August 25th – the Senator's last day – and that although he was not able to see the copy, Ted knew every word inside it; he and Vicki had read the entire book aloud to one another. She quoted him as saying often, in regards to his memoirs, that he wanted to “get it right for history.” Through her own words and throughout the evening, as other speakers shared their experiences and knowledge of Ted and some quotes from True Compass, it became apparent just how important a role Vicki had played in her husband’s life, aspirations, priorities, and achievements.

A fan with E.J. Dionne

The Library assembled four of the most distinguished commentators on U.S. politics: panelists Michael Beschloss, Doris Kearns Goodwin, and Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne, whose sister Lucie-Anne Dionne-Thomas, of Middletown, RI, was in the audience. CNBC political analyst Mike Barnicle moderated the discussion. Rhode Island received a humorous nod at the very beginning of the panel, when Barnicle, attempting to broach the somewhat sticky subject of faith (particularly Ted’s Catholicism), prefaced it by joking, “even though it might mean I can’t go to communion in RI, I’d like to start off with the topic of religion.” The central discussion topics of the evening were Kennedy’s Catholic faith – and how it compared to and influenced his similarly deep faith in the Senate and its power to change the country for the greater good – as well as his personal activities and passions, such as sailing. Also highlighted were his relationships with his parents, his famous brothers, and what it was like to grow up as the youngest Kennedy, only to watch as his loved ones passed away tragically, and life called on him to become the pillar of strength that would keep the family together. All three historians touched upon the poignant “sense of loss” that pervades True Compass at times, and which made Kennedy’s inherently buoyant, joyful personality all the more notable, as it continued to exist in the wake of such tragedies.

Lucie-Anne Dionne-Thomas & Sandy Sedacca.., Development Director of the JFK Presidential Library

Doris Kearns Goodwin cited an Ernest Hemingway quote to portray this quality: “The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places.” Ted, she said, was a living example of this passage, as the one who had to tell his father about John’s death and later, told Bobby’s children about their father’s death. Barnicle pointed out Ted’s “massive empathy due to personal damage” and how it shines through in his memoirs, which he described as “amazingly self revelatory.” The book illustrates Ted’s childhood struggles with being sent to ten different boarding schools, being overweight and overshadowed by his brothers, causing Kearns Goodwin to say that she “pulled for him from the beginning” of the story to the end. She also pointed out Ted’s enormous and lasting love for his parents – even his father, Joseph Kennedy, who has historically been portrayed as a difficult, demanding patriarch. She described how Ted started off as the “caboose” of his family, the youngest of nine, only to go on to become its “engine” as his brothers passed away, and how he ultimately came to embody the most loving traits of his own father.

Standing in line for an autographed book

Although the panel only lasted an hour, it touched upon some deeply personal aspects of the life of this very public man. The topics raised were complex and, at times, politically charged, but the discussion ended on a light note, with an audience question posed to Vicki: “How are the dogs?” The final speaker was Ken Feinberg, the Barack Obama administration’s new “Pay Czar”, who was standing in as the replacement for Paul Kirk, the junior Senator from Massachusetts who had been called away for a vote. Feinberg noted that the forum was extremely memorable, saying how rare it is to see four such influential historians and analysts assembled together on the same stage. He praised Vicki generously by saying, “Thirty years from now, there will be history books written about the critical impact that Vicki Kennedy had on Ted Kennedy’s life.”

The mural room at the Library, brought from Washington, D.C.

Attendees were able to purchase copies of True Compass in the library shop and have them signed by Mrs. Kennedy following the event.
-Amanda M. Grosvenor

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