Kennedy: Man of many achievements

In his recent book, New York Times political reporter Adam Clymer sees Sen. Edward M. Kennedy as one of the most important U.S. senators of the 20th century. <br><br>PROVIDENCE -- Books about the Kennedys

Tuesday, April 11th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

In his recent book, New York Times political reporter Adam Clymer sees Sen. Edward M. Kennedy as one of the most important U.S. senators of the 20th century.

PROVIDENCE -- Books about the Kennedys tend to fall into one of two categories: either you hate them or you love them.

This especially applies to Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy. Americans know Ted Kennedy as either the surviving son of his illustrious and handsome clan, a man who burst on the national scene grinning toothily and playing touch football with his brothers overlooking the ocean in Hyannis in a 1960s Life Magazine spread. Or we see him as prisoner of the scandals such as Chappaquiddick and Palm Beach that have tainted him and landed him on National Enquirer's cover.

But the Kennedy we see in Adam Clymer's book, Edward M. Kennedy: A Biography, is a more complicated man than any caricature. Kennedy emerges as one of the most important U.S. senators of the 20th century, a man with an envious record of achievement, as well as personal failings.

Clymer, a long-time New York Times political reporter, spoke in an interview and in a lecture at Brown University to a mostly student audience yesterday about his book and his balanced view of Kennedy.

Kennedy's older brothers, John and Robert, did not like the slow pace of the Senate. They were both impatient for higher office; neither stayed very long nor accomplished much in the the way of legislation during their Senate time.

But Ted Kennedy, now in his 38th year in the Senate, has learned its arcane ways, mastered its written and unwritten rules, and reached out to those he didn't agree with if it would get him what he wanted.

From deregulation of the airline industry to Meals on Wheels programs, through major civil rights and cancer research initiatives, Kennedy has his legislative imprint on a wide spectrum of American life.

One of Kennedy's secrets, Clymer says, is "you can do an awful lot if you don't care who gets the credit."

While Kennedy, like virtually all politicians, basks in taking credit for good things that he has done, he has been shrewd enough over the years to share the headlines, or take a subordinate role, when necessary.

Kennedy also listened well and paid attention to elderly and more senior senators -- even if he didn't agree with them. Thus, Clymer says, Kennedy "rather liked" Sen. James Eastland, an arch segregationist from Mississippi, with whom he never voted "alike on issues of substance."

Clymer shows us a Kennedy who above all values results. Another secret to his success has been a willingness to work in a bipartisan manner, forging alliances with Republicans if they could help.

Clymer documents the mess Kennedy made of his private life. Chappaquiddick and Mary Jo Kopechne's death, the drinking and womanizing, the infamous 1991 Good Friday bar hopping with son Patrick Kennedy and nephew William Smith in Palm Beach. But he doesn't dwell on these incidents.

It is what Clymer calls an "old-fashioned biography" about the public life of a public man. There is no pop psychology, no attempt to re-create events through Kennedy's recollections or stretch the senator out on a Freudian couch.

"I wrote what I knew," Clymer said.

Without Chappaquddick, Clymer says, Kennedy would likely have achieved the White House.

"He ran a terrible campaign in 1980, but even if he had run a good one, I think Chappaquiddick would have made it impossible," Clymer said.

"I don't think he ever understood that. He didn't get into the 1980 race thinking that Chappaquiddick would make as much of a difference as it plainly seemed to have," said Clymer, referring to Kennedy's defeat by Jimmy Carter for the 1980 Democratic presidential nomination.

As it turned out, Clymer said, the public opinion polls that showed Kennedy capable of defeating incumbent President Carter for the Democratic Party presidential nomination were more about dislike for Carter and his policies than any groundswell for Kennedy.

Kennedy has been helped by having generated little meaningful political opposition in Massachusetts over the years. "A safe seat guarantees longevity, which matters in the Senate," said Clymer. "Longevity enables you to build a good record."

And Kennedy always keeps his word. Bob Dole, the former Republican Senate leader, used to say of Kennedy that if he made you a commitment "you can take that to the bank."

Perhaps the high point of Kennedy's career, Clymer said, came in the 1980s when President Ronald Reagan and a more conservative Supreme Court wanted to roll back some of the civil rights laws of the 1960s.

"[He] really kept the country from sliding back in the 1980s when the Reagan Administration and the Supreme Court wanted to retreat on civil rights," Clymer said. "Kennedy basically rallied the Senate and the Congress to make sure that didn't happen."

Among the civil rights initiatives Kennedy pushed was extension of the Voting Rights Act, which safeguarded minority voting rights, and stronger fair housing laws, barring discrimination in housing.

Clymer admires Kennedy's resilience, the way he has been able to rebound from political and personal defeat.

"He's delivered more euglogies than anyone I can think of who is not an ordained minister," Clymer said.

Clymer said the death last summer of his nephew, John F. Kennedy Jr., "bothered him a lot."

And he sees Kennedy as a man of faith, one who has not always lived the Christian creed, but whose Roman Catholic faith is important to him. "He slips away from the Senate to go to Mass on occasion," Clymer said.

Kennedy cooperated with Clymer on the biography and granted him many interviews. Clymer says he believes Kennedy wanted his son, Rhode Island U.S. Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy, to run for U.S. Senate, rather than stay in the House, as he has decided.

Patrick and Ted Kennedy have a "very close relationship" and father is "very proud" of his son, Clymer says. (Darrell West, a Brown University political science professor, has a biography of Patrick Kennedy scheduled for release late this summer.)

What drives Kennedy at age 68 to run again this year?

Clymer believes Kennedy will run for Senate as long as he is physically able.

"Ireland is an unfinished cause. He has put a lot of effort into working for peace in Northern Ireland," said Clymer. "It is better than it was 10 years ago, but it isn't finished."

"And I think he sees civil rights as the country's last unfinished business," said Clymer. "I think he hopes to see some point where discrimination against gays and lesbians will be prohibited by federal law."