Harman Statement on the Death of Senator Edward Kennedy

Press Release

Harman Statement on the Death of Senator Edward Kennedy

"I met a young, handsome Ted Kennedy in Los Angeles at the 1960 Democratic Convention. I was a student at Smith College in Massachusetts in 1962 when he was elected to fill John Kennedy's Senate seat. I doubt anyone saw his incredible talent then–surely I didn't.

But then I was lucky enough to work in the Senate as counsel to California Senator John Tunney, and to learn from Ted Kennedy and his incredible staff during his extraordinary service on the Senate Judiciary Committee in the 1970s, where his leadership on civil rights and voting rights showed a Watergate-wounded country a way forward. And over the years–especially after he married our Washington DC neighbor Vicki Reggie Raclan–we became friends.

For one who loves public policy, more good policy bears his stamp than any other Member of Congress. His courage fighting a terminal illness this past year was an inspiration. Our country needs to pause–as we surely did when his brothers died–and to contemplate that this Kennedy probably leaves the greatest legacy of them all."

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