WASHINGTON — Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., the liberal icon who has spent more than four decades at the forefront of social change efforts in Congress, has been diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor, physicians at Boston’s Massachusetts General Hospital said Tuesday.
A biopsy of a portion of Kennedy’s brain identified a malignant glioma as the cause of the seizure that hospitalized him Saturday, according to a statement by Lee Schwamm, the hospital’s vice chairman of neurology, and Larry Ronan, the 76-year-old’s primary-care physician. A glioma is the most common type of brain tumor, accounting for more than half of the 20,000 or so diagnosed each year. The prognosis for patients is poor, according to the National Institutes of Health.
News of the diagnosis swept through the Capitol as Republican and Democratic senators were attending their respective weekly policy lunches. Some senators later wept as they publicly considered the potential loss of a man who has been at the center of nearly half a century of some of the nation’s most important legislative issues.
Senators had been girding for major fights this week over Iraq war funding, domestic spending and veterans educational benefits ahead of the Memorial Day break, battles in which Kennedy would have taken center stage.
“He’s a strong guy and has great heart, and we’re confident he’s going to be back here,” Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., Kennedy’s closest friend in the Senate, said before his voice broke and tears welled in his eyes.
Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., 90, the chamber’s elder statesman and the longest-serving senator in history, wept on the Senate floor.
“Ted, Ted, I love you, and I miss you,” he said through sobs.
“Up and walking”
The diagnosis was a grave turn of events after the weekend’s developments. Initial reports Saturday indicated that Kennedy might have suffered a stroke, but that ominous news soon gave way to more optimistic accounts of Kennedy joking with family, eating a seafood dinner and watching Boston Red Sox games.
Kennedy’s doctors said Tuesday that “he has had no further seizures, remains in good overall condition, and is up and walking around the hospital.” They said they will determine the course of treatment after further testing and analysis.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he received a phone call from Kennedy’s wife, Victoria, just as he was entering the Democratic lunch. During the Republican lunch, news of Kennedy’s diagnosis came across one member’s BlackBerry. Republican Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas led the Republicans in prayer.
Statements poured out of congressional offices and Bush administration suites and from the campaign trail, expressions of concern for the senator with the third-longest tenure ever and the surviving patriarch of American political royalty.
President Bush, who teamed with Kennedy to pass his signature domestic achievement, the No Child Left Behind education law, then broke with him over Iraq and the conduct of the war on terrorism, said in a statement that “Ted Kennedy is a man of tremendous courage, remarkable strength, and powerful spirit. Our thoughts are with Senator Kennedy and his family during this difficult period. We join our fellow Americans in praying for his full recovery.”
An aide said that Kennedy watched some of the tributes from his colleagues and was “overwhelmed.”
An orchid from Jordan
Good wishes were conveyed by the presidential candidates. Hundreds of phone calls, 19 bouquets and more than 2,500 e-mails reached Kennedy’s office. King Abdullah II of Jordan sent an orchid. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown sent a get-well note, as did actors Glenn Close and Martin Sheen, rock musician Don Henley, Nancy Reagan and Al Gore, according to a Kennedy staff member, who requested anonymity out of respect for the family’s privacy.
Always a lightning rod for conservatives outside the Capitol, Kennedy’s stature in the Senate can hardly be overstated.
Kennedy’s fingerprints can be found on landmark legislation on civil rights, bilingual and special education and immigration; on laws that guarantee health care for poor children and on the composition of the Supreme Court. He has gone into battle with Sen. John McCain for tobacco control and a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants, but he has fought fiercely with McCain and other Republicans over war, civil liberties and labor policies.
Elected in 1962
As chairman of the Health, Labor, Education and Pensions Committee, Kennedy holds oversight of most social-issue legislation, from health care to the minimum wage. But he also has chaired the Judiciary Committee and helped oversee Supreme Court confirmation hearings.
“We just don’t feel like going on. He is the center of the Senate, the heart, mind and soul. Just pray,” said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.
Kennedy was elected in 1962 to fill the seat once held by his brother John — who two years earlier had been elected president — and faced just one tough re-election fight, in 1994, against Mitt Romney, who would be elected Massachusetts governor in 2002.
He now trails only Byrd and the late Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., in years served in the Senate. Last August, he cast his 15,000th vote, something only Byrd and Thurmond had done before him.
Not known to focus on such milestones, Kennedy was unaware of the achievement until staff called him several weeks later while he was vacationing.
If Kennedy were to become so ill that he is forced to vacate his Senate seat, Massachusetts would rely on a special election to be held 145 to 160 days after the vacancy occurs.
What they’re saying
“For more than four decades, (he) has been a passionate advocate in the U.S. Senate for the people of Massachusetts and the entire nation. I’ve stood on opposite sides of many issues from Sen. Kennedy, but I have always admired the deep convictions he holds.” U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard
“He is a tremendous champion for the people of Massachusetts and for the most vulnerable in our society. From comprehensive immigration reform to fighting to raise the minimum wage to working to provide health care for everyone, I respect and admire his compassion and unfailing commitment to give a voice to the voiceless.” U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar
“I’ve always found Sen. Kennedy just a frank and open, just a terrific person. He has a center. He has a belief. I’ve always admired him. That whole family, they’ve made such huge contributions to America.” Former U.S. Sen. Ben
Nighthorse Campbell
“He has been, in many ways, the lion of the Senate. . . . Even those of us who didn’t agree with him couldn’t help but admire his willingness just to stand up and be counted for what he believed. ” Former U.S. Sen. Bill
Armstrong
“Ted Kennedy is the most effective legislator I ever met. Let’s hope and pray that that same persistence pays off in this toughest of all his battles.” Former U.S. Sen. Tim Wirth
“We shared a lot of similar views. He was a very good adviser. He would often comment on issues of the day with relation to some experience he had had. I found that enormously helpful. . . . He was a very good friend and, at a couple of difficult times in my life, very supportive.” Former U.S. Sen. Gary Hart
“Ted is one of the most competitive souls I know and seems to love the great fight. I suspect he’ll put up a great battle for his health, just like he has for legislation. I remember the debates we had over legislation, and he was a fierce competitor.” Former U.S. Sen. Hank Brown
“Something he taught me that I’ve used ever since, is that when you disagree with someone, it doesn’t mean that they’re a bad person. It just means they have a different point of view. . . . There’s a remarkable legacy of legislation that that attitude has produced.” Tom Southwick, Starz senior
vice president of corporate communications,
who worked as
Kennedy’s press secretary from
1977 to 1980
Compiled by Anne C. Mulkern and Curtis Hubbard, The Denver Post
