FEB. 22, 1932: Joseph and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy’s ninth child, Edward Moore “Ted” Kennedy, is born at St. Margaret’s Hospital in Dorchester, just outside Boston. He is the youngest of nine children of a storied Irish- American family.
JUNE 14, 1956: Kennedy graduates from Harvard after a tumultuous collegiate career. He enrolls in 1950 but is thrown out for two years after he asks a classmate to take a Spanish exam for him. During this limbo, he joins the Army. He returns to Harvard in 1953. He then enrolls in law school at the University of Virginia and graduates in 1959.
NOV. 29, 1958: Kennedy marries Joan Bennett. They later have three children: Kara Kennedy Allen, Edward Moore Kennedy Jr. and Patrick Joseph Kennedy.
NOV. 6, 1962: Kennedy wins the U.S. Senate seat for Massachusetts in a special election to fill the seat his brother John had vacated when he became president in 1960. He remains in the position for the rest of his life.
NOV. 23, 1963: Kennedy is presiding over the Senate when he receives the news that his brother, the president, has been shot.
JUNE 19, 1964: Kennedy’s back is broken in a plane crash that kills an aide and the pilot. Sen. Birch Bayh of Indiana and his wife, both passengers, are also injured.
JULY 2, 1964: President Lyndon Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act, which Kennedy had supported in his first Senate speech: “My brother was the first president of the United States to state publicly that segregation was morally wrong. His heart and soul are in this bill. . . . It is in that spirit that I hope the Senate will pass this bill.”
JUNE 5, 1968: Robert Kennedy addresses his supporters at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles after he wins the California primary. On his way out through the hotel kitchen, he is shot; he dies the next day. Edward Kennedy delivers the eulogy the funeral.
JULY 18, 1969: After leaving a party on Chappaquiddick Island on Martha’s Vineyard, Kennedy drives his car off a bridge and manages to escape. His passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne, drowns. Kennedy pleads guilty to leaving the scene of an accident, a misdemeanor, and receives a suspended sentence and probation. In a speech July 25, he asks voters whether he should remain in office.
NOV. 7, 1979: Kennedy officially announces his decision to run for president. He begins far ahead in the polls and faces a weak incumbent president, Jimmy Carter, for the Democratic nomination. However, a late start and a lack of a strong message hamper his campaign. In an Oct. 12, 1979, interview, Kennedy gives a 336-word rambling answer to the question of why he wants to be president.
AUG. 12, 1980: In an emotional and powerful speech to the Democratic National Convention in New York City, Kennedy withdraws his bid for the presidency and calls for party unity.
DECEMBER 1982: Kennedy announces he will not run for president in 1984. After 24 years of marriage, he divorces his wife, Joan.
JULY 3, 1992: Kennedy and lawyer Victoria Reggie are married in a civil ceremony at Kennedy’s home in McLean, Va. Victoria shares her husband’s political interests and quickly becomes his adviser and confidant.
JAN. 8, 2002: President Bush signs the No Child Left Behind bill, a landmark yet controversial piece of education legislation that Kennedy helped pass. He later becomes critical of Bush’s handling of the program, arguing it was underfunded.
OCT. 11, 2002: Kennedy is one of only 23 senators to vote against the resolution granting President Bush the authority to invade Iraq. Kennedy later refers to Iraq as “George Bush’s Vietnam” in an April 2004 speech.
MAY 17, 2008: Kennedy collapses at his Hyannis Port home and is rushed to Massachusetts General Hospital. Although the senator recovers, he is diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor on May 20. On June 2, Kennedy undergoes surgery to remove the tumor at Duke University Medical Center.
AUG. 25, 2008: Kennedy addresses the Democratic National Convention in Denver.
APRIL 21, 2009: President Barack Obama signs legislation that bears Kennedy’s name. The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act renews the Americorps program that was started in 1993.
JULY 30, 2009: Obama announces Kennedy as one of 16 recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.
AUG. 25, 2009: Kennedy dies at his home on Cape Cod after a year-long struggle with brain cancer. He was 77.
Sources: AP, New York Times and Boston Globe
