WASHINGTON — Sen. Edward M. Kennedy was laid to rest Saturday night alongside slain brothers John and Robert at Arlington National Cemetery, celebrated for “the dream he kept alive” across the decades since their deaths.
Crowds lined the streets of two cities on a day that marked the end of an American political era — outside Kennedy’s funeral in rainy Boston where he was eulogized by President Barack Obama, and later in the day in humid, late-summer Washington.
With flags over the Capitol at half-staff, Kennedy’s hearse stopped outside the Senate where he served for 47 years. His widow, Vicki, embraced former staff members in the crowd. Later, at a graveside enveloped in deepening darkness, Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick offered sympathies to Kennedy relatives and “an extended family that must probably include most of America.”
Seven riflemen fired three volleys in a traditional military ritual; a bugler sounded taps. Lightning flickered across the sky.
Hours earlier, Obama had delivered the eulogy in Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica in Boston, packed with row upon row of mourners, including former Presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.
“He was given a gift of time that his brothers were not. And he used that time to touch as many lives and right as many wrongs as the years would allow,” Obama said in remarks that also gently made mention of Kennedy’s “personal failings and setbacks.”
As a member of the Senate, Kennedy was a “veritable force of nature,” the president said. But more than that, he was the “baby of the family who became its patriarch, the restless dreamer who became its rock.”
Those left behind to mourn “grieve his passing with the memories he gave, the good he did, the dream he kept alive,” Obama said.
Letters to, from the pope
Kennedy’s gravesite is on a gently sloping Virginia hillside, flanked by a pair of maple trees.
His brother Robert lies 100 feet away.
It is another 100 feet to the eternal flame that has burned since 1963 for former President John F. Kennedy.
The youngest brother died Tuesday at 77, more than a year after he was diagnosed with a brain tumor.
An oak cross, painted white, marked the head of his grave, and a flat marble footstone bore the simple inscription, “Edward Moore Kennedy 1932-2009.”
McCarrick, archbishop emeritus of Washington, read from a letter Kennedy wrote to Pope Benedict XVI, hand-delivered earlier this year by Obama.
“I know that I have been an imperfect human being but with the help of my faith I have tried to right my path,” the dying senator wrote. He wrote the pontiff “with deep humility to ask that you pray for me as my own health declines.”
The Vatican responded with a letter that said: “His Holiness prays that in the days ahead you may be sustained in faith and hope.”
Morning rain beat down steadily as Kennedy’s coffin was borne by a military honor guard into the Catholic church, and again when it was brought back out for the flight to Washington and the military cemetery across the Potomac River.
Supporters throng route
Hundreds lined nearby sidewalks, ignoring the rain, as the funeral procession passed.
“I said to myself this morning, ‘No matter what the weather, I’m going, I don’t care if I have to swim,’ ” said Lillian Bennett, 59, who added she was a longtime Kennedy supporter and determined to get as close as she could to the invitation-only funeral.
The two-hour service was filled with references to Kennedy’s political accomplishments and personal recollections of his private life. Cellist Yo-Yo Ma and tenor Placido Domingo provided musical grace notes.
Kennedy’s widow, Vicki, his sole surviving sibling, Jean, and Robert Kennedy’s widow, Ethel, arranged the cloth funeral pall atop the coffin.
Like others, Teddy Kennedy Jr. touched on his father’s legacy.
“He answered Uncle Joe’s call to patriotism, Uncle Jack’s call to public service and Bobby’s determination to seek a newer world. Unlike them, he lived to be a grandfather,” he said.
Joseph Kennedy Jr. died in World War II, John F. Kennedy was the nation’s 35th president when he was assassinated in 1963, and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy was killed five years later as he campaigned for the presidency.
Saturday’s events marked the end of four days of public and private mourning meant to emphasize Kennedy’s 47 years in the Senate from Massachusetts and his standing as the foremost liberal Democrat of the late 20th century, yet a legislator who courted compromise.
Republicans and Democrats alike recalled his political career in a bipartisan evening of laughter-filled speechmaking Friday.
Recollections by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy’s sons
Ted kennedy jr.
“When I was 12 years old, I was diagnosed with bone cancer. And a few months after I lost my leg, there was a heavy snowfall over my childhood home outside of Washington, D.C. And my father went to the garage to get the old Flexible Flyer and asked me if I wanted to go sledding down the steep driveway.
“And I was trying to get used to my new artificial leg. And the hill was covered with ice and snow. And it wasn’t easy for me to walk. And the hill was very slick. And as I struggled to walk, I slipped and I fell on the ice. And I started to cry and I said, ‘I can’t do this.’ I said, ‘I’ll never be able to climb up that hill.’
“And he lifted me up in his strong, gentle arms and said something I will never forget. He said, ‘I know you can do it. There is nothing that you can’t do. We’re going to climb that hill together, even if it takes us all day.’
“Sure enough, he held me around my waist and we slowly made it to the top. And you know, at age 12 losing your leg pretty much seems like the end of the world. But as I climbed onto his back and we flew down the hill that day, I knew he was right. I knew I was going to be OK.
“You see, my father taught me that even our most profound losses are survivable, and that is — it is what we do with that loss, our ability to transform it into a positive event, that is one of my father’s greatest lessons.”
Rep. Patrick kennedy, d-r.i.
“As a little kid, I didn’t look like much of a sailor, but my dad thought otherwise. You see, in sailing, there are rules as well, much like government, tireless, mundane rules, that will surely make you seasick.
“The rule was four people on a boat to race, just four. But my dad, of course, dug around until he found a rule around the rule. Sound familiar to you, those who serve in the Senate? Kids under 12 he found out, especially scrawny little redheads like me, could tag along.
“My dad found that rule that meshed with his mission. He refused to leave me behind. He did that for all of those around the world who needed a special voice as well. When we raced in foul weather, there was lots of saltwater and lots of salty language. Those experiences not only broadened my vocabulary, sure, but they also built my self-confidence.
“I saw a lot of his political philosophy in those sailboat races. One thing I noticed was that on the boat, as in this country, there was a role for everybody, a place for everybody to contribute.
“Second, in the race, as in life, it didn’t matter how strong the forces against you were, so long as you kept driving forward. There was nothing to lose. Maybe you would even come out a winner.
“My dad was never bowed. He never gave up, and there was no quit in Dad.”
