Ted Kennedy: The Dream That Never Died by Edward Klein, Crown '09, $26, 272 pages, ISBN #0307451038. Index, notes, sources, grouping of b&w glossy images.
At History Wire, we tend to throw aside celebrity biographies, particularly those lacking attributions. We did review the excellent The Fall and Rise of Ted Kennedy by Peter Canellos and the Boston Globe staff a few months ago, because it was clearly a well-researched, responsible biography. And we were glad to see Edward Klein's new book arrive, since his credentials are excellent: former foreign editor of Newsweek and former editor-in-chief of The New York Times Magazine.
We were intrigued to see here new aspects not covered by the Canellos team, notably how the Kennedys dealt with Mary Jo Kopechne's parents in the wake of Chappaquidick and the tense relationship between Victoria Reggie Kennedy and husband Ted's children.
Klein uses two pages of direct quotes from Gwen and Joe Kopechne, describing how Ted invited them twice to his home in McLean, Virginia, apparently to tell them what really happened that fateful night, only for him to tell them that he just couldn't bring himself to talk about it. And how young Teddy, Jr. wrote them several "heartfelt and honest" letters, saying he had met Mary Jo and liked her very much, and that both family matriarch Rose Kennedy and Bobby's widow Ethel had befriended the senior Kopechnes.
Ted Kennedy's children had had the run of the Hyannis Port compound prior to Ted's marriage to Vicki, who afterward demanded they give her "plenty of notice" before showing up and locked the pantry and refrigerator to keep them from raiding them. Yet in spite of ample sourcing elsewhere, these sections are unattributed. And dozens of quotations and anecdotes are attributed to "anonymous source." One would expect better from a journalist of Klein's stature.
