[idlewords]

The Civil Rights act and Voting Rights act aren't something you can credit Kennedy with - he was a junior senator.

That leaves four pieces of major legislation (or six, if we throw in a couple of increases in minimum wage) in a fifty year career. This seems out of proportion to the hagiography; I would be curious to know how we would be covering this story if his name weren't Kennedy.

[jsares]

I wasn't a huge fan of Ted Kennedy but after reading the list of major legislation he was involved with I have to admire the work he did.

[encoderer]

But the Civil Rights act took every vote, even if he didn't personally craft the bill. He was a vote for the bill, and more, he was a vote for cloture. And that's no small thing.. At that time, cloture hadn't been achieved in 40 years.

And even more, it very nearly killed him. The plane crash on the way out of DC after staying late to vote on the bill left him in a hospital bed for months.

[gaius]

So he knew the plane would crash and stayed and voted anyway?

Or are the two entirely unrelated?