John McCain calls Ted Kennedy the "last lion of the senate…the single most effective member if you want to get things done."
Achieving that status among conservatives like McCain was no small feat for the liberal Massachusetts senator, whose life and career is the subject of a new book: "Last Lion-the Fall and Rise of Ted Kennedy", written by reporters of the Boston Globe and edited by the Globe’s Washington Bureau Chief Peter Canellos.
Canellos came to Vermont in March of 2009 to talk about the book. He spoke with Mitch Wertlieb at the time about the life of Kennedy.
He says Kennedy’s career is unique in American history…marked early on by the infamy of Chappaquiddick…the Island off Martha’s Vineyard where Kennedy was driving a car that plunged off a bridge. Kennedy walked away from that 1969 accident, but the woman left behind in his passenger seat died.
Canellos says Kennedy also was plagued by the expectations of a nation that wanted him to carry on the promise of political leadership after the assassination of his brother Bobby in 1968.
Click listen to hear the interview.