Articles about Ted Kennedy from Harvard Magazine's archives

Kennedy debated Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger ’38 at a special event for the Kennedy School in 1986.

Senator Kennedy acknowledges his audience in Sanders Theatre last December, when he received an honorary degree.

In memory of Senator Edward M. Kennedy ’54, LL.D. ’08, Harvard Magazine offers a glimpse of the man in action, debating then Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger ’38, J.D. ’41, in Washington, D.C., in 1986 as one of several special events marking the fifteenth anniversary of the Harvard Kennedy School. (According to Harvard president Derek Bok, who moderated the debate, both speakers were “shy, inarticulate, somewhat ill-at-ease, and not too well informed” when they entered Harvard, but “When they got their diplomas, they were supremely self-possessed and equipped with formidable forensic skills.”) Michael J. Abramowitz ’85 filed the report.

Read Harvard Magazine’s coverage of the honorary-degree ceremony for Senator Kennedy in December 2008

Read President Faust’s statement on Senator Kennedy’s death

Most popular

Why Men Are Falling Behind in Education, Employment, and Health

Can new approaches to education address a growing gender gap?

Is the Constitution Broken?

Harvard legal scholars debate the state of our founding national document.

Harvard art historian Jennifer Roberts teaches the value of immersive attention

Teaching students the value of deceleration and immersive attention

Explore More From Current Issue

An axolotl with a pale body and pink frilly gills, looking directly at the viewer.

Regenerative Biology’s Baby Steps

What axolotl salamanders could teach us about limb regrowth

Black and white photo of a large mushroom cloud rising above the horizon.

Open Book: A New Nuclear Age

Harvard historian Serhii Plokhy’s latest book looks at the rising danger of a new arms race.

A silhouette of a person stands before glowing domes in a red, rocky landscape at sunset.

Getting to Mars (for Real)

Humans have been dreaming of living on the Red Planet for decades. Harvard researchers are on the case.