The Senator

Tweet

Ted Kennedy was a highly regarded Senator from Massachusetts, but there was more to him than that. In his book, The Senator: My Ten Years with Ted Kennedy, Richard E. Burke, with William and Marilyn Hoffer, tells all about both Kennedy and himself. In fact, this story is as much about Burke as it is Ted Kennedy. In the early 1970's, Richard E. Burke volunteered to work in the mailroom in Kennedy's office. Over time, Burke worked his way through the ranks, until, eventually, he was given the job as Kennedy's right hand man, his Chief of Staff, so to speak. Burke pulls no punches as he tells his story, and a lot of it actually surprised me. Kennedy was a womanizer. That really doesn't surprise me so much--after all, he was a Kennedy. No, what's surprising is the sheer volume of women the Senator went through. Dude was basically a sex fiend. Kennedy was also a coke fiend, snorting the white powder with the same gusto that he plowed through women. Burke, naturally, falls into that lifestyle as he works his way up the ladder. The Senator is far from required reading, but I did find it interesting. It's worth a read if it's available.