Changes

The First Lady '''[[Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy]]''' (1929-1994) added fresh glamor to the family, even as she disdained the roughhousing of her in-laws.  Kennedy’s 1963 assassination turned JFK into a martyr and, indeed, a saint in the Catholic community.  It also shifted the glare of publicity away from Joe (who had suffered an incapacitating stroke) and the surviving children, and onto widow Jacqueline.  She remarried and, became in her own right a celebrity who overshadowed her in-laws.   

The First Lady '''[[Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy]]''' (1929-1994) added fresh glamor to the family, even as she disdained the roughhousing of her in-laws.  Kennedy’s 1963 assassination turned JFK into a martyr and, indeed, a saint in the Catholic community.  It also shifted the glare of publicity away from Joe (who had suffered an incapacitating stroke) and the surviving children, and onto widow Jacqueline.  She remarried and, became in her own right a celebrity who overshadowed her in-laws.   

==Robert==

==Robert==

Robert, increasingly at odds with president Lyndon Johnson, resigned the cabinet in 1964 to run for the Senate from New York.  In 1968 he broke decisively with Johnson on the issue of the Vietnam War.  Liberals who had long distrusted this former McCarthyite rallied to his side, fighting not just the forces of Johnson and [[Hubert Humphrey]], but also those of [[Eugene McCarthy]], a rival Irish Catholic senator who claimed primacy in the antiwar movement.  Multiple deep chasms opened in the Democratic party, with the intellectual and radical student wings supporting McCarthy, the conservatives southern whites rallying to Alabama's segregationist governor [[George Wallace]], and Kennedy and Humphrey battling for control of the blue-collar white ethnics and the African American voters.  At the climax of a bruising, nasty and often violent primary season Robert won the decisive California primary, but was assassinated when he walked to the podium to claim victory.  In the presidential election the Irish Catholic vote for the first time splintered, showing that at long last the iron grip of the Democratic party had been permanently broken.

Robert, increasingly at odds with president Lyndon Johnson, resigned the cabinet in 1964 to run for the Senate from New York.  In 1968 he broke decisively with Johnson on the issue of the Vietnam War.  Liberals who had long distrusted this former McCarthyite rallied to his side, fighting not just the forces of Johnson and [[Hubert Humphrey]], but also those of [[Eugene McCarthy]], a rival Irish Catholic senator who claimed primacy in the antiwar movement.  Multiple deep chasms opened in the Democratic party, with the intellectual and radical student wings supporting McCarthy, the southern whites rallying to Alabama's segregationist governor [[George Wallace]], and Kennedy and Humphrey battling for control of the blue-collar white ethnics and the African American voters.  At the climax of a bruising, nasty and often violent primary season Robert won the decisive California primary, but was assassinated when he walked to the podium to claim victory.  In the presidential election the Irish Catholic vote for the first time splintered, showing that at long last the iron grip of the Democratic party had been permanently broken.

 

==Ted==

==Ted==

'''[[Ted Kennedy|Edward (Ted) Kennedy]]''' (1932-2009) became the head of the family and, to the surprise of critics who saw him as shallow and indecisive, emerged as the most successful politician in the family’s history.  Entering the Senate in 1962, Ted succeeded because of his ability to build coalitions inside the Democratic party and, on occasion, with Republicans.  As a tireless campaigner and powerful orator, he used the family reputation to solidify his position as the strongest figure on the left of the Democratic party.  His own presidential aspirations collapsed in 1969 when he drove an automobile off a bridge, watching helplessly as his lady companion drowned.  When he finally did seek the nomination in 1980, he was badly outmaneuvered by incumbent Democratic president [[Jimmy Carter]].  The old city machines were long gone, the Irish were divided politically, and they no longer acknowledged a Kennedy as automatically entitled to a presidential nomination.   

'''[[Ted Kennedy|Edward (Ted) Kennedy]]''' (1932-2009) became the head of the family and, to the surprise of critics who saw him as shallow and indecisive, emerged as the most successful politician in the family’s history.  Entering the Senate in 1962, Ted succeeded because of his ability to build coalitions inside the Democratic party and, on occasion, with Republicans.  As a tireless campaigner and powerful orator, he used the family reputation to solidify his position as the strongest figure on the left of the Democratic party.  His own presidential aspirations collapsed in 1969 when he drove an automobile off a bridge, watching helplessly as his lady companion drowned.  When he finally did seek the nomination in 1980, he was badly outmaneuvered by incumbent Democratic president [[Jimmy Carter]].  The old city machines were long gone, the Irish were divided politically, and they no longer acknowledged a Kennedy as automatically entitled to a presidential nomination.