One Debate, Ted Kennedy, and Boston

Great article in this month's Boston Magazine by Joe Keohane, who looks at the way that Ted Kennedy's political career was shaped by his experience in Boston politics. For Keohane, it all comes down to the pivotal 1962 debate when Eddie McCormack wiped the floor with Kennedy in front of a crowd of Southie Irish.

In the auditorium, Kennedy was finished, exposed. But on TV, a cruel and sweaty anachronism from benighted pre-Camelot times had tortured a nice, handsome, respectable young man for no good reason, and the young man had stood up to it. Or at least hadn't collapsed under it. Kennedy won the day.

The piece is short, sweet, and worth your time. [Boston Magazine]