There’s a lot missing in this hastily constructed array of Ted Kennedy’s life. His run for the presidency, for instance, and the scandal that never quite left him. We also leave out his many legislative accomplishments to focus on his family and the extraordinary swan song that might have been. — PS

The Kennedy Family in Hyannis Port, 1948. (JFK Library)

The Kennedy brothers: Bobby, Jack and Ted, in Florida, 1957. (Library of Congress, Look Magazine Collection)

The brothers outside the Oval Office. (National Archives)

A happy moment in the early 1960s. (Senate)

Ted Kennedy campaigns for the Senate in 1962. (Senate)

Jacqueline Kennedy with her brothers-in-law escorts the casket of John F. Kennedy from the White House. (National Archives / Abbie Rowe)

Throughout his time in the Senate, Ted would fight for children, the poor, the sick and anyone who didn’t have unfettered access to the American dream. (Senate)

Kennedy backed Barack Obama in the 2008 election because he saw a man who brought hope and idealism back to politics, but also a man whose political machine might finally open the door to real health care reform. (Sage Ross / Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0)

Ted Kennedy as we remember him — working. Here he talks with the president about health care. (White House / Pete Souza)

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#barack obama#congress#election#health#kennedy#media#politics#senate#white house