He assumed full responsibility for her death, and said it would stay with him the rest of his life, which I believe it did to the very end.

As many tragic events have served in history, Kopechne's death served as a catalyst for Kennedy's rededication to work tirelessly to improve the lives of those who were less priviledged than him and his family.

For anyone to think he did not feel the Kopechne family's pain at the loss of their daughter, is to deny Kennedy's own pain at the loss of his three brothers in the prime of their lives. (I'm not he sure was born yet when his sister died.)

Chapaquiddick kept Kennedy from becoming president, yet fueled the flame of his success as a senator every minute of every day suffering her loss.

Woefully flawed, this younger brother who observed and interiorized tragedy after tragedy after tragedy after tragedy turned those flaws into strengths with which he tackled problems as he saw them ever-afterwards.

No greater testimony demonstrates his humanity than that of his nieces and nephews for whom he tirelessly and successfully worked to be a father figure for.

I think his death may very well champion the passage in the Senate of a health reform bill he would have favored.