October 31, 1934
A two-year-old Sen. Edward Kennedy dresses as a pirate on Halloween in Bronxville, N.Y. He was born on February 22, 1932, the 200th anniversary of George Washington's birth.
Courtesy: John F. Kennedy Library Foundation
1938
The Kennedy family poses for a photo in Bronxville, N.Y. From left, seated: Eunice, Jean, Edward, Joseph P., Patricia and Kathleen. Standing: Rosemary, Robert, John, Rose and Joseph Jr. The family relocated frequently and Edward would attend 10 different schools by the time he was 11 years old.
Courtesy: John F. Kennedy Library Foundation-ASSOCIATED PRESS
April 1936
Edward sits on the shoulders of his brother John while Robert crouches in front of them in Palm Beach, Fla. Their sister, Jean, nicknamed Edward "Biscuits and Muffins" as a child.
Courtesy: John F. Kennedy Library Foundation
1939
Edward poses with his father, Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., at the U.S. Embassy in London, England. The Kennedy patriarch was an ambassador to the United Kingdom from 1938 to 1940, where the local press treated the family as celebrities.
Courtesy: John F. Kennedy Library Foundation
In this undated photo, Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. is shown posing in his pilot's gear. The eldest of nine siblings, he would die in a plane crash on a volunteer mission during World War II at the age of 29. Edward played an important role in helping his mother cope with the loss.
AP
Dec. 1939/Jan. 1940
Edward and his oldest brother, Joseph Jr., pose for a photograph. When Edward was five, Joseph Jr. tossed him out of a sailboat in the Atlantic Ocean for being unable to locate the jib. He retrieved his youngest sibling after deciding the intended lesson had been learned.
Courtesy: John F. Kennedy Library Foundation
That photo is of a posthumous Navy Cross Medal Ceremony for Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. on 27 June 1945 in Boston. Left to right, Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., Rose Kennedy, Patricia Kennedy, Edward Kennedy, Rear Admiral Felix Gygax, Robert Kennedy, and Jean Kennedy. Official US Navy Photograph.
U.S. Navy
1948
Edward poses with John, left, and Robert, center, at the family compound in Hyannis, Mass. Edward often hosted cookouts and touch football games for friends at the summer residence.
Courtesy: John F. Kennedy Library Foundation
1944
Members of the Kennedy family and their friends pose for a photograph in Hyannis, Mass. Edward, left, and Joe Gargan kneel in the front. Back, from left to right: Paul "Red" Fay, John, L.J. Thom, Jim Reed, Barney Ross and Bernie Lyons. The so-called Kennedy Compound in Cape Cod served as an important getaway for the family.
Unknown
1952
Kennedy smiles in his Army portrait. After being suspended from Harvard for having a classmate take an exam for him, Kennedy joined the armed forces and spent two years in Paris as a military policeman. He was re-admitted to Harvard when his suspension was lifted
Courtesy: John F. Kennedy Library Foundation
April 1970
Onlookers examine Kennedy's car in Massachusetts. On July 18, 1969, Kennedy drove his car off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island, Mass., killing passenger Mary Joe Kopechne. Kennedy pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident and received a suspended sentence of two months in prison.
AP
Jan. 5, 1970
Kennedy looks at members of the press as he enters Duke County Court House for an inquest into Kopeche's death the summer before. After an inquest, a judge ruled that the accident was a result of "negligent driving." Kennedy was re-elected that fall.
Upi-The Washington Post File Photo
Kennedy sits during a Senate subcomittee hearing in this undated photo. Kennedy served as chairman of the Senate committees on the Judiciary, Labor and Human Resource, and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions during his nearly 47 years as a senator.
Bob Burchette-The Washington Post File Photo
August 1963
Edward, center, poses with Robert, left, and President Kennedy in Washington D.C.. The president was assassinated three months later in Dallas.
AP
1960
John, Robert and Edward Kennedy smile at the family residence in Hyannis, Mass. JFK was elected president that November after Edward managed his campaign in 13 states.
Courtesy: John F. Kennedy Library Foundation
1959
Edward, center, speaks with Robert, left, and John during a hearing held by the Senate Rackets Committee, for which Robert was chief counsel. Edward graduated from the University of Virginia Law School that same year.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kennedy whispers to Vice President Biden, then a senator from Delaware, during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in this undated photo. Kennedy chaired the committee from Jan. 1979 to Jan. 1981.
Ray Lustig-The Washington Post File Photo
Oct. 22, 1965
Edward, right, descends the Capitol steps with Robert after the younger Kennedy successfully requested a federal judgeship nomination be sent back to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Earlier that year, Edward and Sen. Birch Bayh (D-Ind.) survived a private plane crash in Southampton, Mass.
Ap Photo-The Washington Post File Photo
In this undated photo, Kennedy, left, and Sen. Hugh Scott (R-Pa.) testify on Capitol Hill after co-sponsoring a bill to ban private financing in general elections. Kennedy was a strong proponent of public campaign financing throughout his career.
Bob Burchette-The Washington Post File Photo
1962
Edward, second right, stands with John, left, Robert, second left, and an unidentified man at the family's Cape Cod residence. JFK vacated his Senate seat after winning the presidency, which Edward filled two years later after turning the minimum age of 30.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
May 8, 1963
President Kennedy greets supporters after a White House speech. He initially feared negative feedback to Edward's bid for a Senate seat, but eventually came to support him.
National Archives-Getty Images
May 10, 1967
Edward, left, sits with brother Robert during a session of the Senate Labor Subcomittee. Edward was seven years younger than Robert, but began serving in the Senate three years before him.
Ap Newsfeatures Photo-The Washington Post File Photo
Oct. 10, 1963
Kennedy reads in his Capitol office, which he redecorated to include a model ship and new furniture. The previous November, Kennedy easily defeated his Republican opponent, George Cabot Lodge II, to win election to the Senate.
Upi Photo.-The Washington Post File Photo
March 11, 1963
President Kennedy leaves the State Department auditorium after a press conference. That spring, the president first proposed the Civil Rights Act, which passed the following year in 1964. Edward's first major Senate speech was in support of the act. He said of his late brother: "His heart and his soul are in this bill."
Afp-AFP/Getty Images
July 18, 1986
Kennedy delivers testimony while seated next to Sen. Lowell Weicker (R-Conn.) during a Senate hearing on the Anti-Apartheid Act. The legislation, which President Reagan unsuccessfully sought to veto, placed U.S. sanctions against South Africa for its segregation policy.
James K.w. Atherton-The Washington Post File Photo
Aug. 28, 1963
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., second left, and other civil rights leaders meet with President Kennedy, third right, at the White House. Days after King's assassination in 1968, Edward delivered a keynote speech at the Alaska Democratic Party Convention memorializing the slain leader.
National Archives-Getty Images
Oct. 20, 1983
Coretta Scott King, widow of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., speaks with the press on Capitol Hill after the Senate voted to make her late husband's birthday a national holiday. Kennedy, right, was a vocal supporter of the legislation.
Ron Edmonds-AP
July 2, 1980
Kennedy looks at a burned-out section of Liberty City in Miami, Fla. during his unsuccessful presidential campaign. The area was shook by racially motivated rioting, prompting Kennedy to meet with local leaders before speaking at an NAACP convention.
Upi-The Washington Post File Photo
May 14, 1994
Kennedy, second right, sits with, from left, Irish Prime Minister Albert Reynolds, Ethel Kennedy, Dexter Scott King, Martin Luther King III and President Clinton at a ceremony in Indianapolis, Ind. The event marked ground breaking on a statue of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy at the city's Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park.
David Ake-AFP/Getty Images
July 7, 1996
Kennedy addresses a rally of union workers seeking an increase in the national minimum wage on the steps of the Capitol. That August, President Clinton signed the Small Business Job Protection Act, which raised minimum wages 50 cents over the next year.
Michael Williamson-The Washington Post
Kennedy waves during his unsuccessful bid for the 1980 Democratic presidential nomination. The senator attempted to win his party's support against incumbent President Carter, but ultimately withdrew at the Democratic National Convention, where he delivered one of the most famous speeches of his career.
Frank Johnston-The Washington Post File Photo
Aug. 29, 1996
Kennedy and his son, Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.), wave to the audience at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Patrick won his seat in the House in 1994 at the age of 27.
Keith Jenkins-The Washington Post
Nov. 11, 1992
Members of the Kennedy family pose at the Massachusetts State House while hosting a celebration of the late JFK. From left: Patrick, Edward's son; John F. Kennedy, Jr.; Michael, Robert's son; and Edward, the president's brother.
Bill Powers-Reuters
April 21, 2009
Kennedy, center, gestures to the crowd alongside Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and President Obama in Anacostia, a neighborhood in Washington D.C. Kennedy received a standing ovation for the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, signed by Obama at the ceremony, which gives new service opportunities to many Americans.
Bill O'leary-The Washington Post
Jan. 4, 1964
Kennedy, left, and his brother, Robert, attend the Democratic caucus at the Capitol. The two siblings were Senate colleagues for more than three years until Robert's assassination on June 6, 1968.
Ap Press Photo-The Washington Post File Photo
March 26, 1987
Kennedy bites his lip during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing. That summer, the senator led the opposition against Judge Robert Bork's nomination to the Supreme Court, which he thought jeopardized the civil rights causes he had long championed. Bork was eventually rejected.
James K.w. Atherton.-The Washington Post File Photo
March 16, 1938
Members of the Kennedy family walk side-by-side in England. From left are Kathleen, Joseph Sr., Edward, Rose, Patricia, Jean and Robert. Their time in London was one of the few that the entire clan, numbering 11 in all, would spend together.
Courtesy: John F. Kennedy Library Foundation
Kennedy, right, speaks with older brother John at Harvard's commencement ceremonies. Edward was graduating while JFK, then a senator and himself a 1940 Harvard alumnus, was on hand to receive an honorary degree.
Ap Press Photo-The Washington Post File Photo
Nov. 25, 1963
Three-year-old John F. Kennedy Jr. salutes his father's casket in Washington in a now-famous image. Edward stands to the left behind the late president's daughter, Caroline, and next to his widow, Jacqueline. Robert stands to the right.
AP
May 27, 2007
Kennedy, front right, laughs with, from left, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) and Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Colo.) during a press conference announcing an immigration legislation compromise. Kennedy figured prominently in negotiations between the White House and the Senate.
Chip Somodevilla-Getty Images
March 31, 2009
Kennedy smiles as he presides over the confirmation hearing for Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius on Capitol Hill. Sebelius was selected to help lead health care reform, perhaps Kennedy's signature issue during his distinguished Senate career.
Chip Somodevilla-Getty Images
Gallery Credits:
Producer, Photo Editor, Audio Editor Megan Rossman
Text Editor Dan Greene