Bob Oakes with Doris Kearns Goodwin: In 'True Compass,' Kennedy Finally Felt Free To Reflect
[Bob Oakes has been WBUR's Morning Edition anchor since 1992.]
BOSTON — The late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy’s new memoir, “True Compass,” provides an inside look at some of the most formative times in the senator’s life.
Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer and historian Doris Kearns Goodwin was a long-time family friend of Ted Kennedy’s. She spoke to us from her home about the book and its insights into Kennedy’s life and legacy.
Bob Oakes: I imagine that you read this book not just as a historian, but also a long-time friend of Ted Kennedy and the Kennedy family. What does “True Compass” signify for you?
Doris Kearns Goodwin: Well, what I think surprised me about “True Compass” is the realization that it was written by Teddy Kennedy at a time in his life when he really could be more reflective about his past, himself and his struggles then I think he ever would have been before.
Both because he knew he was coming to the end of his life in these last couple of years, and because, I think, in finding Vicki Kennedy, his wife — as he said: she loved me for me, and he put that me in italics, which meant that somebody loved him for who he was, not for what he might become — which meant that he could look more honestly at how hard it was to be the ninth kid in that incredibly overachieving family.
With the book, he got a chance to interpret his own political contributions and, in a way, I think, tried to cast himself in terms of history. What’s your view on what he thought of his place in history?
On the one hand, it’s the story of the Kennedy family from the inside, told by the only one of the brothers who had a chance to write a memoir. But at the same time, as you suggest, it also is the story of Teddy Kennedy.
And what you see throughout is that increasing pride that he took in his role as a senator -- that it really was the natural role to fit his temperament.
On a personal level, the book, I think, reveals a lot about Ted Kennedy, the man who had to find his own direction in a family of very high-profile political achievers, business achievers, who had to also deal with the family tragedies and his own personal shortcomings, doesn’t it?
Absolutely. I mean, that’s what I think readers will be able to take away from the book. Because he talks pretty unsparingly about what it was like to be in boarding schools when he was a little kid, being planted from one school to the other.
He was at that time overweight, he was sometimes behind the classes, and he talked about how difficult that was. And I think the answer to him in those days was to be upbeat and try to make friends, but the pain is still there.
But as he sorted the memory through in the book, he says he’s now come to understand why they had to do that, but you can feel that pain that is still raw. And then on top of that, there are these extraordinary, overachieving brothers and sisters who were not only older, but — as he said — they seemed more superior, they seemed smarter than he was, and he was always behind the eight ball trying to catch up...
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BOSTON — The late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy’s new memoir, “True Compass,” provides an inside look at some of the most formative times in the senator’s life.
Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer and historian Doris Kearns Goodwin was a long-time family friend of Ted Kennedy’s. She spoke to us from her home about the book and its insights into Kennedy’s life and legacy.
Bob Oakes: I imagine that you read this book not just as a historian, but also a long-time friend of Ted Kennedy and the Kennedy family. What does “True Compass” signify for you?
Doris Kearns Goodwin: Well, what I think surprised me about “True Compass” is the realization that it was written by Teddy Kennedy at a time in his life when he really could be more reflective about his past, himself and his struggles then I think he ever would have been before.
Both because he knew he was coming to the end of his life in these last couple of years, and because, I think, in finding Vicki Kennedy, his wife — as he said: she loved me for me, and he put that me in italics, which meant that somebody loved him for who he was, not for what he might become — which meant that he could look more honestly at how hard it was to be the ninth kid in that incredibly overachieving family.
With the book, he got a chance to interpret his own political contributions and, in a way, I think, tried to cast himself in terms of history. What’s your view on what he thought of his place in history?
On the one hand, it’s the story of the Kennedy family from the inside, told by the only one of the brothers who had a chance to write a memoir. But at the same time, as you suggest, it also is the story of Teddy Kennedy.
And what you see throughout is that increasing pride that he took in his role as a senator -- that it really was the natural role to fit his temperament.
On a personal level, the book, I think, reveals a lot about Ted Kennedy, the man who had to find his own direction in a family of very high-profile political achievers, business achievers, who had to also deal with the family tragedies and his own personal shortcomings, doesn’t it?
Absolutely. I mean, that’s what I think readers will be able to take away from the book. Because he talks pretty unsparingly about what it was like to be in boarding schools when he was a little kid, being planted from one school to the other.
He was at that time overweight, he was sometimes behind the classes, and he talked about how difficult that was. And I think the answer to him in those days was to be upbeat and try to make friends, but the pain is still there.
But as he sorted the memory through in the book, he says he’s now come to understand why they had to do that, but you can feel that pain that is still raw. And then on top of that, there are these extraordinary, overachieving brothers and sisters who were not only older, but — as he said — they seemed more superior, they seemed smarter than he was, and he was always behind the eight ball trying to catch up...