"The Lion of the Senate"

GQ - "A Sober Look at Ted Kennedy" (published in 1990)

""To be truly human," Ted Kennedy once said, "is to shape your own world." And he has, far more than most men dream of, done just that. He has made laws. He has been at the front of sweeping change, improving the lives of many people. He has helped perpetuate a dynasty. The truth is, however, the world shapes us far more than we shape it. The truth is, the forces of the world—the rules of primogeniture, the warp of genetics and the woof of environment, the killing power of bullets and the grip of alcohol—shaped Ted Kennedy and shape him still. It is the sad irony of his life that while he has wrought his will on the world at large he remains unable still to control his own life. He started out in this world dangling from strings held by his father and his brothers. They're gone now, but Teddy dangles still, dancing to the echoes of an old and tired tune."