On the eve of his election to Congress in 1996, Rep. John Tierney (D-MA) received a call from Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) congratulating him on his victory, and on the energy he put into the race. Tierney says “it wasn’t obligatory. He was just letting us know he cared.”
“He wasn’t a perfect guy, but he never pretended to be,” Tierney says but as he was the sort of person who, despite all of his import, “took the time out of his personal schedule to make the call.”
Perhaps that’s the memory that will live with Tierney longest, but the two men had many, more spirited encounters.
“Teddy loved to dance and he loved to joke,” says Tierney, adding that, by contrast he has “more of a stiffer Irish style.” Tierney recalls a number of occasions–but particularly one at a meeting of the Salem Council on Aging–where Kennedy would sing and dance and belly laugh and goad, “Hey Tierney, get out here!” amused to put his colleague on the spot.
