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WORLD: Brown pays tribute to Teddy Kennedy's health vision
Rashid Razaq and Paul Thompson28.08.09
Gordon Brown paid generous tribute to Edward Kennedy today, claiming that his record of public service “surpasses those of many presidents”.
The Prime Minister said that the senator's life “teaches timeless lessons about serving the public”.
Mr Kennedy died on Tuesday at the age of 77 after a long battle with brain cancer. In an article for the Boston Globe, Mr Brown said the senator had been a “massive force” in the Northern Ireland peace process and “a great internationalist who inspired social progress in every country”.
With the US engaged in a major debate about the provision of healthcare, the Prime Minister said that to Mr Kennedy this was “the cause of his life”. Mr Brown said: “He never ceased fighting for universal health care. As he said only last month, we're almost there'. He did this not only for America but for the world. He knew that if a system of universal health care as a right and not a privilege could be achieved in the United States, others everywhere would be encouraged to take it up.”
The Prime Minister shared his memories of meeting the senator, who he counted as a friend and visited on Cape Cod during the Nineties.
Mr Brown said he would remember Mr Kennedy as the man who said: “The pursuit of the presidency is not my life; public service is.” He wrote: “His work teaches timeless lessons about serving the public — the need to reach out beyond ancient loyalties and old enmities, the need to unite rather than divide, our capacity to master the great issues.”
Americans have turned out in their thousands to pay their respects. The Kennedy family thanked the 20,000 mourners who waited hours to file past the senator's closed casket, draped in a Stars and Stripes and standing under a military guard at the John F Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston.
Senator Kennedy's widow, Victoria, led the line-up greeting well-wishers, and said their sympathy was a “tremendous solace to all our family”.
Thousands more lined the streets to see the motorcade which carried the coffin the 70 miles from the Kennedy family home in Hyannis Port to the library in Boston harbour.
Every living US president is to attend Mr Kennedy's funeral tomorrow, which will be led by President Barack Obama and include Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George Bush and his son George W Bush. Mr Obama arrives in Boston today from his holiday at Martha's Vineyard to prepare for the ceremonies.
The President will deliver a eulogy at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica before the US politician, who served as a senator for 47 years, is buried with full honours at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington DC. Mr Kennedy's favourite song, The Impossible Dream from musical Man of La Mancha, will be played at the service.
Reader views (2)
What the US does not need is a health care system like the UK's. Our system delivers cutting edge, high quality service without delay. Brown a Socialist, loves a fellow Socialist. Teddy's stature falls dramatically west of the Hudson river.
- Jj, Austin, Texas
RIP
- Dc, London
