Ted Kennedy in the context of "Robert F. Kennedy"

The Kennedy family (Irish: Ó Cinnéide) is an American political family that has long been prominent in American politics, public service, entertainment, and business. In 1884, 35 years after the family's arrival from County Wexford, Ireland, Patrick Joseph "P. J." Kennedy became the first Kennedy elected to public office, serving in the Massachusetts state legislature until 1895. At least one Kennedy family member was serving in federal elective office in every year from 1947, when P. J. Kennedy's grandson John F. Kennedy became a member of Congress from Massachusetts, until 2011, when Patrick J. Kennedy II (John's nephew) retired as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Rhode Island.

P. J.'s son Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. and his wife, Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, had nine children, including John F. Kennedy, who served in both houses of the United States Congress and as U.S. President; Robert F. Kennedy, who served as U.S. Attorney General and as a U.S. Senator; Ted Kennedy, who served more than 46 years in the U.S. Senate; and Jean Kennedy Smith, who served as U.S. ambassador to Ireland.

Below is a chronological listing of the United States senators from Massachusetts. According to the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution adopted in 1913, U.S. senators are popularly elected for a six-year term. Elections are held the first Tuesday after November 1, and terms begin on January 3, about two months after the vote. Before 1914, and the enforcement of the Seventeenth Amendment, the state's U.S. senators were chosen by the Massachusetts General Court, and before 1935, their terms began March 4.

The current senators are Democrats Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey. Ted Kennedy was Massachusetts's longest-serving senator, serving from 1962 until his death in 2009. Massachusetts is one of fourteen states alongside California, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, Pennsylvania, South Dakota and Utah to have a younger senior senator and an older junior senator.

The 1960 presidential campaign of John F. Kennedy, then junior United States senator from Massachusetts, was formally launched on January 2, 1960, as Senator Kennedy announced his intention to seek the Democratic Party nomination for the presidency of the United States in the 1960 presidential election.

Kennedy was nominated by the Democratic Party at the national convention on July 15, 1960, and he named Senator Lyndon B. Johnson as his vice-presidential running mate. On November 8, 1960, they defeated incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon and United Nations Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. in the general election. Kennedy was sworn in as president on January 20, 1961, and would serve until his assassination on November 22, 1963. His brothers Robert and Ted would both later run for president in 1968 and 1980 respectively, but neither received the presidential nomination.

Matthew Langford Perry (August 19, 1969 – October 28, 2023) was an American and Canadian actor. He gained international fame for starring as Chandler Bing on the NBC television sitcom Friends (1994–2004). Perry also appeared on Ally McBeal (2002) and received Primetime Emmy Award nominations for his performances in The West Wing (2003) and The Ron Clark Story (2006). He played a leading role in the NBC series Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (2006–2007), and also became known for his leading film roles in Fools Rush In (1997), Almost Heroes (1998), Three to Tango (1999), The Whole Nine Yards (2000), Serving Sara (2002), The Whole Ten Yards (2004), and 17 Again (2009).

Perry was the co-creator, co-writer, executive producer, and star of the ABC sitcom Mr. Sunshine, which ran from February to April 2011. In August 2012, he starred as sportscaster Ryan King on the NBC sitcom Go On. He co-developed and starred in a revival of the CBS sitcom The Odd Couple portraying Oscar Madison from 2015 to 2017. He had recurring roles in the legal dramas The Good Wife (2012–2013), and The Good Fight (2017). Perry portrayed Ted Kennedy in The Kennedys: After Camelot (2017) and appeared as himself in his final television appearance, Friends: The Reunion (2021). He voiced Benny in the video game Fallout: New Vegas (2010).

Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 4, 1980. In a landslide victory, the Republican ticket of former California governor Ronald Reagan and former director of central intelligence George H. W. Bush defeated the Democratic ticket of incumbent president Jimmy Carter and vice president Walter Mondale and the Independent ticket of Congressman John B. Anderson and former ambassador to Mexico Patrick Lucey. Because of the rise of conservatism after Reagan's victory, many historians consider the election a political realignment.

Carter's unpopularity, his poor relations with Democratic leaders, and the poor economic conditions under his administration encouraged an unsuccessful intra-party challenge from Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy. Meanwhile, the Republican primaries were contested between Reagan, former Central Intelligence Agency director George H. W. Bush, Illinois representative John B. Anderson, and several other candidates. All of Reagan's opponents had dropped out by the end of the primaries, and the Republicans nominated a ticket consisting of Reagan and Bush. Anderson entered the general election as an independent candidate with former Wisconsin governor Patrick Lucey as his running mate.

Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 8, 1988. The Republican ticket of incumbent vice president George H. W. Bush and Indiana senator Dan Quayle defeated the Democratic ticket of Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis and Texas senator Lloyd Bentsen. The election was the third consecutive landslide victory for the Republican Party.

President Ronald Reagan was ineligible to seek a third term because of the 22nd Amendment. As a result, it was the first election since 1968 to lack an incumbent president on the ballot, and also the first incumbent president since Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1960 to be barred from seeking reelection. Bush entered the Republican primaries as the front-runner, defeating Kansas senator Bob Dole and televangelist Pat Robertson. He selected Indiana senator Dan Quayle as his running mate. Dukakis, campaigning on his state's record of strong economic growth, won the Democratic primaries after Gary Hart (a prominent "Atari Democrat" representing the party's moderate wing) withdrew and Ted Kennedy (representing the party's traditional liberal wing) declined to run. Dukakis selected Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen as his running mate.

The Immigration Act of 1990 (Pub. L. 101–649, 104 Stat. 4978, enacted November 29, 1990) was signed into law by George H. W. Bush on November 29, 1990. It was first introduced by Senator Ted Kennedy in 1989. It was a national reform of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. It increased total, overall immigration to allow 700,000 immigrants to come to the U.S. per year for the fiscal years 1992–94, and 675,000 per year after that. It provided a family-based immigration visa, created five distinct employment based visas, categorized by occupation, and a diversity visa program that created a lottery to admit immigrants from "low admittance" countries or countries whose citizenry was underrepresented in the U.S.

Besides these immigrant visas there were also changes in nonimmigrant visas like the H-1B visa for highly skilled workers. There were also cutbacks in the allotment of visas available for extended relatives. Congress also created the temporary protected status (TPS visa), which the Attorney General may provide to immigrants who are temporarily unable to safely return to their home country because of ongoing armed conflict, an environmental disaster, or other extraordinary and temporary condition. It specifically benefited citizens of El Salvador.

Patrick Joseph Kennedy (January 14, 1858 – May 18, 1929) was an American businessman and politician. He and his wife Mary were the parents of four children, including future U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair and U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. Their grandchildren through Joseph include U.S. President John F. Kennedy, U.S. Attorney General and U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and longtime U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy.

After cholera killed his father and brother, Kennedy was the only surviving male in his family. He started work at age fourteen and became a successful businessman, later owning three saloons and a whisky import house. Eventually, he had major interests in coal and banking as well. Kennedy was a major figure in the Democratic Party in Boston. Though he served in both the Massachusetts House of Representatives and the state Senate, he preferred to play a behind-the-scenes role as a party boss.

Patrick Joseph Kennedy II (born July 14, 1967) is an American retired politician and mental health advocate. From 1995 to 2011, he served as a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from Rhode Island's 1st congressional district, and was one of the first two Generation X members of Congress (with Randy Tate) when he took office in 1995.

Born and raised in Boston, he is the youngest child and second son of the long-time Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy, and is a nephew of former U.S. President John F. Kennedy and former U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy. Kennedy graduated from Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from Providence College. He was elected to the Rhode Island House of Representatives in 1989, becoming the youngest member of the Kennedy family to hold elected office. He was then elected to represent Rhode Island's 1st congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives. He was repeatedly re-elected, serving from January 3, 1995, to January 3, 2011 (the 104th to 111th Congresses). In the House, Kennedy served on the Armed Services and Natural Resources Committees before being appointed to the Appropriations Committee. In 2017, he was appointed by President Donald Trump to serve as a member of the Opioid and Drug Abuse Commission. He is a co-founder of One Mind, a mental health nonprofit.