DBWI: Ted Kennedy elected to US Senate in 1962

In 1962, Massachusetts Attorney General Edward McCormack scored a political upset with his victory in the Democratic primary over Edward M. Kennedy, the youngest brother of President John F. Kennedy. McCormack went on the easily win the November election.

It was clear that Kennedy who was inexperienced was running on his brother's name. Was there any way that he could have won that Senate race in 1962? How successful would Ted have been in the Senate? And would he have run for President in 1972 or 1976?
 
Well he might run and win the Democratic nomination in 1972, which he failed to do IOTL. But I'm still not sure if him being a Senator would make him a more prominent guy on the national scene by that time.
Though it would be interesting to see how things would be different for Kennedy with him being elected President in 1972 instead of 1980 since the 70s was a much more turbulent decade and his term in office might not be viewed as favorably ITTL as it is IOTL. Hell, he not even manage to get reelected. Sure, it does seem a bit strange for Kennedy to lose a bid for a second term considering his 1984 landslide reelection IOTL, but it could happen.
 
I remember my shock when Bobby announced he wasn't going to run for a second term in 1972, so I assumed Governor Teddy would but obviously that wasn't the case. I don't see a lot of major changes, but who knows, right?
 
Well he might run and win the Democratic nomination in 1972, which he failed to do IOTL. But I'm still not sure if him being a Senator would make him a more prominent guy on the national scene by that time.
Though it would be interesting to see how things would be different for Kennedy with him being elected President in 1972 instead of 1980 since the 70s was a much more turbulent decade and his term in office might not be viewed as favorably ITTL as it is IOTL. Hell, he not even manage to get reelected. Sure, it does seem a bit strange for Kennedy to lose a bid for a second term considering his 1984 landslide reelection IOTL, but it could happen.

Well, by Ted Kennedy's own recollection in his memoirs, he was quite a drinker and hell-raiser in his younger days before and after the Senate loss in '62, much to the chagrin of his older brothers, though he (and they) did manage to keep it out of the press. One wonders whether a stint early in the Senate would have forced him to mature earlier than he did or whether it would have fed his own worse impulses. I tend to think the latter would have been the case. In fact, you have to wonder whether such a callow individual, as he was in those days, really would have amounted to much in the Senate. Sometimes a loss is a good thing for someone and, in Kennedy's case, I think it was. He turned out to be a far more successful President than his brother (economic recovery in the '80s/end of the Cold War) and I think a lot of that has to do with his earlier struggles.
 
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