万花筒 2009-08-29&08-31 美参议员肯尼迪逝世（在线收听）

Paying tribute to the man known as "the Lion of the U.S. Senate", President Barack Obama breaking from a week long vacation said he was heartbroken by the death of Senator Edward Kennedy.

"The outpouring of love, gratitude and fond memories to which we've all borne to witness is a testament to the way the singular figure in the American history, touched so many lives. His ideas and ideals are stamped on scores of laws reflected in millions of lives."

A pillar of the Democratic Party for decades, Kennedy was also a crucial supporter of Obama's presidential run. One of the most influential and longest-serving senators in U.S. history, Kennedy had been battling brain cancer, diagnosed in May of 2008.

During his nearly half century in the senate, Kennedy became known as one of Washington's most effective senators, crafting hundreds of bills by working with lawmakers and presidents of both parties and finding unlikely allies. Flags have been lowered to half-staff throughout the US, and tributes have poured in from fellow senators and former presidents, including former rival Jimmy Carter.

"I think that among all the members of our U.S. Senate and the Congress of the United States, he's been preeminent."

President Obama said the man known to so many as Teddy carried the torch left by his brothers, president John F. Kennedy and senator Robert Kennedy, both assassinated in their prime.

Julian Zelizer is a presidential historian at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School.

"Some will say that the Kennedy dynasty is starting to fade, that he was really one of the great remaining Kennedys, and the other people in the family don't match his stature."

During his 47 years in the U.S. Senate, Kennedy worked to protect civil rights, raise the minimum wage, expand healthcare coverage and improve America's schools, but his life had its dark side. In 1969, a young woman died when Kennedy drove his car off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island. Many analysts say his troubled personal life probably prevented him from achieving higher office.

Edward Moore Kennedy who was 77 years old will be laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery.

John Decker, Reuters.