![The Honorable Edward M. Kennedy](https://www.socsci.uci.edu/files/announcements/kennedy/images/emk2.jpg)
UC Irvine was very honored to host Senator
Edward M. Kennedy as the 2003-04 Peltason Lecturer. Kennedy has been
one of the leading voices on education and health issues in America,
as well as other social issues. During his senatorial career he has played
a leading role in every major educational reform law passed by Congress,
and he is one of the nation’s most active proponents of expanding
access to health care.
Senator Edward M. Kennedy has represented Massachusetts in the United
States Senate since he was first elected in 1962 to finish the term of
his brother, President John F. Kennedy. Since then, he has been re-elected
seven times, and he is now the second most senior member of the Senate.
Kennedy is the senior Democrat on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
Committee in the Senate. He also serves on the Judiciary Committee, and
the Armed Services Committee. He is also a member of the Congressional
Joint Economic Committee, a founder of the Congressional Friends of Ireland,
and a trustee of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in
Washington, DC.
Past Peltason Lectures have been given by Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, US Representative
to the UN Human Rights Commission; former US Senator Alan K. Simpson, and former US
Senator Paul Simon.
Senator Kennedy was a guest of the Center
for the Study of Democracy at UC Irvine. The Center hosts the annual Peltason
Lecture on Democracy that invites leading political figures to lecture on campus; the series
is supported by a grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the Irvine Health Foundation supported the Kennedy lecture and the videotaping of the event.
The Lecture was also broadcast on www.uctv.tv. We appreciate their support, and the support of Iain Grainger and UCI Instructional Services in preparing this video.