A Fitting Kennedy Tribute, 50,000 Strong

Anyone unsure of the impact Sen. Ted Kennedy made on the American public only needs to look as far as the JFK Presidential Library and Museum in Boston for clarification.

The library opened its doors on Thursday and Friday, inviting mourners to view the flag-draped closed casket of the man who, as we told you on Wednesday, made an almost immeasurable impact on modern American politics.

The library estimates a prodigious 50,000 people attended his public wake Thursday night and Friday, a crowd so large the library stayed open until 2 a.m. By dawn Friday, people were again flocking for a brief glimpse of Kennedy, and the library accommodated them, opening up early, at 7:40 a.m., and remaining open until 3 p.m. that afternoon.

"For what he has done for the underprivileged, the downtrodden, I think I owe him this, to pay this respect," Juana Gayle-Flores, of Roxbury, Mass., told The New York Times when asked why she had made the trip. "I feel honored and grateful to be at this memorial. This is an experience that has touched me."

On both days, members of the Kennedy family, including his widow, Vicki, shook hands with  mourners and thanked them for coming.

On Friday evening, dignitaries on both ends of the political spectrum flocked to the Kennedy library for an invitation-only memorial service. Attendees included Sen. John McCain, former Sen. John Edwards and his wife Elizabeth, and Vice President Joe Biden, a longtime friend who was expected to speak.

President Obama has agreed to deliver his eulogy Saturday at his funeral Mass at Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Mission Hill.

It seems hard to say goodbye to a man who has loomed so large — and for so long — in American political and popular culture. Yet his legacy will likely live on forever.

Photo courtesy of the United States Senate via Wikimedia Commons