Cord Byrd: “as one of millions upon millions of Americans mourning today the passing of a great woman, I want to extend to our…”

“as one of millions upon millions of Americans mourning today the passing of a great woman, I want to extend to our colleague Senator Edward Kennedy from Massachusetts, and to his extended family, my wife Erma's and my condolences on the death yesterday of his mother, Mrs. Joseph P. Kennedy--Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, as we knew her best. Some Americans have expressed a regret that our representative democracy precludes the granting of titles of noble recognition as is common among our British cousins. To be certain, if titles were granted in America to those most worthy, Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy would long, long ago have been known affectionately as ``Lady Kennedy.'' Indeed, given her innate intelligence, political acumen, and enviable sense of self, had Rose Kennedy been born perhaps 50 years later than she was, she might well have been the first United States Senator in her family. Instead, being born 104 years ago, from her childhood and youth, Rose Kennedy imbibed the air of the politics of Boston, of Massachusetts, and of America, and learned to play magnificently the role of wife to her husband and mother to her sons and daughters as she brought her incomparable strengths and graces to bear on their successes.”