Washington National Cathedral

The Washington National Cathedral community sends its deep condolences to the Kennedy family at the death of Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts. We share with the nation in the profound loss of this great and visionary leader who was unwavering in his commitment to justice and equality for all Americans. He gave his life’s work to what matters most in a fair, compassionate, and inclusive society. In a nation that calls itself religious, Senator Kennedy modeled what caring for our brothers and sisters and understanding our human interconnectedness are all about.

At the Cathedral

Kennedy visited the Cathedral on numerous occasions during his senatorial career.

• 1970 – Funeral Service for Marie Norton Harriman
  Mourners led by her husband Averell Harriman included former Chief Justice of the United States Earl Warren, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, and Ethel Skakel Kennedy, widow of Senator Robert F. Kennedy. After the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the Harrimans loaned their Georgetown house to Mrs. Kennedy and her children when they first moved from the White House.
• 1973 – Pre-Inaugural concert conducted by Leonard Bernstein
  At the invitation of Cathedral Dean Francis B. Sayre, Jr., Leonard Bernstein led a free “Concert as a Plea for Peace” at the Cathedral on the eve of President Richard M. Nixon’s second inaugural. This “Mass in Time of War” was the Cathedral’s tacit plea for peace amid the turmoil surrounding Nixon’s reelection. The legendary conductor led a nameless chorus and orchestra in a powerful performance of Haydn’s Missa in Tempore Belli before an audience of 2,500 and as many as twenty-five thousand gathered outside on the Close. The recording was subsequently released as an LP on the Columbia label. Dean Sayre sat with former Senator Eugene McCarthy on the front row. Senator Edward M. Kennedy is in the second row between his wife, Joan, and his sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver (on the aisle behind McCarthy).
• 1979 – Funeral Service for Marvella Bayh
  Marvella Bayh was the wife of Senator Birch Bayh of Indiana, who in 1964 saved Senator Edward Kennedy’s life when he pulled him from the wreckage of their private plane, which crashed while attempting to land in fog in Massachusetts. Their son, current Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana, attended St. Albans School, as do his twin sons. President Jimmy Carter delivered a eulogy, the first by a president of the United States in the Cathedral.
• 1984 – Memorial Service for Senator Frank Church of Idaho
  Senator Kennedy delivered the eulogy for his senatorial colleague who died at age 54. During his three-month battle against pancreatic cancer, Senator Kennedy drove to Senator Church’s home in Bethesda every week to sit by his bedside.
• 1986 – Memorial Service for W. Averell Harriman
  Eulogies for the former New York governor, ambassador to the Soviet Union and to Great Britain, confidant of Roosevelt and Churchill during World War II, and administrator of the Marshall Plan were offered by historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., Senator Edward M. Kennedy, former secretary of state Cyrus R. Vance, and former defense secretary Clark M. Clifford. Leading official mourners were Secretary of State George P. Schultz; Barbara Bush, wife of Vice President George H. W. Bush; Governor Mario Cuomo of New York; Lady Bird Johnson and her son-in-law, Governor Charles S. Robb of Virginia; and Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Thurgood Marshall.
• 1998 – Memorial Service for Clark McAdams Clifford
  Vice President Albert Gore, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Ambassador to the United Nations Richard Holbrooke, and former NBC correspondent Sander Vanocur offered tributes to the former presidential adviser and secretary of defense under Lyndon Johnson.
• 2001 – Funeral Service for Katharine Graham
  A reporter and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Katharine Graham was publisher of the Washington Post and chairman and chief executive officer of The Post Company.