We remember the profound impact of Lyndon Johnson, Mike Mansfield, Everett Dirksen and Howard Baker on the Senate.

CNN: Senate holds key to fixing Washington

But he came to realize that a Kennedy was not the most appropriate person to chair hearings on the Nixon White House and supported Majority Leader Mike Mansfield's creation of the select "Ervin Committee" to finish the job.

CNN: Commentary: Kennedy a worker, not a playboy

Last week, he gathered together virtually everyone who was anyone in the conduct of foreign policy for the past quarter-century: former presidents, former secretaries of state, former secretaries of commerce, even a long serving former Senate leader, Mike Mansfield, still sprightly at 97.

ECONOMIST: Confounded by China | The