But a July 18, 1969, car wreck on Chappaquiddick Island virtually ended his ambitions.

CNN: Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy dies after cancer battle

It was four years after the Edward Kennedy tragedy at Chappaquiddick, and the accident provoked a media frenzy.

NEWYORKER: Changing Times

He sat out the races in 1972 (too soon after Chappaquiddick) and 1976 (his son was recovering from cancer).

ECONOMIST: Lexington

Now when many people think of Ted Kennedy, they think of the unabashedly liberal Lion of the Senate, not Chappaquiddick.

FORBES: When Brands Need a Reboot (Think Lance)

Early on July 18, 1969, Kennedy drove his car off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island in Massachusetts and his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne, drowned.

CNN: Commentary: Ted Kennedy was a true believer

Then there is the bridge at Chappaquiddick, where Mary-Jo Kopechne drowned when Ted Kennedy's car (along with his White House hopes) sank in 1969.

ECONOMIST: American holidays

He had just turned 2 years old when his father drove a car off a bridge at Chappaquiddick Island in Massachusetts and a female passenger drowned.

CNN: latimes.com: Talking baseball and politics with George W. Bush

After a party for women who had worked on his brother Robert's presidential campaign, Kennedy drove his car off a bridge on Chappaquiddick, off Cape Cod and across a narrow channel from Martha's Vineyard.

CNN: Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy dies after cancer battle

But others have noted that his legacy of public service was counter-balanced by heavy drinking in his early years - and the death of a female companion, Mary Jo Kopechne, in 1969 when he drove off a bridge at Chappaquiddick in Massachusetts and fled the scene.

BBC: Tributes paid at Kennedy memorial