US:Senator Edward Kennedy has agreed to a multimillion-dollar deal to write his memoirs, it emerged yesterday.
Senator Kennedy, a legendary figure after serving 45 years as a Democratic senator in Massachusetts, secured an advance in the region of the $9 million (€6.6 million) agreed by Tony Blair for his memoirs, and the $8 million paid to Hillary Clinton for hers.
"I've been fortunate in my life to grow up in an extraordinary family and to have a front-row seat at many key events in our nation's history," Kennedy said.
"I hope my reflections can contribute to a deeper understanding of many events in the history of this great country and to a more in-depth picture of an American family."
The book is expected to cover the administration of John F Kennedy, his assassination and that of his brother Robert F Kennedy, as well as the civil rights movement.
Edward Kennedy was barely 30 when he was elected to the Senate and accused of cashing in on his famous surname. But in nearly half a century in Washington, he has had a strong record in his own right as a champion of liberal causes.
There was no indication of how far Sen Kennedy would go to satisfy public curiosity about the episode that damaged his own career - in 1969 he was at the wheel of a car which plunged off a bridge at Chappaquiddick Island in Martha's Vineyard. Mary Jo Kopechne, who had worked on the presidential campaign of his brother Robert, died in the crash.
Sen Kennedy was given a two-month suspended sentence for leaving the scene of an accident.- (Guardian service)