To: Dipy who wrote (51089) 1/11/2006 5:37:49 PM
From: longnshort Read Replies (1) of 51112
Ted Gets Expelled from Harvard for Cheating
- by Nellie Bly
- Ted managed to graduate from prep school (Milton Academy) in 1950 with only a C average.
- Teddy was never a scholar, and his brother Jack once referred to him as "the gay illiterate".
- Despite his terrible grades, Teddy (like brother Robert) was admitted to Harvard as a "legacy", because his older brothers and father had graduated form there with such distinction.
- Yet even at Harvard, young Ted floundered.
- In his sophomore year he was expelled for cheating. He had been failing Spanish and feared it would keep him off the varsity football team.
- He paid a friend to take the exam for him.
- Ted's friend, however, was recognized when he turned in the exam book.
- Both lads were expelled, but were advised that they could apply for readmission in a year if they demonstrated responsible citizenship.
- It was a shame and disgrace, but the family would manage to keep it a secret until Teddy ran for the Senate.
- 2 -
- After his expulsion from Harvard, Teddy returned to Hyannis Port where he would sit brooding, sometimes for hours.
- Finally, he enlisted in the Army.
- Not surprisingly, he did not bother to read the enlistment papers and signed up for four years instead of two.
- Ted's father, the US Ambassador to England, was horrified at the thought of his youngest son spending four years in the service, with a good chance of being sent into combat in Korea.
- "Don't you ever look at what you're signing?" he shouted.
- With one phone call Joe contacted a friend who managed to get hold of Teddy's enlistment papers.
- Ted's enlistment period was shortened to two years, a maneuver that was nearly impossible for the average enlistee.
- Furthermore, Ted would do his service in Europe, not Korea.
- Teddy never rose above the rank of private, and was discharged in 1952.
- He returned to Harvard in the fall of 1953, as did his test-taking friend, and they graduated together.
- 2 -
- Once back at Harvard, Teddy made the rugby team.
- During one match in 1954, Ted got into three fistfights with opposing players and was finally thrown out of the game. According to referee Frederick Costick, Teddy was the only player he had ever expelled from a game in thirty years of officiating.
- "Rugby is a character-building sport," Costick said. "Players learn how to conduct themselves on the field with the idea that they will learn how to conduct themselves in life. When a player loses control of himself three times in a single afternoon, to my mind, that is a sign that, in a crisis, the man is not capable of thinking clearly and acting rationally. Such a man will panic under pressure."
- Of course, years later, in the crisis at Chappaquiddick, Teddy would do exactly that.
- 3 -
- In 1957, Ted entered the University of Virginia Law School.
- The warning signs of trouble would continue.
- While in law school, Ted would earn the nickname "Cadillac Eddie". He was cited four times for reckless driving (three times in 1958 and once in 1959). These violations included running red lights and driving with his lights off at ninety miles per hour in a suburban area.
- Teddy was convicted of three violations and fined, but for some reason his driver's license was never revoked. [ for more details - click HERE
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