This is what Great Britain did this week: In a speech to Congress, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced that Sen. Ted Kennedy had been granted an honorary knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II for his work in the Northern Ireland Peace Process.

 Ted Kennedy a Knight? Has Britain completely abandoned the role chivalry has played in such an honorary entitlement? Or have the Brits totally insulted those of us who remember that knights, chivalry and honor are part of that honor?

 I was an administrative assistant in a Republican congressional office when I learned on Sunday morning, July 19, 1969, of Ted Kennedy’s misadventures as a playboy senator.  Early that Saturday morning, after partying for most of the night, Kennedy drove his Oldsmobile 88 off Dike Bridge and into Poucha Pond.  The car flipped several times before it struck the water and settled upside down on the bottom.

 Ted Kennedy freed himself and floated to the surface, then left the scene.  His passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne, 28, one of Robert Kennedy’s “Boiler Room Girls”  who were partying at a sailing regatta as Kennedy’s guests, did not get out and drowned.

 Although everyone in Washington was fully aware of most of the details of the disastrous weekend, my boss, as was his habit, had left Washington on Friday to work at a farm in West Virginia which he was restoring. As was his habit when he returned to the Capitol on Monday, he went directly to the floor for role call.

 Within minutes of his arrival, however, he was aware that something had occurred that had the members talking. When he learned the conversation was about Kennedy, he went to the cloak room and called me immediately.

“Get the Sunday papers down here and tell me what the hell Kennedy’s been up to,” was his request and I complied.

 Also out  of town that weekend, President Nixon was scheduled to return from a Philllipine visit on Monday.   

 As was customary, Republican House staff members were often bused to the south lawn to form a welcoming backdrop for the president’s return.

That’s where I was on Monday morning, July 20, 1969, lined up as it were behind a row of senators including Ted Kennedy who had formed a line to personally shake hands and welcome Nixon home.

 When Nixon stepped off the helicopter, I watched him work the line toward Kennedy who stood directly in front of me.

 I saw Kennedy extend his hand and I saw the president look directly into Kennedy’s face. I knew then the president was fully aware of what had happened only hours earlier at Chapaquidick. I saw Nixon take his hand.

 There were no words as far as I could hear, but Nixon’s face turned stern, his smile disappeared. There are many faults that Nixon suffered in his political as well as his personal life, but at that moment his deep Quaker beliefs and the fact that he was a father of two young girls, took control.  I believed then as I still do now that Nixon would never forget that Kennedy had let a young, helpless girl drown while he saved himself. 

 So when men compare Kennedy to Knights, to chivalry and honor, I remember the time 40 years ago when Richard Nixon and Ted Kennedy met face to face on the lawn of the White House.