Kennedy Rules Out a 1988 Run for the Presidency

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, declaring that he realized his decision meant he might never be President, announced Thursday evening that he would not seek the 1988 Democratic nomination for the White House.

Kennedy, who twice before made similar choices that were attributed to personal reasons, gave no specific cause for dropping out this time. But he said that he thought he could be more effective in the Senate if he were not always regarded as a potential presidential candidate.

He was not available for further comment Thursday but has scheduled a news conference in Boston for today.

“I have decided that the best way to advance the values you and I share--peace on Earth, economic growth at home and compassion for all Americans--is to be a United States senator and not a candidate for President,” the senator, who unsuccessfully challenged President Jimmy Carter in 1980, told his constituents in a taped announcement broadcast on two television stations in Boston.

“I know that this decision means that I may never be President,” conceded Kennedy, who has been considered a strong contender for the White House in every quadrennial since 1968, when assassination ended the candidacy of his brother Robert and left him heir to the legacy of another brother, the late President John F. Kennedy.

“But the pursuit of the presidency is not my life--public service is,” Kennedy, 53, declared.

The senator’s withdrawal more than two years before the official onset of competition for the Democratic nomination seemed all the more abrupt because of the previous attitude and activities of his aides, who had monitored Democratic political meetings nationwide and frequently spoke as if they expected him to run.

Staff ‘Pushing Him’

“His staff was all ginned up and pushing him to run,” said one Democratic strategist, a veteran of past presidential campaigns.

It was Kennedy himself who brought his staff’s activities to a halt Wednesday night when he met with them informally in the living room of his Hyannisport, Mass., home.

“I know what I have to say is going to disappoint some of you,” Kennedy said in breaking the news to his closest advisers, according to Robert Shrum, one of those present and a speech writer during Kennedy’s 1980 presidential campaign.

Speculation Distracting

Shrum said that Kennedy had been troubled about the effect of continued speculation over his candidacy since he visited South Africa earlier this year. According to Shrum, the senator, an outspoken critic of South Africa’s apartheid policy, believes that the interest in his presidential ambitions distracted attention from the main concerns of his trip.

Similarly, other aides said that Kennedy has been disturbed that all his actions in the Senate are viewed in the context of furthering his presidential hopes. For example, his decision to support the controversial Gramm-Rudman deficit-reduction plan was regarded by some politicians as an attempt to shed his image as a traditional liberal, as was his previous support for the line-item veto. Both measures were advocated by President Reagan.

The impact of Kennedy’s withdrawal on the 1988 Democratic campaign seems limited by the early announcement and by the fact that some party leaders question whether he ever could overcome the two most formidable obstacles to his candidacy: the 1969 auto accident at Chappaquiddick that took the life of Mary Jo Kopechne, a passenger in the senator’s car, and Kennedy’s identification with a liberalism that many regard as outdated.

Despite these problems, Kennedy was regarded as a formidable political force within his own party. And his departure from the scene appeared to firmly establish the status of Colorado Sen. Gary Hart as the 1988 front-runner, on the basis of his strong challenge to nominee Walter F. Mondale in 1984.

Beyond that, party professionals said they expected that the major result of Kennedy’s action would be to enlarge the field of 1988 contenders and, particularly, to encourage New York Gov. Mario M. Cuomo, generally regarded as the most likely candidate to inherit the liberal support.

“I think it’s a great Christmas present for Gary Hart and Mario Cuomo, the two most likely nominees,” said California Sen. Alan Cranston, who sought the Democratic nomination in 1984.

Cuomo Regrets Decision

Cuomo, who is concentrating on getting reelected as governor next year, said he regrets Kennedy’s decision.

“I’ve said on many occasions that I thought he would be a strong candidate--but, on the other hand, no one has a right to tell a member of the Kennedy family that he has a duty to the party or to the nation,” he said.

Hart, who is expected to announce shortly that he will not seek reelection to the Senate next year so he can run for the presidency, said: “I respect Sen. Kennedy’s personal decision and have every confidence he will remain a leader in the Democratic Party as long as he wishes.”