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Future Rep. Eliot Engel Stumps For Ted With Former First Lady

Sen. Edward Kennedy hadn’t yet scored a meaningful win in his bid to wrestle the 1980 Democratic presidential nomination away from President Jimmy Carter. But that didn’t keep Kennedy’s sister-in-law, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and New York state Assemblyman Eliot Engel from campaigning for the Massachusetts Senator during the winter of 1980. Here the duo make the rounds in Engel’s backyard, the Bronx, with the former first lady sporting a “Ted” campaign pin. Their work paid off. Kennedy beat Carter in the March New York primary, 59 percent to 41 percent. But it was too little too late for the nomination. Carter accepted the nomination later that year, only to lose to Ronald Reagan in November.

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