Kennedy had closet of bullet-proof vests

WASHINGTON, Sept. 11 (UPI) -- U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy's son says growing up with a family legacy of assassination includes memories of the bullet-proof vests in his father's closet.

In an interview with CBS News, to be broadcast Sunday on "60 Minutes," Ted Kennedy Jr. says he and his brother and sister were acutely aware of their father's protective vests.

"Most people keep coats and umbrellas in their coat closet. My father kept bullet-proof vests in his coat closet," the younger Kennedy said. "Believe me, we would walk past that coat closet every day, fearful about some crazy person out there wanting to make a name for themselves and that, I think, was in the back of our minds almost every time that my father would appear in public."

The Massachusetts Democrat was the only one of his four brothers to live past 50 and to die of natural causes.

His son said Kennedy was constantly trying to atone for his mistakes. He said when he reads his father's letter to Pope Benedict XVI, written a few weeks before his death, he cries because his father is "asking for forgiveness."