Obama Appoints Ted Kennedy's Widow to Performing Arts Center's Board

President Obama has appointed Victoria Reggie Kennedy, the widow of the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, to the board of the Kennedy Center in Washington.

The Kennedy Center's board of trustees currently includes all of the living first ladies and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, among others.

The president and Michelle Obama held a reception on Sunday ahead of the 32nd Kennedy Center Honors, at which Robert De Niro, Bruce Springsteen, Mel Brooks, Dave Brubeck and opera singer Grace Bumbry received awards.

Vicki Kennedy has recently talked about her husband's death in August, revealing that the first printed copy of his memoir, "True Compass," arrived at their home the day he died, and that they had read every word of the book aloud to each other.

Mrs. Kennedy was a founding director of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate and is a member of the advisory board of the Edward M. Kennedy Oral History Project at the University of Virginia. She currently leads a nonprofit group that seeks to protect children from the effects of gun violence.