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Secret Service agents go over Kennedy's schedule ahead of time and suggest ways to make his public appearances less dangerous. However, the candidate makes the final decisions. Says a Secret Service official: ''If it were left to us, we would put these guys behind bulletproof shields all the time. We are trying to get maximum security, and they are trying to get maximum exposure.'' George Wallace used to make speeches from behind such a shield; he was shot while walking through a parking lot.
An old friend, Williams Historian James MacGregor Burns, has urged Kennedy to do most of his campaigning from TV and radio stations, newspaper editorial offices and well-policed arenas. Wrote Burns in the New York Times:
''This is no time for political macho.'' The historian pointed out that this new form of campaigning also would lift the election process ''out of the ruck of sidewalk hawking and handshaking to a decent level of rational debate.'' Replied Kennedy: ''I agree with Burns. I think that I am going to have to campaign differently.'' By last week Burns' advice was plainly forgotten. The political juices were flowing, and Ted Kennedy was plunging without hesitation into the crowds.