Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Senator Ted Kennedy drives car off bridge at Chappaquiddick Island
History.com ^ | 02/09/2010 | History.com Editors

Posted on 07/18/2024 2:54:53 PM PDT by DFG

Shortly after leaving a party on Chappaquiddick Island, Senator Edward “Ted” Kennedy of Massachusetts drives an Oldsmobile off a wooden bridge into a tide-swept pond. Kennedy escaped the submerged car, but his passenger, 28-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne, did not. The senator did not report the fatal car accident for 10 hours.

On the evening of July 18, 1969, while most Americans were home watching television reports on the progress of the Apollo 11 lunar landing mission, Kennedy and his cousin Joe Gargan were hosting a cookout and party at a rented cottage on Chappaquiddick Island, an affluent island near Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. The party was planned as a reunion for Kopechne and five other women, all veterans of the late Senator Robert F. Kennedy’s 1968 presidential campaign. Bobby Kennedy was Ted Kennedy’s older brother, and following Bobby’s assassination in June 1968 Ted took up his family’s political torch. In 1969, Ted Kennedy was elected majority whip in the U.S. Senate, and he seemed an early front-runner for the 1972 Democratic presidential nomination.

Just after 11 p.m., according to Kennedy, he left the party with Kopechne to drive to the ferry slip where they would catch a boat back to their respective lodgings in Edgartown on Martha’s Vineyard. While driving down the main roadway, Kennedy took a sharp turn onto the unpaved Dike Road, drove for a short distance, and then missed the ramp to a narrow wooden bridge and drove into Poucha Pond. Kennedy, a married man, claimed the Dike Road excursion was a wrong turn.

(Excerpt) Read more at history.com ...


TOPICS: History
KEYWORDS: andourtopstory; chappaquiddick; kennedy; libertarianparty; massachusetts; rfkjr; robertkennedyjr; swimmer
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-34 next last
55 years ago today.

The Apollo 11 moon landing took this story off the front page and saved Ted Kennedy's political career.

1 posted on 07/18/2024 2:54:53 PM PDT by DFG
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: DFG

2 posted on 07/18/2024 2:55:13 PM PDT by DFG
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DFG

Still the best parody ad ever done.


3 posted on 07/18/2024 2:56:35 PM PDT by TomServo
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: DFG

Just like 9/11 took Gary Condit and Chandra Levy off the front page.


4 posted on 07/18/2024 2:57:06 PM PDT by MayflowerMadam (It's not as if Biden has the nuclear codes or anything. 😳)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TomServo

Seen the vw add a 100 times, Was that a real add? or just an internet creation that wont die?


5 posted on 07/18/2024 3:04:31 PM PDT by pghbjugop
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: TomServo

Seen the vw add a 100 times, Was that a real add? or just an internet creation that wont die?


6 posted on 07/18/2024 3:04:32 PM PDT by pghbjugop
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: TomServo

Seen the vw add a 100 times, Was that a real add? or just an internet creation that wont die?


7 posted on 07/18/2024 3:04:33 PM PDT by pghbjugop
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: pghbjugop

It was published in the National Lampoon years ago.


8 posted on 07/18/2024 3:06:43 PM PDT by TomServo
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: pghbjugop
Seen the vw add a 100 times, Was that a real add? or just an internet creation that wont die?

National Lampoon.
9 posted on 07/18/2024 3:09:29 PM PDT by Dr. Sivana ("Whatsoever he shall say to you, do ye." (John 2:5))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: DFG

He got over Mary Jo by 1985, when Teddy and Chrissy Dodd made a waitress sandwich together.


10 posted on 07/18/2024 3:14:53 PM PDT by kiryandil (FR Democrat Party operatives! Rally in defense of your Colombian cartel stooge Merchan!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: TomServo

Seen the vw add a 100 times, Was that a real add? or just an internet creation that wont die?


11 posted on 07/18/2024 3:15:54 PM PDT by pghbjugop
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: DFG

Again??????...


12 posted on 07/18/2024 3:17:19 PM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DFG

Coincidentally, there is a new book out about how JFK Jr. was just as reckless, arrogant and stupid as his Uncle Ted.


13 posted on 07/18/2024 3:23:27 PM PDT by Opinionated Blowhard (When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: pghbjugop; All

Real written by future Sat Night Live
writer Ann Beatts.
Lampoon not afraid to go after the Kennedys

“Sargent Shriver’s Bleeding Hearts Club Band”
“What did you see when you turned off
the bridge?/ I can’t tell you buy I
think it drowned.”


14 posted on 07/18/2024 3:29:44 PM PDT by raccoonradio
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: raccoonradio

but I think it drowned


15 posted on 07/18/2024 3:30:13 PM PDT by raccoonradio
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: pghbjugop

The older models could actually float for about 20-30 minutes.


16 posted on 07/18/2024 3:33:48 PM PDT by waterhill (I Believe! Eph. 5:11)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: raccoonradio

The old joke at the time:

Kopechne: “Teddy I am pregnant. What should we do?”

Teddy “We will cross that bridge when we get to it.”

:-)


17 posted on 07/18/2024 3:33:49 PM PDT by cgbg ("Our democracy" = Their Kleptocracy)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: DFG
SOB was guilty of at the very least least manslaughter, but those Liberal lunkheads in one of America's most leftist states made sure he escaped justice.

I hope that Mary Jo's soul rest in peace, and we all owe her a vote of thanks as her death kept that fat lush from ever becoming POTUS.

18 posted on 07/18/2024 3:37:17 PM PDT by Robwin ( )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Robwin

Trump should pardon Sirhan on this anniversary. He’ll be 81 next year. A hero’s welcome in Palestine-fine. Rub the noses of the rats in it.


19 posted on 07/18/2024 3:42:06 PM PDT by DIRTYSECRET
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: DFG

Kennedy, a married man, claimed the Dike Road excursion was a wrong turn.
= = =

I’ve been down that road, and stopped at that bridge.

You don’t get there by taking a wrong turn.

The road, turns, surroundings, ... are all different.

Now, if you had been down that road and over the bridge to the beach before, it would be real familiar.


20 posted on 07/18/2024 3:42:48 PM PDT by Scrambler Bob (Running Rampant, and not endorsing nonsense; My pronoun is EXIT. And I am generally full of /S)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-34 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson