Posted on 12/03/2024 8:54:29 PM PST by DallasBiff
Editor’s Note: In November 1979, Senator Edward Kennedy seemed poised to seize the Democratic nomination for president from incumbent Jimmy Carter. But the aura of inevitability was dispelled when questions were once again raised about the fatal car crash at Chappaquiddick ten years before that left long-time Kennedy-clan campaign worker Mary Jo Kopechne dead in a submerged car off a one-lane bridge near Martha’s Vineyard. Kennedy, who had been behind the wheel of the car, escaped to safety and, for reasons never convincingly explained, waited ten hours to report the incident.
(Excerpt) Read more at rd.com ...
I agree!
Good comment. I thought it was the back seat but, in any case, it wasn’t the driver’s seat!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8tkYxWxyGI
SNL didn’t let this go and on their Weekend Update segment they went with;
Downhill skier Susy Chaffee is going to marry Teddy Kennedy and change her name to Suzy Chappaquiddick.
What really happened at Chappaquiddick?
America’s Untold Stories with Mark Groubert and Eric Hunley . Well done.
Archive from ~15 years ago of ytedk.com, an old school site that had a ton of material on the event. Oft-linked at FR in the early days when the subject came up.
https://web.archive.org/web/20080515064750/http://www.ytedk.com/
You are correct sir. That lady gave her life, to keep him out of the White House.
There’s no questions left unanswered. He was drunk, crashed the car and waited 10hrs to report it.
It was a massive cover up that failed but he was never charged and should have been.
The Apollo 11 moon landing 2 days later saved Ted Kennedy’s political career. Took Chappaquiddick off the front page.
Eventually, Kennedy and Rosemary "Crickett" Keough got into the Olds and set out for a visit to the beach across the famous bridge. Kennedy was at the wheel and Rosemary in the passenger seat. In the dark, they did not realize that Mary Jo was sound asleep on the back seat.
Heading toward the beach, Kennedy noticed a local patrol car and feared a DUI check that he would fail. He pulled over and slipped out of the car and into the tangle of roadside bushes. Rosemary Keough slid over behind the wheel and, following Kennedy's hasty directions, drove off toward the bridge to the beach.
Ironically, the cop in the patrol car did not pursue and, as one of the few Democrats in the local police force, he was even a Kennedy fan. Had the cop come upon the inebriated Kennedy behind the wheel of his Olds, he would have almost certainly asked for an autograph and then gotten Kennedy and Keogh (and Kopechne) safely back to the party cottage.
As it was, in utter darkness and unfamiliar with the sharp turn and downward slope toward the narrow bridge, Rosemary was going too fast and drove off the bridge into the water. She escaped, but, unaware, left Mary Jo Kopechne behind to drown.
Meanwhile, Kennedy got tired of waiting for Rosemary to return and walked back to the cottage. Kennedy, his cousin Joe Gargan, and close friend Paul Markham collaborated and assumed that Rosemary had an accident, gotten lost, or maybe had fallen asleep. They got Teddy off the island via a small boat, back to his hotel room in Edgartown and away from the scene of potential trouble.
Early the next morning, local fishermen saw the car in the water and reported it to the authorities. Soon, Gargan and Markham learned of this and met with Kennedy. The initial plan was for Gargan to take responsibility for a simple one car accident. Then Kopechne's body was found and Kennedy was stuck with responsibility.
Although loyal, Gargan was not going to incriminate himself in a death. Nor could Rosemary Keogh be thrust into the spotlight as the person responsible. Under questioning, she would soon spill the truth about Kennedy's dodgy conduct and drunken driving. The obvious nature of the party on Chappaquiddick as a no-wives-present good time with young, attractive, and willing single women would also have been put on record.
That put Ted Kennedy on the hook, with a story that evolved into five different versions -- none of which quite make sense. The local police chief was certain of one thing: there was no way that Kennedy could have been in the car because he had no injuries. And Rosemary's purse was found in Kennedy's car -- but not Mary Jo's.
It's too bad this standard is no longer being applied to resident Biden.
Where was her underwear?
Yes, them, too, but they’re not politicians who are looking at possibly holding office.
“The best explanation I have seen for this is that Mary Jo kicked Kennedy out of the car when he made a pass at her, and drove off the bridge herself, alone. Kennedy went back to the party and got taken to town without knowing what happened to her. They decided that it was best if he made up the story about him driving off the bridge.”
Suuure.....
I visited Martha’s Vineyard some years ago - the bridge had long since been taken down and replaced by a small Ferry (big raft) to move cars across the 100 foot or so span...and the water isn’t that deep there - one might be able to wade across.
My guess is that she left them at the cottage after a toilet accident.
Perhaps if her parents had been more interested in finding out what happened by allowing an autopsy, we’d have a truer picture of what happened. I haven’t heard of this idea of him not even being in the car, but he said he was, and why would he say he was the driver since that made it worse for him?
Known locally as the Kennedy car wash.
He was drunk and in a hurry for sex on the beach and ran off the road and did not bother to save her and then realized his political career could be over if he didn't consult lawyers prior to reporting the accident.
No, the bridge is still there. They put some 6x6 wooden rails on the sides as they had none when he drive over. He was speeding down the drive and was drunk and simply went over the side of this little wooden bridge. The walk back to the ferry is a distance, as there was no ferry he swam across to his hotel, which was not far from the other side.
There’s also the one where Bill Murray plays Ted, showing up soaking wet at the party. People are asking him “where’s Mary Jo?..” and all he says is “she’s in the cahh..”
***Senator Edward Kennedy seemed poised to seize the Democratic nomination for president from incumbent Jimmy Carter.****
I remember that! I also received in the mail a book exposing Kennedy and his wreck, the lies he told.
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