Revisiting Chappaquiddick After 35 Years

Human Events ^ | July 19, 2004 | Joseph Calandra, Jr

[pilgrim]

 

 

Revisiting Chappaquiddick After 35 Years

Posted Jul 19, 2004Thirty-five years after the night of July 18, 1969, when Ted Kennedy drove his Oldsmobile sedan off the side of a wooden bridge on Chappaquiddick Island on Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., and left for dead Mary Jo Kopechne, the 28-year-old former secretary of his brother Robert F. Kennedy, in his submerged car, unanswered questions linger over the events of that fatal evening. Kennedy escaped the wreckage with a concussion and waited nine hours before reporting the incident to the police shortly after a young boy noticed the sunken car.

Kennedy pleaded guilty to a charge of leaving the scene of an accident, but no other charges were filed against the Massachusetts senator. Edgartown Police Chief Dominick J. Arena said that an examination of the evidence, shortly after the incident, showed that Kennedy could not be held legally responsible for Kopechne’s death.

Leo Damore, author of the best-selling 1988 book Senatorial Privilege: The Chappaquiddick Cover-Up (published by Regnery, a sister company of HUMAN EVENTS), described Chappaquiddick as “the most famous traffic fatality in the history of American politics. . . . The mysteries of the case continue to haunt Sen. Edward Kennedy’s [D.-Mass.] career. For many, Chappaquiddick stands as the single obstacle in his path to the Presidency.”

HUMAN EVENTS covered the aftermath of the fatal drowning in the weeks that followed the incident and concluded at the time that “the available evidence, in fact, suggests that Teddy, aside from his own statement that he dove repeatedly into the waters to retrieve Mary Jo Kopechne, did nothing else during this mysterious nine-hour interval to see that she received help. . . .

“While Kennedy has said he was ‘exhausted and in a state of shock’ after the accident, local officials found that he was not too shocked or exhausted to immediately call for his lawyer, Paul Markham, when he returned to the party at the Chappaquiddick cottage after the accident. The receptionist at his motel in Edgartown has also claimed the senator appeared ‘natural’ when he borrowed a dime from her to make a phone call two and half hours before he reported the accident to the police.”

The facts relating to the incident are as follows:

• Kennedy participated in the 46th Edgartown Yacht Club Regatta Friday afternoon, July 18, finishing a dismal ninth place in the contest.
  
  
• Kennedy’s cousin Joe Gargan, a Boston lawyer, arranged a party on Chappaquiddick with his friends that included a group of young women, primarily friends and Kennedy-family political staffers, who joined Kennedy, Gargan and the entourage for cocktails at a cottage on Chappaquiddick Island. A USMC veteran and lifelong townsman, John Sylvia, recounted the Shiretown “cocktail party” as one where “there was yelling, music, and general sounds of hell raising.”
  
  
• Around 11:15 p.m. on the evening of July 18, Kennedy left the party with Kopechne and, Kennedy claims, decided to take her back to the ferry and to Kopechne’s motel about three miles south of Edgartown.
  
  
• Sometime after 11:15 p.m. Friday, Kennedy drove his Oldsmobile sedan off Dike bridge and into Poucha Pond where Kopechne drowned.
  
  Kennedy’s explanation of his actions immediately after the incident is strange to say the least. He couldn’t remember any details of the accident. Kennedy claimed he was in a state of shock, but made 17 phone calls although not a single call to reach police, fire, Coast Guard officials or nearby residents to summon help to assist in the rescue of Miss Kopechne.
  
  Kennedy also claimed he was confused and turned the wrong way on the dirt road toward Dike bridge despite the fact that he had been on this stretch of road several times and was in fact on it earlier that day.
  
  Shortly after the accident, Kennedy addressed the nation in a televised broadcast after spending several days in seclusion at the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port and admitted that his actions were “indefensible.”
  
  One troubling aspect is how the authorities handled the case, including the inquest into Kopechne’s death, subsequent investigation and release of information pertaining to the case. The assistant DA Jimmy Smith, according to author Damore, avoided prosecuting Kennedy.
  
  As HUMAN EVENTS pointed out in the issue of Aug. 2, 1969, “The inconsistencies and the unanswered questions proliferate…quot;not only because of Sen. Kennedy but because of the police investigation into the incident. Why, for instance, did Police Chief Arena fail to interrogate Kennedy when the senator handed Arena his prepared statement some nine hours after the fatal accident? Why was it that neither Arena nor County Prosecutor Walter Steele has questioned any of the party participants, at least one of whom has given statements to reporters? Why is it that Dr. Donald R. Mills, the medical examiner, was so reluctant to reveal the exact alcoholic content of Miss Kopechne’s blood?”
  
  For that matter, why did the family refuse an autopsy?
  
  In terms of a settlement, the Kopechnes eventually received $140,904 ($90,904 from Kennedy and $50,000 from his insurance coverage).
  
  Since the fatal accident 35 years ago, Kennedy has claimed that he has told the full story of what happened that night, but reporters and authors have raised numerous questions over the years that suggest otherwise.
  
  
  ----------
  
  HUMAN EVENTS intern Joseph Calandra, Jr., with the National Journalism Center, worked on the preparation of this story.

[surrey]

We were on The Vineyard last week and went to Chappaquiddick to see "the bridge". There can be no doubt what Fat Ted had in mind. That bridge leads to one thing....the beach and is really far from civilization.
His lawyers Datum,Dickum and Dunkum served him well. He should have been tried and CONVICTED.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

I'm sure he was going for some "midnight delight" on the beach with the gal.


...Delamore makes the case that he was fleeing from a summer constable, who, though in a police uniform, had no arrest powers and would likely only have tut-tutted about a married middle-aged Senator out with a young woman late a night. Kennedy had offered to drive Mary-Joe to the Edgartown ferry (it's about a 100-yard wide channel), apparently stopped and was approached by a uniformed summer constable, who thought he was lost tourist. (Chappaquick is featureless and the roads are poorly marked.) Kennedy panicked and took off at 60 MPH, and vaulted off the narrow Dyke Bridge, which at the time had no guard rails, only a pair of 2 x 10's nailed flat on top of one another. (The new Dyke Bridge has a 3' high guard rail constructed of 8 x 8 timbers suppored by a 1" steel cable running the length of the bridge and anchored at both ends.)

[nkycincinnatikid]

It looks like a Delta 88 to me. 1Oldpro has a sweet idea there

[1Old Pro]

We were on The Vineyard last week and went to Chappaquiddick to see "the bridge".

I did the same last summer. No way ANYONE can mistake DIKE road (gravel, bumpy, etc) with the main road. He knew where he was going.

[1Old Pro]

Kennedy panicked and took off at 60 MPH,

Kennedy would panic at an officer - he was in a hurry to get to the beach - not the ferry. any idiot who was ever there knows the difference between the main road and a very bumpy/gravel Dike Road..

[1Old Pro]

What model of Olds was it?

See photo on this thread

[cinFLA]

The receptionist at his motel in Edgartown has also claimed the senator appeared ‘natural’ when he borrowed a dime from her to make a phone call two and half hours before he reported the accident to the police.”

It's time to move on. It has been decades since a phone call was a dime.

[weegee]

Sounds like the city council should hold a vote to name the new bridge after Mary Jo Kopechne (e.g. "The Mary Jo Kopechne Memorial Bridge").

[1Old Pro]

The saddest part is that despite his obvious criminality.....the good people of Massachusetts have continued to "overlook" this incident and elect him over and over again.

It may be sad, but it's also pathetic and shameful.

[BJungNan]

Why can't we all just let Mary Jo and her unborn child rest in pease? If any one but Ted Kennedy were the father, no one, I repeat, no one would be interested in the murder of a pregnant girl. Just let them rest in peace, would you!

If it were anyone but Ted Kennedy that did it, they would be in jail. Don't confuse the issue. This is not about Mary Jo. It is all about Ted.

[TRY ONE]

"There is no statute of limitations on murder."

How about robbery also? Every day Fat Boy gets up thinking about how he can get more of our money!

[Semper Vigilantis]

Mary Jo deserves a Presidential Medal of Freedom for saving the United States from the disaster of having Ted as President.

[jackbill]

Kennedy was guilty of manslaughter as anyone would be if they killed a passenger while driving drunk.

I believe that the law in Massachusetts was such that anyone involved in a vehicular death was AUTOMATICALLY charged with manslaughter. Except that Kennedy wasn't.

I lived on Cape Cod from 1991 to 1997 and was friendly with a guy who had been a "substitute" judge when Kennedy killed Kopechne. The regular judge - Boyle - was on vacation, I believe in NH or VT. My friend was called and told to be ready to go to Edgartown for the proceedings. Boyle cut short his vacation and returned to Edgartown in time, so that my friend was not needed. He really didn't want to be involved because of the hyper-political nature of the case.

My friend was a Republican. Boyle was a DemocRAT. I wonder if things would have been different if Boyle hadn't returned.

[longfellow]

That could mean a "splash" of water to the gallon of scotch. it's too bad he didn't drive Marilyn home when his brothers were done with her.

[1Old Pro]

I wonder if things would have been different if Boyle hadn't returned.

Quite possibly. Any judge worth his salt would have enforced the law. Boyle sounds like an old Kennedy Friend.

[1Old Pro]

This is a 1968 Olds Delta 88. It looks like Ted's boat was a different year/model.

 

[1Old Pro]

Found it, it was a '67 olds 88

18, 1969, Senator Edward Kennedy drove his 1967 Oldsmobile Delta 88 ... Kennedy had a
history of convictions and fines for reckless ... Ted Kennedy's Driving Record. ...
www.wordiq.com/definition/Edward_M._Kennedy - 16k - Cached - Similar pages

 

 

[Dead Dog]

Nice work man!

[weegee]

I think that there is a statue of limitations on theft although I don't think you are entitled to keep the stolen property. There are cases that come up all the time where some tries to sell something (say at a Sotheby's auction) and it is discovered that it was stolen decades ago and the original owner tries to get back possession.

[webheart]

I thought he drove off a bridge, but there's no bridge in that picture.