Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

What Happened at Chappaquiddick [Happy Anniversary
American Heritage ^ | July 18, 2006 | Alexander Burns

Posted on 07/18/2006 9:54:03 AM PDT by ncountylee

Late on the night of July 18, 1969, a car went off a bridge on Martha’s Vineyard. With a young senator from Massachusetts, Edward Kennedy, at the wheel, the Oldsmobile sank into the water beneath the Dike Bridge.

In a sequence of events that instantly became famous, Senator Kennedy escaped from the submerged vehicle and swam to shore. By 2:30 a.m. he had made his way back to his hotel in Edgartown, where he was sighted in the lobby. He made 17 phone calls to family members and associates. But not until 10 hours after the accident did he call the police to tell them about the car crash—and the other person in the car, who had died.

Senator Kennedy had not been alone. Riding alongside him had been a young woman, not his wife, named Mary Jo Kopechne. She had been sitting next to him as they drove away from a party, and as they crossed Dike Bridge on Chappaquiddick Island the accident ended her life. It would haunt the rest of Kennedy’s career.

After President John F. Kennedy’s assassination and then the killing of Robert F. Kennedy, Ted Kennedy was regarded as the next standard-bearer of America’s foremost political family. With the 1972 presidential election approaching, many, including some of President Richard M. Nixon’s advisers, expected the youngest Kennedy brother to make a bid for the White House. As the details of the events at Chappaquiddick slowly emerged, however, they significantly weakened his prospects.

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


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Editorial; Government; Politics/Elections; US: Massachusetts
KEYWORDS: abovethelaw; anniversary; chappaquiddick; corruption; crime; dontcallmebobby; drunk; dui; jailtime; kennedy; leftscene; manslaughter; maryjokopechne; maryjosuffocated; notinmybackyard; obstructjustice; perjury; teddytheswimmer; weremember; whenpigsswim
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 81-100101-120121-140141-159 next last
To: camle

You mean - had he stood up like a man and put some value on her life? He could have called for help, but I suspect he was too drunk to put on a convincing performance at the time -- ie, he had to sober up.


101 posted on 07/18/2006 11:01:49 AM PDT by tioga
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 93 | View Replies]

To: camle

LOL


102 posted on 07/18/2006 11:02:23 AM PDT by tioga
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 100 | View Replies]

To: napscoordinator

The "Boiler Room Girls" were the female members of Senator Robert F. Kennedy's 1968 presidential campaign staff. Six of them were:

Rosemary "Cricket" Keough: is partner in a Lincoln, Massachusetts law firm with husband Paul Redmond
Mary Ellen Lyons and her sister Nance Lyons: both are practicing lawyers in Boston
Esther Newberg: is a New York literary agent
Susan Tannenbaum: is a lobbyist for Common Cause in Washington, D.C. and is married to a Washington lawyer
Mary Jo Kopechne: died at age of 28 on Chappaquiddick Island in 1969 in an accident involving U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy, who pled guilty to leaving the scene of an accident


103 posted on 07/18/2006 11:02:44 AM PDT by Ouderkirk (Don't you think it's interesting how death and destruction seems to happen wherever Muslims gather?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 55 | View Replies]

To: tioga

'zachry! had he been a man and did his best, he'd have a lot less to worry about now...


104 posted on 07/18/2006 11:03:23 AM PDT by camle (keep your mind open and somebody will fill it full of something for you)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 101 | View Replies]

To: ErnBatavia

That was the story he told, yes. But it wasn't missing, it was part of the theory.


105 posted on 07/18/2006 11:03:48 AM PDT by Protagoras ("Minimum-wage laws are one of the most powerful tools in the arsenal of racists." - Walter Williams)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 74 | View Replies]

To: raccoonradio

hey my wife's daughter was at the field this day, and because fat boy showed up the children were not allowed on the field or to visit behind the green monster (fat boys security) as they had planned on when setting up the field trip. they were bummed


106 posted on 07/18/2006 11:07:17 AM PDT by edzo4
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 53 | View Replies]

To: EagleUSA

He wasn't fat then, remember. I think they both had been drinking. He undoubtedly just saved himself and, worrying about the alcohol level and bad press, waited 10 hours to get his story straight. Sad for her, though, and her family.


107 posted on 07/18/2006 11:07:29 AM PDT by Saratogamema (Love this country, or leave)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]

To: tkathy
If Nixon had done the exact same thing, he would have died in prison.

He should have died in prison anyway. And not for Watergate.

108 posted on 07/18/2006 11:10:12 AM PDT by Protagoras ("Minimum-wage laws are one of the most powerful tools in the arsenal of racists." - Walter Williams)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 96 | View Replies]

To: PzLdr
I do remember that VW ad - and how much it pi**ed off the Kennedy-worshipers of my acquaintance.


109 posted on 07/18/2006 11:11:19 AM PDT by andy58-in-nh
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 90 | View Replies]

To: PzLdr
here you go
110 posted on 07/18/2006 11:12:17 AM PDT by edzo4
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 90 | View Replies]

To: ncountylee

I remember those days well. The Kennedy-loving crowds were pushing Teddy's candidacy for President as their last, best hope of the Camelot legacy. The Chappaquiddick incident saved the country from having Teddy as President.


111 posted on 07/18/2006 11:13:59 AM PDT by Ciexyz (Leaning on the everlasting arms.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ncountylee

And the people he talked to during those 17 calls aided and abetted this crime as well.


112 posted on 07/18/2006 11:15:52 AM PDT by Fair Paul
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: VRWCmember; napscoordinator
Yes, they did an investigation. It was beyond question that Kennedy drove off the bridge and Mary Jo drowned in his submerged Oldsmobile. The only thing in question was how the authorities would cover the incident up so that he would never be charged for his crime of negligent homicide.

My memory of it was that there was question at the time as to how Mary Jo had died: from drowning, or from suffocation.

Since the Kennedy family pressured/bribed the Kopechne family to refuse to allow an autopsy to be performed on Mary Jo, the mode of death was never formally determined, nor her blood alcohol level.

However, as someone posted above, the police diver who recovered Mary Jo's body eventually told a researcher, Leo Damore, that Mary Jo had probably survived for some hours by holding her head in a air pocket.

The police diver believed the evidence showed she had died of suffocation (as air left in the pocket was gradually replaced by her exhaled carbon dioxide).

Damore wrote about this in a book titled Senatorial Privilege: The Chappaquiddick Cover-Up.

As for the "investigation," IIRC there was an ONLY an inquest. NO trial. Kennedy did testify at the inquest -- in his neck brace, of course. But since no autopsy evidence existed to be presented, the timid examiner was able to skirt a lot of hard questions.

As far as I remember, Kennedy wasn't charged with much more than reckless driving, if even that. I believe he merely lost his driver's license for a few months.

113 posted on 07/18/2006 11:17:14 AM PDT by shhrubbery! (Max Boot: Joe Wilson has sold more whoppers than Burger King)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 89 | View Replies]

To: Palladin

Not meaning to disparage the dead, but Mary Jo is an example of what could happen to gullible, young single women when they head starry-eyed to Washington to work for politicians.


114 posted on 07/18/2006 11:18:16 AM PDT by Ciexyz (Leaning on the everlasting arms.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 50 | View Replies]

To: EagleUSA

Drowning would have been a much quicker death for Kopechne. The diver who recovered her body says she suffocated. Most likely she survived in that air pocket in the back for several hours before dying.


115 posted on 07/18/2006 11:19:51 AM PDT by A.A. Cunningham
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: weegee

BTW, if Tom Delay had been the perpetrator instead of Fat Teddy, you can bet your life that the media and legal treatment of the incident would have been VERY different....in fact, the media would STILL be yammering about it today.

116 posted on 07/18/2006 11:23:35 AM PDT by TheGrimReaper (Mary Jo Kopechne was unavailable for comment.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 68 | View Replies]

To: edzo4

No he named the dog after the sound of an ice cube going into a glass of scotch.


117 posted on 07/18/2006 11:24:28 AM PDT by Holicheese (Stanley Cup's new home IS North Carolina!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: OldFriend

Great job!
"Chappaquiddick Exit Strategy" bump!


118 posted on 07/18/2006 11:27:58 AM PDT by talleyman (Kerry & the Surrender-Donkey Treasoncrats - trashing the troops for 40 years.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 82 | View Replies]

To: Holicheese
its a good thing teddy drove an olds instead of this or it could have been worse than carter!
119 posted on 07/18/2006 11:35:46 AM PDT by edzo4
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 117 | View Replies]

To: tioga

A couple of weeks ago I saw Larry the Cable Guy promoting his new annimated movie "Cars." He said it was real cool, no people just cars that drive themselves. He said he sent three of them to the Kennedys.


120 posted on 07/18/2006 11:39:14 AM PDT by Harley (a blond in every pond indeed Mr. (hic) Kennedy)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 101 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 81-100101-120121-140141-159 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
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

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