Mary Jo Kopechne Anniversary?

who2.com, ytedk.com ^ | 1969 | Misc

[pilgrim]

 

http://www.who2.com/maryjokopechne.html

 

 

 MARY JO KOPECHNE  •  Accident Victim

Mary Jo Kopechne was killed in the auto accident that almost ended Edward Kennedy's political career. Kopechne was a former campaign worker for Kennedy's brother, Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated by Sirhan Sirhan during the 1968 presidential campaign. On 18 July 1969, Kopechne attended a party on Chappaquiddick Island, a short ferry ride off the island of Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts. Edward Kennedy and Kopechne left the party together; a short time later, their car plunged off the Dike Bridge into a pond, where it overturned. Kopechne died in the car. Kennedy swam ashore but didn't report the accident until the next morning, later claiming he had been dazed by the crash. Though the details of the incident are not entirely clear, Kennedy's critics suggested he had been driving drunk, had panicked after the accident, or even had tried to arrange a coverup of his involvement. Nothing was ever proved. Kennedy had been considered a likely candidate for president in 1972; instead he pled guilty to leaving the scene of an accident and had his driver's license revoked for a year.

Extra credit: Books about the incident include Jack Olsen's The Bridge at Chappaquiddick (1969) and Leo Damore's Senatorial Privilege (1988)... Kopechne's death was overshadowed in national news by the Apollo 11 moon mission, which had launched on 17 July and which culminated in Neil Armstrong's moon walk on 20 July... Edward Kennedy finally ran for president in 1980, but lost the Democratic nomination to incumbent Jimmy Carter, who then lost in the general election to Ronald Reagan... 30 years after the incident at Chappaquiddick, Kennedy's nephew John F. Kennedy, Jr. was killed in a private plane crash in the ocean off Martha's Vineyard.

Kopechne joins James Dean and Princess Diana in our loop Death By Car.

Another Vineyard Calamity for the Kennedys 1999 USA Today article recounts the whole incident
Cosmic Baseball Association Kopechne's "card" from an offbeat collection of famous people
YTedK Anti-Kennedy page hammers away at Ted, with Chappaquiddick photos and many details taken from the book Senatorial Privilege
Find A Grave Shots of Kopechne and her Pennsylvania burial site

Birth:
1940

Birthplace:
Pennsylvania

Death:
18 July 1969
(auto accident)

Best Known As:
The woman killed in Ted Kennedy's crash on Chappaquiddick Island

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.ytedk.com/intro.htm

 

(intro snip)

" Do we operate under a system of equal justice under law?
Or is there one system for the average citizen and another for the high and mighty? "
~ Senator Ted Kennedy, 1973

---

- Chappaquiddick has been called "the most brilliant cover-up ever achieved in a nation where investigative procedures are well developed and where the principles of equal justice prevail, at least during some of those moments where people are watching."
~ The Last Kennedy by Robert Sherrill

---

- The mysteries of the case continue to haunt Ted Kennedy as well as the authorities who investigated them. Charges of ineptitude and lack of diligence abounded, as did insinuations that the machinery of justice crumbled beneath the power and prestige of the Kennedy family. George Killen, former State Police Detective-Lieutenant, and chief of a never-revealed investigation, lamented that the failure to bring the case to a satisfactory conclusion was "the biggest mistake" of a long and distinguished police career. Senator Kennedy, he said, "killed that girl the same as if he put a gun to her head and pulled the trigger."
~ Senatorial Privilege by Leo Damore

 

 

Chapter 2

 

(snip)

The following is the written statement given by Ted Kennedy to Police Chief Dominick Arena on the morning of July19,1969. Throughout the legal proceedings, the Senator stuck to this version of events despite contradictory evidence and witness testimony. Perhaps as important as the inaccuracies within the statement is the fact that so many important details are conspicuously absent.

"On July 18, 1969, at approximately 11:15 PM in Chappaquiddick, Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, I was driving my car on Main Street on my way to get the ferry back to Edgartown. I was unfamiliar with the road and turned right onto Dike Road, instead of bearing hard left on Main Street. After proceeding for approximately one-half mile on Dike Road I descended a hill and came upon a narrow bridge. The car went off the side of the bridge. There was one passenger with me, one Miss Mary ________( There was a blank space here because Kennedy was not sure of the spelling of the dead girl's last name, and instead offered a rough phonetic approximation ), a former secretary of my brother Sen. Robert Kennedy. The car turned over and sank into the water and landed with the roof resting on the bottom. I attempted to open the door and the window of the car but have no recollection of how I got out of the car. I came to the surface and then repeatedly dove down to the car in an attempt to see if the passenger was still in the car. I was unsuccessful in the attempt. I was exhausted and in a state of shock. I recall walking back to where my friends were eating. There was a car parked in front of the cottage and I climbed into the back seat. I then asked for someone to bring me back to Edgartown. I remember walking around for a period of time and then going back to my hotel room. When I fully realized what had happened this morning, I immediately contacted the police."

~ from Inquest Exhibit # 2

- Senator Kennedy claimed in his statement that he was unfamiliar with the road.

- At the inquest, however, Judge Boyle concluded that:
"Earlier on July 18, he [Kennedy] had been driven over Chappaquiddick Road three times, and over Dike Road and Dike Bridge twice. Kopechne had been driven over Chappaquiddick Road five times and over Dike Road and Dike Bridge twice".

(end of snip)                                                                                                    

[pilgrim]

Did not see this online, but did not want the day to pass without remembering!!

[Tacis]

And, the saddest part, of course, is that there is no stone to mark the eternal resting place of the child of Mary Jo and Ted Kennedy. Had he lived and not been murdered with his mother, he would today be in line to represent the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the US Senate.

[jocon307]

"Kennedy swam ashore but didn't report the accident until the next morning, later claiming he had been dazed by the crash."

He was drunk as sh*t, and anybody who doesn't realize this is a complete fool. This is one of the major political disgraces of my life time, maybe the worst I'll ever see. For all the conspiracy mongering about the Clintons, the Bushes, whoever, (just to be bi-partisan) this was out in the open for all to see, and still the dumb mick got away with it.

Where this girl's parents were I'll never know. I was 10 years old at the time and I could see through it. And the fat bastard has never had a shred of humility about it. Got involved with the drunken nephew's drunken rape escapade years later, wherein the nephew forced himself on a woman after a night of drinking on Good Friday, God help us! And the NY Times confirmed its descent into fish-wrap-hood by printing the woman's name in an article that was as slanted as any ever printed, including the ones where the Alien endorses the winner of the presidential contest. THAT shocked cynical New Yorkers from left to right and back again.

This man is a disgrace, to his family, to his THREE brothers who died in service to their country (regardless of what one thinks of their politics or policies), to his religion, and to his ethnic group of Irish Americans. A group of which I am a proud member and a group which, to a deplorably large extent, has been led astray by this unrepentent sinner.

[eno_]

It would be fun to take down one of the fixers, just to show them that in the age of the Internet, nobody forgets these things.

[Dante3]

Ted Kennedy, the worst Senator.

[mewzilla]

Mary Jo Kopechne

[television is just wrong]

It did not destroy his career. Just froze him in the senate. He still is employed. More than other citizens would have had happen to them.

[pilgrim]

"" Do we operate under a system of equal justice under law?

 

Or is there one system for the average citizen and another for the high and mighty? "   

 

~ Senator Ted Kennedy, 1973"

 

I guess he knows the answer before the questions?

 

 

[doug from upland]

MIDI - IN MY MERRY OLDSMOBILE

When he was younger, he learned to swim...a lifeguard he hoped to be
But things don't always work out as planned...in this case he would soon see

He had someone take his diving test...I think, my friends, you know the rest
One night he emptied out the whole fridge...and then drove off the bridge

Mary Jo, you'll love the feel of my 4-door Oldsmobile
Let the wind blow through your hair...we will pretend we have no care
Mary Jo, some time we'll steal...in my spacious Oldsmobile
I should never have had those last 10 drinks...oh my goodness, see it sink

Mary Jo, I'll hear you squeal in my 4-door Oldsmobile
We'll hop in the big back seat...where I will get my special treat
Mary Jo, tonight's ideal...we will rock this Oldsmobile
I should never have had those last 10 drinks...oh my goodness, see it sink

[doug from upland]

MIDI - SURREY WITH THE FRINGE ON TOP (scroll to "From Oklahoma")

Mary Jo, come for a drive with me
With the wind in our hair we'll feel free
I have all the power of two hundred horses
We will have a fun time, you will see

Fords and Cads and Jags better scurry
'Cause I'll really be in a hurry
'Cause I'll really be in a hurry in my Oldsmobile

You are making my dingy quiver
I am hoping you will deliver
I know a nice place by a river where I'll cop a feel

It's automatic and the engine sure purrs
It has air for summer weather
And if I am naked while I fool around
My butt sometimes sticks to the leather

Mary Jo, you're cute as a model
Will you pass one more Chevas bottle
You'll see when I step on the throttle it will be surreal
It is always an adventure in my hot Oldsmobile

I've a technique I haven't varied
Let us just pretend I'm not married
Let us just pretend I'm not married in this Oldsmobile

I know sometimes I am conniving
My friend just took my test for diving
But I swear that I'm fit for driving so it's no big deal

It's automatic and the engine sure purrs
It has air for summer weather
And if I am naked while I fool around
My butt sometimes sticks to the leather

Mary Jo, you're cute as a model
Will you pass one more Chevas bottle
You'll see when I step on the throttle it will be surreal
It is always an adventure in my hot Oldsmobile

When we hit the road, if it's raining
There will be no need for complaining
My brakes I've always been maintaining in my Oldsmobile

It's well known that I hold my liquor
Most officials get drunk much quicker
There's a barf bag if I get sicker after that big meal

It's automatic and the engine sure purrs
It has air for summer weather
And if I am naked while I fool around
My butt sometimes sticks to the leather

Mary Jo, you're cute as a model
Will you pass one more Chevas bottle
You'll see when I step on the throttle it will be surreal
It is always an adventure in my hot Oldsmobile

[pilgrim]

Tacis, do you think she was pregnant?  I have seen rumors to that effect.  pilgrim

 

[mtbopfuyn]

And, the saddest part, of course, is that there is no stone to mark the eternal resting place of the child of Mary Jo and Ted Kennedy

And you know this how?

[pilgrim]

Doug, that is 'kinda cold'. . . . .     :^p

 

[steplock]

"Nothing was ever proved." ???

Isn't it "proven"?

hmmm ....

[South40]

I think the world, and certainly the United States, owes Mary Jo Kopechne and her family a debt of gratitude.

Phat Teddy was on his way to becoming an American president. That political ambition died along with Miss Kopechne.

It was a large sacrifice for the Kopechne family, and certainly Mary Jo herself. But her death was not in vain.

[doug from upland]

Well, it is 35 years old.

[Hildy]

Always thought this should have been the Kennedy Update song on Rush's show. Maybe you can do something with it:

DRIVE by THE CARS

Who's gonna tell you when
It's too late
Who's gonna tell you things
Aren't so great
You can't go on
Thinking nothing's wrong
Who's gonna drive you home tonight

Who's gonna pick you up
When you fall
Who's gonna hang it up
When you call
Who's gonna pay attention
To your dreams
Who's gonna plug their ears
When you scream

You can't go on
Thinking nothing's wrong
Who's gonna drive you home tonight

Who's gonna hold you down
When you shake
Who's gonna come around
When you break

You can't go on
Thinking nothing's wrong
Who's gonna drive you home tonight

[Fiddlstix]

BTTT

[sgtbono2002]

The Kopechne's dissappeared off the face of the planet for all intents and purposes, I think it may have been right after the check cleared.

[doug from upland]

How about this?

QUOTE OF THE YEAR "If she had lived, Mary Jo Kopechne would be 62 years old. Through his tireless work as a legislator, Edward Kennedy would have brought comfort to her in her old age."
- Charles Pierce in the Boston Globe Magazine. Kopechne drowned while trapped in Kennedy's submerged car off Chappaquiddick Island in 1969, an accident Kennedy did not report for several hours.

MIDI - WHEN I'M 64

He had submerged her then ran away...many years ago
Charles Pierce knows Teddy still would be her friend...looked out for her right to the end
Please stop your laughing...give him a break...come on, it is true
He would have helped her...had he not killed her...when she's 62

We know Teddy would have saved her had he finished lifeguard training...that's well understood
Damn YMCA...they had their lifeguard program cut...and sent him away

He is a drunk and he is a slug...that is clear to all
He had lots of Scotch and emptied out the fridge...then went driving off of the bridge
Please stop your laughing...give him a break...come on, it is true
He would have helped her...had he not killed her...when she's 62

We know Teddy would have saved her had he finished lifeguard training...that's well understood
Damn YMCA...they had their lifeguard program cut...and sent him away

Yes, he is bloated and he is scum...tell us, what's the point
DemocRATS don't answer for crimes they commit...right wing whackos, get over it
Please stop your laughing...give him a break...come on, it is true
He would have helped her...had he not killed her...when she's 62