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)                                                                                                    

[doug from upland]

The song is almost perfect as it was written for our bloated failed drunken lifeguard friend. :)

[Diver Dave]

Teddy can be seen driving around the Eastern Seaboard with "MaryJo" personalized plates.

[LuigiBasco]

Ask the swimmer!

[Spanky the Yankee]

the folks in boston haven't forgotten either, most of them are Teddy's friends tho

http://www.wickedgood.info/

it's in their National Politics forum.

[Shanda]

What she did was wrong but I can see how a girl could be star struck by attention from a Kennedy and a U.S. Senator, and probably she thought the next President.

She paid dearly though.

[Chieftain]

[Shanda]

Looking at that marker, it is hard to believe she would now be 64. I wonder if she would have grandchildren now.

What a horrible awful death. What a horrible awful man.

[surrey]

We just came back from a week on the Vineyard. We had never been to Chappy so our friend took us over on the ferry(I use that term loosely). That bridge is out at the end of the island and leads to nowhere. It's a very small bridge with heavy currents beneath. One look at the area and you know for sure that they were up to no good.
What I can't figure out is how Fat-Teddy got any help at all. This is one very remote location with a long,long walk to civilization. It sure convinced me of his guilt, not that I needed any.
As our friend said, Ted had the best lawyers $$$ could buy....Datem,Dickum and Dunkum!

[Ukiapah Heep]

If Ted Kennedy had been driving a Volkswagen, he'd have been President!

[RippleFire]

bump

[Maceman]

[ex-Texan]

I was in college at the time this terrible event took place. A few of my fellow students were alleging that one reason Teddy drove off the bridge may have been that he was drunk and getting a "h****r" at the time. There were several very nasty off color jokes circulating at the time, but, alas, none of them come to mind. I wonder how much money Teddy paid out to settle the major wrongful death lawsuit that was never filed? Oh, well . . . Time marches onward.

The State of Massachusettes has heard all of this before. They re-elected Ted Kennedy repeatedly and must be happy with his performance in the Senate.

[doug from upland]

I just finished pizza for dinner and wrote the song. It will be up shortly on its own thread.

[jackbill]

Where this girl's parents were I'll never know.

To their everlasting shame they were paid off by the Kennedy's to refuse to allow an autopsy.

I have absolutely no respect for them. Never did. They shamelessly betrayed their daughter for thirty pieces of silver.

And Kennedy skated.

[doug from upland]

Done --- CLICK.

[LuigiBasco]

Just what would you expect from an all caring touchy feely Democrap?

[ex-Texan]

Everybody know we do not operatate "under one system under the law." We operate under two systems. One is under the law and one is under the law of man. Sad, but true, alas and alack. One system is hoplessly corrupted, infected with evil. The evil is growing each day and needs to be eliminated. 'Nuff said. Over and out.

Peace be with you, ex-Texan.

[Stateline]

Ted Kennedy did'nt know he could run that fast.......