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Revisiting Chappaquiddick After 35 Years
Thirty-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 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 ***** 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 ***** 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;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.
What isn't stated in this article was the fact that one of the divers
that recovered the body claimed that this girl was alive in the back
seat of the car for quite some time (in an air bubble) while the car
slowly filled with water. If Kennedy had had the moral courage to
actually rescue this girl instead of worrying about his political
career he would probably have been proclaimed a hero-instead he picked
the coward's way out.
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