The Ted Kennedy Scandal

The Kennedy family’s impact on the media is like a bottomless well. Not long ago, we were commemorating the 100th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s birth, with his assassination always at the back of our minds. Then this summer (June 6, 2018) saw the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Bobby Kennedy, which happened in the middle of his campaign for presidency. His grandson, Joe Kennedy III, is viewed by a portion of the Democratic Party as a possible presidential candidate. Lastly, as of recently, it’s been 49 years since Senator Ted Kennedy’s incredible case of negligence that led to the death of Mary Jo Kopechne, when he accidentally drove his car off a bridge at Chappaquiddick Island. The release of the film “Chappaquiddick” has practically moved the 50th anniversary up one year because of the ripples it has caused in the media. It is this dark episode that I would like to dwell upon, because the official version is suspicious.

These are the facts. On the afternoon of July 18, 1968, six young single women and six mature men (all but one of whom were married) got together at an isolated house on the small island of Chappaquiddick, very close to one of the chicest summer retreats in the U.S.: Martha’s Vineyard. The “Boiler Room Girls,” as they were affectionately called, were secretaries and helpers for the recently assassinated presidential candidate. The men in the room were close collaborators with the deceased Bobby. The purpose of the meeting was to celebrate the loyalty and professionalism of the six secretaries. The dramatis personae in attendance were Ted Kennedy, the youngest of the dynasty and senator from Massachusetts, and the attractive Mary Jo Kopechne.

According to the subsequent statement given by the senator, they had struck up a conversation and left the party together at around 11:15 p.m. The reason, added the senator, was to accompany the young woman on the ferry to the small village of Edgartown, and from there to the hotel where she was staying. This is dubious. Mary Jo left her bag and keys at the isolated house. It was very dark, and the car headlights suddenly revealed a narrow bridge for vehicles to cross the lagoon. The car skated to one side of the narrow bridge, fell into the water and overturned. According to the senator’s account, he was able to escape from the car through the window and plunged back down into the water several times, trying to find Mary Jo. He couldn’t see her and ran back to the party to get help. His cousin Gargan accompanied him to the scene of the accident and together they dove in several times.

Without advising the authorities, they abandoned their futile endeavor and retreated to the hotel where they were staying. The following morning, Ted took the ferry to Chappaquiddick, and there he found out that the body had been discovered. It was only then that he went to the police station to report the accident. In his memoir, “True Compass,” Edward Kennedy says, “I’m not proud of these hours. My actions were inexcusable. Perhaps I have not made my acknowledgment of this clear enough over the years.”

In opposition to this “how I moved on with my life” version, a meticulous book by Jack Olsen, a master of criminology and journalism according to The Washington Post, puts forward another hypothesis by analyzing the numerous contradictions in the senator’s account (“The Bridge at Chappaquiddick” 1970). According to Olsen, the question that should be asked is not how did it happen, but did it really happen?

In the inquiry and subsequent investigations, some gaps and inaccuracies in the senator’s declaration were brought to light. His state of “concussion and temporary loss of consciousness” has always been blamed for the events. Nevertheless, Olsen focuses on whether Kennedy was actually in the car when it sank in the lake. For the author, the answer is in the negative. After thoroughly analyzing what happened, his conclusion is the following.

In the judicial inquiry, a policeman’s statement was taken, stating that he had seen the car that was later involved in the accident parked at 12:45 in the morning with two people inside. When the policeman approached to see what was happening, the car pulled away and disappeared. The policeman then continued on his way. According to Olsen, what happened was that upon seeing the policeman, whom Ted knew well, in the distance, the senator became anxious that he would get caught in a compromising situation with Mary Jo. So he got out of the car, hid in the undergrowth and told the girl to drive around for a few miles and then return for him. The secretary agreed but couldn’t manage to control the car, a heavy Oldsmobile 88, well and, later on, when returning for Ted, drove into the lake.

Meanwhile, Ted, upon realizing that she wasn’t going to return, believed that she had stalled the car at some point on the island. He returned to the party and with two friends followed the road and checked the surroundings. They couldn’t find the car, and they returned to the hotel. The following morning, they found out about the discovery of the vehicle with the drowned girl inside. When John Farrar, a diver with the local fire department, found Kopechne’s body, her positioning suggested that she had remained alive for an indeterminate period of time after the car had been submerged under the water — an expert spoke of “up to 4 hours.” Her hands were clasping the back seat, as if she had been holding herself up to reach the last pocket of air.

The judge, upon handing down the sentence of two months for negligence, which was suspended, added, “the accused has already been, and will continue to be, punished far beyond anything this court can impose.” He was right. After this incident – whatever the true account is – the reputation and good name of the youngest of the Kennedys was left battered, and the event was never totally forgotten by Americans. Even his children and nephews felt a degree of resentment towards him: “He didn’t measure up to Uncle Bobby,” they would say.

In the aforementioned film, there is a scene in which the Kennedys’ father, Joseph, on comparing the brothers, slaps Ted and says, “You were never great.” Although he was known as “the lion of the Senate,” the truth is that Teddy ran for the presidency in 1980 but was defeated by Carter. He was never president. Because of Ted Kennedy’s actions, the family, which until then had been victim of conspiracies, became alleged conspirators.