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Mary Jo Kopechne
Sometime around midnight, on July 18, 1969 Kennedy drove his Oldsmobile 88 off of a small bridge on Chappaquiddick island, into eight feet of chilly water. The vehicle landed upside-down. While Kennedy managed to free himself from the wreck and swim to safety, his passenger, 28-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne was left in the car to drown.
Once he reached shore, Kennedy claims to have made seven or eight attempts to rescue Kopechne, but could not free her.
Kennedy then walked back to the cottage where he and four other men, were partying with several young women known as the “Boiler Room Girls“ who had worked on Robert Kennedy‘s campaign. Though Kennedy passed by a fire station and a private home to return to the cottage, he never stopped to ask for help for the trapped Kopechne.
He returned to the party and according to Kennedy himself, informed his cousin and a friend of the situation. The two men, Joseph Gargan and Paul Markham claim to have returned to the scene of the accident and made several unsuccessful attempts to free Kopechne.
Then Kennedy’s story takes an even stranger turn.
After the failed rescue attempts, Kennedy claims to have jumped back into the water and made the 500-foot swim across the channel back to Edgartown. He then walked back to his hotel and spent the night. He even took the time to change clothes and pay a visit to the front-desk, to complain about a noisy party--no doubt Kennedy's sloppy attempt at securing an alibi.
The next morning, Gargan and Markham around 8:00 a.m., and were supposedly shocked to discover that Kennedy never reported the accident to police. According to Kennedy‘s own testimony, he told them: "about my own thoughts and feelings as I swam across that channel ... that somehow when they arrived in the morning that they were going to say that Mary Jo was still alive"
The two men along with Kennedy went back to Chappaquiddick, where Kennedy spent some time making phone calls, seeking advice from various individuals as to how to proceed.
Meanwhile, two fisherman had discovered the submerged car and notified police. At 8:45a.m. a diver recovered the lifeless body of Mary Jo Kopechne.
It was not until 10a.m., over nine hours after driving-off of the bridge that Ted Kennedy went to the police station in Edgarton to report the accident.
Kennedy then gave the following prepared statement to police: “On July 18, 1969, at approximately 11:15 p.m. 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 [Kopechne], 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 backseat. I then asked for someone to bring me back to Edgartown. I remember walking around for a period and then going back to my hotel room. When I fully realized what had happened this morning, I immediately contacted the police”
In a move which must have been rather tortuous for her parents, Kennedy attended Mary Jo's funeral, wearing a neck brace (which he reportedly never wore again) and looking rather pathetic.
The diver who recovered Kopechne’s body, John Farrar testified at the official inquest that her body was found where the air pocket would have formed. He said: “Had I received a call within five to ten minutes of the accident occurring, and was able, as I was the following morning, to be at the victim's side within twenty-five minutes of receiving the call, in such event there is a strong possibility that she would have been alive on removal from the submerged car.”
A week after the incident, Kennedy pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident and received a suspended two-month sentence. Kennedy then went on national television to repeat his rather implausible story, and to ask for the public’s “prayers.”
The ensuing scandal and questionable details given by all of those involved is now left to speculation. It was obvious to most people that Kennedy had allowed a young girl to drown, in a desperate and self-serving attempt to protect his political career.
The incident all but guaranteed that Kennedy could never be a serious candidate for President of the United States.
Comments
We know what happened and it has been rehashed for years and years. So what. Fact is Ted Kennedy is a good man who has done a lot of good for all in this country. He panicked and made some wrong decisions, but the fact is he was just giving a young lady a ride. You can make it an issue of it because you do not like Ted Kennedy and his liberal policies of helping people and doing what is right for the under-priviledged. Also, at a time like this when Senator Kennedy is ill with cancer, writing an article rehashing a 40 year old story is rather predicatable and not very original. Senator Kennedy is a hero to me here in California. Take care, Andy.
Man, you really have your head up your ass! He wasn't a good man. He had no integrity! He didn't panic...he worried about himself. If it were anyone else he would have been in prison. I'm sure the True Judge will set things straight.
Mary Jo, when Teddy croaks we will visit your grave and celebrate with you! RIP
I remember when this happened. I read Teddy's excuses for this catastrophe.
I thought that his story stank in 1969, and 40 years later on, in 2009, I still think that his story stinks!!!!!
While anyone can make mistakes, it's clear that Senator Kennedy is a selfish person who puts himself ahead of everyone else. People who have known him have found this. As a serial adulterer, there's little question why this woman was in the car with him.
What's very sad is to think of all the damage that he has done to America over the past 40 years during his vicious, mean-spirited antics in the Senate. Many times he tried to destroy the careers of conservative judges, politicians, etc with his nonsense. What the Senate should have done in 1969 is expelled him and barred him from ever serving again.
While it's sad that he has brain cancer, it doesn't change the fact that he's a depraved man who sold his soul for his own personal gain.
Andy--I feel very sorry for you that you were never taught that the true definition of a hero is someone who risks his life for the safety of someone else who is in danger. Weren't you taught the Golden Rule (which is copied in ALL major religions):"do to others what you'd want others to do for you;don't do to others what you don't want them to do to you." Teddy cares only about himself--which his actions 40 years ago showed clearly. Your reply is as despicable and self-centered as his actions were 40 years ago.
I agree with Steve -- Kennedy has done almost irreversible damage to this county over the past 40 years -- especially with his almost single-handed success at flipping our immigration laws and flooding this country with more people than we will be able to sustain. Hopefully history will reveal him for the true traitor that he is -- and may our children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren forgive us for allowing him to remain in power.
As far as I am concerned, the wrong person died at Chappaquiddick.
Mary Jo Kopechne is a hero. By sacrificing her own life, she saved this country from a Ted Kennedy presidency.
Andy Barto.....Are you a relative of teddy's?
Mel? No I am not related to Teddy and I do not know him. Are you a relative of Sarah Palin? I defend Teddy because people obviously are Republican, so they disregard his legislative success (which helps all people in general specifically the downtrodden). You all mention an event which took minutes to happen in 1969. Senator Kennedy made mistakes in his life but he also has had a great Senate career-probably the greatest ever which is no exaggeration. I doubt any of you really care about Mary Jo Kopechne or know about her. All you care about is degrading Senator Kennedy and it sounds really powerful to use her to death to do it. So don't be hypocrits and act like you care about her. Yes it is tragic she died and very sad. It isn't about that. But you people acting like you care about her memory is to me not so great. If you don't like Teddy just say it. Don't use Mary Jo against him, that is not fair to her or Ted. Just be honest why you do not like Teddy and his liberal causes.
Andy Barto - Are you actually serious with your comment at 5:31 pm? This isn't partisan; it's someone getting away with murder & whose actions clearly demonstrate his self-centered nature & concern only for himself. This explains why Kennedy is such a liberal. I have always said that Rose was into volunteerism & service as a way for her family to make penance for all the crap Joe pulled to get rich & put his kids in power. So, in addition to that, Ted has had to find a way to make up for killing this young woman. Sorry, Ted, but I am sick of your extremely liberal politics as a way to justify the bad you have done.
And if you want to talk partisanship, let's consider what you would be saying if this was a Rep. Libs skewered the Rep. gov. and Congressman who was in the bathroom. Where was the feeling that people make mistakes? Those issues pale in comparison to Ted's "mistake." Only in the Demo party is OK to murder and not pay taxes. Unbelievable!
Hey Barto. I don't give a rat's rip about MJK but I do care about having a drunk driver responsible for vehicular homicide in the Senate. How does it just happen to be the case the a former Klan member and a killer are in the Senate with a D by their names?
Care to comment without using the words Palin, Cheney Bush etc etc?
No you can't. Can you putz?
"Just giving a young lady a ride" Got the medical marijuana card updated?
Barto.....After reading both your posts here, I think that there's something wrong with you.
Very wrong!
Hey, Barto! Everybody who has posted here is against you! That sort of says something, bucko!!!
Please read The Last KenTnedy author Robert Sherrill written July 1974. It details the night July 18, 1969. The fact that between
7:30 P.M. July 18 and 7:30 A. M July 19, no
outsider laid eyes on Kennedy. Aside from Kennedy and Miss Kopechne, there were allegedly ten others: five men and five women.
The men were Jack Crimmins, a legal aide and investigator serving as Kennedy's chauffeur; Charles Tretter a Boston lawyer and sometime Kennedy aide; Joseph Gargan Kennedy's cousin, Paul Markham a former U. S. Attorney turned bank president, Ray La Rose a Massachusetts civil defense official. The women all veterans of Robert Kennedy's 1968 campaign "boiler room," were Rosemary Keough, Susan Tannenbaum, Esther Newberg, and sisters Maryellen and Nance Lyons. Joan Kennedy was
not there but pregnant at the time.
There was pleanty of booze.
Just think its called common sense.
Andy you have it all wrong. This incident is an early warning that this man was a problem. Only back in the 60s, people didn't really give a damn, especially if your name was Kennedy. To them he was an important person, and "important people" do no wrong..don't you know that? Now his brain is going away...good riddance I say.
If, as you say, he was just being a gentleman and giving a lady a ride, then he would have done everything possible to save her life - which he didn't to..on any planet.
He was most probably drunk, and probably felt that this poor woman deserved what she got after (most likely) refusing this bum's advances. And now Karma is coming back to haunt him. Good.
Helping the downtrodden. How? By donating billions of his own money? No! By grossly taxing the private sector and middle class/dare I say "non-union" workers and families. The propaganda is being laid out thick today. The guy has his position by way of the legacy of his brothers and brainwashed ignorant democrats in MA. Do I hate him because he's a liberal...yes. But I abhore him because I believe he is a horrible destructive human being.
If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over & over and expecting different results each time then the fact that Ted Kennedy still holds office speaks volumes for the mental stability of the Democratic party & all it's constituents.
by Cherokee
I remember full-well the day Ted Kennedy left Mary Jo Kopechne submerged in that car. I couldn't believe that the brother of John F. Kennedy was so heartless and self-centered, and I grieved for this young woman's family, though I did not know them. In the 40 years that followed, I have watched with disgust Ted Kennedy promoting the liberal agenda on issues such as global warming and illegal immigration. He is all for wind-generated energy, but doesn't want the landscape on his beloved estate to be marred by unsightly windmills. I simply cannot believe the people of MA are so stupid as to elect him year after year. He has no regard for human life, evidenced by his behavior in the Kopechne drowning; not to mention his providing an alibi for his sorry nephew who was accused of raping a girl at a party several years ago.
The thing that disturbs me the most is that tomorrow who will memorialize Mary Jo? Who cries for her? Yet as we saw at the Dumocrats Convention last summer Ted will be memorialized as "The Great Lion of the Senate" when he dies. When he dies who will remember that a 28 year old blond was robbed of her life because she got into a car with Ted? So now he has cancer....Karma is a bitch. And though he did not receive justice in this life I hope that he will in the next. I for one will be thinking of Mary Jo and not Ted.
And why did the people of Massachusetts keep on reelecting this individual to the Senate after what he did? The majority of the electorate in that state is just as dishonest as he is.
Ted Kennedy in my book is a murderer and a traitor.
the kennedy's are bonafied members of the ill-human-naughty. robert and john broke ranks. that's why they were killed.
I am from MA, it makes me sick that we keep voting Ted back into office. Time and again, over and over and over!
Senator Cutty Sark; is the scum of the earth; along with his entire drunken, left wing, anti-American, hard core Marxist family.
Bob Fletcher
JUSTICE: When the drunk dies, slide his body off the bridge on Chappaquiddick island.
And the Queen of England gave him some kind of special knighthood because he is from England but they treat him so special, Obama loves him, and the tax payers in the stimulus bill are paying the bucks for BigHead Teds Memorial, this man never worked a honest day in his life!
No question Teddy lied about what happened that night, but if you awoke w/a bad hangover following a night of drinking to find the girl you were supposed to be driving home the previous night dead in your car, submerged in eight feet of water & w/no memory of it, you would have done the same thing!
THere were people involved in this murder, but we, the general public, have yet to learn their identities, & the Senator has either never gotten the evidence to out these people, or they still wield too much power to have their identities revealed.
I'm telling you all, though, this was not the first black op pulled on the Senator or his family, & unfortunately, there would be more to come in the future (see JFK jr.).
The Kennedy's were certainly not saints BUT they bravely challenged corrupt unwarranted power in this country, & for that, they paid, & continue to pay, a fearsome price.
I can think of no better reason for term-limits than the Kennedy Family. Our Founding Fathers envisioned political office to be short-term public service and not a life-long career feeding on the tit of mother America. Today's politicians have perverted their(Founding Fathers) once great vision for America.
Barto said "You all mention an event which took minutes to happen in 1969. Senator Kennedy made mistakes in his life but he also has had a great Senate career-probably the greatest ever which is no exaggeration. I doubt any of you really care about Mary Jo Kopechne or know about her."
Wow, that is really cold, we are discussing something that" only took minutes to happen", THAT IS HOW YOU ADDRESS A MURDER? Hey Andy is your name really Edward or Teddy? This is truly an Unbelievable statement on your part. A Very ignorant statement. Then why go after Charles Manson and his family for soemthing they did that was only a few fleeting minutes long?
PS Yes, we do not like Teddy Kennedy and his liberal causes! But remember Teddy...opps I mean Andy, that I also do not especially like murderers. Mary Jo RIP.
Kennedy is nothing but an anti-American manure pile. The sooner this rancid piece of garbage kicks the bucket the better.
I heard Mary Jo was pregnant - if that is true - could that have been an alleged motive?
Just recently Ted Kennedy sent a letter via Obama to the pope seeking absolution for his sins.
Too bad Ted that isn't going to work. Your lord and Obama's farther, Lucifer awaits you.
As Ted Kennedy staggered back to his hotel room to sober up and think up a lie, Mary Jo Kopechne desperately clung to life breathing air in a submerged air pocket for as long as two hours.
She would have lived had Ted Kennedy seen his way to report the accident.
For all you that excuse Ted Kennedy shame on you. You people are exactly what is wrong with America. You bought about her fall.
after ted dies a hopefully painful and drawn out lingering horrible death, i will make a pilgrimmage to his grave and pee on it.
Americans are such hypocrites, they pretend to be nice Christian people but in actual fact prefer condoming, pilling, ivf-ing, aborting, and all manner of anti-child and anti-family behaviour, and they vote for those who are their enableers, including the murderous, anti-semitic, pro-nazi Kennedys.
It's obvious that Ted Kennedy was a tad more worried about himself and his political life then Mary Jo. I know as you get older your past deeds come back to haunt you, but I bet good old Ted thinks he did right for the people of MA. The son of a bootlegger, who could say more.
A good read on this pathetic scumbag is "Teddy Bare The Real Story of Chappaquiddick." I join with others and would glady pee on his grave.
It is amazing how this piece of garbage still kept getting elected to public office. The entire state that he comes from must be filled with pathetic garbage just like him. Let's hope he suffers greatly from his brain tumor before he dies.
Mary Jo's father said his daughter did not die in vain, her death kept that man out of the White House. Enough said, Mary Jo died an American hero and God Bless.
I blame the nuts who kept giving this clown power to get away with this crap.They should have voted him out of office long before the murder. vote all of them and the ones who have gotten to big for their brithes
Daisy Girl.....Yes!!!
So, Saint Peter is giving his staff their annual performance reviews. All is going well for most of them until he comes to the Grim Reaper. “Grimmy, Gimmy Grimmy” he says. “Joseph, Jack, Bobby. I keep telling you, Edward!”
What's just as disgusting is that the ignorant voters of the sewer called "Massachusetts" have kept right on reelecting this fat dirtbag. The same goes for the creepy Barney Frank. What is in the water in Massachesetts?
This is another example of how the media makes heroes out of 0's. This and all the scumbugs from Washington, including the one sitting on the White House and acting like a legitimate President, which is not because he is not even an American born man, climb to power. Shame on the liberal media. They are so partial and like the guy in the White House said, "we are in bed" Of course they. The media sell themselves short and miss-inform the American People.It is like when Clinton was messing around, raping women and taking advantage of young girls, abusing his power, the media was all on this side and it the "mean Republicans and Conservatives" the one that lied. When are people to wake up and vote against the liberals? Some people do not care who is in the White House, as long as they can get their food stamps, Section 8, SSI, welfare checks,etc,and tax refunds, even they do not pay taxes. Enough is enough. Now this guy is trying to implement his communist agenda because he is communist
I will gladly make the trip to his grave to place a warm steaming pile of DOG SHI! on his headstone
Ted Kennedy is one of the worst people on earth. He killed Mary Jo, and Mary Jo killed him. There were never any black ops against the kennedy's,they were and are horrible people, spawned by their gangster father. When you make your fortune in blood money, you get paid back the same way. This murdering lot from mass, have gotten everything they deserve. What does it tell you about the people from this state? It is a state filled with brainless souless folks. Great senator? great hypocrite! living in riches provided by daddy's crimes, and telling everyone who worked hard to get ahead to go to heck. Ted got really drunk, which is what ted is good at, he drove off the bridge, that water woke ole teddy up, and he ran, ran for the shellter of his families money and influance. You drive drunk in to a river and kill a girl, see how well your life goes from there. When this red monster does pass, we should all get in line to pee pee on his grave, it will be a long distinguished line I'm sure.
Kennedy is a piece of s--t or screwing up this country. Decades ago he promised us that his amnesty programs and immigration reform would not change the racial makeup on this country...oh really? Has he noticed that we're being overrun with legal and illegal Mexicans? For his cowardly role in that drowning he should have gone to prison for a long stretch. I hope he joins his bothers soon...
There is some good evidence that Kennedy was not driving when his car went off the bridge and he didn't know about it until he was told the next morning. Witnesses describe his great surprise and distress at being told what happened the next morning. A police car pulled up behind Kennedy's care where it was parked and he got out, leaving Kopechne to drive while he walked back. All this was documented in a book years ago, but I can't remember the title. If this is true, the truth would have made Kennedy look much better that the obvious lie he told and stuck with all these years.
Edward Kennedy, Homocidal Commie liar went to the USSR begging for help when he was running against Commie Carter in the primary of the 1980 Presidential race....the one where Jimmah was beaten by the great Ron Reagan!
Ted Kennedy, and those who helped in the coverup, are, to put it simply, MURDERERS. It's only because Ted isan elite that he got away with it. I wonder how much money was paid to Mary Jo's family?
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