Chappaquiddick

Chappaquiddick, when will the truth be told?

On the night of 18/19 July 1969, twelve people attended a no-spouces party (Meyer Macon Morehouse et al.) on Chappaquiddick, a small island off the coast of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. Two of the partygoers fell victim to a continuous deception. Mary Jo Kopechne who would have not lost her life but for the inexcusable misconduct of Ted Kennedy. The other partygoer, Senator Ted Kennedy, lost his chance of ever reaching the White House due to his web of lies.

Bobby Kennedy's Presidential campaign had been ably assisted by the "Boiler room girls". A team of young women who were completely dedicated to the Kennedy cause. They were: Mary Jo Kopechne, Rosemary Keough, Nance Lyons, Mary Ellen Lyons, Susan Tannenbaum and Ester Newburgh. More than just secretaries, the girls' commitment made their role vital to the campaign. In June of 1968 Bobby was assassinated and grief overwhelmed the Kennedy family and the Boiler room girls. It had not even been five years since the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

Almost every summer, members of the Kennedy family had traveled to Martha's Vineyard to participate in the Edgartown regatta. 1968 would to be an exception. Bobb

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At the inquest Kennedy testified that by the time he realized he was on a dirt road he had driven off the Bridge. In his official police statement, made on the morning of Saturday, July 19, Kennedy stated: "I was driving my car on Main Street [also known also Chappaquiddick Road and Schoolhouse Road] on my way to get the ferry back to Edgartown. He then noticed a dark car coming towards him near the bend of the road and slowed down. Kennedy arrived back at his hotel at around the same time Gargan and Markham arrived back after driving to the cottage which was hardly any distance from the ferry point. Kopechne had been driven over Chappaquiddick Road five times and over Dike Road and Dike Bridge twice". Even without an autopsy, however, the state of Mary Jo's body gave clues about what happened that night. First of all, the embalming mortician, Eugene Frieh, had noticed

that there was very little water in Mary Jo's lungs, far less than would be expected in a drowning case. Kennedy had no visible injuries, and Chappaquiddick Police Chief Jim Arena noted: "I found it hard to believe the Senator had been in a major automobile accident.

It is also important to establish that when Kennedy asked Gargan and Markham for the rescue attempt, he did not state that he had been the driver. The car went off the side of the bridge …" (McGinniss 545) In his statement Kennedy then went on to describe how he could not remember getting out of the car, and how he made repeated rescue attempts "to see if the passenger was still in the car". Robert Kennedy's son, Joe, was also on the island. The major point is that you can't have both the bent roof bar and the deep side door dents from entry into water". (YTedK)

So just who was driving the car? And was there another person in the back seat? We may never know the answer.

Approximate Word count = 3753
Approximate Pages = 15 (250 words per page double spaced)

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