While friends, family, and clueless admirers will surely disagree, the legacy of Ted Kennedy was formed on July 19, 1969, when the senator from Massachusetts left a young woman named Mary Jo Kopechne to die in a car he drove off of a small bridge on Chappaquiddick Island in Massachusetts. The most significant aspect to the infamous event is not contained among any of the sundry circumstances, such as his marital status (Kennedy was married, his wife pregnant) or his state of mind (intoxicated..randy…maybe nuts? We’ll never know), but rather what happened and what he did (and didn’t do) from the moment his Oldsmobile Delmont 88 hit the water.
Space limitations here do not permit me the opportunity to give this the fullest of treatments, but suffice it to say that when the car went into the drink, Kennedy saved himself, swam back to his hotel, slept the rest of the night, and arose to engage the winner of an area sailing race in casual conversation. He never reported the accident to authorities prior to the car’s independent discovery by others. How was the car containing Kopechne’s dead body ultimately found? Two fishermen spotted the vehicle in the water, and they notified the inhabitants of a nearby cottage who then called the authorities; this was at almost 8:30 a.m., which was about 8 hours after the accident occurred. Ultimately, it was John Farrar, captain of the Martha’s Vineyard Edgartown Fire Rescue unit, who recovered Kopechne’s body, and it’s what he said at the formal inquest that is, in part, what makes this so disgusting:
“It looked as if she were holding herself up to get a last breath of air. It was consciously assumed position. …she didn’t drown. She died of suffocation in her own air void. It took her a least three or four hours to die. I could have had her out of that car twenty-five minutes after I got the call. But he (Ted Kennedy) didn’t call.”
The passing of Ted Kennedy did not mark the death of a very human but otherwise-honorable ideologue with whom I consistently and aggressively disagreed. Ted Kennedy was much different. He was, in so many ways, the poorest representative of America’s most famous political dynasty, and his most enduring legacy is that of a privileged, opportunistic, inhuman coward who left a young woman to die in a quiet pond in Massachusetts in 1969. RIP, Mary Jo Kopechne.
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Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor-At-Large www.ChristianMoney.com
I have to say, I disagree with you on this one. My reason is: It was an unfortunate accident which happened some 40 years or so ago, but to rehash it all over again, in my opinion, is not necessary, I don't agree with the way Ted Kennedy handled the situation but everyone is responsible for their actions, He has had to live with this sin for all these years and now he will have to answer to his maker someday. On the other hand, being a former resident of Mass. I can say he was a good Senator. Served the State well over his 36 years or so. He always tried to help the little guy which there are many of us. In my opinion, the Case is Closed.
Posted by: Betty Selvitella | September 15, 2009 at 03:34 AM
I have always wondered why he did not have to spend time in prison for that--which is really murder in my opinion. But the thing that I never heard was what he was really covering up. I wonder what she knew that he wanted to keep secret. The other thing I wonder about is all those who backed him up during this tragedy and what they were involved in also. It must have been bad enough for murder.
Posted by: Joyce | September 22, 2009 at 08:05 AM