Difference between revisions of "Chappaquiddick incident"

Revision as of 02:59, April 2, 2007

Chappaquiddick is the name of a small island, about six square miles, just off of Martha's Vineyard in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Most of it is conservation land held by the Trustees of Reservations, a private organization.

It is most famous as the location of an event known as the "Chappaquiddick incident," "Chappaquiddick affair," or simply "Chappaquiddick." The narrow bridge connecting Chappaquiddick Island to Martha's Vineyard was the location of the death of a young woman Mary Jo Kopechne in a car driven by Senator Ted Kennedy on July 19, 1969. This became one of the most famous political events of the late 20th century and likely prevented Ted Kennedy, the brother of President John F. Kennedy, from ever becoming president himself.

This was the statement given by Ted Kennedy to Police Chief Dominick Arena the morning after the accident.

"On July 18, 1969, at approximately 11:15 PM 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 ________(Kennedy did not know how to spell the woman's last name), 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 back seat. I then asked for someone to bring me back to Edgartown. I remember walking around for a period of time and then going back to my hotel room. When I fully realized what had happened this morning, I immediately contacted the police."

In 1979, a New York Times editorial observed:

More important now than the loose ends of his unsatisfying accounts are the reasons they were left so loose. If Mr. Kennedy used his enormous influence to protect himself by leading a cover-up of misconduct—and the known facts lead to that suspicion—there would hang over him not just a cloud of tragedy, but of corruption, of the Watergate kind.^[1]

References

1. ↑ "The Legacy of Chappaquiddick," The New York Times, November 7, 1979, p. A30