Historic Highlights: Chappaquiddick scandal ended a path to presidency

On a dark summer night off Martha’s Vineyard in 1969, a car crashed into the water off a narrow wooden bridge, killing a young woman – and ending a path to the presidency.

The tragedy touched off the Chappaquiddick scandal, which rocked the American political world as the tumultuous ′60s were about to end.

On July 19, 1969, a car driven by Sen. Edward Kennedy was found in shallow water after an accident late the previous night. Inside was the body of Mary Jo Kopechne, a 28-year-old campaign worker. Many believe the resulting fallout derailed Kennedy’s future hopes for the White House.

As the 1960s drew to a close, Americans were still reeling from a string of assassinations, including two members of the vaunted Kennedy family – President. John F. Kennedy in November 1963 and his brother, Robert, a Democratic presidential hopeful, in June 1968.

Next in line in the family was Edward, who had been elected to the U.S. Senate from Massachusetts in 1962 and had assumed leadership in the Kennedy political dynasty. With pro-Kennedy sentiment high, he was expected to be a strong candidate to receive the Democratic nomination for president in 1972.

But that was three years away, and on July 18, Kennedy was on Martha’s Vineyard for an annual sailing regatta over the weekend. That evening, he attended a party with several married male friends at a local cottage.

Also at the party were Kopechne and five other young women who had worked in various capacities on political campaigns, a group dubbed the “Boiler Room Girls.”

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For reasons that remain unclear to this day, Kennedy was driving Kopechne late on July 18 when he failed to negotiate a narrow bridge that connected Chappaquiddick Island with Martha’s Vineyard. Just after 8:30 the next morning, Kennedy’s car was found, submerged and upside down near the bridge, with Kopechne’s body inside.

Kennedy did not report the accident for over 10 hours. In a police statement later on July 19, Kennedy claimed he was “exhausted and in a state of shock” over the accident, and did not fully realize what had happened.

Though he said the “car turned over and sank into the water and landed with the roof resting on the bottom,” he claimed he had “no recollection of how I got out of the car.”

He later testified that he returned on foot to the cottage where the party was held and collapsed in the back seat of a rented car in the driveway. There, he said, he summoned two close associates, Joseph Gargan and Paul Markham, and told them of the accident. He then accompanied them back to the site of the submerged car in an apparent rescue attempt.

Following an attempt to find Kopechne at the site, Kennedy testified that he swam across the 500-foot channel to Edgartown and went back to his hotel room. Gargan and Markham returned to the cottage, never telling anyone of the accident.

Kennedy, who reportedly spoke “casually” to the champion of the previous day’s sailing race at 7:30 a.m. the next day, was back near the site around 8 a.m. with Gargan and Markham.

He used a nearby payphone to call attorneys and advisers, still not reporting the crash. Kennedy was at the payphone when he was informed that his car and Kopechne’s body had been found.

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On July 25, Kennedy pleaded guilty to a charge of leaving the scene of an accident. He received a two-month suspended sentence.

In a televised address that night, he said he “was not driving under the influence of liquor” and denied any “immoral conduct” with Kopechne. Kennedy’s driver’s license was eventually suspended for a total of 16 months.

Observers and the grand jury foreman later complained of the judge’s refusal to subpoena attendees from the party or share investigative documents. The extent of the relationship between Kennedy and Kopechne has been the subject of intense speculation ever since.

Though Chappaquiddick made headlines, it was overshadowed by a more optimistic event – the first lunar landing on July 20, two days after the crash.

The scandal severely damaged Kennedy’s credibility, and he declined to run for president in either 1972 or 1976. A spirited bid for the Democratic presidential nomination fell short in 1980.

Still, Kennedy managed to overcome the Chappaquiddick stigma to become an elder statesman in the Democratic Party, known for speeches that rallied the base and catchphrases that became crowd chants.

Just 16 months after the scandal, he was easily re-elected to the Senate with 62% of the vote, and later survived a hard-fought bid for his seat in 1994. Kennedy remained in the Senate until his death on Aug. 25, 2009.

• Tom Emery is a freelance writer and historical researcher from Carlinville, Illinois. He may be reached at 217-710-8392 or ilcivilwar@yahoo.com.