Posted on 07/18/2006 9:54:03 AM PDT by ncountylee
Late on the night of July 18, 1969, a car went off a bridge on Martha’s Vineyard. With a young senator from Massachusetts, Edward Kennedy, at the wheel, the Oldsmobile sank into the water beneath the Dike Bridge.
In a sequence of events that instantly became famous, Senator Kennedy escaped from the submerged vehicle and swam to shore. By 2:30 a.m. he had made his way back to his hotel in Edgartown, where he was sighted in the lobby. He made 17 phone calls to family members and associates. But not until 10 hours after the accident did he call the police to tell them about the car crash—and the other person in the car, who had died.
Senator Kennedy had not been alone. Riding alongside him had been a young woman, not his wife, named Mary Jo Kopechne. She had been sitting next to him as they drove away from a party, and as they crossed Dike Bridge on Chappaquiddick Island the accident ended her life. It would haunt the rest of Kennedy’s career.
After President John F. Kennedy’s assassination and then the killing of Robert F. Kennedy, Ted Kennedy was regarded as the next standard-bearer of America’s foremost political family. With the 1972 presidential election approaching, many, including some of President Richard M. Nixon’s advisers, expected the youngest Kennedy brother to make a bid for the White House. As the details of the events at Chappaquiddick slowly emerged, however, they significantly weakened his prospects.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanheritage.com ...
happy anniversary fat boy!
check out the spin from the globe:
“If she had lived, Mary Jo Kopechne would be 62 years old. Through his tireless work as a legislator, Edward Kennedy would have brought comfort to her in her old age.”
-- Charles Pierce in a January 5, 2003 Boston Globe Magazine article. Kopechne drowned while trapped in Kennedy’s submerged car off Chappaquiddick Island in July 1969, an accident Kennedy did not report for several hours.
too bad you killed her instead hey teddy?
http://www.mediaresearch.org/notablequotables/dishonor/04/best.asp
She did more for the US than any other woman. She saved it from a Teddy Kennedy Presidency.
isn't teddy's dog named after the incident as well, I believe the dog is named SPLASH!
My God, that's funny!
True story:
In 2000, I am with my 2 boys at the Capitol building waiting to go into the senate chambers to watch some proceedings. (Kids can't go in but we didnt know that until we were already up in the area) We are sitting in the little waiting area when Teddy himself comes stumbling down the hallway. My oldest, at the time 5 years old, loudly says, "Dad, there's the guy that needs to be in jail!"
Everybody in the area cracked up. I don't know that Drunk Ted heard it, but some of the people walking with him did.
Dad was proud.
Shoudln't you call the swimmer's office tomorrow?
Tell them that you would've called today except that you were observing 10 hours of silence and called as soon as you could.
New tagline...
The Senator's office just hung up on me while I was wishing the Senator all the worst.
LOL! Good for you! It's no wonder they hung up. I bet they get a lot of calls today. May he rot in hell.
Excellend point. LOL
No matter how the car found it's way into the water, the question is......how did the orca manage to get out and she remained behind.
I always wondered about that.
Splash is its first name... Ofscotch is its last.
Yes, the dog is named Splash, and recently Ted K read the book to children at a book signing or library or something. Howie Carr plays a cut of it--and you actually hear the following words from Ted:
"she could stay in the water for hours and hours..."
(you mean Mary Jo???)
Howie Carr is hoping to do a second book (first is The Brothers Bulger) and recently went to NYC to discuss it with his publisher. He said on air they were thinking of having him do one about the priest-sex abuse scandal but he told them one about the Kennedy family (just the scandals, and there are many) might be a bigger seller.
If that does come to pass, maybe it will be titled after his nickname for them:
The Kennedy Crime Family
All sweetly said I had heard that the Senator was concerned about the President not having an exit strategy for Iraq.
The aide says yes, the Senator is very concerned.
I say, too bad the Senator didn't have an exit strategy for Mary Jo.
Might be interesting for a woman to call up and say "Hello, this is Mary Jo. Is Teddy there?"
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