Who am I kidding?
Had she survived, Mary Jo would probably have told the story of that night, revealing details that would have caused the instant disintegration of the Senator's career, and, perhaps, of the entire Kennedy image.
There is no evidence that this eventuality was on the Senator's mind as he swam, and then ran, away from the sunken car and it's still-living occupant. There is no evidence that an awareness of this probable chain of events had anything to do with his not reporting the accident to law enforcement or rescue personnel until the following morning.
(steely)
quote Had Mary Jo survived, she would have been comforted by the Senator's efforts to preserve Social security... /quote
No, had Mary Jo survived, ole Teddy would have been a shoe-in for Prez. The MSM would have spun the accident and his saving of the girl to turn him into the hero of the hour. The sex party they had been to would have been called a conference or meeting of some kind and Teddy, Mary Jo's savior, would have ridden the notoriety right into the oval office. Good thing for us that he didn't have any more sense then than he does now, and only thought about his own survival. If he had had any smarts at all, he would have known that if he had rescued her, he could have sold himself to the American public as her "knight in shining armor". Instead, old me-first is a stinkin' footnote in presidential history, and I for one am glad of it.