http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=32773
by John Gizzi
07/20/2009
Saturday, July 18th, was the fortieth anniversary of the day that
Mary Jo Kopechne drowned at Chappaquiddick (an island part of
Edgartown,Massachusetts) in a car driven off a bridge by Sen. Edward
M. Kennedy (D.-Mass.). And, still, questions linger. What did Kennedy
do that night? Was he intoxicated? Why wasn't he prosecuted?
The one question still pondered by political observers on all sides:
did what is known universally known as "the Chappadquiddick incident"
keep Kennedy from being elected President? Clearly, it did.
For younger readers who know Kennedy -- now 77 and battling cancer --
primarily as the premier voice of liberalism in the Senate, it is
hard to believe how eagerly he was once considered a natural
candidate and probable winner of the office held by his brother John
and pursued by brother Robert until his death. Ted Kennedy in 1968 ,
as the New York Times' Tom Wicker wrote, "a year before his career
was dashed by the Chappaquiddick incident -- was another matter."
That year, Hubert Humphrey and his advisers in the Democratic Party
worked tirelessly to get the junior senator from Massachusetts to
become his vice presidential running mate. Less than two months after
the assassination of his brother Robert (Humphrey's chief rival for
nomination), Ted Kennedy ruled out a run on a national ticket for
"personal reasons" -- obvious reasons.
After Humphrey lost to Richard Nixon, Kennedy was elected to the
Number Two position in the Senate Democratic hierarchy and polls
showed him the leading Democratic contender for 1972.
All that changed on July 18th, 1969 when Kopechne (one of the "Boiler
Room Girls," who had worked on Robert Kennedy's '68 campaign) left a
party at Lawrence College (Massachusetts) with Kennedy, who later
said he asked his driver for the car keys rather than interrupt him
at the party. Driving despite a suspended license, Kennedy turned off
the Dike Bridge, his Oldsmobile plunging into water. The senator
later explained that he swam to the surface and dove back seven or
eight times to try to rescue Kopechne but without success. He
returned to the party, brought back friends to help in the search,
but never reported the incident to authorities until the next day.
Seven days later, Kennedy pled guilty in court to leaving the scene
of an accident after causing injury. Judge James Boyle sentenced
Kennedy to two months in jail, the minimum sentence for such an
offense, and thus formalized an agreement between prosecutors and
Kennedy's lawyers.
However, Judge Boyle later oversaw the inquest into Kopechne's death
and found that in driving twenty miles per hour in a car as large as
his Oldsmobile, Kennedy was "at least negligent and possibly
reckless." Because of this negligence, Boyle found "probable cause"
for a crime, but never issued a warrant for Kennedy's arrest. A grand
jury met in April of 1970 but at the time, Judge Boyle's report was
still impounded. District Attorney Edmund Dinis, a high-profile
figure throughout the incident, never sought an indictment for
manslaughter against the senator. Four witnesses testified for about
twenty minutes. The suspension of Kennedy's license was extended
during Boyle's inquiry and the grand jury proceedings.
The Chappaquiddick incident was later the subject of "Senatorial
Privilege", a devastating book by investigative reporter Leo Damore.
"Feels It Marks the End for Teddy"
Writing in his diary at the time of reports of Chappaquiddick,
then-White House Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman noted that Richard
Nixon "feels it marks the end for Teddy."
Not exactly. In a nationally-televised address, Kennedy expressed
remorse for the death of Kopechne and offered to resign from the
Senate. A flood of mail urging him convinced him to stay. In 1970,
with Republican opponent Josiah "Si" Spaulding vowing never to make
Chappaquiddick an issue, Kennedy won re-election with 62% of the vote.
Fresh from re-election, Kennedy was ousted as Assistant Senate
Democratic Leader by colleague Robert Byrd. The Bay State senator
took himself out of consideration as a candidate in 1972 and declined
an offer from nominee George McGovern to be his running mate. Four
years later, as lesser known Democrats such as former Georgia Gov.
Jimmy Carter and Arizona Rep. Mo Udall, Kennedy again took himself
out of the running -- thus passing on what was perhaps his best year
at being elected.
There are many reasons Ted Kennedy lost when he finally made a run
for the presidency in 1980. As Teddy Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan
found it, it is near-impossible to take out a sitting President. But
Chappaquiddick has to be considered a factor in Kennedy's loss to
President Carter. First Lady Rosalynn Carter repeated that her
husband "always tells the truth" and Carter himself said he was "did
not panic under pressure" -- not-so-subtle references to Kennedy at
Chappaquiddick. In the now-celebrated interview with Roger Mudd on
CBS in November 1979, in which Kennedy fumbled the question as to why
he wanted to be President, the senator was also asked repeatedly
about Chappaquiddick. The rest is history.
My colleague, Jurek Martin, of the Financial Times recently cited
Kennedy as a classic example of successful "second acts" in politics.
Focusing on his Senate duties, he has been the most vigorous voice
for liberal causes and has forged convivial alliances with Republican
colleagues such as Orrin Hatch and John McCain. As the late
Democratic National Chairman Lawrence O'Brien wrote in 1974, "Despite
the Chappaquiddick tragedy, he remains the most visible Democratic
leader in America."
It could also be said that because of the Chappaquiddick tragedy, he
never became President.
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