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KF5JRV > TODAY 18.07.19 11:58z 7 Lines 3880 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 10810_KF5JRV
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - Jul 18
Path: HB9ON<IW2OHX<IR2UBX<F1OYP<ON0AR<VE2PKT<N3HYM<KF5JRV
Sent: 190718/1156Z 10810@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA BPQ6.0.18
Shortly after leaving a party on Chappaquiddick Island, Senator Edward“Tedö Kennedy of Massachusetts drives an Oldsmobile off a wooden bridgeinto a tide-swept pond. Kennedy escaped the submerged car, but hispassenger, 28-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne, did not. The senator did notreport the fatal car accident for 10 hours.On the evening of July 18, 1969, while most Americans were home watchingtelevision reports on the progress of the Apollo 11 lunar landingmission, Kennedy and his cousin Joe Gargan were hosting a cookout andparty at a rented cottage on Chappaquiddick Island, an affluent islandnear Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. The party was planned as areunion for Kopechne and five other women, all veterans of the lateSenator Robert F. Kennedy’s 1968 presidential campaign. Bobby Kennedywas Ted Kennedy’s older brother, and following Bobby’s assassination inJune 1968 Ted took up his family’s political torch. In 1969, Ted Kennedywas elected majority whip in the U.S. Senate, and he seemed an earlyfront-runner for the 1972 Democratic presidential nomination.Just after 11 p.m., Kennedy left the party with Kopechne, by his accountto drive to the ferry slip where they would catch a boat back to theirrespective lodgings in Edgartown on Martha’s Vineyard. While drivingdown the main roadway, Kennedy took a sharp turn onto the unpaved DikeRoad, drove for a short distance, and then missed the ramp to a narrowwooden bridge and drove into Poucha Pond. Kennedy, a married man,claimed the Dike Road excursion was a wrong turn. However, both he andKopechne had previously driven down the same road, which led to asecluded ocean beach just beyond the bridge. In addition, Kopechne hadleft both her purse and room key at the party.Kennedy escaped the car and then dove down in an attempt to retrieveKopechne from the sunken Oldsmobile. Failing, he stumbled back to thecottage, where he enlisted Gargan and another friend in a second attemptto save Kopechne. The three men were unsuccessful; her body was notrecovered. The trio then went to the ferry slip, where Kennedy dove intothe water and swam back to Edgartown, about a mile away. He returned tohis room at the Shiretown Inn, changed his clothes, and at 2:25 a.m.stepped out of his room when he spotted the innkeeper, Russell Peachey.He told Peachey that he been awakened by noise next door and asked whattime it was. He then returned to his room.Was Kennedy trying to establish an alibi? In Leo Damore’s SenatorialPrivilege–the Chappaquiddick Cover-up (1988), the author recounts aninterview with Joe Gargan in which Gargan claimed that Kennedy hadplotted to make Kopechne the driver and sole occupant of the automobile.Whatever Kennedy’s intentions, on the morning of July 19 he went back toChappaquiddick Island and then returned to Edgartown. At 9:45 a.m., 10hours after driving off Dike Road bridge, Kennedy reported the accidentto Edgartown Police Chief Dominick Arena and admitted that he was thedriver.On July 25, Kennedy pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident,received a two-month suspended sentence, and had his license suspendedfor a year. That evening, in a televised statement, he called thedelayed reporting of the accident “indefensibleö but vehemently deniedthat he been involved in any improprieties with Kopechne. He also askedhis constituents to help him decide whether to continue his politicalcareer. Receiving a positive response, he resumed his senatorial dutiesat the end of a month.There is speculation that he used his considerable influence to avoidmore serious charges that could have resulted from the episode. Althoughthe incident on Chappaquiddick Island helped to derail his presidentialhopes, Kennedy continued to serve as a U.S. senator of Massachusettsinto the 21st century. He died in 2009.
73, Scott KF5JRV
Pmail: KF5JRV @ KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA
Email: KF5JRV@GMAIL.com
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