Ted Kennedy killed a woman 54 years ago today and changed politics forever
Tiana Lowe Doescher
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In a country perhaps more democratic than our little republic, a dynasty like the Kennedys would have been shamed into obscurity long ago. It was nearly a century ago that Joseph Kennedy Sr. used his post as ambassador to the United Kingdom to side with Nazi Germany, and just two decades later, after the family patriarch succeeded in coronating his son president, John F. Kennedy repeatedly demanded sexual favors from the staff (otherwise known, in our contemporary sensibilities, as rape).
But 54 years ago today, the Kennedy clan forever lowered the bar of acceptable conduct in American politics in a degradation that still plagues the public order today. It was some time between 11 p.m. on July 18 and 1 a.m. on July 19 that Ted Kennedy crashed a car off a bridge and escaped — leaving the 28-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne to die in a watery grave on the coast of Chappaquiddick Island.
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We don’t know what time exactly Kennedy crashed his car because he inexplicably did not call the police until the morning after he left Kopechne trapped in the submerged vehicle. Why did Kennedy let Kopechne, a loyal foot soldier of the family’s political machine, drown to death? Perhaps because the Massachusetts senator had already racked up a rap sheet of driving infractions, including reckless driving and driving without a license. A skeptic might consider that Kennedy, whose son admitted the Democrat “self-medicated” with binge drinking after surviving a 1964 plane crash, was drunk driving that fateful night.
Kennedy publicly maintained that he was not drunk, and quickly the Kennedys assembled a legal team including a past and future defense secretary, ABC News executive, senator, lobbyists, and speechwriters. The first goal was to keep Kennedy out of prison. The second was to salvage his political prospects and hope of one day running for president.
Although Kennedy’s pregnant wife was on bedrest because she had suffered repeated miscarriages, she took the risk to stand by her man, who conspicuously donned a neck brace, in court. She miscarried soon after and separated from her husband within the decade.
We all know how the story ended, at least in terms of its immediate consequences. Well, there were virtually none, as Kennedy was given a two-month suspended jail sentence and one year of probation after pleading guilty to leaving the scene of an accident and driving too quickly. But in the long run, Chappaquiddick permanently shifted the Overton window of conduct the public expected from our political elites.
A few years after Kennedy got away with killing Kopechne, Bobby Kennedy’s son caused another catastrophic car crash, this time in Nantucket, that resulted in the permanent paralyzation of one passenger. Joe Kennedy II would go on to serve over a decade in the House of Representatives.
At least three of the next-generation Kennedys were accused of rape. Michael Kennedy, another son of the former attorney general, claimed he waited until after the family babysitter turned 16 before he screwed her, and William Kennedy Smith was acquitted in the one (of many rape accusations) that made it to court. (During the night in question during the trial, Smith was of course drinking and debauching with his beloved uncle, Ted Kennedy.)
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Even Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the conspiratorial climate cultist who has inexplicably gained cache with the dregs of the Right, has done his name proud in his womanizing and substance abuse. Kennedy, who received two years probation for heroin possession, allegedly kept a sex diary detailing up to three different partners a day and, as outlined by Maureen Callahan over at the Daily Mail, left his wife and cut her off for a public dalliance with a Hollywood actress.
And yet, the party of family values isn’t too peeved. Perhaps because the so-called Lion of the Senate ran roughshod over whatever standards we used to hold dear long, long ago.