U.P./. There Is Grave Reason For Concern About CHAPPAQUIDDICK Gary Allen is author of None Dare Call It Conspiracy; The Rockefeller File; Kissinger: Secret Side Of The Secretary Of State; /Jimmy Carter; and, Tax Target: Washington. He is an AMERICAN OPINION Contributing Editor.

• DURING THE summer and fall of Teddy the 1972 nomination and al­ 1979, as Senator Edward Kennedy most certainly the Presidency in 1976. was making his decision on whether to But by 1979 an entire decade had challenge the seemingly terminal Car­ elapsed since the mysterious incident ter Administration in the Democratic which took the life of Mary Jo Ko­ primary, one of the factors he consid­ pechne and put Kennedy's political ered most carefully was that polls career under a cloud. The friendly showed the Chappaquiddick incident fellows of the Washington press to be receding in the public memory. corps had been very kind about not Chappaquiddick had probably cost asking him embarrassing questions.

FEBRUARY, 1980 11 In fact the media had treated the had been solved. They were mistaken. death at Chappaquiddick as though it Once Teddy made the announcement were a social faux pas. They made it that he would seek the Democratic seem that any question about it was a nomination for President in 1980, key low blow, a cheap shot, and dirty poli­ members of the press revived Chap­ tics. Civilized people would not be­ paquiddick as an issue. foul the air by so much as breathing The breakthrough came on a Sun­ the word Chappaquiddick. To do so day night in November when C.B.S. would turn your Dry Sack into cooking carried a nationwide special on Ted­ sherry and your Perrier to vinegar. dy. The program featured an inter­ It appeared that Edward Moore view by . Because Mudd Kennedy was home free, and he was is a Kennedy admirer and a family lulled into a sense of euphoria. Be­ friend, the Senator apparently ex­ sides, Kennedy and his staff had pected he would play a mild devil's never seen Chappaquiddick as a moral advocate and let Kennedy slay the issue. According to Walter Pincus, dragon of Chappaquiddick like a bril­ who as editor of The New Republic liant knight of Camelot. While Mudd admired Kennedy's voting record but did not go for the jugular, he was not his character: "They seem to see probing, personal, and professional. Chappaquiddick as a public-relations The interview proved a disaster for obstacle . . .." For ten years the Senator Kennedy. "image makers" had been working Kennedy's replies ranged from the hard to overcome the Kennedy-Ko­ incredible to the unintelligible. The pechne scandal. The "Liberal" media man reputed to be "the greatest were slowly but certainly resurrecting street-corner orator in America" re­ the Kennedy image and building him sponded by raising babbling to an art into the "New Messiah," the one man form. For example, when Mudd who could lead the country to the high asked about the state of his marriage, plateaus of Nirvana. the Senator replied: "We .. . I think But Kennedy and his staff real­ that it's a .. . it's had some diffi­ ized that they could not stonewall the cult times, but I think we have . . . Chappaquiddick issue throughout a we, I think we have been able to make Presidential campaign, so they de­ some very good progress and it's, it's, cided to face the issue early, bury it, it's .. . delighted that we're able to, and move on to other matters. They to share, the time and the relationship would allow reporters to interview the that we, that we do share." Senator on the tenth anniversary of As the interview continued, Ken­ the tragedy. His staff would review nedy did not improve.His response to all questions in advance and no tape Roger Mudd's query about why the recorders would be allowed . Senator was challenging a sitting Had President Nixon imposed sim­ Democratic President resulted in ilar rules on a press conference relat­ more indecipherable mumbo-jumbo ing to Watergate, the Washington as he ra mb led on with cliche-ridden press corps would have boycotted it sentence fragments about the coun ­ and roasted him for attempting to try's need for leadership. Columnist subvert the people's right to know. In Patrick Buchanan sarcastically sug­ the case of Kennedy, however, the gested that Carter should run seg­ press groveled and agreed. Little won­ ments of the interview as paid politi­ der that the Kennedy high command cal advertisements to assure his re­ thought its public-relations problem nomination.

12 AMERICAN OPINION The evidence indicates that Edward Moore Kennedy panicked in crisis and abandoned the helpless to suffocate in an air pocket of the footwell of his submerged car; and that he then employed the full extent of his family's power and wealth to hide what he had done and to escape the legal consequences.

And if Kennedy's response to the reply that he answered that question earlier questions was incoherent, his in its entirety at the inquest and can­ response when Mudd asked if he not elaborate. Next question, please. thought that "anybody really will ever This attitude invites review of the fully believe your explanation of known facts. Chappaquiddick" was pitiable. His Chappaquiddick is an Indian word halting reply was as follows: for "Separate Island." It is separated "On, there's ... the problem is from the main island of Martha's . .. from that night . .. I, I found Vineyard by a five-hundred-yard the conduct, the behavior, almostsort channel. Martha's Vineyard is twelve of beyond belief myself. I mean, miles off the coast of Cape Cod and that's why it's been . . , but I think not far from the that's, that's the way it was. That, compound at Hyannisport. On that that happens to be the way it was. fatal weekend Kennedy had invited Now, I find it as I have stated, and I six attractive women in their twenties have found that the conduct that in, to attend a party at a remote cottage in that evening and in, in the - as a on the Satur­ result of the impact of the accident day night following the annual Ed­ of the - and the sense of loss; the gartown Regatta. (Edgartown is the sense of hope , and, the, and, the sense largest village on Martha's Vineyard of tragedy, and the whole set of cir­ and is located across from nearby cumstances, that the behavior was in­ Chappaquiddick Island.) The women, explicable. So I find that those, those, all single and part of a group known as those types of question as they apply "the boiler-room girls," were certified to that - questions of my own soul as Kennedy camp followers who had well. But that, that happens to be the worked in Bobby Kennedy's cam­ way it was." paign. These were certainly not dumb Since the Mudd debacle, Teddy floosies; of the five who survived has employed carefully rehearsed re­ that weekend, four became lawyers plies for such questions as can and the other a New York literary more or less be answered. When a re­ agent. Senator Kennedy balanced the porter gets down to the more basic affair by inviting five other men, on­ questions which would nail him to the ly one of whom was single. bridge pilings, the Senator slips and None of the five married men slides as if he had just taken a bath in brought their wives to the party. Ac­ Teflon. His favorite ploy is simply to cording to the late Arthur Egan of the

FEBRUARY, 1980 13 Photos {rom U.P.I. The diver who recovered her body believes Mary Jo (I) suffocated in the submerged car because Kennedy neither helped her nor called for assistance. Her parents (r) were persuaded by a clergyman close to the Kennedy family to fight exhumation for an autopsy that would have proved what killed her. Manchester Union Leader: "Neither sembled a Wednesday night prayer Kennedy, Markham, Gargan, or the meeting. According to John Sylvia, a other three men attending the cookout Marine Corps veteran and lifelong 'celebration' has ever explained why resident of the island who lived next the party was limited to six females to the Lawrence cottage which Ken­ and six males - and no explanation nedy had rented for the weekend, the was ever offered why other workers in party noise diminished at about 1:30 the campaign of the late U.S. Sen. a.m., just as his family prepared to Robert F. Kennedy were not invited to call the police to quell the " distur­ the festivities." bance." Sylvia reported:"We were Both the men and the women had getting sick and tired of all the noise rooms in separate motels in Edgar- coming from that house. There was town. But the small ferry which plows yelling, music and general sounds of back and fourth between Edgartown hell-raising." The Sylvia house is sev­ and Chappaquiddick normally stops en ty-five yards from the cottage at midnight and none of the people at where the party took place. the party except Mary Jo Kopechne According to the Kennedy version and Teddy are even alleged to have of the story, Mary Jo asked him to expressed a desire to return to Edgar- take her back to Edgartown because town. One of the girls, Esther New- she was not feeling well; a secret she berg, was asked where the celebrants kept from everyone else, all of whom had planned to sleep. "T hese were thought she was having a good time. girls who knew the other people in the Normally Kennedy parties endure till house," she replied," and had parties the last cat is hung, butTeddy says he toget her before. " agreed to take the attractive Mary Jo There are conflicting accounts as back to her motel despite the fact that to what the party was like. According his chauffeur, Jack Crimmins, was to those in attendance, it strongly re- at the party and normally did all of

14 AMERICAN OPINIO N Photos from Wide World It is clea r from the map above that Kennedy, who had repeatedly been over both roads and the br idge on the day of the accident, was headed for the beach and not for the ferry. Here he is shown leaving for Mary Jo's funeral wearing the neck brace which Tom Anderson says that he needed to hold his head up. Teddy's driv ing. Kennedy later testi­ headed for a lover's lan e. T he 11:15 fied that Crimmins was not asked to time is in dispute because oft he testi­ handle the matter because he was eat­ mony of Christopher " Huck" Look, a ing and enjoying "the fellowship" at vetera n policeman trained to be obser­ the party. Teddy apparently didn 't vant, who says he saw the Kennedy get that part of the story straight with car with a ma n an d one or two female his cousin Joe Gargan who later testi­ passengers at ap proximately 12:45. fied that Crimmins was "agitated" Officer Look, by all accounts a dedi­ that people weren't preparing to leave cated and respected professional with in time to catch the last ferry at mid ­ no axe to grin d, is certain he was not night. mistaken about the time. He was then Mary Jo did not take her purse, a Kennedy political partisan; and he nor did she bother to obtain the key to identified the car he had seen before her motel room from her roommate. Kennedy ma de his own statement, to­ She did not bid adieu to anyone; nor tally unaware of the incriminating did she ask if anyone else wanted a im plicat ions of his identification. ride back to Edgartown. Ken nedy, the The fact is t hat Teddy Kennedy host of the party, also left without claimed his car went over the bridge saying a word to any of his guests into the pond a full hour and ha lf except Crimmins, from whom he ob­ before it was seen on the road by Of­ tained the keys to his car. ficer Look. The couple left the pa rty at 11:15, Look reports of his routine that on Teddy time. The time is crucial to the the night in question a lau nch brought Senator's account because of a con­ him across the channel from Edgar­ flict that later developed over when town , and still in his police un iform the accident occurred. It also reflects he got in his car and proceeded up on whether Te ddy and Mary Jo were Chappaquiddick's only paved road , really going to the ferry or were toward his house, about a mile beyond

FEBRUARY. 1980 15 the Kennedy party cottage. Look tes­ other journalists have done , can be­ tified that at 12:45 a.m., as he ap­ lieve it. The asphalt road has a yellow proached the sweeping curve where line running down the middle and is Dike Road joins the blacktop, a dark banked where it turns left to go to­ sedan entered the intersection from ward the ferry. There is even a metal the other side of the curve, passed in sign pointing left to the ferry. By front of him, and drove straight staying on the road you turn towards ahead into a narrow sand road lead­ Edgartown and the Massachusetts ing to an old cemetery, where it coast; by turning right onto Dike Road stopped. you are pointed toward the Atlantic Look reports that he rounded the Ocean and London. Certainly Ken- curve, stopped, and climbed out of . nedy, who had been on Martha's Vine­ his car, thinking the people in the yard dozens of times, knew the dif­ other vehicle were confused and ference. To mistakenly turn off the might need help. The officer testi­ highway, Chappaquiddick Road, on fied he saw two people in the front to the bumpy, dirt, Dike Road, is like .seat and something in the rear seat, mistakenly getting off the interstate possibly a third person or an object at a cow path. that cast a shadow. As he approached Dike Road is little more than a glor­ on foot, the dark sedan suddenly ified path. As the incredulous Mudd backed up, turned, and sped off down exclaimed to Kennedy: "But that un ­ Dike Road toward the Chappaquiddick paved road is like a washboard, Sen ­ bridge, kicking up a cloud of dust. ator." Even at night it is impossible Officer Look testified that he no­ not to know you are no longer on a ticed the car's license plates started paved road as your car shakes like with an L and had a seven at the be­ Charo with hives. To have turned on ginning and one at the end . He re­ to Dike Road and not realized his mis­ membered the sevens because he had take, Teddy would have had to have considered it his lucky number. The been roaring drunk. This is odd, since license number of Kennedy's Olds­ he later swore to the court that he was mobile was L78-207. sober as a judge. Teddy's disputed time alibi is cru­ Kennedy claimed that he was un­ cial. First, if Kennedy and Miss Ko­ familiar with the road and that was pechne did not leave the party until why he made the 180-degree wrong 12:30 a.m . the story about heading for turn. This too is impossible to believe. the ferry is shot to pieces because The Kennedy family, all avid sailors, everyone knew the last ferry left at had been attending the Edgartown midnight. Secondly, as we shall see Regatta for thirty years. Harbor Mas­ later, the Senator's story of what he ter John Edwards, who formerly op­ did after the accident is knocked into erated the ferry, reports: "I took him a cocked hat by the Look testimony. to Chappaquiddick many times." According to the Kennedy version, Earlier that day he had been driven he was driving Mary Jo to the ferry over Chappaquiddick Road three along the island's only paved road times and over Dike Road and Dike when he mistakenly made a right turn Bridge twice. Miss Kopechne had on to Dike Road which leads to the been driven over Chappaquiddick bridge. This statement is the least be­ Road five times and over Dike Road lieved of all Teddy's claims. Certain­ and the Bridge twice. There was no ly nobody who has driven the road, as mistake. this correspondent and hundreds of The public has been led to believe

FEBRUARY, 1980 17 that Dike Bridge is very dangerous. member, it was Kennedy who has told The fact is that it had a perfect safe­ us how dark, narrow, and dangerous ty record until Kennedy lurched on to the road was. Driving at that kind of it. In his famous television explana­ speed at that time of night, and kill­ tion at the time, he claimed he "de­ ing someone, constitutes criminal scended a hill and came upon a narrow homicide, criminal negligence, or bridge." The hill he referred to must manslaughter. have been an ant hill . Former Time One of the grea t mysteries of the senior editor Jack Olsen demolished whole episode is how Teddy Kennedy, this fabrication by noting that " the standing six feet two inches tall, bump which Kennedy called a hill is weighing two hundred twenty pounds, 670 feet from the Dike Bridge. The and harnessed with a back brace, was drop from the apex of the bump to able to squeeze out of the car while the lowest point in the road ahead is the petite Mary Jo Kopechne, five about one foot per hundred. To call feet two and one hundred ten pounds, such a gradient an 'incline' would be could not. Kennedy's story is that he misleading, and to call it a 'hill' would does not remember how he got out. It be downright exaggeration. The fact is possible he was that drunk, but is that the approach to the Dike there are several theories. Bridge is almost perfectly flat and Former Tim e editor Jack Olsen be­ perfectly straight, and the driver lieves that Kennedy was not in the car picks up the bridge squarely in his when it went over the bridge into headlights at distances ranging as far Poucha Pond. His theory is that the as 300 or 400 feet away." Senator panicked after having been Of course the bridge is not exactly discovered by officer Huck Look and the Golden Gate. But it is plenty wide did not wish to be embarrassed by be­ enough for a single car and had stout ing seen with Mary Jo. In Olsen 's sce­ timber curbs on both ·sides. Thou­ nario, Kennedy got out of his car and sands of other vehicles had safely told Mary Jo to drive down Dike Road braved this formidable edifice and and come back and pick him up after lived to gargle dry gas. Only Kenne­ the policeman had gone. Mary Jo, a dy's Oldsmobile failed to navigate it foot shorter than Ted, did not adjust successfully. One fact is for sure, the seat in the car and could not see however. You wouldn't want to try the once she got on the humped-back bridge at a high rate of speed while bridge. falling-down drunk. We tend to doubt Olsen 's explana­ According to Kennedy, who never tion since Kennedy has never been confessed to cutting down a cherry bashful about being seen in public tree, he was driving along at a mere with women who are not his wife. Not twenty miles per hour at the time. Yet only could there be many legitimate the Oldsmobile flew thirty-four feet explanations why the girl was in the through the air after clearing the tim­ car with him, but Look was hardly ber curbs of the bridge. According to likely to telephone N.RC. the basic laws of physics - laws Many others believe that Kennedy which Senator Kennedy is powerless got out of the car as it was going over to repeal even in Massachusetts - an the bridge and before it sank. Arthur automobile of that size and dimen­ Egan quoted an Edgartown police of­ sion would have had to be speeding at ficer as saying: "Look at it this way. forty to fifty miles an hour to have Ted is an athlete - he thinks like an hurdled that far through the air . Re- (Continued on page ninety-nine.)

18 AMERICAN OPINION From page eighteen settled upside down, just as he says he did, and then escaped. According to CHAPPAQUIDDICK the National Safety Council, escape athlete, he reacts like an athlete. As from a submerged vehicle is possible, the car started over the bridge, the but very dangerous and highly unlike­ senator hit the door handle and rolled ly. Presence of mind - which Teddy out on the bridge, thereby escaping admittedly did not have, and which from the vehicle as it sank to the bot­ few people would have in such cir­ tom. Teddy justreacted - it was pure cumstances - is a necessity. You instinct -I don't think he ever must wait until enough water has en­ thought of his passenger as the car tered the car to equalize the pressure tumbled off the bridge into the outside and inside, then take a deep water ... ." breath just before the last air is dis­ Supporting the theory that the placed, open a door, and swim out. Senator never went to the bottom of However, when the car was recovered, the pond is the fact that when 's door was locked, and if he surrendered his driver's license fol­ had gone out the door on the passenger lowing the slap on the wrist given him side Mary Jo obviously would have by the court, it showed no sign of hav­ followed him. ing been immersed in sea water. There According to Senator Kennedy's is, however, the possibility that he did police statement he dove "repeated­ not have his wallet with him when he ly" to try to rescue Mary Jo. On tele­ went out to play for the evening. vision he said he made "immediate Another theory is that the gallant and repeated efforts," but was frus­ knight of Camelot squeezed out the trated by the "strong and murky.cur­ window of the driver's side which was rent." As the Tedrows show, and in rolled down to within an inch or two of strong contrast to Teddy's statement, being completely open. Richard Ted­ the car could not at the time have row, former Chief Commissioner of rested in deep water. At low tide, the the U.S . Court of Military Appeals, water was only five- to six-feet deep. and his son Thomas, write in their It was low tide from eleven p.m. to book Death At Chappaquiddick: "As midnight - the time during which the car was going down on its passen­ Kennedy says the accident took place. ger side, Senator Kennedy's open win­ Even at 12:45 a.m., with the tide ris ­ dow was his escape hatch. Depending ing, only a foot or two of water would on the time of his accident, his win­ have covered the windows. Kennedy's dow could have been above the pond's statements about repeatedly "diving" surface by between eight and 22 in­ to make rescue attempts are simply ches ." As the car hit the water on its false. He also claimed that the cur­ right side his window would have been rent was swift at the time of the acci­ facing upward and the incoming dent. In fact, according to the tide water from the smashed window be­ tables, the water was still and shallow. low would actually have aided his es­ The Tedrows conclude that anyone cape. If this is true, then Kennedy's but a paraplegic could have rescued television speech where he talks about Mary Jo had they tried to do so. Ap­ having the sensation of drowning is parently Kennedy ran away so quickly dramatic fabrication. that he did not give any thought to There is of course a chance that rescuing his companion. Kennedy actually did sink to the bot­ But many men are cowards. The tom of the pond with the car which most damning of Edward Kennedy's

FEBRUARY, 1980 99 actions is that he did not even seek could claim to have been suffering help for Miss Kopechne as she lay from concussion. Yetnone of these confined in his car at the bottom of attorneys sought help for Mary Jo. the pond. The Malm residence is vir­ None of the three asked Ray La Rosa, tually on the edge of the bridge and a who according to the Los Angeles light was burning there that night. Times " ha d years of rescue tra ining Instead of going there for help Ken­ and experience as a fireman," to nedy walked 1.2 miles back to the cot­ come with them to attempt a rescue . tage where the party was in progress, Neither did they contact-the volunteer passing five houses with telephones fire department across the street from which could have been used to sum­ the cottage, nor the fire dep artment mon expert assistance. Lights were on in Edgartown, the Search and Rescue in two of those houses. So what we Service, the police department, or the have here is not just a matter of'leav­ Coast Guard. All three men were ex­ ing the scene of an accident, but de­ periencedsailors and knew about the sert ing a helpless woman trapped sophi sticated rescue teams available alive under water. Many believe that in the New England coastal resorts. what he did amounts to second-degree According to the later testimony of murder. these three, there was not even any Kennedy's rationalization was that conversation about seeking help. If he " was in a state of shock," and on Kennedy was guilty of second-degree television he claimed " a cerebral con­ murder, manslaughter, or criminal cussion ." As Human Events 0 bserved: negligence , Gargan and Markham "T he one consistent element of Ken­ were at least morally co-conspirators. nedy's selective amnesia was its self­ At best they simply followed the di­ serving aspect. He had no trouble af­ rections of their confused and ex­ terwards remembering exactly when hausted leader who was said to be suf­ he had left the cottage. He remem­ fering from shock and a concussion. bered diving and trying to rescue Miss It is virtually indisputable that they Kopechne, but he couldn't remember pu t Kennedy's political career above how he got out of the car himself the life of that girl. while she remained trapped inside. The three knights of the Kennedy And while before the accident he Round Table claim they returned to couldn' t find his way in a car , after the bridge where the courageous Mark­ the accident he managed to find his ham and Gargan made repeated dives way on foot for more than a mile des­ in an attempt to rescue their victim. pite the cerebral concussion and Having done their duty as " Liberal" shock." humanitarians, Markham and Gar­ From this point the plot sickens. gan say they took Kennedy to the fer­ Kennedy walked back to the cottage ry landing in spite of the fact that and had Ray La Rosa summon his everyone knew the last ferry was long cousin Joe Gargan and his friend gone. He gave orders for them to re­ Markham out in front of .the cottage turn to the party and to conceal news where Teddy told them what had hap­ of the accident from M ary J o's pened. The three say they jumped into friends. The claim is that he then a rented Pl ymouth Valiant and plunged fully clothed into the water headed back to the bridge. Both Gar­ and swam five hundred yards ba ck to gan and Markham, like Kennedy, Edgartown after telling the two at­ were attorneys. But, unlike Kennedy, torneys that he would report the acci­ neither was "in "shock, exhausted, nor dent there.

100 AMERICAN OPINION We are supposed to believe that a Kennedy's story of swimming the man wearing a heavy back brace, who channel from Chappaquiddick to Ed­ had almost drowned an hour earlier gartown is about as credible as the and who was exhausted and suffering movie Superman. The feat could be from shock and a concussion, was al­ accomplished by an expert swimmer, lowed by his friends to swim off into which Kennedy was before breaking the night while they waved bye-bye. his back in a 1964 airplane wreck. But Gargan and Markham claim they re­ Ted Kennedy claims he was ex­ turned to the cottage where they went hausted, in shock, etc. In this state to sleep. Yes, went to sleep. Doubtless and wearing a back brace he suppos­ dreaming of sugar-plum fairies and edly swam five hundred yards against the White House. a swift current with all his clothes on. This is where the disparity between Journalists who have studied the tides Kennedy's story and policeman Huck at the time Kennedy claims to have Look's observations once again be­ made the Mao-style swim point out comes important. Robert Sherrill, that even if he did all of this he could Washington correspondent for the not possibly have landed within a mile "Liberal" Nation magazine and a man of the spot at which he maintains he who has no quarrel with Kennedy's touched shore in Edgartown. Certain­ voting record, wrote an article for the ly he did not show up at the desk of New York Times Magazine of July 14, the Shiretown Inn looking like a 1974, entitled "Chappaquiddick + 5." drowned beaver asking for the key to Sherrill observes: his room. " If Deputy Sheriff Look did spot If Edward Kennedy did not swim Kennedy's car at 12:45, 45 minutes the channel, how did he get back to beyond the last scheduled ferry de­ Edgartown? According to the late parture, it does much more than throw Arthur Egan, Robert Kennedy's old­ doubt upon the purity of the Sena­ est son Joseph P. Kennedy III was tor's intentions. It also casts doubt on staying at the Daggett House in Edgar­ the entire schedule that he claimed town where the docking area lies in a for the rest of the night. If you add direct line with the ferry pier across up all the things that Kennedy says he the channel on Chappaquiddick. As and Gargan and Markham did , the Egan wrote in the Manchester Union elapsed time comes to two hours at Leader of September 7, 1969: "Per­ least and more reasonably two and haps the oddest coincidence is the half hours. That's using their own fact that one of the few power boats time estimates. Two and a half hours reported 'stolen' this season in Edgar­ would nearly fill the time between his town was taken from the Daggett claimed departure from the cottage House dock 'sometime after 11:45 (11:15) and his claimed arrival at his p.m.' the very night the senator was motel (about 2 o'clock). But if Look is involved in his fatal crash across the correct, an hour and a half would be channel. The boat, a 16-foot, blue and lopped from the clock, and there sim­ white craft powered with a new 65­ ply would be no way Kennedy, or Gar­ horsepower outboard, was found gan and Markham, would have had shortly after 10 a.m, Saturday tied up time to make the rescue efforts they to a pier of the Norton-Esterbrook claimed to have made." shipyard .... When the stolen boat In other words, it is highly unlikely was discovered, it was in the approxi­ that these men made any attempt mate vicinity where Providence, R.I., whatever to rescue Mary Jo Kopechne. businessman F. Remington Ballou re-

FEBRUAR Y. 1980 101 ported he saw 'a boat with three men and going downstairs when he could in it running without lights' about 2 have used the house phone? The evi­ a.m. on Saturday .... Natives of dence is that Kennedy was neither ex­ Edgartown claim a boat could easily hausted nor in shock. The Manchester dock in this area and its passengers Union Leader's intrepid Arthur Egan disembark without fear of being ob­ dug out the fact that Kennedy made served especially at that time of the seventeen phone calls that night morning. In addition, the pier at charged to a credit card and placed which the stolen power boat was through the Edgartown operator. found, is just about 200 yards from None were to any agency which could the Shiretown Inn where the senator rescue Mary Jo Kopechne. Five of the had registered . . . ." calls were from 627-4000, which The owner of the boat said his out­ turned out to be the number of the board had an electrical starter and re­ Lawrence cottage, site of the party. quired the use of a key. The thief The last twelve calls were from the "evidently crossed the wires" to start Shiretown Inn. The first, which the craft. It was also discovered that lasted twenty-one minutes, was to the gas tank was down by just the Hyannisport. The Kennedy people in amount of gas needed to go back and Hyannisport were given time to begin forth across the channel. Thus, while "operation coverup." Kennedy and his cronies would not The second call from the cottage call for assistance for Mary Jo, it ap­ was to longtime Kennedy flack Ted pears that one of them may well have Sorensen in New York City. This call telephoned someone like Joseph-Ken­ lasted eight minutes. The third call nedy III and had him steal a boat to went to Ted's attorney, Burke Mar­ provide Teddy with a means of escape. shall, in the Washington; D.C ., area. Once he reached his room, Teddy The records show that Marshall Kennedy's actions are again a mys­ failed to answer and that Kennedy tery. According to Kennedy he arrived would call again later that morning. at his room at two a.m., lay down, The fourth call was to his own un­ and rested for a while. Awaking, he listed number in Boston. While still on claims that he was disoriented. Not Chappaquiddick, he made a fifth knowing what time it was, Kennedy call, this one again to Sorensen. got dressed (even putting on a coat) As the Tedrows observe: "These and went downstairs to ' complain to five calls do not indicate shock. They the desk clerk that there was a noisy . indicate a desperate man trying to get party in the motel next door. Then advice and giving warning about a po­ Teddy made a point of asking the litical firestorm approaching. One clerk what time it was. The whole epi­ must figure that each person he spoke sode smells suspiciously like estab­ with either called other Kennedy loy­ lishing an alibi. We've seen the same alists or made plans to aid the Sena­ thing in a hundred old Perry Mason tor. None of them tried to aid Mary programs. Only in the Perry Mason Jo. Even a long distance, anonymous series, the intrepid lawyer would dili­ call to the Edgartown police could gently cross-examine the culprit in possibly have saved her life." court until the tissue of lies was Once back at the Shiretown Inn, shredded for all the world to see. Kennedy made a dozen more calls , all For instance, if Kennedy was as charged to his credit card. Two of the exhausted as he claims, why did he go calls were further attempts to reach to all the trouble of getting dressed his attorney Burke Marshall and were

FEBRUARY, 1980 103 apparently answered by machine. The phone he had not bothered using to balance of the calls were to the Boston summon help the night before.) number and to several Washington Sometime between 9:00 and 9:30 the and Virginia numbers. three caught the ferry. While waiting Kennedy, naturally, denied mak­ outside the phone booth they were in­ ing these calls. Egan later revealed formed by the ferryman that the that one of his two sources for the wrecked car had been found and above information was James Gil­ MaryJo's body recovered: The catwas martin, a New York lawyer. The N ew out of the bag and Kennedy and his York Times elaborated: "Mr. Gilmar­ companions rode the ferry back to tin said last night that his informa­ Edgartown where Teddy trotted off tion had been derived from a source in to report the accident to Police Chief the branch of the telephone company Dominick James Arena. that handles accounts. He declined to The obvious question which has be more specific on the grounds that been asked over and over again is why his source had already stuck his neck anyone, let alone an attorney, waited out very far ." Obviously Gilmartin ten hours to report such an accident. did not make up these details, includ­ For those who believe that the moon is ing accurate phone numbers, out of made of green cheese and that chick­ thin air. ens can yodel, there is always the Ken­ Ted was not seen again until after nedy version. Those who accept the seven a.m. on Sunday morning when Kennedy tale had better stay out of he came down for breakfast at the poker games with guys named Shiretown Inn. According to Kenne­ "Slick." Let us consider some of the dy's version he was still too engulfed other possibilities. by trauma to report the accident to the The most obvious one is that Ken­ police . According to the waitress who nedy could not face up to the calami­ served him, Teddy ordered an English ty and procrastinated until he heard muffin and read the New York Times the body had been discovered. Then and . The waitress there is the Olsen theory that, after observed: "He didn't look worried to Officer Look spotted Kennedy, Ted­ me." After a leisurely breakfast he dy got out of the car and Mary Jo strolled casually and discussed the drove off by herself. In this theory, previous day's regatta with Ross Kennedy, Markham, and Gargan Richards who had won the race . Rich­ really did not know what happened ards reported that Teddy seemed very until the next morning when the two casual and relaxed. While Ted was attorneys got up early and discovered chatting with the yachtsman Gargan the body. In this scenario Gargan and and Markham arrived on the scene. Markham did their diving in the Kennedy, Markham, and Gargan morning, not as they claim at mid­ now retreated to Teddy's room to con­ night. Olsen cites the fact that, ac­ fer. The story is that Kennedy then cording to Ross Richards, Markham informed the pair that he had still not and Gargan were soaked when they reported the accident, explaining that approached him and Kennedy on Sun­ he wanted to talk to his attorney day morning. Later, at the inquest, he Burke Marshall before going to the hedged that to say they were damp police. Weare told he wanted to be and rumpled looking : assured of privacy, and Gargan sug­ Another theory is that 'Kennedy. gested a phone on the Chappaquid­ hoped the rising tide might carry his dick side at the ferry landing. (The car out to deeper water and that his

104 AMERICAN OPINION role in the accident might never be Mary Jo's blood showed an alcohol discovered. Kennedy would simply content of .09 percent, and she had a claim that Mary Jo went for a drive reputation as a light drinker. If the by herself and he didn't know what others at the party were telling the happened to her. If this was the case, truth, Mary Jo was the heaviest the dream was shattered when the car boozer at the affair. was discovered Sunday morning. If indeed Kennedy was too intoxi­ Many believe that Kennedy did not cated to be shown to the police, then it report the accident for ten hours be­ must have been Gargan or Markham cause he would have flunked a sobri­ who used his credit card to make those ety test and been subject to a much seventeen telephone calls after the more serious charge than leaving the accident. One or both of these attor­ scene of an accident. That Teddy was neys could have come back from a heavy drinker was no secret. Ne ws­ Chappaquiddick in the boat that took week , normally a strong supporter of Kennedy to his motel, explaining why the Kennedys and their causes, re­ there was so much insistence on the marked in a July 28, 1969, story on incredible tale that Kennedy had Chappaquiddick that "the senator's swum back by himself. But if they closest associates are known to have were covering for him you would been powerfully concerned over his think they would have been bright indulgent drinking habits, his dare­ enough to use someone else's credit devil driving and his ever-ready eye card. for a pretty face . . . ." According to a 1974 Boston Globe The man who hopes to lead the series on Chappaquiddick, the reason Democratic Party on a moral crusade Kennedy seemed so calm on Sunday in 1980 would have us believe that on morning is that his cousin, Joe Gar­ that particular night his slogan was, gan, had agreed the night before to "Lips that touch wine shall never take responsibility, making it ·neces­ touch mine." He claims that he had sary for Kennedy to appear unaware only two drinks over the entire evening of the traged.y. The Globe quotes an - his normal quota for half an hour. unnamed source "who emphasized And despite the fact that the noise at that that conclusion was based on the Kennedy party was driving a more than speculation and testimo­ former Marine up the wall in his nial inconsistencies." As the source house a full seventy-five yards away , put it :"I' m not shooting blanks into a all those attending swore that they dark sky. It's clear that Kennedy later had taken only two drinks each. Ap­ decided the alibi either couldn't work parently the liquor was being ra­ or he couldn't live with it." The late tioned, a first for a Kennedy party. columnist Drew Pearson reported in It was not that there was any short­ his column for August 8, 1969, that a age of spirits at the affair. Robert Kennedy "intimate" had informed Sherrill has catalogued the stock of him that Teddy asked his cousin to liquor at the party in the N ew York take the rap when he returned to the Times and later in his book The Last cottage and that Gargan had "grimly" Kennedy , establishing that there was agreed. enough .sauce present to slosh a foot­ But New sweek of September 8, ball team. But, when a policeman 1969, reported: "Friends who con­ checked the cottage the next morning, ferred with Kennedy at his Hyannis not so much as a beer can remained. retreat after the accident discount The evidence had been removed. the notion that he tried to pass the

FEBRUARY. 1980 105 'awful weight' to the shoulders of Joe Kennedy, told us she had a reputation Gargan. 'Joe is not bright enough to for having a vocabulary that would carry that kind of a load without make a sailor blush. stumbling,' said one non-admirer." Had Mary Jo dated Kennedy pre­ That may be what Kennedy's attor­ viously? A northern California attor­ ney Burke Marshall told the would-be ney of impeccable standing informs President when he called him on Sun­ your reporter that earlier in the sum­ day morning after the ferry ride to mer of 1969 a socially prominent Chappaquiddick. family from Nob Hill, San Francisco, There has been a great deal of was planning a private dinner party speculation about the relationship be­ for the Senator on a Saturday night. tween the Senator and the pretty, During the week the hostess enquired freckled, twenty-eight-year-old blonde. of the Senator's office whether he Mary Jo was a confirmed Kennedy would be bringing his wife. She was groupie who had worked very hard told that he would not and therefore for brother Bobby. She was totally set up an odd number of place set­ enthralled with politics and had an tings. This caused some embarrass­ advanced case of Potomac fever. ment when the Senator arrived with She was so devoted to the Kennedy Mary Jo Kopechne as his date for the mystique that when she went to evening. ' Europe a few summers earlier she had But the big question is whether made it a point to visit the Kennedys' Mary Jo's life could have been saved ancestral home in Ireland. Mary 'Jo if Teddy had sought help. The man was enamored of the Kennedys to the most qualified to answer that is Ed­ point that one friend felt " she gartown businessman John Farrar couldn't do enough for them." A who also heads the Search and Rescue neighbor of Mary Jo's observed: "It Team of the Edgartown Fire Depart­ really was her whole life, working for ment. It was Farrar who dove and the Kennedys." brought Mary Jo 's body up on Sunday The Boston Glob e said of the morning. The car was upside down young career girl that " interviews with and Miss Kopechne was found in the her friends and family indicate inverted back seat with her head 'M.J.' was neither a prude nor a wall­ where a passenger's feet would be flower. She was fun loving, with a during normal riding. Farrar believes full and sometimes pointed sense of she was there because that is where humor. Mary Jo had a fairly active the air was trapped. Associated Press social life and was an enthusiastic quotes Mr. Farrar as stating: "I feel dancer. One of her nicknames was very strongly that if we had been 'Salome.' One friend remembers a called at the time of the accident party in Washington, D.C., only a there was a great possibility that we month before Chappaquiddick, at could have saved her life. The fact which Mary Jo was somewhat vocal that one of the car windows was open and demonstrative, even sitting on the and some were broken would not pre­ lap of a man who was someone else's vent an air bubble from having date. 'She had had a little too much to formed in the top." drink' and was 'flirting and more girl­ Farrar believes that Mary Jo died ish than usual,' the friend said." of asphyxiation, not drowning. He She wasn 't always girlish, however. says that, "judging from the position An Administrative Assistant on Capi­ of the body in the car , she was holding tol Hill, where she worked for Bobby herself in such a position as to take

106 AMERICAN OPINION advantage of the last remaining air." not. Mortician Frieh told Farrar flat­ Mr. Farrar points out that persons in ly: "The girl suffocated." cars overturned in water have been When reporter Arthur Egan con­ known to stay alive as long as five tacted Frieh, the embalmer con­ hours: "It depends on the amount of firmed that he had obtained "only a air captured in the car when it settles half cup of water." He could say no in the water, and the air-tightness of more "because I am not going to run the car." He told the inquest that "at afoul of certain people." the time it was righted I observed large The Kennedy people had no trou­ air bubbles, and at the time it was ble talking Dr. Mills out of requesting being towed out, emanating from the an autopsy. By Sunday afternoon the vehicle." Moreover, "the inside, the Kennedy machine was purring on all back seat, and the trunk was remark­ eight cylinders and Operation Body ably dry." Snatch was well underway. It took Life-saving help could have much less time for Kennedy's aides to reached Mary Jo within fifteen min­ arrange to get the body out of Mas­ utes had Kennedy gone directly to the sachusetts than it had taken for lighted Malm house at the edge of the Teddy to report the accident. Ken­ bridge. One pictures Mary Jo gasping nedy aide Dun Gifford arrived in for the last breath of oxygen, wonder­ Edgartown that very afternoon by ing when Teddy would rescue her. chartered plane, obtained a death Meanwhile, the man who is seeking to certificate, and immediately pre­ be President of the United States on pared to move the body out of the the basis of his ability to lead was jurisdiction of state law enforce­ making seventeen telephone calls, all ment. But the weather prevented the aimed at rescuing ... himself. departure of the plane and the body­ By the time Farrar brought the snatching had to be delayed until the body to the surface, Chief Dominick next morning. When he finally made J. Arena had already run a license the decision to request an autopsy, check on the auto and learned that it District Attorney Edmund Dinis was belonged to Ted Kennedy. Arena was told falsely that the aircraft had immediately overwhelmed by the already departed. mighty Kennedy name. The elderly Gifford flew the body out of doctor in attendance was another who Massachusetts at noon, two hours had no desire to tangle with the Ken­ after the directive that an autopsy nedy machine. After Farrar retrieved must be performed. Mary Jo Ko­ the body , county examinerDr. Donald pechne's body was taken to her home Randall Mills and mortician Eugene in Pennsylvania. Frieh examined it together while Far­ In the circumstances under which rar watched. Mills could tell that the Miss Kopechne died, the prevention girl drowned, he testified later, be­ of an autopsy would be absolutely be­ cause she was "completely filled with yond belief if the man responsible water." Frieh's testimony contradicts had been any other citizen of the state that of the pliable Dr. Mills. He said of Massachusetts. An autopsy would the examination produced "some have told us: (1.) The exact cause of water" but " mostly foam." John Far­ death; whether by drowning, strangu­ rar maintains the mortician later told lation, suffocation, a blow on the him that while drowned bodies release head, or something else. (2.) Whether large quantities of water during em­ death occurred at the time claimed. balming, that of Miss Kopechne did (3.) Whether Miss Kopechne had been

FEBRUARY, 1980 107 engaged that night in sexual relations plete that when Kennedy filed his be­ and whether she was pregnant. lated accident report the Police Chief District Attorney Edmund Dinis let him prepare the documents out of attempted to have the body returned his presence. Many believe that the from Pennsylvania, but Kennedy's carefully sketchy and abbreviated ac­ attorneys successfully fought this cident report was actually written by move in the Massachusetts Supreme Markham. Court. When Dinis was able to per­ Kennedy now brought ten experts suade a Pennsylvania court to con­ to Hyannisport to help him write the . sider an autopsy, it became essential twelve-minute speech for which net­ to the coverup to get the Kopechnes to work television gave free time to the object to having their daughter ex­ wealthy Senator. Included in the ex­ humed. The Tedrows describe how planation team were such heavy­ Teddy arranged that: weights as , Senator "On behalf of the Senator there Abraham Ribicoff, Richard Good­ appeared on the scene in Wilkes­ win, and Robert McNamara. Two Barre, Pennsylvania, no less a person­ men were flown in from overseas: age than His Eminence (the late) Arthur Schlesinger Jr. from Commu­ Richard Cardinal Cushing, one of the nist Romania and Claude Hooten foremost Churchmen in the United from Paris. It took Ted's ten experts States and a longtime intimate friend three days to write his speech telling of the Kennedys. He called on the the simple, unvarnished truth about Kopechnes and advised them it was what happened at Chappaquiddick. their Christian duty to oppose the ef­ Kennedy operatives were meanwhile forts to exhume the body and per­ lining up the faithful by telephone to form an autopsy." When the Ko­ send letters and telegrams urging him pechnes subsequently asked the judge to remain in public life. not to allow an autopsy, Teddy must During this period Kennedy's law­ have breathed a sigh of relief. If he yers were busy arranging for everyone had thought an autopsy would lend involved to remain silent. Teddy credence to his story he obviously spent thirty-two thousand dollars on would not have gone to such extremes lawyers assigned to the surviving five to stop it. females at the party. These girls were Apparently Mary Jo's parents silenced to the point that they never wanted to believe Teddy's story. even contacted the parents of Mary After all, their daughter had idolized Jo to express their sorrow. They are him. They were critical of Gargan and still stonewalling today. Markham for not seeking help and In October 1974 the Boston Globe, calling a priest, but it wasn't until sev­ a paper that is notoriously friendly to eral years later that they had second the Kennedys, carried a remarkably thoughts about Senator Kennedy's detailed series on the Chappaquiddick performance that night. The Ko­ incident. We quote its conclusions ex­ pechnes received one hundred forty tensively: thousand dollars as an insurance set­ "Inept prosecution and preferen­ tlement, ninety thousand of which tial treatment of Sen. Edward M. came out of Ted's pocket. Kennedy by law enforcement and The coverup may well have started judicial officials probing the death before Mary Jo Kopechne was even of Mary Jo Kopechne apparently dead. It certainly began with the sev­ saved Kennedy from being charged enteen telephone calls. It was so com- with serious driving crimes, including

FEBRUARY, 1980 109 manslaughter .. .. Routine investi­ and accepted a guilty plea from Ken­ gative and judicial procedure was nedy in exchange for a suspended either altered or botched numerous sentence on the misdemeanor charge times to Kennedy's benefit during the of leaving the scene of an accident. three official probes of the accident Steele, now the island's district court - initial police investigation, the in­ judge, candidly admitted to The quest and the grand jury sessions. Globe that Kennedy had benefited ... The principal officials in the from preferential treatment in the episode and their major failing have case . . . ." Indeed he had. According been: to the "Liberal" Boston Globe, their "Edgartown Police Chief Domi ­ comprehensive examination, "uncov­ nick J. Arena failed in his original ered but failed to reconcile nearly 100 investigation to question Kennedy discrepancies in the testimony and about his driving or drinking and statements by several key witnesses." ruled out negligent driving by Ken­ During the whole legal unwinding nedy without any thorough probing. of Chappaquiddick, as columnist "Martha's Vineyard District Court John Lofton observed, Kennedy was Judge James A. Boyle found 'prob­ forced to endure the excruciation and able cause' in his inquest report that prolonged agony of nine full minutes the fatal accident was caused by in court - a minute for each hour of Kennedy's negligent and criminal his disappearance after leaving that driving, but failed to exercise his girl to die in his car in the shallow statutory power and order Kennedy's waters under the Dike Bridge. arrest for apparent violation of the Six days after the accident, Ken­ state's 'operating-to-endanger law.' nedy plea bargained and pled guilty to Asked recently about this Judge Boyle leaving the scene of an accident and [who retired right after the inquest] Judge James Boyle, who later con­ hung up on a Globe reporter. ducted a phony inquest, handed him a "Dist. Atty. Edmund L. Dinis al­ suspended two-month sentence and lowed gaping contradictions and in­ revoked his driver's license in Massa­ consistencies to go unchallenged at chusetts for a year. Ignored was the the inquest because of his haphazard fact that under Massachusetts law a and incomplete questioning of wit­ manslaughter charge is mandatory nesses. After Judge Boyle's report when a perpetrator leaves the scene of faulted Kennedy's driving, Dinis, in an accident in which there has been a an apparent abuse of his authority, fatality and negligence is proved. steered the grand jury away from pur­ What must not now be ignored is suing Kennedy on any charge .... the terrible and sad fact that a "Superior Court Judge Wilfred J. candidate for the Presidency is at the Paquet gave such sternly-worded di­ very least a coward so utterly incapa­ rections to the grand jury considering ble of leadership in crisis as to in­ the Kennedy case that it erroneously spire no response beyond Christian led the jurors to believe they could not pity. That he is also a liar may, of call Kennedy and other principals to course, yet be disputed. Here at least, testify on the accident. Judge Paquet it has been suggested, he could put our did not disclose to his superior, who concern to rest by submitting to a lie­ assigned him to the sensitive case, detector test concerning his role at that he had a prior association with Chappaquiddick. He has refused. Kennedy's chief defense counsel. After all, his friends explain, the man is "County prosecutors bargained for busy running for President. ••

110 AMERICAN OPINION