Ted Kennedy Chappaquiddick incident
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| Date | July 18, 1969 |
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| Location | Chappaquiddick Island, Massachusetts |
| Outcome | Ted Kennedy pled guilty to a charge of leaving the scene of the crash causing personal injury; declined to campaign for President in 1972 and 1976. |
| Deaths | Mary Jo Kopechne |
The Chappaquiddick incident was a single-vehicle car accident on Chappaquiddick Island, Massachusetts on July 18, 1969 that involved U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy and his 28-year-old companion, Mary Jo Kopechne. Kopechne reportedly drowned, although that theory would be refuted by the testimony of a diver who indicated that suffocation was the victim's cause of death.
According to Kennedy's own testimony, he accidentally drove his car off the one-lane bridge and into a tidal channel. He swam free, left the scene, and did not report the accident to authorities for ten hours. Meanwhile, Kopechne had died in the car through drowning or suffocation. The next day, Kopechne's body and the car were both recovered by divers. Kennedy pleaded guilty to a charge of leaving the scene of a crash that caused personal injury; he later received a two-month suspended jail sentence.
The Chappaquiddick incident became a national scandal of the 1970s and likely influenced Kennedy's decision not to campaign for President in 1972 and 1976.
On July 18, 1969 (two days before the Apollo 11 moon landing), US Senator Ted Kennedy hosted a party on Chappaquiddick Island, an isle accessible via ferry from the town of Edgartown on the nearby larger island of Martha's Vineyard. The gathering was a reunion for a group of six women that included Mary Jo Kopechne; they were known as the "boiler-room girls", who had served on Robert F. Kennedy's 1968 presidential campaign. Also present were Joseph Gargan, Kennedy's cousin; Paul F. Markham, a school friend of Gargan who previously served as the US Attorney for Massachusetts; Charles Tretter, an attorney; Raymond La Rosa; and John Crimmins, Kennedy's part-time driver. Kennedy was also competing in the Edgartown Yacht Club Regatta, a sailing competition that was taking place over several days. All six men were married and all six women were single and 28 and younger.
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