The Kennedys: Wrong Turn at the Bridge

Driving down a deserted beach road at midnight on the island resort of Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., Senator Edward Kennedy lost control of his car. The black 1967 Oldsmobile 88 careened off a 10-ft.-wide wooden bridge leading to the dunes, and overturned in a salt pond. Somehow, Ted Kennedy escaped. His passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne, 28, a pretty, witty blonde who had worked as a secretary for Robert Kennedy, was not so fortunate. Trapped in the car, she drowned.

After the accident, Kennedy returned to look for his friends, who were dining nearby. He climbed into the back of a car and asked to be driven to the Shiretown Inn in Edgartown, where he was staying. There, he said later, he walked around “for a period of time” and finally returned to his room. He did not report the accident to friends or the authorities.

The submerged car was spotted eight hours later by two boys who were looking for a place to fish. The mother of one of the boys called Edgartown Police Chief Dominick Arena. After trying unsuccessfully to break into the car, Arena summoned the fire department’s scuba-diver team, which managed to extricate Miss Kopechne’s body. Meanwhile, Arena traced the car’s license plates to Kennedy. At approximately 8:30 a.m., the Senator showed up at police headquarters accompanied by counsel, former U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Paul Markham, and Ted’s cousin Joseph Gargan.

Official Silence. How had it happened? In the stilted language peculiar to police-station depositions, Kennedy attested: “I was driving my car on Main Street on my way to get the ferry back to Edgartown. I was unfamiliar with the road and turned onto Dike Road instead of bearing hard left on Main Street. After proceeding for a half mile on Dike Road, I descended a hill and came upon a narrow bridge. The car went off the side of the bridge.” Although he had no recollection of how he got out of the car, he did remember trying to rescue Miss Kopechne. Kennedy, who wears a back brace and is still in pain as a result of injuries suffered in a 1964 plane crash, recalled: “I came to the surface and then repeatedly dove into the car in an attempt to see if the passenger was still in the car. I was unsuccessful in the attempt.” As for his failure to report the accident, he maintained that he “was exhausted and in a state of shock.” Kennedy’s explanation was supported by his family physician, Dr. Robert D. Watt. Examining the Senator at his home following his return, Watt found that Kennedy had a “slight concussion at the back of his head,” gave him a sedative to relieve the pain.

Three-Way Puzzle. Neither Kennedy nor his staff would say anything else about the accident. The police said little more. Although Chief Arena said that “the accident was accidental,” he announced that he would seek a complaint charging Kennedy with leaving the scene of an accident. Under Massachusetts law, a manslaughter charge is mandatory when someone leaves the scene of an accident in which there has been a fatality and negligence is proved. This means that the case will be turned over to District Attorney Edmund Dinis, an ambitious and independent Democrat. Both the charge and Kennedy’s own statement raised more questions than they answered.

One of the few explicable aspects of the mystery was the reason for Kennedy’s presence on the Vineyard. Vacationing with his family on Squaw Island, near Hyannisport, he had come over with R.F.K.’s oldest son Joseph to take part in the Edgartown Yacht Club races. Less easily explained is why Kennedy, no stranger to the area, tried to ram a big car across a tilted bridge that is risky by day and perilous at night. The wide macadam road that leads to the Chappaquiddick ferry slip makes a turn to the left; the narrow dirt track that leads to the bridge swings sharply to the right. The bridge itself is used mainly by surf fishermen and leads only to the water.

More explainable was Miss Kopechne’s presence on the island. On a weekend reunion with girls she had met while a member of the R.F.K. staff, she had come to the island to watch the Edgartown Regatta and to see Teddy race. Staying at the Katama Shores Inn in Edgartown, she was apparently accepting a lift home when the accident occurred. Mary Jo joined Robert Kennedy’s staff in 1965 and later worked in the “boiler room,” a cubicle set aside for staffers keeping track of delegate counts prior to the 1968 Democratic National Convention. R.F.K. Aide Wendell Pigman described her as “a real Kennedy believer.” At a party for R.F.K., Mary Jo and fellow staffers presented the Senator with an illuminated globe. “Just what I wanted,” said Robert Kennedy. “Yes,” chimed in Miss Kopechne. “The world.”

According to Teddy’s statement, he left the Dike Bridge in shock and on foot, wet and minus his passenger. Why Teddy told no one about the accident and did not seek help for the girl, why no one called a doctor or even asked Kennedy what had happened—and indeed how he got back to his hotel—are questions, that must now puzzle not only the police, but also Ted Kennedy and his nationwide constituency.

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