The Bridge at Chappaquiddick by Mel Ayton

October 17, 2005

Sen. Edward Kennedy facing the media after
pleading guilty to leaving the scene of an accident.

The Bridge at Chappaquiddick

by Mel Ayton

Despite his long and distinguished political career, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy has been unable to avoid the taint of the Chappaquiddick scandal. What happened that July night in 1969 effectively ended his chances of becoming president of the United States.

Over the years, the "Last Brother" has been forced to repeat his original statement that he felt guilt and remorse at the death of a young woman who had been a passenger in his car when he drove off Dyke Bridge on the small island of Chappaquiddick. The expectations of the media, however, were different. As each presidential election season came around journalists fed the notion that Kennedy would finally dissemble and tell the whole truth about the tragedy.

Apart from his repeated statements of remorse, no new revelations were forthcoming. Instead, the public has been presented with numerous theories that purport to explain the car accident, the many anomalies in the inquest evidence, and the circumstances surrounding Kennedy’s activities following the accident.

Allegations of murder, manslaughter, and a criminal cover-up persist to this day and have found a new audience with the publication of Matthew Smith’s 2005 book Conspiracy in which the author alleges Edward Kennedy had been framed by powerful interests unwilling to allow another Kennedy to attain the highest office in the land.

Amongst the many claims made by various authors are:

Kennedy had been reckless enough to warrant a manslaughter charge.

Kennedy had been having an affair with Mary Jo and that she was pregnant at the time of her death. This provides a motive for Mary Jo’s "murder," according to some authors.

Kennedy had attempted to cover up his crimes by pretending he was at his hotel at the time of the accident.

Kennedy had asked his companions, Paul Markham and Joe Gargan, to take the blame.

Kennedy was guilty of negligent homicide by allowing Mary Jo to suffocate when she became trapped in an air bubble in the car. Some writers allege Mary Jo would have survived the accident had Kennedy sought help from the emergency services.

Kennedy had been lying about the timing of the accident to cover up his affair with Mary Jo.

Because Mary Jo did not take her room key with her she had no intention of returning to her hotel.

Kennedy had not been driving the car. He had been drugged and placed by the side of the road. Individuals hired by a powerful "consortium" had then murdered Mary Jo, placed her body in the car and drove it off the bridge. The "conspirators" had thus placed Kennedy in a compromising position, which they knew would ruin his career.

Mary Jo

The story of the Chappaquiddick incident began on the weekend when Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins were nearing the end of their journey to the moon. Edward Kennedy sailed his yacht to Martha’s Vineyard, situated off the coast of Cape Cod, to enter a race in the 46th Edgartown Yacht Club Regatta. It was the highlight of the yachting season and an event that the Kennedys rarely missed. A cookout had been planned on the tiny island next to Martha’s Vineyard called Chappaquiddick, an Indian name meaning "separate island" or "refuge island."

The party was a way for Edward Kennedy to keep in touch with the "boiler room girls," so-called because they had been the center of a group of campaign workers dedicated to Sen. Robert Kennedy’s 1968 campaign for the presidency. Among the group was 28-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne.

Mary Jo Kopechne in an undated photo.

An RFK aide described Mary Jo as "an unworldly girl." Others who knew her said she was a young woman with a good character who had been committed to her work, full of high idealism, and excited that the Kennedys would regain the White House in the 1968 presidential election.

Mary Jo called herself a "novena Catholic." Her friends described her as a young woman who was seriously committed to her faith. She did not smoke and rarely drank. Everyone who knew her testified to the fact that she was a woman who was almost prudish in her dislike of obscene language and sexual impropriety.

Furthermore, at the time of the incident, Mary Jo Kopechne had been unofficially engaged to be married to a career foreign service officer -- a fact overlooked by those authors who tried to blemish her character by insinuating she had been single, free and willing to engage in a sexual relationship with Sen. Ted Kennedy. There is no evidence that this allegation is true. The only person who can answer it is Ted Kennedy and he has stated on numerous occasions that nothing happened between them.

Contrary to the claims of some writers, the "boiler room girls" were not secretaries but professional and educated women with excellent characters and unblemished reputations. They did not travel to Martha’s Vineyard to engage in orgies nor were they invited to the party in order to be "available girls" for the six men who also attended the party. If this was indeed on the minds of the men in the party it can be assumed that they would have chosen a better place — the rented cottage had no privacy and they all had private rooms in Edgartown hotels. Sworn statements have indicated the gathering was nothing more than a reunion of people who had been dedicated to the election of Robert Kennedy as president. As Rosemary Keough Redmond stated to BBC researchers in 1993, "That whole myth of this bunch of single girls being set up to married men for some other purpose, it just didn’t happen, it didn’t happen. And it wasn’t what it was about. And the relationships were not that way. So there was, you never had a feeling of concern about going somewhere...I went to Salt Lake City with Sen. Edward Kennedy and Dun Gifford and I, just the three of us together, and never felt threatened or concerned and...my mother didn’t worry...and my sister didn’t worry...none worried."

Mary Jo had been an only child. She was born in Plymouth, Pa. Her father had been an insurance salesman. In 1962, she graduated with a degree in business from New Jersey’s Caldwell College for Women, a small liberal arts college run by the Sisters of St. Dominic. Before moving to Washington D.C., she had taught African-American children in a civil- rights project in Alabama.

Her first job in the nation’s capital was working for Sen. George Smathers, a long-time friend of President Kennedy. She became respected for her work, but Smathers knew her ambition was to work for the Kennedys and recommended her for a position on RFK’s staff. She was thorough and industrious and, on one occasion in 1966, stayed up all night to type RFK’s speech on Vietnam in which the senator made a clean break with Johnson’s Vietnam policy. Later, in 1968, she became dedicated to her goal of helping elect RFK president. Her whole life became politics. After RFK’s assassination, she assisted Ethel Kennedy with her correspondence. Mary Jo also joined the Southern Political Education and Action Committee, registering African-American voters in Florida. In July 1969, Mary Jo had been looking forward to the weekend on Martha’s Vineyard when she would see her old friends.

The Party

Chappaquiddick is a remote and lonely place, without stores or gas stations and separated from the fashionable resort of Martha’s Vineyard by a sea-water channel that is about 150 yards across at its narrowest point. Seven families lived on the island year round and the summer population was under 500. The only way cars can get between Chappaquiddick and Martha's Vineyard is aboard a two-car ferry that shuttles back and forth between the hours of 7:30 a.m. and midnight. The ferry was kept running during special occasions sometimes until 1 a.m. or later, but only when the ferry owner had forewarning.

A small house, the "Lawrence" cottage, had been rented for the party. It was situated approximately three miles from the ferry landing and was set back from the only main road on the island. The cottage was surrounded by other vacation homes, a few of which belonged to year-round residents. It had been rented for eight days by Kennedy’s cousin, Joe Gargan. He had intended to use the remaining rental period for himself and his wife for a summer vacation. However, Gargan’s wife’s mother had taken ill and his wife could not make the trip.

None of the partygoers had any intention of staying at the cottage. Joe Gargan had booked three rooms at the Edgartown Shiretown Inn for the men in the group, and rooms were booked at a Katama Shores motel for the women.

A short distance from the cottage was a dirt road that led 6/10ths of a mile downhill to a bridge that was approximately 12-feet wide. Across the bridge the road led to the remote sands of East Beach. The bridge was a hump-backed wooden structure, without rails, spanning Poucha Pond (an inlet). It was a dangerous bridge, too narrow, angled all wrong and humped up too high in the middle. The bridge caught many drivers by surprise as they sped down the dirt road heading for the beach. Many residents said something was bound to happen there someday. Islanders knew that an approach to the bridge in a vehicle travelling over 15 miles an hour could result in an accident. They frowned on tourists who sped past their homes heading for the beach. The area was devoid of sufficient warning signs.

After the yacht race on Friday, July 18, 1969, Kennedy was driven across to Chappaquiddick on the ferry by Joe Gargan and the party began at 8.30 p.m., the time the women arrived. The evening went well, everyone reminiscing about RFK’s presidential campaign. The group exchanged stories about the Kennedys and indulged in drink and food. The women did not really know the men in the party very well. The male party guests were Paul Markham, former U.S. attorney for Massachusetts; Joe Gargan, Kennedy’s cousin, a lawyer; Jack Crimmins, the 63- year-old Kennedy driver; Raymond LaRosa, a professional fireman and friend; and Charles C. Tretter a former Kennedy aide. The women in the group were Mary Jo Kopechne, Esther Newburgh, 26; Rosemary "Cricket" Keough, 23; Maryellen Lyons, 27; Anne Nance Lyons, 26; and Susan Tannenbaum, 24.

Dyke Bridge

According to Ted Kennedy, around 11:15 p.m. he took the keys to his Oldsmobile from his driver, Jack Crimmins, and slipped away from the party to catch the last ferry to Edgartown. He did not wish his departure to put an end to the party so he did not broadcast the fact. At the same time Mary Jo complained of feeling unwell and asked the senator for a ride to her motel in Edgartown. She did, however, leave her purse and room key at the cottage.

The one paved road through the island is center-lined and, where it veers left towards the ferry, it is marked with an arrow of reflecting glass. Kennedy did not follow the arrow but instead he turned right down a dirt lane called Dyke Road, which leads to Dyke Bridge and East Beach.

Although the entrance to Dyke Road is not immediately apparent, Kennedy was driven down it during the previous afternoon when he went for a swim.

The car Kennedy was driving was a 1967 Oldsmobile; the exact model was an "88" also called a Delmont that year. It was a four-door family car over 18 feet long and 6½ feet wide. Like most 1967 cars it had none of the safety features that are recognized today as standard: there were no seatbelts, headrests, dual-breaking system, energy-absorbing bumpers, energy-absorbing front end, door reinforcements or roof supports.

The Oldsmobile continued down the beach road towards Dyke Bridge hitting it at a speed of anywhere between 20 to 35 miles an hour. This was gauged later by various experts who scientifically measured the skid marks and the location to arrive at their results. Some experts, hired by media organizations, calculated that the car had been traveling at approximately 32 to 35 miles per hour.

The car hit the guardrail, flipped over and impacted the water, caving the roof in. Kennedy said he had no memory of how he got out. It is likely the pressure of the water acted on the senator, forcing him through the open driver’s window. There have been numerous examples over the years of drivers having had similar experiences. Reports of drivers caught in flash floods are commonplace; many survived because the current forced them out of their vehicles.

After Kennedy escaped from the submerged car he said he made seven or eight attempts to rescue Mary Jo, but all were in vain. The current was too strong and he became exhausted. Suffering from shock and injuries sustained in the accident, he lay on the bank before walking back to the cottage, on the way passing Dyke House.

Kennedy’s timing of events has created a number of discrepancies. Critics also pointed to his failure to seek assistance from the residents of Dyke House which was situated a short distance from the bridge. Dyke House always had lights on before midnight. In his inquest statement, Kennedy said he did not observe any lights at all when he stumbled, walked, and jogged up Dyke Road.

When Kennedy arrived at the cottage, a mile and a half from the bridge, he met Ray LaRosa outside and asked him to call for Gargan and Markham. He did not wish to alarm Mary Jo’s friends. Gargan and Markham drove Kennedy back to the bridge in a rented Valiant. Both men made repeated attempts to rescue Mary Jo. Gargan stated he "nearly drowned" in the attempt. According to Gargan, Kennedy kept repeating: "I just can’t believe this happened...What am I going to do"? Gargan said Markham had replied: "There’s nothing you can do."

After numerous failed rescue attempts, the group headed for the ferry landing. Kennedy’s two companions remained on the Chappaquiddick side while he impulsively dived into the water and swam the short distance across to Edgartown. His last words to his friends before diving off the ferry landing were, "I’ll take care of the accident and you see the girls are all right."

Unaware of Kennedy’s injuries and ignoring the state of shock the senator was in, Gargan and Markham took him at face value and believed he would head for the Edgartown police station and report the accident. Instead, Kennedy returned to his room at the Shiretown Inn where he lay exhausted and confused, trying to make some sense of what had happened. It was now 2 a.m. Twenty-five minutes later he walked out on to the balcony and spoke to the manager of the inn, mumbling something about noisy guests and asking for the time. This has been interpreted by a number of authors as an attempt to establish an alibi.

For the next five hours, alone in his room, Kennedy either slept or contemplated the situation he was in. He had been in a fatal accident with a woman who was not his wife. Allegedly, Gargan and Markham returned to the scene of the accident for further rescue attempts.

According to Rose Kennedy’s secretary, Barbara Gibson (The Kennedys – The Third Generation, 1993) this is exactly what happened: Gibson said that Joe Gargan told her that he and Markham returned to the crash site after Kennedy jumped into the water. Gargan told her he found a broken window, squeezed himself through it, and managed to make contact with Mary Jo’s body. Gargan could tell by "the unnatural feel" of the body that she was dead.

During the dives Gargan injured his arm, a fact confirmed by Joseph Kennedy’s nurse Rita Dallas. Fearing he would drown, Gargan emerged from the car and returned to the cottage. He waited until morning for help to arrive in the belief that Kennedy had reported the accident and help would arrive soon.

However, Kennedy did not report the accident but, in his own words, remained in his room and willed the incident away.

It was not until the following morning that Kennedy went to the police station. Earlier, at 7:45 a.m., Gargan and Markham had gone to the Shiretown Inn and were shocked when Kennedy told them he had not yet reported the accident. According to Joe Gargan, Kennedy still had in mind the idea that they could say Mary Jo had been driving the car. The notion was dismissed by Gargan and he told him it was imperative he report the accident without any further delay. But before they went to the police station they walked to the ferry landing down the street from the hotel and crossed to the Chappaquiddick side where Kennedy made a number of phone calls desperately seeking advice from his lawyers and advisers about how to deal with the accident. While on the ferry, the ferryman told the group that a body had been found at Dyke Bridge.

A short time earlier Edgartown Police Chief, Dominic "Jim" Arena, had appeared at the scene of the accident and, with the assistance of scuba diver John Farrar, removed the body from the wreck. A short time later Deputy Sheriff "Huck" Look arrived at the scene and told Arena that he believed the vehicle was the one he spotted the previous evening taking off at high speed when he approached the car.

Speculative Accounts

Many writers have tried to reconstruct the events of that tragic night but most have failed. In their eagerness to propagate their pet theories they have ignored vital evidence, witness statements, and have postulated a series of actions without any firm knowledge of the geography of the area and the forensic and medical evidence available. Some scenarios are plausible but most have strong elements of fantasy, including speculation that Kennedy engaged in a criminal conspiracy to hide his involvement in the accident, committed murder because Mary Jo was pregnant, or that others had criminally conspired to murder her to facilitate the destruction of Kennedy’s hopes for the presidency.

The most bizarre theories still persist to this day. Matthew Smith, a JFK conspiracy advocate, believes Edward Kennedy had been set up by conspirators as a way of destroying his chances for the presidency. Apparently, the same sinister forces that had a hand in the President’s death also conspired to destroy Edward Kennedy by murdering Mary Jo. While this theory lets Kennedy off the hook, it has no basis in fact and is based entirely on a misreading of the facts of the case and a construction of a theory relying solely on supposition and speculation.

Smith’s theory has a central weakness. If you are a politician who has been "framed" for political reasons, then why not protest the fact? Surely this would be the best defense in such circumstances. However, Kennedy did nothing of the sort, further adding credibility to his version of the events that tragic night. Furthermore, why would conspirators take this route to destroy Kennedy’s career when a much simpler way would be to initiate a scandal using wiretapping and surveillance techniques? Kennedy’s womanizing and drinking had become an item of concern among the media after they had observed the senator’s developing emotional deterioration in the period following his brother Robert’s murder. Although the American media ignored politicians’ indiscretions in the 1960s, it was common knowledge that the press could not ignore a story that originated in the foreign press.

Kenneth Kappel, in Chappaquiddick Revealed, alleges that Kennedy, Markham and Gargan conspired to change a "roll-over" accident into an accident in which Mary Jo was alone in the car when it went off the bridge. Kappel believes Mary Jo had been knocked unconscious by the original crash then placed in the car before it was rolled off the bridge. His theory, however, has one central weakness – the skid marks on the bridge.

Likewise, writer Zad Rust’s (Teddy Bare, 1971) implied accusation that Kennedy strangled Mary Jo because she was pregnant, ignores the testimony of Dr. Donald Mills. He carried out a thorough examination of the body on the beach and said there were no strangulation marks on the body. He palpated her uterus and found no enlargement. While this does not rule out pregnancy in the early stages, it is unlikely she was carrying on an affair with Kennedy. Her work schedule and her commitment to her fiancé suggest otherwise.

Chappaquiddick authors Thomas and Richard Tedrow (Death At Chappaquiddick 1976) make the best case for an adulterous affair between Mary Jo and Kennedy. They stated that Kennedy drove to the beach on purpose, had sex with Mary Jo, and then drove off the bridge. Their most important piece of evidence in support of this claim is the grass stain that they say was found on Mary Jo’s blouse. The scientific evidence suggests it was a bloodstain caused by bloody froth emitted from Mary Jo’s mouth and nose after the doctor at the scene examined the body. Their account, accordingly, remains pure speculation.

Jack Olsen in his book The Bridge at Chappaquiddick (1970) said that Kennedy had left the car after encountering Deputy Sheriff Look at the crossroads. Kennedy supposedly asked Mary Jo to drive off alone so that he would not be caught for being alone with a young woman or driving while under the influence of alcohol. Olsen said that Kennedy began to panic and asked Mary Jo to drive down the Dyke Road. Not used to driving a large car, confused by alcohol, and experiencing difficulty in reaching the pedals, she drove off the bridge. Olsen wrote, "Kennedy had done nothing illegal...but the cop kept approaching; now there was every reason to suspect that he would jump into his station wagon and speed down the Dyke road to ask them questions. Rural cops did things like that, and rural cops could be nasty...the prospect of netting Kennedy in a car with a woman other than his wife would have titillated many of them."

The most obvious flaw in Olsen’s theory is: Why would Kennedy say he was in the car when he was not? Why would he create more trouble for himself when it would have been so much easier to say he had gotten out of the car before Mary Jo drove it off the bridge and he only found out what happened to her the next morning? And the Olsen theory cannot account for Kennedy’s injuries.

Leo Damore’s Senatorial Privilege (1988) had the greatest impact in demonizing Edward Kennedy’s character. Damore’s book represented Kennedy as a man with poor character and devoid of moral scruples. Fully engaged in a self-serving cover-up of the scandal, Damore alleged, Kennedy had asked his cousin Joe Gargan to say he had been driving the car or to report the accident as a solo affair with Mary Jo Kopechne driving herself off the bridge. Damore came to his conclusions after securing the first interview with Joe Gargan in the early 1980s.

Unfortunately, Damore believed everything Gargan told him. Damore never considered that Gargan might have been trying to cover-up his own irresponsible actions that night. Damore dismissed the medical evidence in the case and the opinions of medical experts that the injuries that Kennedy sustained rendered him incapable of rational judgment. As Mary Jo’s mother stated, "No matter how you look at it, it was an accident. What hurts me deep is to think that my daughter had to be left there all night. This is why we had so bitter a feeling toward Markham and Gargan…I think Kennedy made his statement when he was still confused. In the state he was in, I do believe he couldn’t think clearly. I think he was taking all this bad advice, and it just continued for days."

According to Damore, Gargan said that he and Markham believed that Kennedy was going to report the accident. However, Gargan and Markham were the only rational persons on the scene and it is slightly disingenuous of Gargan to turn the story around and blame Kennedy. Kennedy was suffering from shock, exposure, and head and neck injuries — it is entirely understandable that he would blurt out confused, irrational and illogical thoughts as he sought to make sense of the crisis he was in. Accounts of countless road traffic accidents testify to the most bizarre behavior of drivers or passengers who have suffered shock following a collision. And, of course, the lie that Damore suggests was concocted by Kennedy, Gargan and Markham was never told. If Kennedy had been acting rationally, he would have insisted that Markham and Gargan report the accident the following day and to ensure his name was not mentioned.

Damore also gives weight to the views of John Farrar, the diver who was called to extricate Mary Jo’s body from the crashed vehicle. Farrar maintained that it was likely an air pocket had allowed Mary Jo to survive for a number of hours after the accident and he based his statement on his knowledge of the tides, his experience as a scuba-diver and the position of Mary Jo’s body before it was retrieved from the car. This statement led Damore to conclude that Mary Jo had not drowned but instead suffocated. He accepted Farrar’s description that the buoyancy of Mary Jo’s body indicated she had not drowned. Farrar also commented on the small amount of water that had been expelled from Mary Jo. He never considered the possibility that water was expelled during the body’s extrication from the vehicle.

There is no credible scientific evidence to support the theory of suffocation — a theory that eventually became accepted by many writers and leading newspapers in the United States and abroad. However, authors James E. T. Lange and Katherine DeWitt Jr. in their excellent study of the accident (Chappaquiddick, The Real Story 1992) proved, by examining previous drowning cases, that the buoyancy of a body indicates nothing — some bodies float, others sink. They also showed how Damore was mistaken about the tides.

Furthermore, Markham and Gargan did not observe any movement by Mary Jo when they attempted to rescue her. If she had still been alive it is reasonable to assume she would have assisted her rescuers in their attempts to get her out of the car. And three of the car’s windows had been forced in, making it unlikely that an air pocket would have been trapped, especially as the strong current would have filled the car quickly with water. And Gargan said Mary Jo was dead when he and Markham made a second attempt to rescue her at around 2 a.m. or so. There is no credible evidence to suggest that Mary Jo was still alive in the car for anything but a brief period of time after the car entered the water.

And if an air pocket had indeed been present, medical opinion has demonstrated that Mary Jo would have succumbed to hypothermia in the strong and cold Labrador currents, probably within an hour. Even if Kennedy had alerted rescue services by telephone, there are compelling arguments presented by Lange and DeWitt that they would have arrived too late to save Mary Jo. Only a Coast Guard rescue helicopter could have saved her within the time available, Lange and DeWitt argue.

It is also reasonable to assume that had Mary Jo been alive shortly after the car hit the water she would have made an attempt to escape rather than wait for help. As a young athletic woman and a swimmer, she would not have waited for any length of time to be rescued.

What Really Happened?

The only theory that writers on the subject have never considered is that, in reality, Kennedy was telling the truth about the circumstances of the car accident – or at least the truth he was capable of, given the fact that his memory and behavior were distorted by the injuries he suffered.

There are also, however, compelling arguments to conclude that Kennedy had, indeed, tried to avoid responsibility and could not, or would not, face what had happened.

There is little doubt that Kennedy, although not drunk in the real sense of the word, had certainly been intoxicated. He had probably consumed a total of five or six rum and cokes that evening. He had already imbibed three or four alcoholic drinks in the late afternoon/early evening. However, it is also true that someone of Kennedy’s build could have metabolized alcohol quickly. Furthermore, the charge of driving while under the influence of alcohol could never stand up in court – there was simply no evidence like a blood test to charge him with this offense.

Mary Jo’s alcohol level was 0.09%. For a woman of her stature and unfamiliarity with drinking, this would likely have meant she was drunk but not "fall down drunk."

It was Lange and DeWitt who finally cleared up contradictions about Kennedy’s descriptions of the tidal currents and the anomalies in the timing of events by various witnesses. One of the most telling points they bring out is the fact that previous investigators had gotten the timing of the tides wrong and the current at 11:30 p.m. to midnight (the alleged timing of the accident) was not strong enough to turn the car and "slew" it downstream. Because Kennedy’s timing of events were flawed, he was put in the position of being called a liar because his description of the scene of the accident was not consistent with tidal conditions. It was not lies that brought this about but Kennedy’s mental condition and his failure to construct events that occurred before the accident.

Lange and DeWitt proved that conditions described by Kennedy were consistent with the accident having occurred 1 to 1½ hours after the presumed time of the accident that Kennedy stated was around 11:45 p.m. or 11:50 p.m. It was true that Kennedy left the cottage with Mary Jo somewhere between 11:15 p.m. and 11:45 p.m. The other party guests have never given consistent or reliable times for the departure but they do agree it was before midnight. So the mystery remains: If Kennedy and Mary Jo left the cottage before midnight what were they doing in the hour or so until the time of the accident?

Deputy Sheriff Huck Look was a very credible witness. He told Police Chief Arena, who was supervising the extrication of Mary Jo’s body from the wreck, that he had seen a car with two or possibly three people in it the previous night when he returned from Edgartown. He ventured that the third person may have been a "shadow." He said the car had a license number beginning and ending with a seven. Kennedy’s car had the license number L 78-207.

Look saw the car at approximately 12:45 a.m. as it drove a few yards into Cemetery Road. He was certain of the time period. Look remembered the two 7’s because he wore the number 77 on his basketball jersey at Edgartown High School. Look testified that when he approached the car it backed out of Cemetery Road, turned and went down Dyke Road at high speed down. He had approached the car because he suspected the driver was lost and he wanted to assist. Look’s story is consistent with the tidal evidence provided by Lange and DeWitt.

Evidence that Kennedy returned to the cottage after 1 a.m. was provided by a next door neighbor who said his dogs barked about that time. They only barked at pedestrians. Also Ray LaRosa’s testimony about having taken a walk after midnight supports Look’s estimate of the time Kennedy returned to the cottage. And Kennedy’s description of the currents was also consistent with the accident happening at approximately 12:50 a.m.

During their post-accident journey to the ferry, Kennedy kept saying to Gargan and Markham that he expected to see Mary Jo walking down the road. According to Gargan, Kennedy was rambling and verbalizing irrational thoughts – behavior that is consistent with individuals who are suffering from shock. Gargan said, "Sen. Kennedy was very emotional, extremely upset, very upset and he was using this expression... "Can you believe it, Joe, can you believe it, I don’t believe it, I don’t believe this could happen. I just don’t believe it." Markham told the inquest that Kennedy was, "sobbing and almost of actually breaking down and crying. He said, 'This couldn’t have happened, I don’t know how it happened…What am I going to do?’" Even Judge Boyle, who did not believe Kennedy’s account of the accident, stated, "…impairment of judgment and confused behavior are consistent with this type of behavior."

Kennedy’s behavior was not unusual for a person who has been the victim of a car crash or a similar type of accident. Shock causes people to temporarily disassociate themselves from threatening circumstances. Kennedy may have been subconsciously seeking the protective company of those he knew. According to Dr. Max Sadove of the University of Illinois Medical School, an expert on the effects of shock, "No one knows what his own breaking point is. It is different at different times for different people."

Most writers maintain that Kennedy did not report the accident immediately because he was attempting to relieve himself of the onerous duty of taking responsibility, and he was hoping his underlings would clear things up. Yet they fail to understand that Kennedy was in no position to take responsibility of any kind. In the periods when his actions reflected some kind of rational thought, it is likely he was responding to his own political instincts — never take impulsive decisions, wait for advice, and weigh the options. Kennedy put great faith in Burke Marshall, the Kennedy aide who had taken the role RFK played for Ted. And it was Joe Gargan who told Kennedy to telephone his administrative aide, David Burke, before he reported the accident.

Although Kennedy was in a state of panic, he knew he had to report the accident. But he also was half- conscious of the burden of the Kennedy legacy. His every action would be scrutinized and he may have felt that everything his brothers built would now end in shameful disgrace. How could he explain what had happened?

He also experienced jumbled thoughts of having to inform Mary Jo’s parents that their daughter was dead. Faced with these considerations he froze in his hotel room and, in the parlous mental state he was in, did nothing except follow Gargan’s advice to immediately seek out counsel from his advisers. His irrational mind was also wishing the whole thing would just disappear or Mary Jo would suddenly appear to end the nightmare.

Kennedy had become emotionally and mentally paralyzed by his experience; he was in the throws of a mental breakdown caused by concussion, a bleeding injury to the brain, and lesions acting together with the alcohol.

Sen. Kennedy in a neck brace at Mary Jo Kopechne's funeral.

Many critics overlook the medical reports about Kennedy’s injuries. They attempt to explain the inconsistencies and anomalies in testimony and evidence from the perspective of a rational mind trying at any cost to save the Kennedy legacy and rescue a political career. But this was no simple case that was explicable in terms of a political cover-up or an attempt to extricate a politician from serious criminal acts.

Dr. Robert Watt, trauma specialist at Cape Cod Medical Centre, examined Kennedy and reported that the senator had suffered, "a half-inch abrasion and haematoma over the right mastoid, a contusion of the vertex, spasm of the posterior cervical musculature, tenderness of the lumber area, a big spongy swelling at the top of his head." Dr. Watt diagnosed concussion.

When a person is hit on the head hard enough, the soft brain tissue collides with the hard inner surface of the skull creating a brain injury. Invariably, this disrupts electrical activity in the outer areas of the brain where memories are stored. And this disruption prevents memory from forming not only of the traumatic event itself but also of the time before that event.

Later Kennedy was examined by Dr. Brougham at Cape Cod Hospital where he underwent X-ray examination that showed a straightening of the cervical vertebrae. Dr. Brougham diagnosed acute muscular spasm, confirming cervical strain. Both doctors said that Kennedy’s mental confusion had a definite physiological basis.

The medical reports state that Kennedy had suffered from traumatic amnesia that includes retrograde amnesia and post-traumatic amnesia, both of which are nearly always present in head injuries. Retrograde amnesia covers the period before the trauma and the trauma itself. Post–traumatic amnesia is a period of confusion and memory loss following the trauma.

Kennedy’s head injuries, which caused his befuddlement, would account for his later testimony and confusion about the timing of events when he left the cottage. It would also account for the numerous witnesses who testified to his depressed, confused and forgetful state of mind in the days and weeks following the accident. His father’s nurse, Rita Dallas, believed he should have been given psychiatric help. On the Monday before Mary Jo’s funeral, Kennedy telephoned the Kopechnes a second time. Joseph Kopechne said, "I could see he was trying to tell us about the accident but I still couldn’t understand him. He was still sobbing, still so broken up he couldn’t talk." Kennedy was likely suffering from a severe nervous breakdown and he was desperately in need of psychiatric treatment.

Burke Marshall told author Burton Hersh (The Education Of Edward Kennedy 1972), "I advised him to have a medical examination. He truly did not know whether he might have had a medical problem. He was obviously disoriented, but he appeared coherent. Then, after I was with him for a while I came to the conclusion he had a blockage, that a lot of his mind wasn’t accepting yet what was happening to him. He told me he had been convinced, somehow, that Mary Jo Kopechne got out, got away. I don’t think he shook that idea off for a while. The Kennedys have a way of seeming fine, going forward without interruption under stress — I remember them all at the time of Bobby’s funeral — but inside a great deal is blocked off. That night, in that situation, I think Ted Kennedy might very well have functioned so that the people with him, particularly if they weren’t strong-minded people, would think that he knew exactly what he was doing."

Marshall, like the rest of Kennedy’s advisors, was seriously worried that the young senator would have a nervous collapse at any time in the weeks following the accident. Their greatest fear was the senator suffering an emotional breakdown in the same way Sen. Edmund Muskie was to experience in 1972, thus ruining his chances for the presidency.

But how to account for the missing 1½ hours? Unfortunately, Kennedy insisted that he could not remember and the medical evidence confirms he did indeed suffer amnesia. Doctors have speculated that this type of memory loss might never be retrievable; therefore the missing time will continue to engender speculation. A more innocent explanation of this time period suggests that Kennedy and Mary Jo had taken a walk, trying to sober up.

What follows is the author’s belief of what probably happened. This is based on the record of events described earlier and arrived at through an examination of the inquest report and partly through an analysis of scientific and forensics evidence cited by authors Lange and DeWitt.

It should be remembered that when Kennedy told his friends that he was leaving the party to return to Edgartown, Mary Jo had indicated she wished to leave also. Kennedy did not ask her. She also complained of feeling unwell perhaps due to the effects of the alcohol and sun.

As a drinker, Kennedy would have been able to hold his liquor much better than Mary Jo who had been estimated to have consumed five or six drinks of 80-90% proof. Although Esther Newburgh stated that Mary Jo did not appear to be drunk, it has been the experience of many people that an intoxicated state develops quickly after encountering the night air on leaving a hot and stuffy environment. If Mary Jo had been feeling unwell due to the effects of the alcohol, it is possible that Kennedy had been walking Mary Jo around the front yard; or they may have started the car journey, stopped the car to allow Mary Jo to be sick and then continued later. Whatever the circumstances, innocent or otherwise, Kennedy’s injuries prevented him from recalling the lost time. It is also possible that Kennedy, some days or weeks later, remembered — but how could he explain to Mary Jo’s parents that her last waking hours were spent becoming intoxicated then sick before sobering up – or, perhaps, accepting an invitation for a romantic interlude with a married man?

If Mary Jo had been drunk this would account for her leaving her purse and motel room key at the Lawrence cottage. This is exactly what Rosemary Keough did when she went with Kennedy’s driver to collect a radio from Edgartown midway through the party. On her return, she left her purse in the Oldsmobile.

If Kennedy and Mary Jo had left the cottage and then gone for a walk to sober up they would have had to return for the car. Lacking any sense of time and not realizing the ferry would most likely have shut down for the night, they returned unobserved and began their journey.

Kennedy drove along the main road then mistakenly missed the left-hand bend in the road, proceeding forward a few yards into Cemetery Road. Realizing his mistake, he reversed the car and spotted Huck Look. An element of fear may have entered Kennedy’s mind. He may have panicked because he feared Officer Look was actually an assailant who had recognized him – Edward Kennedy’s life had been threatened on numerous occasions since his brothers’ deaths. Or Kennedy may simply have been fearful he would be arrested for driving while under the influence. He was also in a car with a woman who was not his wife — how would it look? In any event it is clear that Kennedy did not remember the incident, otherwise he would have made up an entirely innocent explanation and added it to his statement the following morning.

Whether fearful of an assailant or unwilling to explain his circumstances to an officer of the law, he turned right down Dyke Road, which led to Dyke Bridge. The speed at which the car took off suggests Kennedy did not want to risk being questioned by Look. At the bottom of the road, a short distance from the bridge, the car hit a mound and steering became difficult. (Photographs taken of Dyke Bridge at the time of the accident, published in Time Aug. 1, 1969, clearly show hills or mounds at either side of the road on the approach to the bridge.) It is possible the car hit the mound and became uncontrollable.

In attempting to correct his steering to accommodate the dog’s-leg entry to the bridge, Kennedy hit the bridge guardrails and the car flipped over landing upside down in the water. The strong current slewed the car downstream. Kennedy was thrown from the car and managed to make his way to the bank. After coming partly to his senses, he made repeated dives looking for Mary Jo until he became too exhausted to continue. He reported no movements made by Mary Jo during his rescue attempts, nor did Markham and Gargan when they attempted to rescue her about a half-hour or so later.

After stumbling back to the cottage, Kennedy asked his friends Gargan and Markham to accompany him back to the scene of the accident. Both Kennedy aides tried to rescue Mary Jo but failed - the current was too strong. It had even defeated Police Chief Arena the following morning when, in full daylight, he tried to remove Mary Jo’s body from the car. He sat on the car and waited for diver, John Farrar, after spending five minutes struggling against the current.

Kennedy became distraught; his behavior during the next few hours strongly suggests a man who was confused, frightened and in shock. As he later confessed in his television broadcast his thoughts were jumbled. And this is entirely consistent with the injuries he suffered. However, Kennedy must have recovered sufficiently the next morning to report the accident immediately after he awoke – this he did not do and is damning evidence.

But it was Gargan and Markham who had the faculties to make a rational decision in the early hours of the morning. Despite their positions as subordinates of the senator, they should have taken complete charge. Instead they retired to the cottage after Kennedy jumped into the water at the ferry landing. In any event, reporting the accident to the police would not have saved Mary Jo’s life. The time span was too short.

Kennedy believed he did everything in his power to save Mary Jo and, given his medical condition, he was probably correct. He placed full blame upon himself for his recklessness. And he never blamed Gargan and Markham who had been in a much better position, both physically and mentally, to handle matters. As Ted Kennedy’s mother Rose was to say, "I didn’t understand why Joey Gargan or Markham did not report the matter to the police even if Ted did not have any sense enough or control enough to do so — especially when the body of the girl was in the car... That is what seems so unforgivable and brutal to me..."

James E.T. Lange, who is an expert in drink-driving cases, has stated that Kennedy could not have been tried for the serious offenses of:

Vehicular manslaughter or negligent homicide ("reckless disregard" of human life would have to involve a speed of 55 to 60 miles an hour and the geographical conditions of the sparsely populated island mitigated against it.)

Driving under the influence (evidence of reputation is not admissible in court and Kennedy’s blood/alcohol level could not be ascertained.)

Subordination of perjury (Kennedy had attorney/client privilege with regard to Gargan and Markham)

Perjury (Must show that Kennedy was not merely wrong, forgetful or ignorant but "knowingly" gave false testimony)

There is no evidence that Kennedy prevented an autopsy. According to James E.T. Lange, that decision was made by D.A. Edmund Dinis after consulting with Dr. Mills, who stated he was sure Mary Jo drowned and was "morally certain."

Furthermore, Kennedy’s lawyers were remiss in not challenging the prosecution’s charges that Kennedy was guilty of leaving the scene of an accident. They failed to make reference to Kennedy’s injuries and the inevitable mental confusion that usually follows because they believed a plea of mental impairment would have damaged Kennedy’s political career. James E.T. Lange even ventures that the sworn testimony of two doctors could have been used to clear Kennedy. He does, however, believe that Kennedy was guilty of the "wrongful death" of Mary Jo and "reckless driving."

Each time Kennedy’s re-election as senator comes around he has to deal with the consequences of that tragic night in July 1969. Many years after the event he told Time that his behavior that night did not reflect on his present day judgment, "People may not believe me or accept some of my answers. But the idea that the people who were there that night are holding back some secret is just all wrong. The essence of the event for me is that the girl is dead. There is nothing else for me to say."

Despite the fact that Kennedy is unable to say anything more than he said at the time of the accident, the media continue to resurrect the Chappaquiddick incident. And writers continually accuse Kennedy of having committed unpardonable sins.

In a 1980 television broadcast Kennedy said, "Over 10 years ago I testified in court in detail under oath to God, to the truth about the accident at Chappaquiddick that caused the death of Mary Jo Kopechne. That sworn testimony has been published and reprinted many times since then. I know there are many who do not believe it but my testimony is the only truth I can tell because that is the way it happened."

Kennedy’s remorse was obviously genuine and he doubtless suffered severe mental anguish. As he said to close friends on many occasions, in remembrance of his brothers’ deaths and the memories of that tragic night, "Not a day goes by....".

Mel Ayton is the author of The JFK Assassination: Dispelling The Myths (Woodfield Publishing 2002) and Questions Of Controversy: The Kennedy Brothers (University of Sunderland Press 2001).

His latest book, A Racial Crime – James Earl Ray And The Murder Of Dr Martin Luther King Jr., was published in the United States by ArcheBooks in February 2005.

In 2003 he acted as the historical adviser for the BBC's television documentary "The Kennedy Dynasty" broadcast in November of that year. He has written articles for Ireland's leading history magazine History Ireland, David Horowitz's Frontpage magazine and History News Network.