Ted Kennedy is dead, and in the aftermath of his life, one thing still rubs dark his image as the lion of the Senate and continues to forever stain his legacy with blood:  His cowardly tether to Mary Jo Kopechne.


The incident at Chappaquiddick rightfully haunted Ted Kennedy since Mary Jo died in a curious car crash on July 19, 1969.

Ted never fully explained his role in her death and his timeline and logic never quite added up in any substantial, human, way.

At the end of his life, Ted would not discuss Chappaquiddick — and it was in that continued cowardice in refusing to publicly confess the results of his actions that prematurely yellowed the calling of his life.

The lionization of Ted Kennedy will begin — but we’ll always have that nagging wondering about what really happened that evil night in 1969 when a young woman lost of the promise of her life, and a young politico lost any real magnitude he hoped to earn with the deeds of a wasted, political, career.

If you’re mourning Ted Kennedy today; please also put in a small prayer for Mary Jo Kopechne — because Mary Jo deserved so much more than to be forever pinned upside down in inside Ted Kennedy’s 1967 Oldsmobile Delmont 88 at the bottom of Nantucket Sound.

5 Comments

  1. David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.
    Gordon Davidescu says:

    I regularly think of Mary Jo Kopechne.
    I wonder what would have been if he had just explained exactly what happened.

  2. David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.
    David W. Boles says:

    That’s precisely the nut of it, Gordon. He didn’t notify the authorities until she was already dead. He was found guilty, but had his sentence suspended. He refused to discuss the murky matter late into his life even after dealing with the publication of 15 books and countless articles on the topic… all percolating his obsessive, guilty, role in her death.
    Every moment he had to do the right thing, to take his punishment, to pay his dues, to publicly mourn the poor woman… he managed to mangle through insensitivity and privilege.
    While his brothers Joe and John and Bobby were always of the people and for the people and had the touch of The Common Man, Teddy always came off as the lost, lonely, last, spoiled brat of a family built on entitlement instead of budding personal insight and terminal public suffering.

  3. David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.
    Kathakali Chatterjee says:

    Wow…didn’t know the details – this is quite something.

  4. David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.
    David W. Boles says:

    Hi Katha!
    Teddy should’ve been president — but Mary Jo’s death was something the rest of the most of us could never abide. He seemed to so publicly dismiss her from his mind and that was just too detached and too convenient in every way.

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