Cold Open 

It’s late on July 18th 1969, near Chappaquiddick, a scenic peninsula on the east side of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.

37-year-old US Senator Ted Kennedy sits behind the wheel of his Oldsmobile as he drives along a dark winding road through the trees. In the front seat next to him is Mary Jo Kopechne. She’s a talented speechwriter, nine years younger than Ted, charming and beautiful. 

They’ve just come from a party at a remote cottage. Ted told their friends that he was taking Mary Jo to catch the ferry back to the hotel where they’re both staying. But that’s not where he’s headed. 

Ted doesn’t know Chappaquiddick well and rarely drives himself. 

And tonight, for some reason, he turns onto a dirt road leading to Dike Bridge, a narrow wooden crossing over a tidal channel. It’s not the way to the ferry. And the rickety structure isn’t the kind of thing anyone should be driving on at night. Especially not as fast as Ted is going. There aren’t any lights, and there are no guardrails on the bridge either. But by the time Ted realizes he’s made a mistake, it’s too late. 

He loses control of the car, and his front tires launch out into open air.

The Oldsmobile catapults into the channel below and flips upside down. Frigid, brackish water rushes into the car through the shattered windshield. 

Ted panics as Mary Jo flails next to him and the water reaches to his neck. Ted takes a deep breath, knowing it might be his last, and the next few seconds are a blur. He kicks and pushes on the car door with all his might until it finally opens. He’s so turned around he’s not sure which way is up, but somehow he gets out and away from the car.

The next thing he knows, he’s made it to the surface. He screams out Mary Jo’s but there’s no answer, instead just stillness. And in the dark water below, he can see the headlights of his Oldsmobile glowing eerily. 

He dives down, clawing toward the light, toward Mary Jo. But the current is strong, and it pushes him away from the car. He tries until he’s exhausted from the effort. But it’s no use. He can’t get to her.

With no other choice, Ted gives up. 

He paddles back to shore and collapses in the mud there, spitting water. 

Eventually, he drags himself to his feet and trudges back the way he came by the thin light of the crescent moon.

What Ted Kennedy does after emerging from the water incites rumors that will follow him for the rest of his life. Inconsistencies in his account of the crash, as well as the legal consequences to come, will change the trajectory of Ted’s career. In this single night, he goes from the Kennedy family’s golden boy to political poison. And decades later, questions will still linger about the Chappaquiddick accident and the course of events that led to the death of Mary Jo Kopechne on July 18th, 1969.

Introduction 

From Noiser and Airship, I’m Lindsay Graham and this is History Daily.

History is made every day. On this podcast—every day—we tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world. 

Today is July 18th, 1969: The Chappaquiddick Incident. 

Act One: Doomed Rescue

It’s July 18th 1969, on Chappaquiddick Island, a few hours before the crash that kills Mary Jo Kopechne. 

Ted Kennedy rests in a secluded cottage while his cousin, Joseph Gargan, fires up the grill outside. After the last few years, no one could blame Ted for needing a break.

Back in 1963, Ted’s older brother Jack was President of the United States but then he was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. And just last summer, Ted’s other brother Robert was also murdered while campaigning in California for his own run at the presidency. The deaths of his brothers left Ted devastated.

Even so, tonight is supposed to be a celebration. Amid rampant speculation in the press about his own presidential ambitions, Ted has retreated to Martha’s Vineyard to host a cookout in honor of his late brother Robert. It’s supposed to be a relaxed get-together with a few of Ted’s friends and political advisors.

But they aren’t the only guests. Some of the women who worked on Robert’s presidential bid are coming too. They’re nicknamed the “boiler room girls” after the stuffy, windowless room where they helped pilot Robert’s campaign. They’re also all in their twenties and single. The men on the other hand are older and married. Their wives, however, have not been invited.

There’s plenty of alcohol at the party, but no one gets too rowdy. The attendees spend their time swapping stories about Robert, talking politics and dancing. Throughout, Ted does what he does best: schmoozing. He indulges in some food, drinks a rum and coke, and entertains his guests. Then toward the end of the night, he hits it off with Mary Jo Kopechne . By that point, she’s had a few drinks herself. 

At around 11:15 PM, Ted decides to head back to his hotel, a brief ferry ride away. Mary Jo asks to catch a ride with him to the dock.

Normally, Ted would ask his chauffeur to take them. But the party is still in full swing, and Ted wants his driver to enjoy the festivities too, so he takes the keys himself. He and Mary Jo hop in his shiny black Oldsmobile and drive off into the night without saying goodbye to the other guests. They’re in such a hurry that Mary Jo forgets her purse and passport back at the cottage.

More than an hour later, Ted returns to the party - alone, exhausted, disoriented and soaked to the bone. He slumps down in one of the cars parked outside. And from there, he calls for his cousin, Joseph, and his friend, Paul Markham. Both men are lawyers, and are dumbstruck when Ted tells them what’s just happened. 

The cottage is so secluded it doesn’t even have a phone to report the crash. The men know there are houses and a volunteer fire station nearby, but they don’t call for help. Instead, they jump at a car and race back to the scene of the crash, clinging to hope that they can still save Mary Jo.

Joseph and Paul dive into the chilly water of the tidal channel. But like Ted, even though they try again and again to reach the overturned Oldsmobile, the current is just too strong. By the time they give up, everyone knows Mary Jo is lost forever. 

As they drive away from the crash site, Ted starts to panic once again. Since Robert’s assassination, he’s become the last hope of the family. The weight of a political dynasty rests on his shoulders. But now, he sees any chance of occupying the Oval Office going up in smoke.

The three men drive to the ferry landing. It’s been two long hours since the crash, and Joseph and Paul gently tell Ted to report the accident. There’s a payphone right there. But this is when a surreal denial seems to set in. Ted starts to believe that Mary Jo might have escaped while he was running back to the cottage. He thinks that maybe she caught the last ferry and right now is lying safe and warm in her hotel bed.

Ted tells his friends he’ll take care of everything then asks them to return to the cottage and make sure the other party guests get home safely. He says that while they do that, he’ll report the crash.

Except Ted doesn’t. After Joseph and Paul leave, Ted swims five hundred feet across the ferry channel, slips into his hotel room, and falls asleep. The night will pass into morning, making the crash feel like some distant bad dream, but it’s one that Ted Kennedy will never wake up from.

Act Two: Aftermath

It’s July 19th 1969, in a hotel in Edgartown, on Martha’s Vineyard, the morning after the crash.

Sometime before 8 AM, Ted Kennedy comes down from his room to the lobby dressed smartly in yachting clothes. Ted doesn’t seem like a troubled man. Two of his sailing buddies even greet Ted in the lobby and he takes the time to chat. He politely declines joining them for breakfast though just as Joseph Gargan and Paul Markham come in. Joseph brusquely pulls Ted away from the conversation, and soon all three men head back to Chappaquiddick .

On the other side of the channel, at the same landing where the three men debated calling the police six hours earlier, Ted finally uses the phone. But still, he doesn’t call the police. Instead, he makes a series of long-distance calls to friends and lawyers, asking for advice. 

While he whispers frantically into the receiver, a stranger approaches to tell him his Oldsmobile has been found in the water - and the police are recovering a body from inside.

Aware now that news must be getting around the island, Ted hops on the ferry back across the channel. He and Paul go straight to the police station, arriving around 10 AM.

The officer on duty recognizes Ted immediately. She says he can wait for the chief in his office. And there, Ted makes another series of private calls, including one to Mary Jo Kopechne’s parents. 

Eventually, the chief of police arrives. And when he enters his office, he’s still wearing the sopping swimsuit he donned to recover Mary Jo’s body. He finds Ted sitting behind his desk.

Ted then admits that he was driving the car when it crashed, so the chief asks him to write a statement. Ted returns with two hundred and thirty words, explaining his movements the night before. The police chief doesn’t press him any further, and allows Ted to go. 

From the police station, Ted then rushes to the airport and flies back to the mainland, taking shelter in his family compound alongside his most trusted lawyers, advisors, and political strategists. Meanwhile, the press gets hold of the story, and Ted Kennedy’s problems are multiplying by the hour.

Most troubling is the testimony of Deputy Huck Look. He claims he spotted a car matching the description of Ted’s Oldsmobile on the night of the crash. But he saw the car ninety minutes after the time Ted Kennedy claimed the crash happened… and 45 minutes after the final ferry, the purported reason Mary Jo asked Ted for a ride in the first place.

Deputy Look says he came upon a sedan parked on the dirt road that night with a man and woman inside. He approached to see if they needed directions or help. But when he got within ten feet of the car, though, it suddenly backed up and took off toward Dike Bridge. That was the last he saw of the vehicle until the following morning. 

From there, the gossip practically writes itself. Media reports allege that Ted Kennedy is a drunk and a philanderer. And they have some persuasive-seeming evidence. Journalists retrace Ted’s drive from the cottage to Dike Bridge and can’t believe he could have accidentally missed the turn for the ferry. The path to the dock is paved and lined, with a bright reflective arrow indicating the turn. What’s more, the dirt road Ted took instead drops a full six inches off the paved route, something any driver would have noticed. 

These revelations add fuel to the already blazing rumor mill. Then it emerges that the afternoon before the crash, Ted had crossed Dike Bridge to visit a private beach, so he had to know it was there. Combined with Deputy Look’s account of the night, journalists suggest Ted was not taking Mary Jo to the ferry after all. Some claim the two of them were headed for a late-night rendezvous by the beach.

Over the next few days, Ted Kennedy weathers the accusations in relative silence on the advice of his lawyers, who fear an indictment for manslaughter. After Mary Jo’s cause of death is declared to be drowning, however, the police only saddle Ted with a single charge of fleeing the scene of an accident.

The news comes as a relief to Ted and his family, but the saga is far from over. Ted Kennedy will have to account for his actions on Chappaquiddick that night in court. And he will have to live with the consequences of them for the rest of his life.

Act Three: The Trial

It’s July 25th 1969, in Martha’s Vineyard, seven days after the crash. 

Ted Kennedy keeps his head down as he makes his way to the old courthouse dressed in a somber suit. Judge James Boyle, a thin man with a kindly face, presides over the case. Ted takes his seat in the court as the judge calls the hearing to order and reads the charge: fleeing the scene of an accident causing bodily harm.

When the clerk asks for his plea, Ted speaks so quietly he has to repeat himself. The crowd almost erupts as he answers, “Guilty.”

After a brief period of questioning, Judge Boyle voices doubts about Ted’s account of the accident. He’s not convinced Ted was really taking Mary Jo Kopechne to the ferry and believes his driving that night may have been dangerous. 

Even so, given Ted’s reputation as a Senator, and the fact that he turned himself in the following morning, Judge Boyle hands down the minimum sentence: two months in prison. But even this is suspended, so Ted never serves any time behind bars.

Instead, about a week after the hearing, Ted returns to his seat in the Senate. But there are soon calls for a judicial inquest to determine whether Ted should be indicted on a greater crime.

So, in January of 1970, Judge Boyle conducts another hearing into the accident. This time, he finds that Ted Kennedy drove onto Dike Bridge negligently, and possibly even recklessly. But although Judge Boyle does find probable cause of a crime, he refuses to issue an arrest warrant. And soon afterward, a grand jury determines there isn’t enough evidence to prosecute Ted on a manslaughter charge.

Eventually, the rumors and accusations die down, but they never totally disappear. Before the crash, Ted Kennedy was on track to become the Democratic nominee for the 1972 presidential election. After, his team advises him that he would be foolish to try. 

Still, Ted Kennedy gets to keep his political career, and he continues to hold his Senate seat in Massachusetts until his death in 2009. He’s now remembered largely as a man who overcame great personal tragedy and shouldered immense political responsibility. Yet his reputation will always be scarred by the death of Mary Jo Kopechne . She had enjoyed a flourishing career before she got in the car with Ted that summer night, and despite her youth, she’d worked on political campaigns around the country, and there’s no telling what heights she might have reached had she only survived the crash that took her life on July 18th, 1969.

Outro

Next on History Daily. July 19th, 1903. Maurice Garin overcomes adversity to become the winner of the first ever Tour de France.

From Noiser and Airship, this is History Daily, hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsay Graham.

Audio editing by Muhammed Shahzaib.

Sound design by Matthew Filler.

Music by Thrumm.

This episode is written and researched by Terral Wells.

Edited by Joel Callen.

Managing producer Emily Burke.

Executive Producers are William Simpson for Airship, and Pascal Hughes for Noiser.