"An achievement of reportorial diligence, this book tells a story that the most imaginative crime novelist would have been hard put to invent. It is a tale of death, intrigue, obstruction of justice, corruption and politics." —People Magazine A young woman leaves a party with a wealthy U.S. senator. The next morning her body is discovered in his car at the bottom of a pond. This is the damning true story of the death of campaign strategist Mary Jo Kopechne at Chappaquiddick and of the senator—37-year-old Senator Ted Kennedy—who left her trapped underwater while he returned to his hotel, slept, and made phone calls to associates. It is the story of a powerful, privileged American man who was able to treat a woman's life as disposable without facing real consequences. And it is the story of a shameful political coverup involving one of the nation's most well-connected families and its network of lawyers, public relations people, and friends who ensured Ted Kennedy remained a respected member of the Senate for forty more years. Originally published in 1988 under the title Senatorial Privilege, this book almost didn't make it into print after its original publisher, Random House, judged it too explosive and backed out of its contract with author Leo Damore. Mysteriously, none of the other big New York publishers wanted to touch it. Only when small independent publisher Regnery obtained the manuscript was the book's publication made possible and the true story of the so-called "Chappaquiddick Incident" finally told. This new edition, Chappaquiddick, is being released 30 years after the original Senatorial Privilege to coincide with the nationwide theatrical release of the movie Chappaquiddick starring Jason Clarke, Kate Mara, Ed Helms, Bruce Dern, and Jim Gaffigan.

I still feel a lot of bitterness. It's been a long time, but to me it was just yesterday. I'll never forgive him. I don't believe the truth has been told. I don't know the truth. None of us knows the truth. It's still a mystery . . . . There was just too much deception, too much double talk and cover up. -- Joseph Kopechne, Women's News Service This then is the real horror of the case. Mary Jo in the bottom of that upside-down car, wedged in, clawing, clutching and straining for air and for life in the total blackness at the bottom of Poucha Pond with water creeping higher and higher. Completely terrified, she waited for help from Senator Kennedy - who was on the phone seeking help not for Mary Jo, but for Senator Kennedy. From Death at Chappaquiddick On July 19, 1969, Senator Edward Kennedy drove off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island, leading to the death of his young female companion and, the authors contend, an extensive cover up to protect Kennedy's political ambitions. The Tedrow recreates the unexplained events of that fateful night, examine the self-admitted panic of a U. S. senator, and point by point puncture Kennedy's sieve-like account of the tragedy. The authors' exhaustive investigation produces solid answers to curious questions. Most damning of all, they present evidence that Kennedy fled the scene in panic, then spent hours telephoning cronies seeking political protection while a helpless Mary Jo Kapechne slowly suffocated in a pocket of air inside the submerged auto. Richard L. Tedrow served for 17 years as Chief Commissioner of the U. S. Court of Military Appeal and is the author of the standard reference for U. S. military court martials. Thomas Tedrow is a freelance writer in Houston, Texas.

There have been 13 books written about Ted Kennedy and the Chappaquiddick incident of 1969. These support some eight theories as to what may have occurred that night, including the possibility that Kennedy told the truth. There seems little point publishing yet another unless it truly solves the mystery. This one does. Bill Pinney, a life-long Chappaquiddick resident, and former investigative reporter, introduces the first new witness who has stepped forward in almost 50 years. The accident is then analyzed scientifically by a renowned physicist and police consultant to determine whether the extraordinary premise implied by the witness' sighting is true, or false. Pinney's book includes a treasure-trove of never-before-published accident scene photos which are at odds with the official diagrams and testimony presented at the Kopechne exhumation, hearing, and inquest. These photographs turn every previous theory on its head, except one. The final conclusion is inescapable, irrefutable, explosive and implicates not just Edward Kennedy but several guests at the party of gross criminal misconduct. Chappaquiddick Speaks is loaded with new evidence, exclusive interviews, and good science. The intelligent reader will find it not only a game changer for the Chappaquiddick narrative, but also relevant to our present political climate.

Offers a wealth of facts about the incident, including a detailed chronology of events preceding the accident, weighs the competing theories about the drowning of Mary Jo Kopechne, and arrives at a simple theory of its own. Reprint.

On July 18, 1969, a car driven by Senator Edward M. Kennedy plunged off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island, off the coast of Cape Cod. Mary Jo Kopechne, a twenty-eight-year-old former staffer for Kennedy's brother Robert, died in the crash. The scandal that followed demeaned Kopechne's reputation and scapegoated her for Ted Kennedy's inability to run for the presidency instead of acknowledging her as an innocent victim in a tragedy that took her life. William C. Kashatus's biography of Mary Jo Kopechne illuminates the life of a politically committed young woman who embodied the best ideals of the sixties. Arriving in Washington in 1963, Kopechne soon joined the staff of Robert F. Kennedy and committed herself to his vision of compassion for the underprivileged, social idealism tempered by political realism, and a more humane nation. Kashatus details her work as an energetic and trusted staffer who became one of the famed Boiler Room Girls at the heart of RFK's presidential campaign. Shattered by his assassination, Kopechne took a break from politics before returning as a consultant. It was at a reunion of the Boiler Room Girls that she accepted a ride from Edward Kennedy--a decision she would pay for with her life. The untold--and long overdue--story of a promising life cut short, Before Chappaquiddick tells the human side of one of the most memorable scandals of the 1960s. Purchase the audio edition.

A new assessment of the unanswered questions surrounding Ted Kennedy and the death of Mary Jo Kopechne on a summer night in 1969. On July 18, 1969, Ted Kennedy drove his Oldsmobile 88 off Dike Bridge and into Poucha Pond in Chappaquiddick, Massachusetts, after a night of partying in nearby Edgartown. Kennedy was unharmed and returned to Edgartown as if nothing had happened. His cousin Joe Gargan was reportedly willing to take the rap for the wreck—but he was not going to be held responsible for a death. In the morning, a body was discovered in the back seat of the sunken car—the body of Mary Jo Kopechne, one of the six unmarried women at the party the night before. The Edgartown police chief charged Kennedy with leaving the scene of an accident that caused personal injury. Kennedy pleaded guilty to avoid a trial, but his sentence was suspended. The public did not understand this “accident,” and they demanded answers. The district attorney, Edmund Dinis, launched an inquest, but the proceedings were closed to the public. The mystery surrounding this incident still baffles some to this day. Why was Kopechne in the rear seat? Why didn’t Kennedy call for help after the crash? Why did Kennedy flee to Edgartown? Why was Rosemary Keough’s handbag found in the submerged, inverted car on the ceiling of the front-seat compartment? This compelling book proposes a new theory to answer all of these intriguing questions.