Death at Chappaquiddick [Paperback]

Richard Tedrow (Author), Thomas Tedrow (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 31, 1980

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.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Pelican Publishing; 1st paperback ed edition (January 31, 1980)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0882892495
• ISBN-13: 978-0882892498
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,035,639 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

64 of 86 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book of hard cold facts, May 25, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Death at Chappaquiddick (Paperback)

Since the only other review of this book doesn't make any sense, I thought it necessary to write a coherent one. This book is truly incredible. It proves Ted Kennedy's guilt with clarity and integrity. The facts are simply undeniable - if it weren't for Ted, Mary Jo would be alive today. The Kennedy family has long been America's sweethearts. It is high time that they are revealed as murders, philanderers, cheaters, liars and losers. Sorry, but this is coming from an Irish Catholic who is ashamed to admit that the Kennedys claim some ties to the land of her origin! They are all bad but Ted Kennedy is the worst. He should be behind bars- this book will tell you why. Read it - it's a well done piece of detective work and it will hold your interest. It may also make your blood boil - but that's not the authors' fault! DOWN WITH THE KENNEDYS!

84 of 118 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What A Wonderful Human Being !!, November 29, 2004

By 

J. Reynolds (Houston, TX United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Death at Chappaquiddick (Paperback)

One has to feel amazed, reading this book, at how PROUD the people of Massachusetts must be of their esteemed senior US senator. First, he was eminently generous to host a party for six young women who had all toiled so hard to assist with his family's politics. You have to know that lower-level campaign workers of their age rarely receive attention from the more powerful folks in the political apparatus. The girls must have been utterly thrilled, to have been asked to a cook-out and get to mingle with all of those seasoned, powerful men. Edward Kennedy was extremely magnanimous, stooping in that fashion to reward the "little people."

Also, the kindness he extended to Ms Kopechne, in offering to drive her back to the mainland after she began feeling tired, was just stupendous. For a busy, powerful man of this nature to offer such a favor to an attractive young woman is simply heart-warming -- it's just not the sort of thing that your typical rich, connected and powerful male will do for a pretty young girl.

And then: Tragedy, a horrible, ghastly accident wherein the senator, unfamiliar with the route, drove his car off a bridge. It could have happened to anyone. But then he redeemed himself in the eyes of his family, of her family, his constituency (the citizens of Massachusetts), and the Almighty, by exerting a superhumanly heroic effort to save her from drowning in the car. Diving repeatedly into the dangerously swift current, heedless of his own life and limb -- what a man! -- he just could not extract her from that watery tomb.

But the senator then did not let anyone down. He immediately assumed full and complete responsibility, proactively contacting authorities and providing a comprehensive, extremely detailed account of the tragedy that answered all possible questions and completely cleared the air. He made his Massachusetts supporters very, very proud of him, and they immediately decided he can be their senator for the rest of his life.

Suffering terrible pain (causing him to need a neck brace), the senator then attended the girl's funeral and comforted her parents -- a godlike gesture from a godlike politician. Edward Kennedy, ambassador of goodness, healer of wounds, dryer of tears, comforter of parents whose daughter gets accidentally drowned and just happens, as fate would have it, not to be clad in any below-the-waist undergarments at the time that older, married man was driving her home.

We all should salute the voters of Massachusetts for their superb choice in senators. If we considered the people of Massachusetts a sort of "holy spirit," then we may rightfully call that state's two divine senators the "father" and the "son." World without end, Amen.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The best book on Chappaquidick, but one big mistake I think, September 6, 2009

By 

Exeter (Foster City, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Death at Chappaquiddick (Paperback)

Complete and intelligently written, I recommend it. But on page 233, the author answers the question on why Senator Kennedy waited so long to notify the authorities with "Panic, and the inability to face crisis." In fact, the Senator was calmly facing the crisis and thinking clearly. In my opinion, his problem was not the dead girl, it was that he had had sexual relations with her, and an autopsy would reveal this. He needed to get the body off the island and out of Massachusetts as quickly as possible. This would take some time to arrange. Also, he needed to buy time while the Kennedy machinery rolled into action to smother the inevitable bad publicity. Lastly, the longer she stayed in the water the less likely the coroner or mortician would notice anything suspicious, such as grass stains on her clothes for example. In short, the crisis was the sexual aspect, not the accidental death. He made 17 long distance telephone calls; that's what it took. Satisfied with the result, he arose early the next day, ate a hearty breakfast, and chatted about the yacht race. He was confident that everything was taken care of, and it was. He was way ahead of his two lawyers/confidants, and all three of them were way ahead of local law enforcement. There was of course the problem with Miss Kopechne remaining alive in the air pocket. In fact the Senator may have considered this while standing at the edge of the pond and looking at his submerged vehicle, but he could not take the chance on calling the authorities only to find her dead before things were properly arranged. This is why he waited until the last moment, and pretended to be confused. He did not panic.

I believe the authors rightly discounted the "third person" theory. This unlikely scenario was put forward to explain why the Senator did not save Ms. Kopechne. It hypothesizes that he did not know she was sleeping in the back of the car, and therefore did not know she was trapped. With the exhumation and autopsy blocked, it was time to make the Senator look less cowardly, and this was one way to do it.

A real tragedy this, almost Shakespearean.