An incident that may have cost a Kennedy the US presidency
| DATE: 2009-08-27 | PRINT | SHARE
Aside from a politically ambitious and wealthy father, Kennedy boasted a rich family political legacy linked to an era of civil rights gains -- as brother of John F. Kennedy and attorney general Robert F. Kennedy.
And the Massachusetts Senator's legislative achievements may well make him remembered as one of the most accomplished legislators in US history.
But he still was dogged throughout his adult life by lingering questions surrounding the tragic death of Mary Jo Kopechne, a campaign worker killed in July 1969, when Kennedy's car plunged off a bridge at Chappaquiddick Island, Massachusetts, off the posh holiday spot Martha's Vineyard.
The silver-screenworthy drama was anything but fiction.
And indeed, the Kennedy legacy -- his case included -- has included a neon light of substance abuse flashing quietly and persistently in the background, even amid history-making achievements in political life.
Kennedy had offered the 28-year-old campaign worker a ride home. After his car plunged off a bridge and into the water, he swam to safety but did not alert authorities. Kopechne's body was found inside the car the next day.
Edward Kennedy later received a suspended two-month jail sentence for leaving the scene of the accident.
Kennedy appeared on television saying: "I regard as indefensible the fact that I did not report the accident to the police immediately."
Then seen as the future of the Kennedy dynasty, he denied driving under the influence of alcohol and denied any immoral conduct between him and Kopechne. Kennedy was not indicted in the case and was reelected.
Many Americans still had lingering suspicions, however, about whether he might have left someone to die, and the country was gripped by the dramatic incident involving a married lawmaker whose character -- rightly or wrongly -- became the butt of late-night comics' jokes for years.
So if he escaped the incident in the flesh, politically he never did.
Ted Kennedy was first elected to the Senate in 1962 at age 30 to take the place of his brother, John, when he became president.
He also made a White House run in 1980, but ultimately failed in his bid to challenge then-president Jimmy Carter for the Democratic Party nomination.
Before age slowed him down, Kennedy was known for years as a cavorter and skirt-chaser, infamous for his drinking and disastrous divorce after a stormy marriage to his first wife, Joan Bennett Kennedy. She suffered from depression and alcoholism.
Kennedy late in his life made the fight for health care -- including mental health care -- for all Americans, what he called "the fight of his life."
The death of Ted Kennedy leaves his own son Patrick, 42, a member of the Rhode Island state House of Representatives, to carry the political mantle.
Yet Patrick Kennedy already has had a share of legal and substance-related drama.
After admitting treatment for cocaine use as a teen, Patrick in 2006 -- involved in a substance-related driving accident -- said he had an addiction to prescription medication and went back to rehab at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.
| DATE: 2009-08-27 | PRINT | SHARE
WASHINGTON, Aug 26, 2009 (AFP) - Edward Kennedy, a president's brother who had his own eye on the White House, might have had his own presidential legacy if it were not for a high-profile incident that left his character in doubt.
Aside from a politically ambitious and wealthy father, Kennedy boasted a rich family political legacy linked to an era of civil rights gains -- as brother of John F. Kennedy and attorney general Robert F. Kennedy.
And the Massachusetts Senator's legislative achievements may well make him remembered as one of the most accomplished legislators in US history.
But he still was dogged throughout his adult life by lingering questions surrounding the tragic death of Mary Jo Kopechne, a campaign worker killed in July 1969, when Kennedy's car plunged off a bridge at Chappaquiddick Island, Massachusetts, off the posh holiday spot Martha's Vineyard.
The silver-screenworthy drama was anything but fiction.
And indeed, the Kennedy legacy -- his case included -- has included a neon light of substance abuse flashing quietly and persistently in the background, even amid history-making achievements in political life.
Kennedy had offered the 28-year-old campaign worker a ride home. After his car plunged off a bridge and into the water, he swam to safety but did not alert authorities. Kopechne's body was found inside the car the next day.
Edward Kennedy later received a suspended two-month jail sentence for leaving the scene of the accident.
Kennedy appeared on television saying: "I regard as indefensible the fact that I did not report the accident to the police immediately."
Then seen as the future of the Kennedy dynasty, he denied driving under the influence of alcohol and denied any immoral conduct between him and Kopechne. Kennedy was not indicted in the case and was reelected.
Many Americans still had lingering suspicions, however, about whether he might have left someone to die, and the country was gripped by the dramatic incident involving a married lawmaker whose character -- rightly or wrongly -- became the butt of late-night comics' jokes for years.
So if he escaped the incident in the flesh, politically he never did.
Ted Kennedy was first elected to the Senate in 1962 at age 30 to take the place of his brother, John, when he became president.
He also made a White House run in 1980, but ultimately failed in his bid to challenge then-president Jimmy Carter for the Democratic Party nomination.
Before age slowed him down, Kennedy was known for years as a cavorter and skirt-chaser, infamous for his drinking and disastrous divorce after a stormy marriage to his first wife, Joan Bennett Kennedy. She suffered from depression and alcoholism.
Kennedy late in his life made the fight for health care -- including mental health care -- for all Americans, what he called "the fight of his life."
The death of Ted Kennedy leaves his own son Patrick, 42, a member of the Rhode Island state House of Representatives, to carry the political mantle.
Yet Patrick Kennedy already has had a share of legal and substance-related drama.
After admitting treatment for cocaine use as a teen, Patrick in 2006 -- involved in a substance-related driving accident -- said he had an addiction to prescription medication and went back to rehab at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.
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