Chappaquiddick | The Kennedy Curse
4/28/202637 min
The young Ted Kennedy follows in the footsteps of his older brothers and enters the world of politics. But he struggles to cope with the burden of his family’s ambition and with the grief of losing his older siblings in tragic circumstances.
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Transcript preview
First 90 secondsLindsey Graham· Host0:00
American Scandal uses dramatizations that are based on true events. Some elements, including dialogue, might be invented, but everything is based on historical research. [gentle music] It's the morning of July 19th, 1969, in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey. Gwen Kopechne, a 51-year-old homemaker, is in her kitchen cleaning up after breakfast while her husband is off at the hardware store. Kopechne takes a pair of dirty plates from the kitchen table and dunks them in the soapy water in the sink. As she begins to scrub, Kopechne's mind wanders to her 28-year-old daughter, Mary Jo. Mary Jo is spending the weekend on Martha's Vineyard attending a party for staffers for Robert Kennedy's presidential run last year. She's there with half a dozen other women who worked on the campaign, but Kopechne won't feel totally at ease until she hears from her daughter. [phone rings] The phone rings. Kopechne thinks it must be Mary Jo calling, so eager to hear how the weekend is going, Kopechne dries her hands on her apron and hurries to lift the receiver off the wall. "Hello, Kopechne residence." "Uh, yes. Hello. Is, is Mr. Kopechne available?" Kopechne sighs. It's a man. It must be one of her husband's colleagues. "I'm sorry, he stepped out for a bit, but I can take a message. May I ask who's calling?" "Yes. This is Senator Ted Kennedy." Kopechne feels