Just The Gist of… The Death of Mary Jo Kopechne, otherwise known as 'The Chappaquiddick Incident'
6/3/20261 hr 11 min
Once both Senator Ted Kennedy's older brothers had been assassinated, he was widely expected to finish what JFK and Bobby had started by running for President in the next US election. Until, late one Friday night in 1969, Ted Kennedy got drunk at a party, crashed his car off a bridge, where it flipped mid-air and landed upside down in the pond below. Ted managed to swim free, but rather than calling for help or alerting authorities, he left his car submerged in the water and went back to his hotel to sleep it off.
Still inside the car though, was Ted Kennedy's passenger: 28-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne. Mary Jo was alive for more than an hour, trapped in a tiny air pocket until she suffocated to death, waiting for help that never came. Ted Kennedy wasn't punished, and while he didn't end up President, he did go on to spend the next 40 years as one of the most respected and longest serving members of the US Senate.
This is Just The Gist of The Death of Mary Jo Kopechne, otherwise known as 'The Chappaquiddick Incident'.
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Just The Gist episode: JFK Jr and Carolyn Bessette Kennedy (Just The Gist, 2025)
Ask Not: The Kennedys and the Women They Destroyed by Maureen Callahan (Hachette, 2024)
'Chappaquiddick' Official Trailer (YouTube, 2018)
The Crash That Launched 'Chappaquiddick' (Martha's Vineyard Times, 2019)
Ted Kennedy's televised address to the nation on Chappaquiddick (YouTube, 1969)
Roger Mudd asks Ted Kennedy 'Why do you want to be president?' (YouTube, 1979)
Transcript of Ted Kennedy's answer to 'Why do you want to be president?' (Medium, 2020)
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsRosie Waterland· Host0:00
Beep boop, beep boop, beep boop.
Hayley Staveley· Host0:01
A Just The Network production.
Rosie Waterland· Host0:04
Beep boop boop. [laughs] [laughs] That sounds good. After the shocking early deaths of his older brothers, by 1969, Ted Kennedy was the only son left in the powerful Kennedy family, and now the only hope left for another Kennedy presidency. Until late one Friday night, Ted Kennedy got drunk at a party, drove his car off a bridge into a shallow pond, swam free, and went home to sleep it off. He didn't call for help. He just left his car submerged and upside down in the pond. Still inside the car, though, was Ted Kennedy's passenger, 28-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne, who was alive- Oh ... for more than an hour, trapped in a tiny- Oh ... air pocket until she- What? ... suffocated to death waiting for help- Oh ... that never came.
Hayley Staveley· Host1:02
Oh.
Rosie Waterland· Host1:04
Ted Kennedy, being a Kennedy, wasn't punished, and while he didn't end up president, he did go on to spend the next 40 years as one of the most respected and longest serving members of the US Senate. This is just the gist of the death of Mary Jo Kopechne in what most people know as the Chappaquiddick incident.
Hayley Staveley· Host1:26
Oh my gosh.
Rosie Waterland· Host1:29
Yeah.