New Film about Ted Kennedy at Chappaquiddick Opens Friday, April 6, 2018 by John Perna

Ted Kennedy might have been president except for this scandal. If you did what Ted Kennedy did, would you be out of jail yet? 
On the night of July 18,1969 Kennedy left a party with an attractive young intern en route to a private secluded beach on the far side of Dike Bridge. The party had been attended by married men and single women. Kennedy drove off of the single-lane bridge, and his vehicle overturned and submerged. Kennedy freed himself from the vehicle, but left 28-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne, to suffocate in an air pocket inside the overturned car. Nine hours later, a completely sober Ted Kennedy called authorities to report the incident, after conferring with political advisors and lawyers, Kopechne’s body had already been discovered by that time.

It took nearly a half-century to get this story told, in spite of the power of the Kennedy family, and only now that practically all of the major characters have passed away.

We should keep this in mind as we look at the current scandals involving the Clintons and Obama.

As the critic Todd McCarthy commented:

“It’s impossible to watch this film without imagining how such an incident would be covered today; very likely, the young woman would not have died had there been cellphones, as she was apparently still alive in the submerged car for at least two hours, maybe three or four. But even more astounding was Ted Kennedy’s not reporting the incident for 10 hours, then the fact that a story that otherwise would have provided endless headlines became an afterthought when the first moon landing took place two days later.”

“Chappaquiddick” by Entertainment Studios

and Starring Jason Clarke 

opens Friday, April 6