Edward Moore Kennedy
Ted, the youngest of the Kennedy clan, was born on February 22, 1932. He graduated from Harvard with a degree in government in 1956, and from the University of Virginia Law School in 1959. In 1958, he married Virginia Joan Bennett and they had three children together. Not surprisingly, after college he hoped to embark upon a political career. After John Kennedy was elected president, Edward sought the vacant Senate seat left by his brother. In 1962, Ted was elected to the Senate.
On July 18, 1969, Ted was involved in a car accident. While driving home from a party on Chappaquiddick Island, part of Martha's Vineyard, he drove the car off a bridge and into the pond below. As the car submerged underwater upside down, Ted was able to escape.
According to Ted, he tried to rescue his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne, but was unable to do so. Although there was a house nearby, he returned to the party. He told his cousin and friend what had happened, and they returned to the scene of the accident. No one notified the police.
Ted reported the incident the following morning and it quickly became a newsworthy story. What was most intriguing about the story was the question of why Ted failed to notify the authorities immediately. It was a question that would never receive an adequate answer. In the end, he pled guilty to leaving the scene of an accident and received one year probation.
FACT
On the night of the accident, Ted and his five married friends were partying with Kopechne and five other single women known as the “Boiler Room Girls.” The group of women had worked on Robert Kennedy's presidential campaign. According to the men, it was a weekend getaway to thank the women for their help.
Although Ted emerged from the accident nearly unscathed physically, his political career suffered. Many voters were disturbed by his conduct, and in 1980 when he ran for the Democratic presidential nomination against Jimmy Carter, he was defeated. Ted decided to dedicate himself to his work in Congress. Today, he is Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and serves on the Judiciary Committee and the Armed Services Committee. He is now married to Victoria Reggie.
John F. Kennedy with the next generation of Kennedys, August 1963.
Photo credit: Cecil Stoughton, White House/John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston
