Chappaquiddick

The Kennedy family may have been American royalty, but they were cursed: two brothers assassinated, and Edward, who might have followed in JFK's footsteps, saw any hope of a future presidency trashed one fateful night in July 1969 when his car jumped a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island leaving a young woman passenger dead. Or was Mary Jo Kopechne the driver rather than the passenger?

Those of us who were alive at this time and who had the slightest interest in American politics remember this bizarre affair well. The only thing on which all pundits and observers seem to agree is that Kennedy did not tell the truth, the whole truth, or anything like the truth. This documentary speaks to many of those involved including local law enforcement and the bloke who embalmed the poor girl, but not the pathologist because would you believe no autopsy was performed?

The explanation given by one lawman - which appears to be supported by forensics - is that Kennedy was not in the car at the time. Having been spotted by a police officer, and almost certainly over the legal driving limit, he got out, told Mary Jo to take the wheel, and walked off alone remaining blissfully ignorant of what had happened until the next morning. That means he wasn't quite the lowlife some would have us believe, that he left her to drown while doing the damnedest to protect his reputation, but it damages his reputation in other ways, namely the married senator was playing away with a younger woman. Alas, the one man who knows for certain what really happened took his lies with him to the grave, but the story advanced here sounds the most plausible.