Ted Kennedy:
Career
Kennedy is the senior Democrat on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. He also serves on the Judiciary Committee, where he is the senior Democrat on the Immigration Subcommittee, and the Armed Services Committee, where he is the senior Democrat on the Seapower Subcommittee. He is also a member of the Congressional Joint Economic Committee, a founder of the Congressional Friends of Ireland, and a trustee of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC.
Kennedy tried to secure the Democratic nomination for the 1980 Presidential election, but despite winning support early his bid was ultimately unsuccessful. Many attribute this to the incident at Chappaquiddick.
Family
John, Robert, and Edward KennedyKennedy is the youngest of nine children of Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, and is a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Virginia Law School. His home is in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, where he lives with his wife, Victoria Reggie Kennedy, and children, Curran and Caroline. He also has three grown children from his former marriage with Virginia Joan Bennett: Kara, Edward Jr., and Patrick, and four grandchildren.
Chappaquiddick
After a party on Chappaquiddick Island on July 18, 1969, Senator Edward Kennedy drove his 1967 Oldsmobile Delta 88 off a wooden bridge into a tide-swept pond and his passenger and aide, Mary Jo Kopechne, drowned. Kennedy did not report the incident for 10 hours. Kennedy pleaded guilty to a charge of leaving the scene of an accident and received a suspended sentence. This incident has haunted his reputation for the 35 years since its transpiring. Senator Kennedy's driver's license had expired on February 22, 1969 and had not been renewed. Although driving with an expired license was only a misdemeanor, it did provide the evidence of negligence needed to prove a manslaughter charge in the death of Mary Jo Kopechne. Kennedy had a history of convictions and fines for reckless driving, dating back to when he had been fined US$15 for speeding in March 1957. While attending the University of Virginia, he became notorious for running red lights. The license problem was "fixed" by officials at the Registry of Motor Vehicles, under the direction of Registrar Richard McLaughlin, before the legal proceedings began.
Ted Kennedy's Driving Record:
Ted Kennedy had a record of serious traffic violations including a June, 1958 conviction for "reckless driving." Their nature formed a pattern of deliberate and repeated negligent operation.
On March 14, 1958, Deputy Sheriff Thomas Whitten had been on routine highway patrol outside Charlottesville, Virginia, when an Oldsmobile convertible ran a red light, sped off, then cut its tail lights to elude pursuit. A license check revealed the car belonged to Edward M. Kennedy, a 26-year-old law student attending the University of Virginia. Kennedy had previously been fined $15 for speeding in March 1957.
Whitten was on patrol at the same intersection a week later, he testified, "And here comes the same car. And to my surprise, he did exactly the same thing. He raced through the same red light, cut his lights when he got to the corner and made the right turn." Whitten gave chase. He found the car in a driveway, apparently unoccupied. Looking inside, he discovered the driver, Teddy Kennedy, stretched out on the front seat and hiding. Whitten issued a ticket for "reckless driving; racing with an officer to avoid arrest; and operating a motor vehicle without an operator's license (Mass. registration.)"
Kennedy's attorneys were able to win numerous postponements, but eventually he was convicted on all charges and paid a $35 fine. Court officials never filed the mandatory notice of the case in the public docket, however, and Kennedy's name had not appeared on any arrest blotter. Instead, a local reporter discovered the case when he spotted 5 warrants in Kennedy's name in a court cash drawer.
Three weeks after his trial, Ted Kennedy was caught speeding again, and still operating without a valid license.
In December 1959, Kennedy was stopped again for running a red light and fined $10 and costs. In Whitten's view, "That boy had a heavy foot and a mental block against the color red. He was a careless, reckless driver who didn't seem to have any regard for speed limits or traffic ordinances."
The offenses in Virginia had occurred on Ted Kennedy's Massachusetts driver's license, but mysteriously neither the Registry of Motor Vehicles nor the office of probation in Cambridge had any record of the out-of-state convictions. Had it been revealed at the inquest, the Senator's history of negligence and reckless driving would have been further evidence to support a charge of manslaughter in the Chappaquiddick accident.
Source: Senatorial Privilege by Leo Damore |
