My Interview with TED KENNEDY

*My Interview with Ted Kennedy

by Ken Simmons?

Recently the movie “Chappaquiddick” was released concerning the death of Mary Jo Kopechne when Senator Edward “Ted” Kennedy drove off a small bridge at Chappaquiddick Island near Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts. As a former broadcast journalist I had a unique perspective on this event. Read on to see why.

Before the Democratic Primary race in 1976 there were many high-ranking politicians gathered at the Walt Disney Resort Hotel in Orlando. I had gained a reputation for being able to secure exclusive private interviews that many other journalists were unable to obtain. That included interviews with Jimmy Carter, with whom I had a private lunch that included Gov. Carter, his aide, and me at a hotel in Lakeland, FL, as well as a 90-minute in-studio interview with his wife, Rosalyn Carter, and numerous private interviews with my friend, Senator then later Governor Lawton Chiles of Florida. Interviews such as these enabled me to have a private, one-on-one interview with U. S. Senator **Ted Kennedy, brother of John F. Kennedy. ?

At the beginning of the interview I asked him about rumors that his mother, Rose Kennedy, had serious concerns about his seeking the presidency in light of the fact that both of his brothers had been assassinated; John F. Kennedy in Dallas on November 22, 1963, and Robert F. Kennedy in Los Angeles on June 6, 1968.

He replied that he was aware of his mother's concerns but that he was his "own man" and he would decide soon. Senator Kennedy knew that if he sought the U.S. Presidency he would first have to defeat Jimmy Carter in the primary race for the Democratic Party.

But when I asked him the following question the atmosphere in the room changed dramatically. I asked,

"Senator Kennedy, if you decide to challenge Jimmy Carter in the primary race are you prepared for the inevitable questions you will get from the world media regarding Mary Jo Kopechne and the events surrounding Chappaquiddick, since the press seems unwilling to let this issue go?” ?

When I questioned him about the matter the senator's face flushed red and he glanced at the other man in the room. It was apparent he was more than a little displeased with my question. His aide, who likely also doubled as his bodyguard, rushed over and grabbed around my chest, and roughly manhandled me out of the room. ?As he shoved me out into the hallway I shouted,

"Senator, if you can't handle questions like this now, how will you handle the world media when they begin asking you probing questions about the death of Mary Jo Kopechne?"

Mary Jo Kopechne was killed when she and the senator left a party on Martha's Vineyard on July 18, 1969 and the senator's Oldsmobile ran off a bridge, flipping upside down, and sank into the water. The events at Chappaquiddick were just two days before Neil Armstrong made history by walking on the moon, so much of the news of the Chappaquiddick incident was overshadowed by the moon landing. Controversy surrounded the tragic events of that night, during which Kennedy made 17 phone calls, none of which were to the police. It was 10 hours after the car went into the water that he finally informed the authorities.

Although the official report indicated Ms. Kopechne drowned, the scuba diver who recovered her body from the car said she had a large pocket of air in the car that could have sustained her for two or three hours. The coroner also confirmed that the 28-year-old Ms. Kopechne died from asphyxiation, not drowning, all while Kennedy sat on the bridge wondering how this would affect his career. This information was suppressed for years.

Questions continued as to how Kennedy was able to extricate himself from the overturned car after it hit the water, either by opening a door, or a window, without completely flooding the inside of the car, and yet the upside-down Oldsmobile had a large pocket of air, meaning that it was only partially flooded. That begs the questions: “Was he actually in the car when it went off the bridge?”

As it turned out, Democratic voters felt the trust issue was more important than the Kennedy name and Jimmy Carter became the 39th president of the United States. ?

It was Jesus who said: “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his own soul?” (See Mark 8:36)

The insatiable drive to obtain, wealth, fame, or power, either in the business world or in the political realm, inevitably results in the loss of that person’s soul. This seems to be particularly evident in today’s secular world and those who seek after these things end up as empty souls, never able to fill the void in their lives. ?

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*Interview with Kennedy was suggested from an article that chronicles my radio career entitled: Who’s Who in radio, found on

Radio Years https://radioyears.com/other/details.cfm?lid=8&id=678??

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**Senator Edward (Ted) Kennedy died on August 25, 2009 of brain cancer.