{"version":"1.0","type":"rich","provider_name":"Acast","provider_url":"https://acast.com","height":250,"width":700,"html":"","title":"Just The Gist of… The Death of Mary Jo Kopechne, otherwise known as 'The Chappaquiddick Incident'","description":"

Once both Senator Ted Kennedy's older brothers had been assassinated, he was widely expected to finish what JFK and Bobby had started by running for President in the next US election. Until, late one Friday night in 1969, Ted Kennedy got drunk at a party, crashed his car off a bridge, where it flipped mid-air and landed upside down in the pond below. Ted managed to swim free, but rather than calling for help or alerting authorities, he left his car submerged in the water and went back to his hotel to sleep it off.

Still inside the car though, was Ted Kennedy's passenger: 28-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne. Mary Jo was alive for more than an hour, trapped in a tiny air pocket until she suffocated to death, waiting for help that never came. Ted Kennedy wasn't punished, and while he didn't end up President, he did go on to spend the next 40 years as one of the most respected and longest serving members of the US Senate.

This is Just The Gist of The Death of Mary Jo Kopechne, otherwise known as 'The Chappaquiddick Incident'.

.

We give you Just The Gist, but if you want more, there's Breakin' Nooz, JTG After Show AND Bonus eps! You can access them by joining the Gistener Club via the Just The Gist Patreon or Apple Premium Subscriptions.

Watch Just The Gist episodes on Youtube @JustTheGistPodcast

Follow Just The Gist on Instagram and TikTok @JustTheGistPodcast

Follow Rosie in all the places at @RosieWaterland

Want to give us a SuGISTion? Tell Rosie to stop singing so much? Email us at hello@justthegist.com.au

Just The Gist is a Just The Network production. Executive Producer and Host: Rosie Waterland | Senior Producer and Editor: James Joseph | Producer: Kate Leaver | Additional production support: Hayley Staveley | Acast Legend: Guy Scott-Wilson | Production Assistant: Pocket

Don't forget to follow and give us 5 stars, which means something apparently!

Thank you, as always, for Gistening. Now go say something impressive at a dinner party.

.

Just The Gist episode: JFK Jr and Carolyn Bessette Kennedy (Just The Gist, 2025)

Ask Not: The Kennedys and the Women They Destroyed by Maureen Callahan (Hachette, 2024)

'Chappaquiddick' Official Trailer (YouTube, 2018)

'Chappaquiddick' Unblinkingly Revisits Most Shameful Moment in Kennedy History (Sydney Morning Herald, 2018)

The Crash That Launched 'Chappaquiddick' (Martha's Vineyard Times, 2019)

Ted Kennedy's televised address to the nation on Chappaquiddick (YouTube, 1969)

Roger Mudd asks Ted Kennedy 'Why do you want to be president?' (YouTube, 1979)

Transcript of Ted Kennedy's answer to 'Why do you want to be president?' (Medium, 2020)




","author_name":"Just The Network"}