Mary Jo Kopechne
Encyclopedia
Mary Jo Kopechne was an American
teacher
, secretary
, and political campaign
specialist who died in a car accident in Chappaquiddick Island
, Massachusetts
on July 18, 1969, while a passenger in a car being driven by U.S. Senator
Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy
.
, was the daughter and only child of insurance salesman Joseph Kopechne and his wife, Gwen. She was of Polish-American heritage. Her family moved to Berkeley Heights, New Jersey
when Kopechne was an infant. She attended parochial school
s growing up. After graduating with a degree in business administration from Caldwell College for Women in 1962, Kopechne moved to Montgomery, Alabama
, to teach for a year at the Mission of St. Jude, an activity that was part of the Civil Rights Movement. By 1963, Kopechne relocated to Washington, D.C.
, to work as secretary for Florida
Senator George Smathers
. She joined New York
Senator Robert F. Kennedy
's secretarial staff following his election in November 1964. For that office she worked as a secretary to the senator's speechwriters and as a legal secretary to one of his legal advisers. Kopechne was a loyal worker. Once during March 1967, she stayed up all night at Kennedy's Hickory Hill
home to type a major speech against the Vietnam War
, while the senator and his aides such as Ted Sorenson made last-minute changes to it.
During the 1968 U.S. presidential election
, Kopechne helped with the wording of Kennedy's speech of March 1968 announcing his presidential candidacy. During his campaign
, she worked as one of the "Boiler Room Girls
". This was an affectionate nickname given to six young women whose office area was in a hot, loud, windowless location in Kennedy's Washington campaign headquarters. They were vital in tracking and compiling data and intelligence on how Democratic delegates from various states were intending to vote; Kopechne's responsibilities included Pennsylvania
. Kopechne and the other staffers were knowledgeable politically, and were chosen for their ability to work skillfully for long, hectic hours on sensitive matters. They talked daily with field managers and also helped distribute policy statements to strategic newspapers.
Kopechne was devastated emotionally by the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy on June 5, 1968. After working briefly for the Kennedy proxy campaign of George McGovern
, she stated she could not return to work on Capitol Hill, saying "I just feel Bobby's presence everywhere. I can't go back because it will never be the same again." But as her father later said, "Politics was her life," and in December 1968 she used her experience to gain a job with Matt Reese Associates, a Washington, D.C., firm that helped establish campaign headquarters and field offices for politicians and was one of the first political consulting
companies. By mid-1969 she had completed work for a mayoral campaign in Jersey City, New Jersey
. She was on her way to a successful professional career. Kopechne lived in the Washington neighborhood of Georgetown
with three other women. She was a fan of the Boston Red Sox
and of fellow Polish-American Carl Yastrzemski
. She was a devout Roman Catholic with a demure, serious, "convent school" demeanor, rarely drank much, and had no reputation for extramarital activities with men.
, off the coast of Martha's Vineyard
, Massachusetts
. The celebration was in honor of the dedicated work of the Boiler Room Girls, and was the fourth such reunion of the Robert F. Kennedy campaign workers. Kopechne reportedly left the party at 11:15 p.m. with Robert's brother Ted
, after he — according to his own account — offered to drive her to catch the last ferry back to Edgartown, where she was staying. She did not tell her close friends at the party that she was leaving, and she left her purse and keys behind. Kennedy drove the 1967 Oldsmobile Delmont 88 off a narrow, unlit bridge, which was without guardrails and was not on the route to Edgartown. The Oldsmobile landed in Poucha Pond and overturned in the water; Kennedy extricated himself from the vehicle and survived, but Kopechne did not.
Kennedy failed to report the incident to the authorities until the car and Kopechne's body were discovered the next morning. Kopechne's parents said that they learned of their daughter's death from Kennedy himself, before he informed authorities of his involvement. However, they learned Kennedy had been the driver from wire press releases some time later.
A private funeral for Kopechne was held on July 22, 1969, at St. Vincent's Roman Catholic Church
in Plymouth, Pennsylvania
, attended by Kennedy. She is buried in the parish cemetery on the side of Larksville Mountain.
. On a national television broadcast that night, Kennedy said that he had not been driving "under the influence of liquor" nor had he ever had a "private relationship" with Kopechne.
The Chappaquiddick incident and Kopechne's death became the topic of at least fifteen books, as well as a fictionalized treatment by Joyce Carol Oates
. Questions remained about Kennedy's timeline of events that night, specifically his actions following the incident. The quality of the investigation has been scrutinized, particularly whether official deference was given to a powerful and influential politician, and his family. The events surrounding Kopechne's death damaged Kennedy's reputation and are regarded as a major reason that he was never able to mount a successful campaign for President of the United States
.
Kennedy expressed remorse over his role in her death, in his posthumously-published memoir, True Compass.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
teacher
Teacher
A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...
, secretary
Secretary
A secretary, or administrative assistant, is a person whose work consists of supporting management, including executives, using a variety of project management, communication & organizational skills. These functions may be entirely carried out to assist one other employee or may be for the benefit...
, and political campaign
Political campaign
A political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making process within a specific group. In democracies, political campaigns often refer to electoral campaigns, wherein representatives are chosen or referendums are decided...
specialist who died in a car accident in Chappaquiddick Island
Chappaquiddick Island
Chappaquiddick Island is a small island off the eastern end of the larger island of Martha's Vineyard and is part of the town of Edgartown, Massachusetts. The island's name became internationally recognized following the July 18, 1969 incident, for which U.S. Senator Edward M...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
on July 18, 1969, while a passenger in a car being driven by U.S. Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy
Ted Kennedy
Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy was a United States Senator from Massachusetts and a member of the Democratic Party. Serving almost 47 years, he was the second most senior member of the Senate when he died and is the fourth-longest-serving senator in United States history...
.
Life
Kopechne, born in Wilkes-Barre, PennsylvaniaWilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
Wilkes-Barre is a city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, the county seat of Luzerne County. It is at the center of the Wyoming Valley area and is one of the principal cities in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre metropolitan area, which had a population of 563,631 as of the 2010 Census...
, was the daughter and only child of insurance salesman Joseph Kopechne and his wife, Gwen. She was of Polish-American heritage. Her family moved to Berkeley Heights, New Jersey
Berkeley Heights, New Jersey
Berkeley Heights is a township in Union County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 13,183....
when Kopechne was an infant. She attended parochial school
Parochial school
A parochial school is a school that provides religious education in addition to conventional education. In a narrower sense, a parochial school is a Christian grammar school or high school which is part of, and run by, a parish.-United Kingdom:...
s growing up. After graduating with a degree in business administration from Caldwell College for Women in 1962, Kopechne moved to Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery is the capital of the U.S. state of Alabama, and is the county seat of Montgomery County. It is located on the Alabama River southeast of the center of the state, in the Gulf Coastal Plain. As of the 2010 census, Montgomery had a population of 205,764 making it the second-largest city...
, to teach for a year at the Mission of St. Jude, an activity that was part of the Civil Rights Movement. By 1963, Kopechne relocated to Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, to work as secretary for Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
Senator George Smathers
George Smathers
George Armistead Smathers was an American lawyer and politician who represented the state of Florida in the United States Senate for eighteen years, from 1951 until 1969, as a member of the Democratic Party.-Early life:...
. She joined New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
Senator Robert F. Kennedy
Robert F. Kennedy
Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy , also referred to by his initials RFK, was an American politician, a Democratic senator from New York, and a noted civil rights activist. An icon of modern American liberalism and member of the Kennedy family, he was a younger brother of President John F...
's secretarial staff following his election in November 1964. For that office she worked as a secretary to the senator's speechwriters and as a legal secretary to one of his legal advisers. Kopechne was a loyal worker. Once during March 1967, she stayed up all night at Kennedy's Hickory Hill
Hickory Hill (McLean, Virginia)
Hickory Hill is a large brick house in McLean, Virginia, in the United States, believed to have been built ca. 1840 . The land on which it is built is part of a Lee family tract of land called Langley. General George B...
home to type a major speech against the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, while the senator and his aides such as Ted Sorenson made last-minute changes to it.
During the 1968 U.S. presidential election
United States presidential election, 1968
The United States presidential election of 1968 was the 46th quadrennial United States presidential election. Coming four years after Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson won in a historic landslide, it saw Johnson forced out of the race and Republican Richard Nixon elected...
, Kopechne helped with the wording of Kennedy's speech of March 1968 announcing his presidential candidacy. During his campaign
Robert F. Kennedy presidential campaign, 1968
Robert F. Kennedy was a U.S. Senator from New York, having won in 1964. In 1968, President Johnson began to run for reelection. In January 1968, faced with what was widely considered an unrealistic race against an incumbent President, Senator Kennedy stated he would not seek the presidency...
, she worked as one of the "Boiler Room Girls
Boiler Room Girls
The "Boiler Room Girls" were the female members of Senator Robert F. Kennedy's 1968 presidential campaign staff. While an American political campaign often makes calls from a phone bank that has much in common with a marketing boiler room, this group actually had desks in space designed as a...
". This was an affectionate nickname given to six young women whose office area was in a hot, loud, windowless location in Kennedy's Washington campaign headquarters. They were vital in tracking and compiling data and intelligence on how Democratic delegates from various states were intending to vote; Kopechne's responsibilities included Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
. Kopechne and the other staffers were knowledgeable politically, and were chosen for their ability to work skillfully for long, hectic hours on sensitive matters. They talked daily with field managers and also helped distribute policy statements to strategic newspapers.
Kopechne was devastated emotionally by the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy on June 5, 1968. After working briefly for the Kennedy proxy campaign of George McGovern
George McGovern
George Stanley McGovern is an historian, author, and former U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, and the Democratic Party nominee in the 1972 presidential election....
, she stated she could not return to work on Capitol Hill, saying "I just feel Bobby's presence everywhere. I can't go back because it will never be the same again." But as her father later said, "Politics was her life," and in December 1968 she used her experience to gain a job with Matt Reese Associates, a Washington, D.C., firm that helped establish campaign headquarters and field offices for politicians and was one of the first political consulting
Political consulting
Political consulting, beyond the self-evident definition of consulting in political matters, refers to a specific management consulting industry which has grown up around advising and assisting political campaigns. This article deals primarily with the development and nature of political consulting...
companies. By mid-1969 she had completed work for a mayoral campaign in Jersey City, New Jersey
Jersey City, New Jersey
Jersey City is the seat of Hudson County, New Jersey, United States.Part of the New York metropolitan area, Jersey City lies between the Hudson River and Upper New York Bay across from Lower Manhattan and the Hackensack River and Newark Bay...
. She was on her way to a successful professional career. Kopechne lived in the Washington neighborhood of Georgetown
Georgetown, Washington, D.C.
Georgetown is a neighborhood located in northwest Washington, D.C., situated along the Potomac River. Founded in 1751, the port of Georgetown predated the establishment of the federal district and the City of Washington by 40 years...
with three other women. She was a fan of the Boston Red Sox
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...
and of fellow Polish-American Carl Yastrzemski
Carl Yastrzemski
Carl Michael Yastrzemski is a former American Major League Baseball left fielder and first baseman. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1989. Yastrzemski played his entire 23-year baseball career with the Boston Red Sox . He was primarily a left fielder, with part of his later career...
. She was a devout Roman Catholic with a demure, serious, "convent school" demeanor, rarely drank much, and had no reputation for extramarital activities with men.
Death
On July 18, 1969, Kopechne attended a party on Chappaquiddick IslandChappaquiddick Island
Chappaquiddick Island is a small island off the eastern end of the larger island of Martha's Vineyard and is part of the town of Edgartown, Massachusetts. The island's name became internationally recognized following the July 18, 1969 incident, for which U.S. Senator Edward M...
, off the coast of Martha's Vineyard
Martha's Vineyard
Martha's Vineyard is an island located south of Cape Cod in Massachusetts, known for being an affluent summer colony....
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
. The celebration was in honor of the dedicated work of the Boiler Room Girls, and was the fourth such reunion of the Robert F. Kennedy campaign workers. Kopechne reportedly left the party at 11:15 p.m. with Robert's brother Ted
Ted Kennedy
Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy was a United States Senator from Massachusetts and a member of the Democratic Party. Serving almost 47 years, he was the second most senior member of the Senate when he died and is the fourth-longest-serving senator in United States history...
, after he — according to his own account — offered to drive her to catch the last ferry back to Edgartown, where she was staying. She did not tell her close friends at the party that she was leaving, and she left her purse and keys behind. Kennedy drove the 1967 Oldsmobile Delmont 88 off a narrow, unlit bridge, which was without guardrails and was not on the route to Edgartown. The Oldsmobile landed in Poucha Pond and overturned in the water; Kennedy extricated himself from the vehicle and survived, but Kopechne did not.
Kennedy failed to report the incident to the authorities until the car and Kopechne's body were discovered the next morning. Kopechne's parents said that they learned of their daughter's death from Kennedy himself, before he informed authorities of his involvement. However, they learned Kennedy had been the driver from wire press releases some time later.
A private funeral for Kopechne was held on July 22, 1969, at St. Vincent's Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
in Plymouth, Pennsylvania
Plymouth, Pennsylvania
Plymouth is an incorporated borough in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States 4 miles west of Wilkes Barre, on the Susquehanna River. Prior to its incorporation in 1866, it was part of Plymouth Township, established in 1769 by the Susquehanna Company and claimed by Connecticut based on...
, attended by Kennedy. She is buried in the parish cemetery on the side of Larksville Mountain.
Aftermath
A week after the incident, Kennedy pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident after causing injury. He received a two-month suspended sentenceSuspended sentence
A suspended sentence is a legal term for a judge's delaying of a defendant's serving of a sentence after they have been found guilty, in order to allow the defendant to perform a period of probation...
. On a national television broadcast that night, Kennedy said that he had not been driving "under the influence of liquor" nor had he ever had a "private relationship" with Kopechne.
The Chappaquiddick incident and Kopechne's death became the topic of at least fifteen books, as well as a fictionalized treatment by Joyce Carol Oates
Joyce Carol Oates
Joyce Carol Oates is an American author. Oates published her first book in 1963 and has since published over fifty novels, as well as many volumes of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction...
. Questions remained about Kennedy's timeline of events that night, specifically his actions following the incident. The quality of the investigation has been scrutinized, particularly whether official deference was given to a powerful and influential politician, and his family. The events surrounding Kopechne's death damaged Kennedy's reputation and are regarded as a major reason that he was never able to mount a successful campaign for President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
.
Kennedy expressed remorse over his role in her death, in his posthumously-published memoir, True Compass.