Chappaquidick anyone?

No, it didn't. I think the movie was laser-focused on Kennedy giving Mary Jo a ride away from the party, possibly with less-than-gentlemanly intentions based on their prior scenes together. That in and of itself is plausible, without needing to lipservice some of the other popular theories.

 

a must see for me.

 

Agreed.

Not sure they really dealt with the reason why they were so hell bent on avoiding an autopsy. The implication was that an autopsy would have shown she survived the drowning and suffocated in an air pocket waiting to be rescued. But I don't see how the Kennedy brain trust would have known or even suspected that. But again, to advance a theory is to REALLY speculate, which the movie did a good job avoiding (or at least keeping to a minimum). I suspect the lawyers - especially Sorenson - either didn't trust an autopsy (recalling JFK's botched autopsy that created more questions than it answered) or thought it might, if expertly done, reveal something they couldn't or did not want to explain. For example, I don't know if a routine autopsy in 1969 would show that the victim recently had sex (or worse, if Kennedy and Kopechne had been having an affair for many months, that she was pregnant). Better safe than sorry, especially if you have the local political muscle to pull it off.

 

The autopsy wasn't performed because the Kopechne family didn't allow it. Kennedy had nothing to do with that, at least on paper. It is possible her family was aware of some of the seedier rumors going around in the aftermath of the accident, and wanted to protect Mary Jo's reputation - for a devout Catholic family, having your daughter inebriated and driving around after 11pm with a rakish, married politician was scandal enough.

 

I don't know what the law was in Massachusetts in 1969 regarding the requirement of an autopsy, but I believe today in most (if not all) jurisdictions an autopsy under such conditions would not be avoidable merely at the behest of the victim's family. Massachusetts appears to require today that, under circumstances applicable to Kopechne's death, that "the chief medical examiner or his designee shall carefully inquire into the cause and circumstances of the death. If, as a result of such inquiry, the chief medical examiner or such designee is of the opinion that the death was due to violence or other unnatural means or to natural causes that require further investigation, he shall take jurisdiction . . . The medical examiner shall be responsible for making arrangements for transport of the body. The district attorney or his law enforcement representative shall direct and control the investigation of the death and shall coordinate the investigation with the office of the chief medical examiner and the police department within whose jurisdiction the death occurred. Either the medical examiner or the district attorney in the jurisdiction where death occurred may order an autopsy. Cases requiring autopsy shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the office for such purpose."

 

For anyone interested in a fairly concise and well-stated summary of the pertinent evidence, I recommend the following article written by two AP reporters in 1976.

http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/White Files/Kennedy Family Files/Kennedy Edward M/EMK 694.pdf

I found it helpful to have a map handy. The following is pretty good, though Cemetery Road is not identified. (It's the dirt road - where the 2 arrow is pointing - perpendicular to the road that begins at the ferry terminal and goes to and past Dike Bridge.)

https://heavyeditorial.files.wordpress.com/2018/04/pjimage9.jpg?quality=65&strip=all

 

I just watched this movie this week, and I did like... I thought the parts that relied on very heavy conjecture were handled well. Overall, though, I think it just confirmed what a lot the public surmised about the very sad event --

• A well-oiled Ted Kennedy and Mary Jo Kopechne probably left the party to have a romantic tryst somewhere on a secluded part of the island.
• When they paused at that intersection and the cop came walking over, Ted probably didn't want to do any explaining why a married senator was cruising around with a single, attractive campaign aide... and then leave that police officer with a nice "wink"-filled story to tell everyone down at the station, the municipal buildings, and the bar.
• Ted then sped away ensuring that he lost the cop, took the bridge too quickly with compromised reflexes, and then scrambled from the car once it hit the water... with his career, reputation, and family at the top of his mind.
• And then he did what the rich have always done in this country -- throw enough money and influence around to bend justice and the truth to the version they feel serves them best.

 

I think the movie appropriately implied many things without necessarily portraying them as facts. For example, did Kennedy make numerous attempts to rescue Kopechne? Possibly. Kennedy supposedly was a very good swimmer. The portion of the movie showing this could be construed as either something that actually happened or merely a visualization of what Kennedy was claiming he did.

With respect to your first bullet, that could be the missing link. The party-goers' and Kennedy's statements that the two left the party at about 11:30 and the officer's recollection that he saw the car coming from the direction of the cottage (then off to the bridge) at about 12:30 can be reconciled only if Kennedy and Kopechne lingered somewhere around the cottage or in the opposite direction of the cottage, bridge and ferry terminal for about an hour. Maybe they just sat outside in the car and talked. Maybe they drove somewhere for, as you say, "a romantic tryst". Even excluding Kennedy's "recollection", I tend to doubt that any of the other recollections were mistaken or fabricated.

 

Here's another shot at Ted from National Lampoon, EC horror-comic style, titled "The Delegate From Chappaquiddick". This was featured in their 10-year anthology; I had a copy of that as a kid and had no idea what this was supposed to be about until years later.

 

A Stranger In Paradise

 

My grandmother used to buy it for me. I always wondered if she had any idea what was in it. I remember seeing the Chappaquiddick cartoon in one of the issues. I felt like I had graduated to the next level of print humor when I went from MAD Magazine to National Lampoon.