Lindsey Graham (4:54)
From audible originals I'm lindsey graham. This is american scandal. In 1969, Ted Kennedy was only 37 years old, but he'd already been through enough ups and downs for several lifetimes. As the youngest child of a wealthy and powerful dynasty, Kennedy had been bailed out of a cheating scandal at Harvard, gotten away with multiple instances of reckless driving and still managed to be elected to the U.S. senate. But while his life had been privileged, it had also been enormously tragic. Of his eight siblings, one had been institutionalized and four had been killed, including his older brothers John and Bobby, who were both assassinated. Many assumed that Kennedy would take up their mantle and run for president one day too. But the trauma of losing his siblings had left him scarred, frightened and more susceptible to his bad habits than ever. In July of 1969, Kennedy's cousin and lifelong protector, Joe Gargan, threw a party at a cottage on Chappaquiddick Island. Joining them were six young women from Bobby Kennedy's ill fated presidential campaign, along with a handful of other men from the Kennedy political machine. But thanks to Ted Kennedy's demons, what was supposed to be a happy weekend get together would soon turn into yet another tragedy. This is episode two the Bridge. It's around 1:15am on Saturday, July 19, 1969, on Chappaquiddick Island. In the kitchen of the small cottage he's rented, Joe Gargan scrapes leftovers off a plate and into the trash. The party's finally beginning to wind down and he's getting sleepy. It looks like it's going to be a rough night, though. It's been about two hours since Ted Kennedy and 28 year old campaign aide Mary Jo Kopechne took off in Kennedy's Oldsmobile. Gargan assumes they caught the last ferry back to their hotel rooms across the channel in Edgartown. So now Gargan and the nine remaining partygoers are stranded in the two bedroom cottage. Gargan does the math on how many beds and couches are available and if he's lucky, he'll be able to sleep in the La Z Boy. But equally likely, he'll be making do on the living room floor. As Gargan continues to tidy up, he feels a hand on his shoulder and turns to see Ray La Rosa, another party guest and longtime aide of Senator Kennedy. In A hushed voice, LaRosa tells Gargan that Kennedy is outside and wants to speak with him. Gargan is surprised. He thought Kennedy had left for the night. Eager to know what's going on, Gargan quickly follows LaRosa out the back door and he finds Kennedy slumped in the backseat of a Plymouth Valiant Sedan, the other car that was used to bring guests to the party. Gargan frowns in confusion. There's no sign of the Oldsmobile or Kopechne. But before he can ask Kennedy anything, he's joined by another aide Paul Marcum. LaRosa heads back inside while Gargan and Marcum climb into the car with Kennedy. Now it's just the three of them. Kennedy explains what's happened. He says there's been an accident. The senator was driving with Kopechne when his car went off a bridge down by the beach about a mile from the cottage. His voice is strangely calm and matter of fact. But then the story gets worse. Kennedy tells them that the Oldsmobile is in the water and Kopechne is still inside. Shock watches over Gargan. For a moment, he's frozen in his seat, thinking this can't be happening. But then Gargan pulls himself together. It's possible Kopechne is still alive, which means they need to get to the crash site. Gargan turns the key in the ignition and guns the Valiant onto the road. Seconds later, they're at an intersection. The main road curves around to the left, and to the right is a narrow, private dirt lane that leads to the beach. Gargan yells out to Kennedy, asking which way to go. And from the back seat, Kennedy tells Gargan to turn right. A lot of the roads on Chappaquiddick are little more than dirt tracks, but this one is especially treacherous. About a half mile from the intersection, it veers sharply to the left, then immediately crosses an old wooden bridge that spans a channel linking the sea with an island pond. The bridge itself is even narrower than the road, just wide enough for a single car, and there are no guardrails. Gargan slows as the bridge comes into view and Kennedy tells him this is where he crashed. Carefully, Gargan drives across the bridge, and then on the other side, he turns back around and shines the sedan's headlights over the channel. Gargan gets out of the car and hurries over to the water's edge. Marcum joins him, while Kennedy takes a seat on the hood of the parked Valiant and just stares silently into space. Gargan peers into the dark water. He sees the Oldsmobile flipped upside down and almost completely submerged. He turns to Markham. Jesus. How long has it been since the crash? Must have been half an hour. If Mary Jost in there, I mean, there's no way anyone can survive, right? Well, we gotta try. Gargan heads toward the bridge and Markham follows. As they walk, Gargan starts unbuttoning his shirt. Yeah, we should probably take her clothes off. You know, we don't want anything catching on a door handle or a broken window or something. Yeah, good idea. Two men strip down, and a moment later, they're both Standing on the bridge, completely new, Markham dives into the pond first, followed by Gargan. He's relieved to find the water isn't too cold. But as he surfaces and kicks out toward the car, he can feel the tug of the current pulling at him. He swims harder and a few seconds later both men have reached the rear of the submerged car. Catching his breath, Gargan lays out a plan. All right, I don't think we'll be able to see anything down there. I'm just going to feel around the car with my legs, try and find an open window that we can get inside of the. But after a moment of kicking around, Gargan can tell this isn't going to work. I can't feel anything. I need to go under. Okay, but be careful. Gargan lets go of the car and submerges fully underwater. But he still can't find a way in. He pops back up. This isn't working. I'm going to try the front. Gargan swims to the front of the overturned car and feels around the vehicle with his legs. Hey, there's an opening here. It must be a window. I'm gonna try and get inside. Just make sure you can get back out. Gargan takes a deep breath and dives under the surface. Grabbing the sides of the window, he pulls his body through the opening. He claws around the inside with his hands, but he can't make sense of what he's groping at. When Gargan begins to lose his breath, he tries to go back the way he came, but suddenly he can't find the window. He thrashes out, grasping for anything. Finally his hands catch on a hard surface and he pushes off. Stretching out for the open window, Gargan forces himself back through. Joe, you okay? The current threatens to pull Gargan downstream, but Marcum grabs a hold of him and drags him back to the car. Holding onto the submerged trunk, Gargan tries to gather his strength. I couldn't see anything. I got turned around and started panicking. You're okay. You're okay. That's the main thing. You're okay. I was worried I lost you for a second though. I'm going back in. Oh no, it's too dangerous. I'll stay outside of the car. Maybe I can get one of the doors open. No, Joe. I have to try. Paul. I'm the one who invited her. But even though he tries, Joe, Gargan can't force a door open. And eventually the two men decide they're only risking their own lives. They swim to the low slung bridge and Pull themselves up onto its wooden beams. Then, exhausted, they trudge over to the Valiant, where Ted Kennedy remains seated on the hood. They tell him they've done all they can. Kennedy is distraught. He puts his hands on his head and over and over he mutters, I can't believe this is happening. Gargan and Markham begin putting their clothes back on, and as they dress, they ask Kennedy again what happened. Kennedy can't tell them much more than he already has. He says he was driving his Oldsmobile on the dirt road when he suddenly found himself on the bridge. Then, in an instant, the car was off the bridge and upside down in the pond. Kennedy thought he was going to drown, but he somehow freed himself from the car and made it to shore. He went back for Kopechne, but couldn't save her. So he did the only thing he could think of and walked back to the cottage to get help. There's a long silence. No one is sure what to say or do. So Gargan gets behind the wheel of the Valiant with Markham in the passenger seat and Kennedy in the back. As he starts the car up and carefully crosses the bridge again, Gargan begins to think. As Kennedy's lifelong protector, it's up to him to ensure that this already nightmarish situation doesn't get any worse. There's a dead girl back there in that Oldsmobile, and Kennedy was behind the wheel when the accident happened. They clearly need to report it as soon as possible, and not just because it's a legal requirement. Failing to alert the authorities in a timely manner will expose Kennedy to all manner of legal and political trouble further down the line. So Gargan begins laying out a plan. When they get back to Egretown, they'll head to the police station to report the accident in person. After that, they should call Kennedy's mother, Rose, to let the family know what's happened before they hear about it from the media. Marcum agrees that this sounds like a good course of action. But then Kennedy interjects from the backseat he's got a different idea. Kennedy proposes that they all go back to the cottage and work out a story they can stick to. Then he'll go back to his hotel in Edgartown alone, allowing Gargan to go to the crash site and discover the accident for himself. When Gargan reports it, he can claim he found Kopechne alone in the car, making it appear that Kopechne crashed herself into the pond while Kennedy was asleep miles away. Gargan is horrified. Kennedy's plan is full of holes. First of all, he and Markham already know what happened, and they're not going to implicate themselves in a crime by lying to the police. And even if they did, there are people back at the cottage who saw Kennedy leave with Kopechne. There's no way the five other boiler room girls were all going to agree to lie about what they saw. Besides, they'd have to cook up some reason why Kopechne was driving alone on an unfamiliar road late at night behind the wheel of a car that wasn't hers, while all her friends were back partying at the cottage. They don't even know if Kopechne had a license. It's all too risky. Kennedy tries to argue back, insisting that those are minor details that can be worked out, but Gargan cuts him off. Raising his voice, Gargan reminds Kennedy that the three of them were being quite loud at the crash site just now, well within earshot of nearby homes. They also had the Valiant's headlights show shining over the pond, which anyone passing by would have seen. There could be witnesses they don't even know about. Kennedy goes quiet. Gargan hopes his old friend has come to his senses and is ready to take responsibility for what happened. When Gargan reaches the next intersection, he continues straight toward the ferry landing in the opposite direction of the cottage. Kennedy doesn't protest. As far as Gargan is concerned, it's an unspoken agreement the going to report the accident just as it happened.