‘She Kept Kennedy From Presidency’ : Mary Jo Didn’t Die in Vain--Kopechne

Speaking out 20 years after his daughter drowned in Sen. Edward M. Kennedy’s car at Chappaquiddick, the father of Mary Jo Kopechne says she did not die in vain because her death “kept the senator from becoming President.”

“He was worried about himself, not Mary Jo,” Joseph Kopechne said in an interview in the July issue of Ladies Home Journal.

Miss Kopechne, 28, died July 19, 1969, when a car driven by Kennedy ran off a bridge at night and plunged into a pond on Massachusetts’ Chappaquiddick Island. She had been a campaign worker for Kennedy’s brother, Robert.

Kennedy said he freed himself from the car and tried to rescue his passenger. But it took him 10 hours to report the accident. He pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident and lost his license for a year.

In the interview, Miss Kopechne’s mother, Gwen Kopechne, 71, said other women who attended a party with Kennedy and Miss Kopechne before the accident “were shut up.”

“I think there was a big cover-up and that everybody was paid off,” she said.

The Kopechnes received a settlement of $140,904, of which $90,904 came from the senator and $50,000 from his insurance company.

The couple had two brief meetings with Kennedy after the accident, Mrs. Kopechne said. “I don’t think he seemed upset either time we saw him,” she said, “and I don’t remember him saying he was sorry.”

Kennedy has expressed regret for Miss Kopechne’s death on numerous occasions.

Mrs. Kopechne said Kennedy has telephoned the couple periodically.