Chappaquiddick: Power, Privilege, and the Ted Kennedy Cover-Up
About this audiobook
A young woman leaves a party with a wealthy US senator. The next morning her body is discovered in his car at the bottom of a pond.
This is the damning true story of the death of campaign strategist Mary Jo Kopechne at Chappaquiddick and of the senator—a thirty-seven-year-old Senator Ted Kennedy—who left her trapped underwater while he returned to his hotel, slept, and made phone calls to associates. It is the story of a powerful, privileged American man who was able to treat a woman’s life as disposable without facing real consequences. And it is the story of a shameful political cover-up involving one of the nation’s most well-connected families and its network of lawyers, public relations people, and friends who ensured Ted Kennedy remained a respected member of the Senate for forty more years.
Leo Damore’s 1988 national bestseller, originally entitled Senatorial Privilege, almost didn’t make it into print after its original publisher, Random House, judged it too explosive and backed out of its contract with Damore. Mysteriously, none of the other big New York publishers picked it up. Only when small independent publisher Regnery obtained the manuscript was the book’s publication made possible and the true story of the so-called “Chappaquiddick incident” finally told. This thirtiethth anniversary edition of Senatorial Privilege is being released to coincide with the nationwide theatrical release of the movie Chappaquiddick starring Jason Clarke, Kate Mara, Ed Helms, Bruce Dern, and Jim Gaffigan.
Ratings and reviews
About the author
Leo Damore (1929–1995), a native of Ontario and graduate of Kent State University in Ohio, was a journalist and the author of several nonfiction works, including The Cape Cod Years of John F. Kennedy and Senatorial Privilege, a New York Times bestseller.
Howie Carr is an award-winning front-page columnist for the Boston Herald and the host of The Howie Carr Show, a popular New England drive-time talk radio program. Known for his scathing exposés of local politicians, he is regularly featured on NBC’s Today, MSNBC, C-SPAN, and CNN. In 1985 he won a National Magazine Award, the magazine industry’s equivalent of a Pulitzer Prize. He has been nominated for an Emmy. He lives in Wellesley, Massachusetts.
Peter Berkrot is a veteran of both stage and screen, having appeared in Caddyshack, Brotherhood, Unsolved Mysteries, and more. A prominent acting coach and a regular contributor to the award-winning news program Frontline, he was the director of narration for the Emmy-nominated The Truth About Cancer. His voice can be heard on television, radio, video games, documentaries, and industrials. An Audie Award nominee and the winner of multiple Earphones Awards, he has recorded over 170 audiobooks.
