Chappaquiddick
Posted: Mon Jul 02, 2012 1:15 pm
I am curious what others on this forum think of the Chappaquiddick incident. I have gone through RB Cutler's work on the topic quite a bit. His book is really just a compilation of rare, local newspaper articles, transcripts of the Inquest (there are parts of the Inquest that made my jaw hit the floor) and exhumation hearing, Joachim Joesten's (an early JFK researcher and one of the few other people advocating that Chappaquiddick was an ambush) articles and portions of other books where he finds the author's work useful. Even if you regard Cutler as a kook because of his umbrella man theories with JFK, because Cutler's actual theory is kept to the last three or four pages of a 400+ page volume, I think that it is probably the most useful resource on the Chappaquiddick incident.
Here is a link to Mae Brussell interviewing RB Cutler:
http://www.worldwatchers.info/shows/dia ... -72-03-25/
I have recently read Joseph Cannon's take on Chappaquiddick and he has definitely read some to the books that are very critical of Ted Kennedy, but I do not think that he has really gone into Cutler's book. Cannon does not buy Cutler's ambush theory, but he leaves out certain very important discrepancies that you would only get from the Inquest transcripts.
I should also say that I am not convinced that Cutler has it right, but after going through the Inquest testimony over and over for the last few weeks there are definitely large portions of most of the mainstream theories that are impossible or nearly impossible. I myself am agnostic as to what happened as I do not think that there is enough evidence to conclude what definitely did happen.
Here are a few pieces that I regard as important to the case:
-According to Christopher "Huck" Look's testimony at both the Petition for Exhumation and at the Inquest, he saw Kennedy's Oldsmobile being driven at about 12:45am. Long after it supposedly went into the Poucha Pond according to Kennedy's testimony (about 11:30pm). Here are links to Look's testimony at the Inquest. You can see on the last page of Look's testimony that he admits that he is not sure the car that he sees the night before and the car that he sees the next day are the same. During the exhumation hearing (this was held in Pennsylvania because of where Mary Joe Kopechne was buried), Look gave pretty much the same testimony except that he said that he was completely sure that they were the same car.
-In Kennedy's Inquest testimony, he said that when he swam the channel between Chappaquiddick and Edgartown, that the tide pulled him towards the Edgartown Light. The only issue is that according to the tides on the night of 7/18/69, he should have been pulled the other way towards Katama Bay. I will say that from personal experience, the tide in the channel between Edgartown and Chappaquiddick can produce a very strong current.
-Here is Ross Richards testimony at the Inquest. It is significant because Kennedy does not mention anything about what he had been through the night before. Cutler spoke with Richards directly and Richards told Cutler that he (Richards) had the hangover and that he wished that he looked like how Ted did on that morning. He also originally told police that Gargan and Markham were "soaking wet" when they met Kennedy that morning. You can see how the judge does not allow him to say that.
-In Jack Olson's book The Bridge at Chappaquiddick, he introduces the story of the Shiretown Inn desk clerk where Kennedy's behavior was consistent with Ross Richard's testimony. Kennedy was interested in obtaining several national papers and asked to borrow a dime to use the phone.
If I had to guess, I would say that Kennedy did not report the incident to the police because he did not know what had happened to Mary Joe Kopechne. After speaking with Ross Richards, his wife and Mr. Moore, Gargan and Markham found Kennedy, went to his room and then went back across to Chappaquiddick to supposedly make a phone call on the other side. Cutler speculates, and I agree, that it was most likely to receive a phone call. According to Kennedy's statement to Police Chief Arena that morning, "When I fully realized what had happened this morning, I immediately contacted the police." I think that he did not know until the phone call.
I have a lot more if you are interested. Let me know if you have problems viewing the graphics.
Here is a link to Mae Brussell interviewing RB Cutler:
http://www.worldwatchers.info/shows/dia ... -72-03-25/
I have recently read Joseph Cannon's take on Chappaquiddick and he has definitely read some to the books that are very critical of Ted Kennedy, but I do not think that he has really gone into Cutler's book. Cannon does not buy Cutler's ambush theory, but he leaves out certain very important discrepancies that you would only get from the Inquest transcripts.
I should also say that I am not convinced that Cutler has it right, but after going through the Inquest testimony over and over for the last few weeks there are definitely large portions of most of the mainstream theories that are impossible or nearly impossible. I myself am agnostic as to what happened as I do not think that there is enough evidence to conclude what definitely did happen.
Here are a few pieces that I regard as important to the case:
-According to Christopher "Huck" Look's testimony at both the Petition for Exhumation and at the Inquest, he saw Kennedy's Oldsmobile being driven at about 12:45am. Long after it supposedly went into the Poucha Pond according to Kennedy's testimony (about 11:30pm). Here are links to Look's testimony at the Inquest. You can see on the last page of Look's testimony that he admits that he is not sure the car that he sees the night before and the car that he sees the next day are the same. During the exhumation hearing (this was held in Pennsylvania because of where Mary Joe Kopechne was buried), Look gave pretty much the same testimony except that he said that he was completely sure that they were the same car.
-In Kennedy's Inquest testimony, he said that when he swam the channel between Chappaquiddick and Edgartown, that the tide pulled him towards the Edgartown Light. The only issue is that according to the tides on the night of 7/18/69, he should have been pulled the other way towards Katama Bay. I will say that from personal experience, the tide in the channel between Edgartown and Chappaquiddick can produce a very strong current.
-Here is Ross Richards testimony at the Inquest. It is significant because Kennedy does not mention anything about what he had been through the night before. Cutler spoke with Richards directly and Richards told Cutler that he (Richards) had the hangover and that he wished that he looked like how Ted did on that morning. He also originally told police that Gargan and Markham were "soaking wet" when they met Kennedy that morning. You can see how the judge does not allow him to say that.
-In Jack Olson's book The Bridge at Chappaquiddick, he introduces the story of the Shiretown Inn desk clerk where Kennedy's behavior was consistent with Ross Richard's testimony. Kennedy was interested in obtaining several national papers and asked to borrow a dime to use the phone.
If I had to guess, I would say that Kennedy did not report the incident to the police because he did not know what had happened to Mary Joe Kopechne. After speaking with Ross Richards, his wife and Mr. Moore, Gargan and Markham found Kennedy, went to his room and then went back across to Chappaquiddick to supposedly make a phone call on the other side. Cutler speculates, and I agree, that it was most likely to receive a phone call. According to Kennedy's statement to Police Chief Arena that morning, "When I fully realized what had happened this morning, I immediately contacted the police." I think that he did not know until the phone call.
I have a lot more if you are interested. Let me know if you have problems viewing the graphics.