Chappaquiddick incident

Cultural  

1. An automobile accident in 1969 that greatly affected the career of Senator Edward (Ted) Kennedy of Massachusetts. A woman on Kennedy's staff drowned at Chappaquiddick Island, off the Massachusetts coast, after a car that Kennedy had been driving, and in which she had been riding, went off a bridge. Kennedy survived, but delayed informing the police, and has never provided a full explanation of the incident. Afterward, many voters lost confidence in Kennedy, who had been considered a strong possibility to be nominated by the Democratic party for president.

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Example Sentences

He later covered events including the Chappaquiddick incident of 1969 — when U.S.

From Washington Post • Sep. 23, 2019

It marked the beginning of the age of Nixon and the Silent Majority, and it saw the effective end of Camelot with the Chappaquiddick incident.

From Salon • May 25, 2019

There is very little in the files on the 1969 Chappaquiddick incident, in which a young woman drowned after Mr. Kennedy’s car drove off a bridge on Martha’s Vineyard. 

From New York Times • Jun. 14, 2010

After the 1969 Chappaquiddick incident, he was summoned to help draft the statement that tried to exonerate Ted Kennedy.

From Time Magazine Archive

The Anderson reconstruction of the Chappaquiddick incident, accusing Edward Kennedy of asking a cousin to take the blame, is regarded as largely fictional.

From Time Magazine Archive