Mary Jo Kopechne

Mary Jo Kopechne (July 26, 1940 – July 18 1969) born in Forty Fort, Pennsylvania, was the only child of insurance salesman Joseph Kopechne and his wife Gwen. Upon graduation from Caldwell College for women, Kopechne moved to Washington D.C. initially to work as secretary to U.S. Senator George Smathers and subsequently as secretary to Senator Robert F. Kennedy. Kopechne died in Chappaquiddick, Massachusetts when a car driven by Senator Edward "Ted" Kennedy, in which she was the passenger, went off a bridge and overturned into a pond. Earlier that evening, the two had been attending a party along with other Kennedy aides and several women who had served as "boiler room" girls in the 1968 Presidential campaign of Senator Robert Kennedy. Kennedy managed to escape from the submerged car, but he left the scene and inexplicably did not report the incident or Kopechne's wherabouts. The next day authorities discovered Kennedy's car and recovered Kopechene's body. Though Kennedy pled guilty to leaving the scene of an accident after causing injury, several details of Mary Jo Kopechne's death remain a mystery. (See "Chappaquiddick" section below.)

Bobby Baker scandal

During her tenure as Senator Smathers' secretary, Kopechne shared an apartment with Nancy Carole Tyler, secretary to Bobby Baker, an aide to Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson. An emerging scandal involving Baker's corrupt activities prompted President John F. Kennedy to privately offer Senator George Smathers the second spot on the 1964 presidential ticket, and planned to drop Johnson as his running mate. The roommates, Kopechne and Tyler, allegedly leaked the President's plans to the press. Some conspiracy theorists have claimed a link between the Bobby Baker scandal and the 1963 JFK assassination. Tyler died in a plane crash in May 1965. Kopechne went on to become secretary to Senator Robert F. Kennedy until he was assassinated in June 1968 during his run for the presidency.

Related Topics:
Nancy Carole Tyler - Bobby Baker - Vice President - Lyndon B. Johnson - President - John F. Kennedy - George Smathers - 1964 - JFK assassination - 1965 - Robert F. Kennedy - Assassinated

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