The Good That Men Do . . .

    Ted  Kennedy has been dead now nearly six months. His memorial service was as impressive an example of Catholic liturgy as ever you will see, which - when it is good, is very, very good. The eulogies spoken thereat seemed to me thoughtful and sincere. Collectively, they portrayed a personality of more nobility and depth than I thought the man possessed, for I was not sympathetic to him in life. These days, when I wander into Border's or the like, I see his posthumous book - I don't recall any prehumous - True Compass, with a picture of his handsome, weatherbeaten face on the cover, on the beach. The reviews are generally sympathetic. 

      Which leads me to my question, and the subject of this piece.

      Where is it?

      Where is the personal, truthful account of what really happened on the night of June 25th, 1969?  I'd prefer the document handwritten, but print would do. Most of the persons I respect would have perceived a moral necessity to account for the 40 years of life (plus two months) that Ted Kennedy had, that Mary Jo Kopechne did not. The event also had major consequences for the political history of this nation. Jimmy Carter likely became President in 1976 because the scandal prevented Kennedy from mounting a viable candidacy. The presidential election of 1980 was also affected. 

     But mostly it is required to do the right thing by a poor forlorn girl who died long before her time was due. 

     I can understand why the account might not be published at this time. The brutally direct account written by Seymour Hersh (back when he was an actual reporter) 'Chappaquiddick Plus Five', that appeared in the New Yorker, is not available on line. As I recall, there were five married men between 45 and 55 on that island. There were five unmarried women under thirty. There was a lot of vodka and party stuff. There is an implication in those basic facts that may still matter to living people even after 40 years. So maybe a few more years have to pass before the full truth can be aired. Just about the only thing that is known about that long ago night is that no one did tell the whole truth or even partial truth about what happened. 

     Maybe there are good reasons for the silence. I'm not suggesting criminality or major scandal, just . . . .good reasons. Perhaps it is still too soon for full disclosure.  But I do believe that it is essential to know that such a document exists. If Ted Kennedy went to his grave without addressing that night, leaving the ghost of that girl wandering around restlessly, then all that beautiful liturgy was wasted. The singers might as well have been performing in concert, the speakers might as well have been addressing empty pews. However lovely the ceremony might have been, it was as empty of real humanity as the saints in the stained glass windows. No matter how wonderfully handsome the rugged, weather-beaten face might be, if he did not attempt to do right for someone whom he wronged so mightily (directly or indirectly), Ted Kennedy remains forever the insubstantial, irresponsible contemptible playboy of more cold-blooded assessment.  

      'The good that men do? Shakespeare finishes the thought, is oft interred with their bones. When I gave this piece that title, I wasn't thinking of Ted Kennedy. I was thinking of Mary Jo Kopechne. Ted Kennedy did not truly earn his beautiful funeral unless he gave her a send off of her own - so that everything she was or could have been does not go to her grave with her. 

Comments

[Richard Jarvis]

Very well written, Frank, and a fine summation (much of it implicit) of the true value of Ted Kennedy to our country and society.

He was a disgusting, self-centered exploiter of his social (read "financial") position who, had he been, say, a Stanley Kowalski or a Willy Loman, would have wasted away in jail.