Must-See TV: Scandalous: Chappaquiddick Premieres Tonight

Fox News takes aim at the hagiographic, airbrushed revision of the real history of Ted "The Swimmer" Kennedy. 

Peter Barry Chowka  "Highly recommended is a new program on the Fox News channel tonight, Sunday, December 2 from 8-9 P.M. E.T./P.T.  It's the second season premiere of the occasional documentary series Scandalous.  Season two, episode one ofScandalous: Chappaquiddick, "The Bridge," will be shown this evening, with three more hour-long episodes to follow on successive Sunday evenings in December.  The subject of the four new in-depth programs is the 1969 scandal involving the late Sen. Edward M. (Ted) Kennedy (D-Mass.) that essentially short-circuited his seemingly inevitable path to the presidency.  Not well remembered now, the scandal a half-century ago was also depicted in a dramatic feature film, titled Chappaquiddick, that premiered in theaters last April and bombed at the box office (only $18 million in ticket sales versus a $34-million budget).

. . . "Approaching the beach, the Oldsmobile sedan Kennedy was driving veered off the small Dyke Bridge and became submerged in the Poucha Pond below.  Kennedy escaped and said later that he repeatedly dove into the water in search of Kopechne, who remained trapped inside the vehicle.  Inexplicably, after giving up, Kennedy did not report the accident, but instead walked back to the cottage, where he conferred privately with several of his closest aides, who also failed to report the accident." . . .
. . . 
"Although he never made it to the Oval Office, Kennedy's career in the U.S. Senate lasted for over 40 more years until the day he died from a brain tumor in 2009.  Over time, the details of the 1969 incident at Chappaquiddick largely faded, and Kennedy – in life and after his death – was lauded by Democrats and Republicans alike, constantly celebrated and honored as the "Lion of the Senate."  Hopefully, Scandalous: Chappaquiddick's new four-hour-long deconstruction of the events almost a half-century ago will add some much needed clarity to the hagiographic, airbrushed revision of the real history that has dominated political discourse ever since."

Kennedy survived to demolish the reputation of Judge Bork who had been nominated for the Supreme Court.