Ted Kennedy Calls Chappaquiddick "Inexcusable" In Memoir

The NY Times obtained an early copy of late Senator Edward Kennedy's memoir, True Compass. While he apparently doesn't add too much detail, Kennedy did call the 1969 incident at Chappaquiddick—where he drove his car off a bridge, killing passenger Mary Jo Kopechne, and did not report the accident—"inexcusable" and suspects the scandal might have hastened his sick father's death. The Times also reports the book mentions his drinking (which worsened after brother Robert's death), his divorce with first wife Joan, his brother John's assassination (he accepted the Warren Commission's report) and "Among other things, it says that in 1984 he decided against seeking the presidency after hearing the emotional objections of his children, who, it says, feared for his life." Kennedy also described his competitive family, "As I think back to my three brothers, and about what they had accomplished before I was even out of my childhood, it sometimes has occurred to me that my entire life has been a constant state of catching up." The memoir was originally planned for next year, but Kennedy's illness pushed the release date forward to September 14.