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Preface
Preface
The sun rose on July 19, 1969, with its usual grace. On the small island of Chappaquiddick, a man of immense influence awoke from a drunken stupor. Massachusetts Senator Edward Moore Kennedy rubbed his eyes and looked around. He looked up at the blue checkered sofa in the middle of Sidney Lawrence’s cottage. He had spent the night on the wood floor of the little Martha’s Vineyard escape.

That morning, at breakfast with his cousins and friends, they recounted the previous night’s events to a hungover senator. “You almost had her, Ted,” Sidney said. He was referring to the stunning blonde Kennedy had almost coaxed to his room at a nearby inn. Yet, before Kennedy could gather his keys and belongings, he had passed out drunk on a couch in the cabin. Kopechne left that night with her friends, the other girls from Bobby Kennedy’s campaign.

“Well, damn it all,” Kennedy said. “I must’ve missed a hell of a night.”
 
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