Fox News Channel’s Scandalous: Chappaquiddick continues with Episode Three: “His Turn”

FOX News Channel’s (FNC) docu-series Scandalous: Chappaquiddick continues with episode three entitled, “His Turn” on Sunday, December 16^th at 8 p.m. EST.

With the investigation into the death of campaign strategist Mary Jo Kopechne behind him, Senator Ted Kennedy pushes through the controversy and eyes a potential run for the presidency. However, former President Richard Nixon uses Chappaquiddick as a weapon to keep Kennedy at bay, but is soon crippled by a scandal of his own, the break-in at the Watergate hotel. Kennedy’s decision to make a run for the White House causes the media to dig back into the accident at Chappaquiddick, raising even more questions than ever.

“Aided by a strong economy and the potential for peace in Vietnam, Richard Nixon was soundly reelected, crushing Democrat George McGovern in a landslide. The election featured one of the lowest turnouts in American history, particularly among Democrats.”

“If instead of a wounded Ted Kennedy with the legacy of Chappaquiddick it had been Ted Kennedy at the top of his game with all of the assets of the Kennedy clan and all the media behind him, 1972 could have been a very different election,” Columnist for the Boston Herald Michael Graham said.

“As the calendar flipped to 1980, the Kennedy campaign felt good about their first test on the road to the White House – the Iowa Caucus…But the momentum would not last long. As the primary season approached, polls found Kennedy’s popularity in decline. The reason most respondents cited for their lack of enthusiasm? Chappaquiddick.”

“You know, this was an East Coast family with an East Coast following in the media and you know, I think we often forget it’s a huge country,” former NBC News Reporter Liz Trotta says in the episode. “You get beyond New York and in between there’s a lot of people that didn’t forget he had gone off a bridge with a young lady and never told the truth about it.”

“500 miles away from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, residents of Chappaquiddick Island were still dealing with the aftermath of the accident at Dike Bridge more than a decade earlier. Tourists flocked to the 81-foot long wooden  bridge, hoping to catch a glimpse of the place that may have changed the political landscape and the United States forever.”

“So many people were cutting up the bridge, taking pieces of it,” recounts former Chappaquiddick ferry owner Jerry Grant. “And actually, I saw a piece of it on a cash register in Florida. I said to the guy, ‘That’s Chappaquiddick bridge, right?’ and he said ‘Yeah, how’d you know?’ and I said ‘I recognize it.’”

“With Chappaquiddick now a synonym for political scandal, the legacy of the once quaint summer destination island had quickly, and permanently, changed,” the narrator points out.

An extended director’s cut version containing additional footage and longer guest interviews will be available on FOX Nation, Sunday at 8:05 PM/ET.

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