Ted Kennedy
The date: July 18, 1969. The place: Chappaquiddick Island on Martha’s Vinyard. Shortly after leaving a party, Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts — who was reportedly drinking — swerved his Oldsmobile off a bridge and plunged into the water. Kennedy escaped the submerged car, but his passenger, 28-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne, a campaign worker, did not. Kennedy said he valiantly tried to save the woman, but for decades many questions remain about his actions after the accident. For one thing, the senator did not report the accident to authorities for at least 10 hours. In May 2006, Ted’s son Patrick (a Congressman from Rhode Island) crashed his 1997 Ford Mustang near the Capitol in what he called a drug-filled stupor. A day after his arrest, Kennedy went to the Mayo Clinic to seek help with his addictions.