【正文】 ”broadcast nationally from Joseph 39。s home on 25 July 1969My fellow citizens: I have requested this opportunity to talk to the people of Massachusetts about the tragedy which happened last Friday morning I entered a plea of guilty to the charge of leaving the scene of an to my appearance in court it would have been improper for me to ment on these tonight I am free to tell you what happened and to say what it means to the weekend of July 18, I was on Martha39。s Vineyard, I attended, on Friday evening, July 18th, a cookout I had encouraged and helped sponsor for devoted group of Kennedy campaign I left the party, around 11:15 ., I was acpanied by one of these girls, Miss Mary Jo Jo was one of the most devoted members of the staff of Senator Robert worked for him for four years and was broken up over his this reason, and because she was such a gentle, kind, and idealistic person, all of us tried to help her feel that she still had a home with the Kennedy is no truth, no truth whatever, to the widely circulated suspicions of immoral conduct that have been leveled at my behavior and hers regarding that has never been a private relationship between us of any know of nothing in Mary Jo39。m frank to say, by a jumble of emotions: grief, fear, doubt, exhaustion, panic, confusion, and Gargan and Markham not to alarm Mary Jo39。s Vineyard , as I mentioned, I felt morally obligated to plead guilty to the charge of leaving the scene of an words on my part can possibly express the terrible pain and suffering I feel over this tragic last week has been an agonizing one for me and for the members of my family, and the grief we feel over the loss of a wonderful friend will remain with us the rest of our events, the publicity, innuendo, and whispers which have surrounded them and my admission of guilt this morning raises the question in my mind of whether my standing among the people of my State has been so impaired that I should resign my seat in the United States at any time the citizens of Massachusetts should lack confidence in their Senator39。s home on 25 July 1969My fellow citizens: I have requested this opportunity to talk to the people of Massachusetts about the tragedy which happened last Friday morning I entered a plea of guilty to the charge of leaving the scene of an to my appearance in court it would have been improper for me to ment on these tonight I am free to tell you what happened and to say what it means to Chappaquiddick Island, off Martha39。s conduct on that or any other occasionand the same is true of the other girls at that partythat would lend any substance to such ugly speculation about their was I driving under the influence of over one mile away, the car that I was driving on an unlit road went off a narrow bridge which had no guard rails and was built on a left angle to the car overturned in a deep pond and immediately filled with remember thinking asthe cold water rushed in around my head that I was for certain water entered my lungs and I actual felt the sensation of somehow I struggled to the surface made immediate and repeated efforts to save Mary Jo by diving into the strong and murky current, but succeeded only in increasing my state of utter exhaustion and conduct and conversations during the next several hours, to the extent that I can remember them, make no sense to me at my doctors informed me that I suffered a cerebral concussion, as well as shock, I do not seek to escape responsibility for my actions by placing the blame either on the physical and emotional trauma brought on by the accident, or on anyone regard as indefensible the fact that I did not report the accident to the police of looking directly for a telephone after lying exhausted in the grass for an undetermined time, I walked back to the cottage where the party was being held and requested the help of two friends, my cousin, Joseph Gargan and Phil Markham, and directed them to return immediately to the scene with methis was sometime after midnightin order to undertake a new effort to dive down and locate Miss strenuous efforts, undertaken at some risk to their own lives, also proved kinds of scrambled thoughtsall of them confused, some of them irrational, many of them which I cannot recall, and some of which I would not have seriously entertained under normal circumstanceswent through my mind during this were reflected in the various inexplicable, inconsistent, and inconclusive things I said and did, including such questions as whether the girl might still be alive somewhere out of that immediate area, whether some awful curse did actually hang over all the Kennedys, whether there was some justifiable reason for me to doubt what had happened and to delay my report, whether somehow the awful weight of this incredible incident might in some way pass from my wasovere, I39。s friends that night, I had them take me to the ferry ferry having shut down for the night, I suddenly jumped into the water and impulsively swam across, nearly drowning once again in the effort, and returned to my hotel about 2:00 collapsed in my remember going out at one point and saying something to the room the morning, with my mind somewhat more lucid, I made an effort to call a family legal advisor, Burke Marshall, from a public telephone on the Chappaquiddick side of the ferry and belatedly reported the accident to the Martha39。s character or his ability, with or without justification, he could not in my opinion adequately perform his duty and should not continue in people of this State, the State which sent John Quincy Adams, and Daniel Webster, and Charles Sumner, and Henry Cabot Lodge, and John Kennedy to the United States Senate areentitled to representation in that body by men who inspire their utmost this reason, I would understand full well why some might think it right for me to me this will be a difficult decision to has been seven years since my