55 years ago, Ted Kennedy was enmeshed in a fatal car accident that would haunt him until his death Jennifer Lynch is a former contributor at PEOPLE. Every July, the anniversary of the tragic 1969 ...

Ted Kennedy plunged off the Dike Bridge into the waters off of Martha’s Vineyard, killing his 28-year-old passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne? On July 18, 1969, Kopechne, who had worked on Sen.