13. The Party Before the Incident Was for Female Campaign Workers
Robert F. Kennedy’s doomed presidential campaign was staffed by countless energetic, unmarried young women affectionately called the “boiler room girls.” These talented women, who counted Mary Jo Kopechne among their numbers, were capable young political minds who wrote speeches, whipped support among national Democratic delegates, and staged campaign events. Needless to say, these staffers were absolutely devastated by the assassination of their employer and political icon. Many of them were supposedly questioning their roles in politics after the killing.
The party on Chappaquiddick Island on the night of January 18th was thrown for these women, these “boiler room girls” to honor their hard work for Robert F. Kennedy and to try to persuade them to stay involved with politics. Ted Kennedy was already eyeing a run at the presidency at this point, and no doubt wanted to keep the talented young staffers from his brother’s campaign around to work on his. Unfortunately for Kennedy, the media seized on the fact that the party was full of unmarried women and married political men, not that they were his brother’s campaign workers who just happened to be single. It was still traditional in the 1960s for working women to be unmarried, only leaving their careers when they “settled down” in a marriage.