The " Boiler Room Girls " was a nickname for a group of six women who worked as political advisors for Robert Kennedy's 1968 presidential campaign in a windowless work area in Kennedy's Washington, D.C. electoral offices. They were political strategists who received national media exposure from the infamous Chappaquiddick incident in 1969. It was in Chappaquiddick that Mary Jo Kopechne died in a car crash, in which Ted Kennedy was the driver.
26-586: Each "girl" was assigned a regional desk, divided by regions of the country, and was responsible for daily communication in and out of the Washington campaign headquarters to each state director in their region. At the end of the day, a decision book was compiled and sent to Kennedy and his campaign manager, Stephen Smith . Each decision book was composed by the boiler room team. The team of women also kept track of Kennedy's delegate count against Democratic primary contenders Eugene McCarthy and Hubert Humphrey . Before
52-714: A bachelor's degree in history. He served during the Korean War as a first lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force from 1951–1952. Smith joined his family's business, Cleary Brothers Inc., which operated tugs and barges on New York's upstate canals and in New York Harbor. He then headed the Park Agency Inc., in Manhattan, where he managed $ 300 million in Kennedy family investments. After his father-in-law Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. suffered
78-549: A close relationship with his cousin Ted. Gargan was the campaign chairman for Robert F. Kennedy 's 1968 presidential campaign . Gargan fell out of favor with the Kennedy family in 1988, with the publication of journalist Leo Damore's book, Senatorial Privilege: The Chappaquiddick Cover-Up , because Gargan revealed in interviews with Damore details not released in public testimony, such as how Ted Kennedy contemplated covering up his role in
104-476: A stroke on December 19, 1961, Smith managed the family's fortune out of a New York City office building. He was responsible for overseeing the trusts that benefited him and his family as well as the other children and grandchildren of Joe and Rose Kennedy. Smith played an active role in JFK's 1960 presidential campaign, and was working as Kennedy's campaign manager for re-election in 1964 at the time when President Kennedy
130-551: A tidal pond on Chappaquiddick Island , with Mary Jo Kopechne trapped inside the car. He walked just over a mile back to the cottage where a party he hosted was occurring, and summoned Gargan and Paul Markham to drive him back to the site, where Gargan dived into the pond in a futile attempt to find Kopechne. After recovering, Gargan vehemently insisted that Kennedy report the accident to the police immediately. Markham seconded this opinion, but Kennedy argued against it, and according to Gargan, said he could plausibly deny knowledge of
156-660: The 1968 Democratic National Convention , the boiler room team was moved to a temporary office adjoining the convention floor where the same delegate officers met with the same state leaders. Following the assassination of United States Senator Robert F. Kennedy on June 5, 1968, the team was responsible for finishing the campaign coordination work. They eventually dispersed to work in other offices on Capitol Hill or elsewhere in Washington. The Boiler Room Girls were variously described as "frighteningly intelligent, politically astute, capable as all get-out" as well as "uniformly bright, efficient, fascinated by politics". After graduating in
182-471: The Robert F. Kennedy 1968 presidential campaign . As such, he was responsible for getting three disparate, mutually distrustful groups to work together: Robert's own staffers, and the veterans of Jack's 1960 presidential campaign and Ted's 1962 and 1964 Senate campaigns. According to Ted Kennedy's account of events, sometime before or after midnight July 18–19, 1969, Kennedy accidentally drove his Oldsmobile into
208-477: The 1962 class of Caldwell College for Women , Mary Jo moved to Alabama where she taught at Montgomery Catholic School. She joined the staff of Senator George A. Smathers of Florida in 1963 as a secretary. One year later she became a speech writer for Joseph Dolan , one of Robert Kennedy's political advisors. After Robert Kennedy's assassination, she joined Matt Reese Associates. She became a member of Senator Edward Kennedy 's office. After Chappaquiddick, reports of
234-623: The Children's Foundation in Washington. During the Chappaquiddick incident, Keough's purse was in the backseat of the sunken car, left there from an earlier errand, according to her testimony. She married Paul Redmond, one of the attorneys that Kennedy hired to look after the Boiler Room Girls after the incident and up through the inquest. There had already been one formal reunion of the highly regarded Boiler Room Girls prior to Chappaquiddick. It
260-762: The Democratic primaries, Kennedy announced his candidacy and made Smith his campaign manager. Kennedy lost to Carter and chose to not run again. Smith and Jean Ann Kennedy were married May 19, 1956 in St. Patrick's Cathedral in Midtown Manhattan , at which point he became the brother-in-law of future President John F. Kennedy. Stephen and Jean had two biological sons and later adopted two daughters: A longtime smoker, Smith died from lung cancer at his home in Manhattan on August 19, 1990, at age 62. Joseph Gargan Joseph F. Gargan Jr. (February 16, 1930 – December 12, 2017),
286-468: The accident if they agreed that he had gotten out of the Oldsmobile beforehand and Kopechne was the one who drove it off the bridge. Gargan said this lie was not safe, as neighbors could have seen their car at the bridge, and he would have no part of it. Finally, Kennedy said "All right, all right, I'll take care of it. You take care of the girls." He told Gargan and Markham to go back to the cottage and tell
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#1732856044754312-452: The channel and swimming the 500 feet to the Edgartown shore. Kennedy in fact did not report the accident until about 9:50 a.m. that morning, after the Oldsmobile and Kopechne's body had been discovered. Later, Kennedy used Gargan's and Markham's status as lawyers to falsely assert attorney-client privilege, preventing them from saying anything about the conversation on the island. Gargan
338-779: The estate of Gargan's father financed his secondary education at Georgetown Preparatory School , 1942–1948. For college, Gargan chose to attend Notre Dame as his father did, rather than Harvard as Joseph Kennedy and all of his sons did. Gargan said in 1983 that he considered Harvard "a crap school. In those days, you were kind of a fairy if you went to Harvard." Notre Dame provided a Catholic parochial education ; he received his undergraduate degree in 1952, and graduated from Notre Dame Law School in 1955. Gargan participated in Jack Kennedy's successful 1952 Senate campaign and 1960 presidential campaign, as well as Ted's 1962 and 1964 senate campaigns. At Ted's request, Gargan became chairman of
364-405: The film, Mary Jo is seen as a political strategist and victim to the car crash. Aside from mentioning Robert (Bobby) Kennedy's campaign, the Boiler Room Girls' other political work is not mentioned. The film only shows the short string of events leading up to the Chappaquiddick incident and the aftermath. Stephen Edward Smith Stephen Edward Smith (September 24, 1927 – August 19, 1990)
390-595: The incident by claiming Kopechne was driving his car. Gargan's father, Joseph Gargan Sr., was an amateur boxer , a University of Notre Dame football player and graduate, and a decorated World War I US Marine officer, who married Mary Agnes Fitzgerald, daughter of John F. Fitzgerald and sister of Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy . The Gargans had three children: Joseph Jr., Mary Jo, and Ann. Mary Agnes died on September 17, 1937. The children became orphaned when Joseph Sr. died in 1946. . Gargan grew up in Lowell, Massachusetts . In
416-692: The incident captioned Mary as “Copachni” by the New Bedford Standard-Times , and “Palporki” by the FBI, and even “TED SAFE; BLONDE DIES” by another wire service. Mary Ellen Lyons was a graduate of Regis College in Weston, Massachusetts . Her sister, Nance Lyons, worked on Robert Kennedy's campaign staff as well. She worked for State Senator Beryl Cohen of Massachusetts. In January 1967, Nance began "working in case", assisting with constituents, federal agencies, etc. for Robert Kennedy's office. One of her projects
442-422: The other partygoers that Kopechne went back to Edgartown, but to say nothing about the accident. Gargan understood this at the time to mean that Kennedy would go to the police station and report the accident; however, he came to understand later that Kennedy thought it meant that Gargan and Markham would go along with his cover-up lie. According to Gargan, Kennedy then abruptly cut off the discussion by jumping into
468-462: The summer of 1940, when Gargan was 10 years old and Ted Kennedy was 8, Joe visited the Kennedy home at Hyannis Port. The Kennedys looked to Gargan to take Teddy under his wing as a peer big brother and keep him out of trouble, something his older brothers could not do because of their greater age difference . Despite lies spread by the Kennedys that Joseph Kennedy financed his orphan nephew's education,
494-503: The work. Legislative assistants wrote the legislation on national issues, as well as the committee work and hearings. In the office, all male legislative assistants had secretaries, who aided them in their work. Nance had to write everything, type it, and mimeograph it by herself. During her time in the government she worked on the economic conversion bill and National Transportation Trust Fund. In 1968, Esther joined Robert Kennedy's Presidential campaign where she served as an aide. After, she
520-614: Was assassinated in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963. Smith served as United States Senator Robert F. Kennedy 's campaign manager during his 1968 presidential run at the time when the Senator was assassinated at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California on June 5, 1968. In the fall of 1979, as polls showed that Senator Ted Kennedy could easily defeat President Jimmy Carter in
546-553: Was accompanied by three lawyers, Joseph Gargan , Paul F. Markham , and Charles Tretter, as well as John B. Crimmins, Mr. Kennedy's driver, and family friend, Raymond S. La Rosa. That night, Edward Kennedy and Mary Jo Kopechne went for a drive where they crashed over a bridge into Pocha Pond on Chappaquiddick Island. In 2017, John Curran directed a movie portrayal of Chappaquiddick , written by Taylor Allen and Andrew Logan. The movie depicts Edward (Ted) Kennedy attempting to persuade Mary Jo Kopechne to join his presidential campaign. In
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#1732856044754572-475: Was an American lawyer and a nephew of Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy . He was one of only two men, along with Paul Markham , in whom Ted Kennedy chose to confide immediately after the Chappaquiddick automobile accident which killed Mary Jo Kopechne . Orphaned at the age of sixteen, Gargan spent two consecutive summers with the Kennedys, and, being closer in age to Ted than the other Kennedy brothers were, developed
598-413: Was held at Hyannis Port two months after the death of Robert Kennedy, was organised by Joseph Gargan plus Joan Kennedy , and was attended by twelve of the young campaign workers. The three day occasion included a cocktail party, a restaurant meal, sailing, swimming, charades and a cookout. On July 18, 1969 the Boiler Room Girls attended a gathering at Chappaquiddick Island with Edward M. Kennedy . He
624-501: Was known to work at the Urban Institute in Washington. She later worked as a literary agent at International Creative Management . Susan Tannenbaum was from the office of Representative Allard K. Lowenstein , Nassau County Democrat. Rosemary Keough was an alumna from Manhattanville College and graduated from Boston University Law School . She had been an administrative assistant to Senator Robert F. Kennedy who also worked for
650-598: Was legislation for Massachusetts, and getting the appropriations for the National Seashore or for the Lexington Concord National Park. After Nixon was elected president, she left the government. She received a call from the Senator's office about working for Senator Edward Kennedy. She responded by agreeing to come back under the condition that she receive a legislative assistant job, as she was already doing
676-559: Was the husband of Jean Ann Kennedy . He was a financial analyst and political strategist in the 1960 United States presidential campaign of his brother-in-law John F. Kennedy . Smith was born in Bayport , Long Island , New York , to Julia A. (Cleary), daughter of four-term Congressman William E. Cleary , and John Joseph Smith, and grew up in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn . He attended Georgetown University , graduating in 1948 with
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