Muhammad Ali Wrote To Mary Jo
Kopechne’s Father After Her Death
50 Years Ago, Family Says
Daily Caller,
by
Whitney Tipton
Original Article
Posted By: earlybird,
7/19/2019 10:04:45 AM
The late champion boxer Muhammad Ali sent a condolence letter to Mary Jo Kopechne’s father after her death 50 years ago, telling him to sue Ted Kennedy “for everything he’s got,” her family said.
The Kopechne family, whose 28-year-old daughter Mary Jo drowned July 18, 1969, after the car driven by Kennedy careened off a bridge into the water, had never shared the letter publicly before,
The short, handwritten letter is dated July 31, 1969, to Joseph Kopechne, who died in 2003. He signed it “Muhammad Ali Cassius Clay.” The letter was released by cousins of
FTA: "The Kopechne family said they waited to release it because they didn’t want a negative letter to reflect badly on the sender, but in the case of the Ali letter they felt it was time to ‘thank those who came to her defense those many years ago.’"
What were they afraid of? It doesn't reflect badly on Ali, whatever else one might think of him. He was right.
23 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
bassman 7/19/2019 10:47:15 AM (No. 128157)
If they had tried to sure they would have ended up dead.
9 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
Clinger 7/19/2019 10:51:09 AM (No. 128160)
I would have never dreamed I'd see Ali's greatest punch for the first time in 2019.
28 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
Ming 7/19/2019 11:02:57 AM (No. 128169)
I always wondered how much the Kennedys paid the Kopechnes to keep quiet and write off their daughter. If it was my daughter, or son for that matter, I would have never shut up about Captain Oldsmobile and his cowardly and negligent deeds.
18 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
earlybird 7/19/2019 11:22:35 AM (No. 128186)
I wonder how many years it will take to get the true story on why the Kopechne family folded...
15 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
Chuzzles 7/19/2019 11:52:57 AM (No. 128210)
They were bought off very cheaply, simply because Joe and company threatened to totally smear their dead daughter in the media. The media would have done it too. Ali was right. The family should have done their duty and gotten some justice for their daughter. Instead they took a pathetic payout that was the equivalent of pennies on the dollar for what should have been given. The Kennedys were allowed to slide and Mary Jo's father should have not caved. Instead the whispers about her character survived the decades.
9 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
Daisymay 7/19/2019 12:13:57 PM (No. 128226)
I would bet there were millions involved! The Kopechne Family didn't sit on their hands for nothing. They had to be devastated. And how many family members were there who could have talked to the Media but didn't?
5 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
felixcat 7/19/2019 12:41:04 PM (No. 128248)
Good for Muhammad Ali. As for the Kopechnes, well, they 're right there alongside the parents of Ambassador Chris Stevens and Seth Rich - party loyalty and/or money to keep quiet. pffft
7 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
thewarden 7/19/2019 1:07:58 PM (No. 128277)
I think I love you, Champ! Wow! The Kopechne family would have been crushed like a bug under the evil boot of the demonic Kennedy clan had they dared to sue, but I appreciate his sentiment. I have a feeling that not only were the Kopechne’s paid off, they were more likely silenced with threats to their health, if you know what I mean...
5 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
PostAway 7/19/2019 1:13:57 PM (No. 128284)
The Kopechne’s received $90,000 from Ted plus a $50,000 insurance payout. Until at least the 80’s Mary Jo’s parents asked their daughter’s friends, who were at the party that night,to reveal what happened. The women never did and the Kopechne’s were bitter for the rest of their lives. Would the public have supported a lawsuit against the overgrown frat boy? Maybe. But after the violent deaths of three brothers and the deification of two and the amputation of his young son’s leg in 1973 Kennedy played the tragic hero to the hilt. His money would have over-powered any attempt by a middle-class family for damages and that is assuming that any Massachusetts attorney would have touched the case. Mohammed Ali was a man of courage and decency and he wrote the truth about Ted, a shabby excuse for a man. Ted died knowing he was held in disdain by decent people as a drunk, a man-child, a liar and a reckless fraud whose family name was the only thing that kept him out of a gutter or a jail.
14 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
lakerman1 7/19/2019 2:09:39 PM (No. 128326)
The threat would have been easy. Dead Ted's lawyer could have said, 'don't talk, or something bad might happen. Just ask Marilyn Monroe.'
3 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
Scramus 7/19/2019 4:17:43 PM (No. 128384)
Muhammad Ali ,Rosa Parks, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Donald Trump--all physically present with many others on Ellis Island 1986--Ellis Island Award.
1 person likes this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
49 Ford 7/19/2019 5:59:11 PM (No. 128478)
I am in no position to judge the Kopechne family's actions. But this speaks greatly about Muhammad Ali, a man I have always admired. The greatest boxer ever, with the internal character to match. Can't beat that.
2 people like this.
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Comments:
Ali used very graphic language… It’s a shame these cousins sat on this for so many years...