Most journalism, political and otherwise, is ephemeral; but from time to time a reportorial job or a magazine article “enters history”—makes a visible difference in the march of events and in the ambitions of men. The Washington Post stories by Woodward and Bernstein helped to cause seismic changes in the political landscape presided over by Richard Nixon. If Senator Edward Kennedy fails to gain the Presidency, a principal roadblock may, in retrospect, be seen to have been an article by Robert Sherrill published in the July 14 New York Times Magazine, called “Chappaquiddick + 5.” The article is a careful and detailed devastation of Kennedy’s Chappaquiddick performance, and also an important political act in its own right.
To consider the politics first, the Times’ decision to publish a piece highly damaging to Kennedy on the fifth anniversary of Chappaquiddick cannot but constitute a conscious signal. Indeed, it is hardly news that Kennedy is not the Times’ favored candidate for President in 1976, the Times, in general, leaning to more schematic goo-goo types like John Lindsay, Charles Goodell, George McGovern, and, say, Walter Mondale, losers all. In the Times’ evident disfavor, Senator Kennedy might reply with a smile: how many votes has the Times?
Comments