Sen. Edward Kennedy Gives Hospital News Conference

Oct. 19, 1964 - Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) today described the June plane crash in which he broke his back as “a toboggan ride” along tree tops which ended with “a tremendous impact.”

In his first news conference since the accident exactly four months ago, Kennedy divided his time about equally between politics and details of the twin-engine plane crash which claimed two lives.

Kennedy, lying on his back on an orthopedic frame, said he thought the overriding national consideration in the Nov. 3 election will be who the people feel is “best equipped in these perilous days to provide leadership for the country — I think President Johnson will win the confidence of the people.”

He said he thought his own reelection should be based on his record during the past two years in the Senate and the programs he has supported.

On June 19, the night of the plane crash, Kennedy, Senator and Mrs. Birch Bayh (D-Ind.), aide Edwin Moss, and the pilot, Edward Zimmi, took off from Washington on what was expected to be an hour and a quarter flight.

“After an hour and 30 minutes,” Kennedy said today, “there still seemed a good distance to go. The pilot said there were a good many storm areas, and we had to take a more devious route.” He said the pilot said they should land about 11 p.m. at Barnes Airport in Northampton, Mass.

He was seated behind Zimmi, facing the rear. Moss was in the co-pilot’s seat, and the Bayhs were in the rear of the cabin facing forward.

He heard a radio contact, and Moss said they would land in 10 minutes. Kennedy then turned out the cabin lights. A short time later, he heard a radio exchange and heard the flaps and wheels lowered.

“I heard someone say visibility was 800 feet obscured. I am a pilot myself, so I was interested,” he said.

He said he turned in his seat and loosened his seatbelt to watch the instrument approach. He saw the altimeter go down from 1,100 feet.

“After it seemed to reach 600 feet, we broke out of the fog and could see the tops of the trees. It seemed apparent at this time we were going to crash. I turned in my seat and tightened my belt.

“I felt the power go on in the plane, which seemed for some time to be riding along the tops of the trees just like a toboggan ride. Then there was a tremendous impact.”

He said his seat was thrown against the roof. He was conscious of the plane sliding along the ground. Then there was a pile-up, a tremendous impact, and silence.

Kennedy heard Bayh asking his wife if she were all right. She said she was. “Then he called my name. I could hear him but really couldn’t respond.”

“I was conscious that something was seriously wrong with me,” Kennedy recalled. “I started to crawl around to the rear of the cabin.” He said he lifted himself to a window, and Bayh reached in and grabbed hold of his arm, pulling him through the window so that he was “half in and half out.”

“I said I couldn’t move from the waist down, and he said I should grab his neck.” He did so, and the Indiana Senator pulled him out.

Kennedy said Bayh dragged him along the ground “for what seemed an extraordinarily long time and leg go on the grass.” Then he remembered “people coming and police.”

Kennedy said he expected to leave the hospital in December and to resume his Senate duties when the new term begins in January. “I expect to walk out of the hospital.”

Dr. George Hammond said Kennedy would walk out of the hospital with a back brace. He said that before the patient’s release, he would be transferred to a bed and gradually rehabilitated. This would entail walking around with the brace.

Zimmi, the pilot, and Moss, Kennedy’s aide, were killed in the crash.

Of his brother Robert’s New York Senate campaign, Kennedy said “he knew it would be an extremely difficult one, and he has indicated up to this time that it is.”

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