The American Conservative, February 13, 2006
Late in the fall of 1974, the senior senator from Massachusetts, accompanied by his nephew, future Congressman Joe Kennedy, arrived in Athens as guests of the newly installed--following the collapse of the military junta--and democratically elected government of Constantine Karamanlis. At the time I was working as a stringer for UPI and as the Middle East correspondent for National Review. Just before the Kennedy pair landed, a message from one William van den Heuvel, father of the Nation's present editor, was passed to me from the ministry of information. The Kennedys were eager to meet with me once the formal government stuff had been dealt with. Being familiar with the long homosexual history of the Kennedys, I immediately understood what they were after. So I asked my very pretty American girlfriend of the time whether she had couple of friends who would like to have a drink with a couple of Kennedys. Did she ever, was her eager response.
We arranged to meet around midnight at the Grande Bretagne hotel, where Ted and Joe were staying as guests of the Greek government. One of the girls, the daughter of a prominent Greenwich,Connecticut attorney, was called Anita C.She brought along another cute American who was spending a year studying in the birthplace of selective democracy. When we met with Ted and Joe, I suggested we go to a trendy nightclub called 9 Muses, but Ted said he preferred to stay behind with Anita and then join us later. No one seemed to mind, so I went on ahead with Joe, my girl and his new acquaintance.
We did not get off to a good start. Joe lit a joint in the taxi despite my warnings that under Greek law possessing a single joint could land one in jail for a minimum of twelve months. (It has been changed since.) Once again I was outvoted, and the evening passed rather hazily, if you know what I mean.
Then the trouble began in earnest. Around five in the morning, a hysterical Anita rang my house accusing Ted Kennedy of all sorts of things involving drugs and booze. I asked her to calm down but she was adamant that he had done her wrong and told me she would ring her father in the States.
Next day I listened to her story, which went as follows: No sooner had we left, the senator and Anita began petting, as they say, and then, according to Anita, Kennedy produced a plastic bag full of amyl nitrate, and proceeded to pop it. The effect was like nothing she had felt before. She became very dizzy and confused, and almost threw up, and then saw a suddenly naked Ted Kennedy looming towards her. She began screaming and became hysterical. But once she started screaming, he immediately stopped, got dressed and had the cop standing watch outside his apartment take her home. End of story.
But not really. Anita had called her father and he had jumped on the first plane and was on his way to Athens. The Kennedys had left that morning for Rome, to visit the Pope, of all people, which put me in a hell of a position. First of all, I had been responsible for arranging the evening. But, as I told Anita's father, a U.S. Senator and his nephew were not exactly rough trade or gangsters. Or were they? My other problem was that Anita was the only witness. It was her word against Ted's. But having seen how reckless Joe had been, I decided to put it on the UPI wire.
John Rigos, however, the UPI bureau chief and one of the nicest men I have ever known, decided against it. Not enough proof. So I waited three years and wrote about it as soon as I got my London Spectator column. No Kennedy ever spoke to me again, which was the only positive thing to emerge from the mess they created in their one night in Athens. The American press ignored the story. So what else is new?
This warmed over stuff came back to me reading David Brooks's column about the Alito confirmation hearings. Poor people like Sam Alito grew up respecting the law; privileged, entitled and disrespectful people like the Kennedys couldn't care less.
Although I'm no one to talk where drugs are concerned, at least I've paid for my past sins. Ted Kennedy has not, nor have others like Joe and Robert Jr. And don't forget, this incident took place five years after Chappaquiddick, where Ted left a young woman to drown while he pretended to be asleep in his room rather than go for help. People like Ted Kennedy insult our sense of decency when they maliciously assert that Alito does not care for black Americans or the poor. Or young women, for that matter.