The film “Chappaquiddick,” which premiered last Friday, concerns the efforts of the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., to save his career and reputation after the accident that killed Mary Jo Kopechne, a young, pretty aide to his dead brother Bobby.

Kennedy intended to preserve his chances of running for president, like his two older brothers before him. But what if he wanted not to be president, and it was this desire that ruled from then on?