Paul Francis Markham (May 22, 1930 – July 13, 2019) was an American attorney who served as the

United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts The United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts (in case citations, D. Mass.) is the United States district court, federal district court whose Jurisdiction (area), territorial jurisdiction is the Commonwealth (U.S. state), C ...

from 1966 to 1969. He was one of two associates of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, in whom Kennedy confided most closely during the

Chappaquiddick incident The Chappaquiddick incident occurred on Chappaquiddick Island, Massachusetts, United States, sometime around midnight, between July 18 and 19, 1969, when Mary Jo Kopechne died inside the car driven by United States Senator Ted Kennedy after h ...

. Markham, along with Kennedy's cousin Joseph Gargan, participated in a futile attempt to rescue

Mary Jo Kopechne Mary Jo Kopechne (; July 26, 1940 – July 18 or 19, 1969) was an American secretary, and one of the campaign workers for U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy's 1968 presidential campaign, a close team known as the " Boiler Room Girls". In 1969, she ...

from Kennedy's submerged car, and also wrote down Kennedy's dictated statement to the police about the accident.

Early life and education

Markham was born in Lowell, Massachusetts on May 22, 1930. He attended

Georgetown Preparatory School Georgetown Preparatory School (also known as Georgetown Prep) is a Jesuit college-preparatory school in Rockville, Maryland for boys in ninth through twelfth grade. It has a 93-acre (380,000 square meters) campus. It is the only Jesuit boarding s ...

and then

Villanova University Villanova University is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic research university in Villanova, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded by the Order of Saint Augustine in 1842 and named after Thomas of Villanova, Saint Thom ...

. He dropped out to serve in the

Coast Guard A coast guard or coastguard is a Maritime Security Regimes, maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with cust ...

before returning to earn a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

. He would then attend the

Boston University School of Law The Boston University School of Law (BU Law) is the law school of Boston University, a private research university in Boston. Established in 1872, it is the third-oldest law school in New England, after Harvard Law School and Yale Law School. Ap ...

. He was admitted to the

Massachusetts Bar The Massachusetts Bar Association (MBA) is a voluntary, non-profit bar association in Massachusetts with a headquarters on West Street in Boston, Boston's Downtown Crossing. The MBA also has a Western Massachusetts office. The purpose of the MB ...

in 1958. He worked at the personal injury firm of Badger, Parrish before joining the

Small Business Administration The United States Small Business Administration (SBA) is an independent agency of the United States government that provides support to entrepreneurs and small businesses. The mission of the Small Business Administration is "to maintain and str ...

United States Attorney's office

In 1963, Markham was appointed by President

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...

to serve as an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts. When Wendell Arthur Garrity Jr. accepted a judgeship on the

United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts The United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts (in case citations, D. Mass.) is the United States district court, federal district court whose Jurisdiction (area), territorial jurisdiction is the Commonwealth (U.S. state), C ...

in 1966, President

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, under whom he had served a ...

appointed Markham to succeed Garrity as the United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts. He remained a U.S. Attorney until 1969 when he resigned to work in private practice, with the Boston firm of Moulton, Looney, Mazzone, Falk, & Markham.

Chappaquiddick incident

Markham was present on

Chappaquiddick Island Chappaquiddick Island ( ; Massachusett language: ''tchepi-aquidenet''; colloquially known as "Chappy”) is a peninsula and occasional island off the eastern end of Martha's Vineyard. Norton Point, a narrow barrier beach, connects Martha's Vin ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

, on the night leading up to the death of

. According to the testimony of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, after the accident, he, Markham, and Joseph Gargan returned to the waterway to try to rescue Kopechne. Markham testified that Kennedy was sobbing and on the verge of becoming crazed. The next day Gargan and Markham joined Kennedy at his hotel where they had a "heated conversation" over the fact that Kennedy had not reported the accident. In an October 15, 1994 interview for

Ronald Kessler Ronald Borek Kessler (born Ronald Borek; December 31, 1943) is an American journalist and author of 21 non-fiction books about the White House, U.S. Secret Service, FBI, and CIA. Early life and education Kessler was born in The Bronx, New Yor ...

's book ''The Sins of the Father: Joseph P. Kennedy and the Dynasty He Founded,'' Gargan said that when he and Markham returned to the scene of the accident with Kennedy, they both urged Kennedy to report the accident to the police. Gargan told Kessler, a former ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' reporter. "The conversation was brief about having to report," Gargan told Kessler for the book. "I was insistent on it. Paul Markham was backing me up on it. Ted said, `Okay, okay, Joey, okay. I've got the point, I've got the point.' Then he took a few steps and dove into the water, leaving Markham and I expecting that he would carry out the conversation." But Kennedy did not report the matter to the police until later in the morning, Kessler's book notes. After Kopechne's body was discovered, Kennedy dictated a statement to Markham which was then given to the police. He was portrayed by

Jim Gaffigan James Christopher Gaffigan (born July 7, 1966) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer. His material often addresses fatherhood, laziness, food, religion, and general observations. He is regarded as a "clean" comic, using l ...

in the 2017 film '' Chappaquiddick''.

Later life and death

Markham died on July 13, 2019, aged 89. He was buried at Wyoming Cemetery in Melrose, Massachusetts.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Markham, Paul F. 1930 births 2019 deaths People from Lowell, Massachusetts Boston University School of Law alumni Villanova University alumni United States attorneys for the District of Massachusetts Massachusetts lawyers 20th-century American lawyers