All Too Human: The Love Story Of Jack And Jackie Kennedy

[Music] Simon & Schuster audio presents all-too-human the love story of Jack and Jackie Kennedy written and read by Edward climb [Music] part-1 woman of the century Christmas 1981 I first began to see a lot of Jackie in the summer of 1981 at the time I was the editor of the New York Times Magazine and was bringing out a new novel an espionage thriller call the parachutists Jackie was an editor at doubleday my publisher and she liked my novel well enough to make one of her rare public appearances at my book party I am already 100 pages into it and can't put it down Jackie wrote me shortly after the party I am going to be late for dinner tonight and for work tomorrow and it will be your fault a few days later I picked up the telephone and called her we lunched together twice in the weeks between Labor Day and Thanksgiving and around Christmastime she invited me to a party at her home on Fifth Avenue before I met her I had formed a picture in my mind of Jackie s a remote figure moving across a small black and white television screen the poised young woman conducting a tour of the White House the stylish first lady dressed in a blood caked suit in the cabin of Air Force One the veiled Widow striding down Pennsylvania Avenue behind her husband's coffin when Jackie suddenly materialized in my life in the year she turned 52 I was unprepared to meet the liberated New York career woman in all her living color at one point during the party I found myself alone in the crowd with Jackie O age he said I'm so glad you could come journalists are the most interesting people in the whole world I was one over her eyes were her most arresting feature a dark luminescent brown they were set deep in their sockets and one of them was larger than the other under that big brilliant right eye there was a tan spot on her cheek but other than that one tiny blemish time had done little to dim her beauty she looked as willowy as a young girl slightly over five foot seven inches tall and 125 pounds give or take a pound or two at our lunches she dressed very simply a cashmere pullover a wide belt and slacks she wore just a touch of mascara and lip gloss but she always managed to look like a woman who took extravagant care of herself twice a week facials helped so did a recent facelift still I came to realize that when Jackie peered in the mirror she reacted no differently than other women her age she was critical of her own looks i always received the full jackie treatment she fixed me with those widely spaced asymmetrical brown eyes and a gaze that could only be described as adoring she punctuated her phrases with girlish words like gosh and golly and gee sometimes all three in one sentence but her famous jackie mask hid a complicated personality she was still biting her nails well into middle-age she changed smoked when she thought no one was watching and sometimes when she sensed the absence of approval her voice trailed off into that familiar little girl whisper and I would catch the suggestion of a childhood stutter after one of our lunches I offered to help Jackie catch a cab she was wearing a trench coat cinched with a knotted belt a scarf worn like a babushka and pulled forward to shield the sides of her face and her Jackie O sunglasses as we stroll down the crowded street I asked her about her children we were approaching the corner when she turned to me and said sometimes I can't help but feel concerned about them it was totally unlike her to blurt out something so private I didn't know what to say we stood there for a moment in silence then she explained she was concerned that her children were being influenced in their judgement by people who wrote warped accounts of JFK's a years in the White House and of her relationship with their father for as long as I could remember I had been intensely curious about the bonds that United Jack and Jackie were they the bonds of money and political convenience or where they the bonds of love like many others I read everything about Jack and Jackie that I could lay my hands on books on John Fitzgerald Kennedy and his martyrdom numbered in the thousands curiously however I could not find a single volume devoted to Jack and Jackie's life together what do you tell your children about the relationship between you and President Kennedy I asked her I'd rather not think about the past she said her mood had abruptly changed and the window into her soul was shut tight again please let's not talk about the past she went on I have to remain alive for myself I don't want to dredge up the past I stumbled over an apology but before I could get out more than a few words Jackie had flagged down a cab climbed in pulled off her scarf and was waving goodbye for several years during the early 1980s Jackie threw open the doors of her Fifth Avenue apartment to a large group of friends for her annual Christmas party as the daughter of an alcoholic father and temperamental mother who were frequently locked in combat Jackie did not have many happy memories of her childhood Christmases in New York City later at Mary wood where she spent her teenage years Christmas was a difficult time for the households seven children who came from three different mothers then of course there was that bleak Christmas of 1963 when Jackie just 34 years old celebrated the holiday with her two young children a month after JFK's assassination nonetheless since then she had resolved to make the holidays a joyous time for Caroline and John Jackie seemed to have managed the impossible keeping herself and her children out of sight and out of the public's mind but in 1981 the dreaded klieg lights of attention began snapping on again threatening her family's peace and security a deranged California law school graduate was arrested for stalking Caroline even more disturbing the Manhattan district attorney revealed that Mark David Chapman had Jackie's name on his hit list when he gunned down John Lennon a few months earlier by 1981 moreover the heroic Legend of John F Kennedy had begun to sink into the sludge of gossip and innuendo once a mythical figure Kennedy was being portrayed as a coarse shallow morally deficient power-hungry man the desanctified of JFK went beyond the bounds of historical revisionism it raised profound questions about the very authenticity of the image of JFK as well as the value of his 1,000 days in office and it tainted all those around him especially his wife who was often depicted in books and in the supermarket tabloids as the snooty spiteful greedy needy Jackie the original Material Girl and so it was probably no mere coincidence that while reviewing her Christmas party list Jackie's I fell on the name of an old and trusted family friend Abraham Ribicoff an ex u.s. senator Ribicoff had known Jack Kennedy from his earliest days in Congress he had been among the first to promote the idea of Kennedy for president jaci picked up the phone and dialed the connecticut number of Ribicoff and his wife casey governor this is jackie Ribicoff recalled her saying my children will be coming home to spend the week with me between Christmas and New Year's and I would like very much for you and Casey to have lunch with me I'll tell you why my children never knew their father and the person who knew Jack best was you and I'd like you to come and talk with them so they can understand who their father was and what he was I'm deeply touched Ribicoff said name the day and we'll be there at noon on Tuesday December 29 1981 Abe and Casey Ribicoff joined Jacki Caroline and John for lunch in Jackie's apartment at 10:40 Fifth Avenue at lunch that day for three hours Caroline and John asked Ribicoff questions about their father Jackie said almost nothing how did you get along with my father when he was in the Senate do you think my father was popular do you think my father accomplished something in his programs do you think he was liked by his colleagues was he in pain a lot Ribicoff told them the truth as he sought he found it one of the most touching experiences he had ever had you know Ribicoff told the young Kennedys your father had many parts he gave different parts to different people he often shared some of the most intimate things with me but did I know him completely the total person no no one got the total person except your mother he then turned to their mother and said only Jack and Jackie really knew each other part-2 fawn in the woods May 1951 mounted on sagebrush her showjumper Jacqueline Bouvier was charging across a field of flame with dogwood rhododendron and wild violets spring had arrived late in Virginia in 1951 and although it was the middle of May the meadows and trails of Mary wood were just then coming into bloom Jackie dismounted and handed the groom her sweat slick horse she loved riding because it required discipline and physical courage and perhaps most important of all because it satisfied something deep in her aesthetic nature properly mounted on a fine horse a woman always looked her best she walked to the main house the country seat of the Auchincloss family and went to her third-floor bedroom on the dresser there were scrapbooks bulging with newspaper clippings society columns and hundreds of photos of Jackie she never took a bad picture the scope of her face was her father's fleshy sensuous and Mediterranean but the dark Bouvier eyes and voluptuous lips existed side by side with a sharp nose and arched aristocratic eyebrows she had inherited from her mother I am tall five foot seven Jackie wrote in an unpublished self-portrait that she composed that spring with brown hair a square face and eyes so unfortunately far apart that it takes three weeks to have a pair of glasses made with a bridge wide enough to fit over my nose I do not have a sensational figure but can look slim if I pick the right clothes she had not yet developed into a great beauty that would come later but at the age of twenty-one she was already an astonishing sight to behold people even went so far as to compare her to a forest creature a fawn in the woods she laid out two separate sets of clothing on the bed one for lunch the other for a supper party that was being given that evening in Georgetown by Charles Bartlett the gifted young correspondent of the Chattanooga Times who was well-connected in the worlds of Washington society and politics Charlie and his wife Martha had arranged the Sunday night supper with the purpose of introducing Jackie to John Kennedy she had met Jack Kennedy casually a couple of years before at a wedding reception on Long Island and like everyone else she knew of his reputation as a war hero a playboy and a rising politician the Kennedys of Massachusetts were a famous family and photos of the Kennedy children with their father who was America's pre-war ambassador in London had appeared in practically every sunday supplement in America until the early 1940s Joseph P Kennedy had been mentioned prominently as a possible presidential nominee of the Democratic Party but respectable people wouldn't have anything to do with him because they said that he had amassed his fortune as a bootlegger and stock manipulator most people in Jackie's circles spoke of the Kennedys as coarse loud Irish mix at first Jackie had tried to beg off from attending the Bartlet supper explaining that she already had a date that night but the Bartlet's wouldn't take no for an answer so Jackie agreed to make an appearance at the supper have a quick bite say hello to Jack Kennedy and leave for her date Jackie wasn't that interested in meeting Jack Kennedy or any new man for that matter because she was secretly carrying the torch for someone else last year during her junior year abroad Jackie had fallen in love for the first time with John Marquand Marquand lived in Paris he was tall and slim had sandy hair and bright blue eyes he had gone to Harvard and a wonderful dry wit everyone called him Jack Jackie fell head over heels for Jack Marquand they went everywhere together in Paris in the hours before dawn they strolled along the banks of the sin past young couples making love in the shadows they often ended up at Mark Juan's apartment on the left bank they made love in the fashion of the day groping and fumbling and going almost all the way it left mark wand as the American saying went with blue balls it left Jackie as the French put it with far more delicacy add MeV edge 1/2 urgent then one night after a few too many of their favorite drink grasshoppers they were going up to mark Juan's apartment on the slow creaky French elevator Jackie let herself get carried away she was in mark Juan's arms her skirt bunched above her hips the backs of her thighs pressed against the decorative open grille work and when the elevator jolted to a stop she was no longer a demi Vierge Mary wood was a large imposing house that stood on the Potomac Palisades the original structure a copy of an 18th century Georgian mansion was built in 1919 in the early 1930s it was bought by you Dudley Auchincloss jr. and heir to the Standard Oil fortune who later became Jackie stepfather Jackie had gone to Mary wood almost 10 years earlier when her mother married Hugh de Auchincloss in the large often Klaus household with its seven children from three different mothers jackie was waited on hand and foot by a small army of servants though baptized and confirmed as a Catholic she came of age at Mary wood which was a bastion of wasp old money most Americans were only vaguely aware of the hereditary ruling class that existed in their midst but the power of the wasp a sin see had endured in America for three centuries it was made up of several hundred wealthy families whose male members advanced from exclusive private schools to Yale Princeton and Harvard they then went on to the top of Wall Street partnerships large banks powerful law firms and with the outbreak of the Cold War to the upper echelons of the CIA they live near each other in mansions smelling of beeswax in Virginia's Fairfax County on the East Side of Manhattan Boston's Beacon Hill and the North Shore of Long Island they like to impress each other with their wealth above all it was their confident manners Basheer restfulness of good breeding as one of them put it that marked the Auchincloss 'as and their peers this sets him apart and allowed them to look down their patrician noses at the newly rich those awkward sweaty non anglo-saxons whose wealth had begun to eclipse old wasp fortunes when Jackie was a young woman wasps were still so exclusionary that they discriminated even against each other Jackie's mother the third mrs. you dudley Auchincloss jr. was the daughter of James T Lee who had made his money in real estate and banking there was talk that Janet had invented her illustrious southern background and that in reality her ancestors were levees not Lee's no one ever produced a shred of evidence that she was Jewish but she was never fully accepted in high Wasp circles the Auchincloss 'as true to their class could be the worst kind of snobs and bigots in many ways Jackie tried to rise above all this but as much as she yearned to be emancipated from the alking classes and their narrow-minded attitudes she felt an acute longing to return to Mary wood whenever she was away - Jackie Mary wood existed in her mind as a golden place of idealized beauty peacefulness and enlightenment Mary wood was her original Camelot the mistress of Marywood janet norton lee bouvier Auchincloss was a force to be reckoned with even when she wasn't erupting in cyclonic displays of temper she dominated her surroundings she had lovely pink and white skin and dark eyes framed by a thick head of hair men found her sexy she always left them wanting more she was out practically every night of the week at black-tie society dinners yet she found time to volunteer as a nurse's aide at a Washington Hospital and to oversee the wardrobes French lessons and social lives of her seven children and stepchildren in addition to Mary wood she ran a large summer estate in Newport it was called Hammersmith farm and along with its vast gardens hot houses livestock and 16 staff members it was the setting for an endless round of parties from June to September all this took a great deal of discipline and organization and woe to anyone who got in the way of Janet's juggernaut including her husband Hugh Dee was a good-natured bear of a man the opposite of Janet's first husband John Verney Bouvier the third whereas Jack Bouvier was a compulsive womanizer capable of sleeping with two or three women in the same evening Judy suffered from chronic impotency Jacquie embodied all the virtues that janet Auchincloss admired most like her mother jackie was a fearless horse woman both mother and daughter had a passion for heart and Janet taught Jackie everything she knew about the life of high society her mother believed that if there was any hope for Jackie she had to marry into money Jackie and her younger sister Lee unlike the other children in the Auchincloss household were impecunious Bouvier's whose only inheritance had been the $3,000 they had each received in 1948 upon the death of their paternal grandfather Jackie didn't even a piece of serious jewelry to call her own all through her childhood Jackie had spent hours alone with books spinning fantasies in which she was the protagonist of her own romantic stories and she did not want an ordinary existence she wanted to do something something smart and stylish and exciting part three the way of the world May 1951 Jack Bouvier had recently been discharged from silverhill an exclusive sanitarium in Connecticut where wealthy alcoholics sought treatment this was not the first attempt who overcome his dependency on drink but no sooner had Jackie's father arrived home in New York City and he went back to the bottle all her life Jackie had tried to deny the painful reality of her father's condition as a child she often saw him sprawled drunk on the living room sofa Jackie and her mother would carry him to the bedroom and dress him and clean up his vomit and urine the next morning she would witness his tearful apologies as he begged his wife and daughters to forgive him and pleaded for one more chance when her mother married John Verney Bouvier the third in 1928 he looked like money breeding and power he was as handsome as Clark Gable black-haired and swarthy and thanks to repeated exposure to a Sun lamp as dark as the Sheik of Araby a fact that accounted for his various nicknames Jack the Sheik the black orchid and black jack but beneath the good-looking surface there was very little substance Jack's impeccable family credentials had appealed to the social climber in Janet soon after their marriage however Janet learned that Jack Bouvier was like herself a fanta cyst who had created the illusion of a grand lineage as it turned out the Bouvier's were not as he liked to claim related to French nobility and if had once been fabulously wealthy they were no longer what was worse blackjack turned out to be a violent drunk he frequently beat Janet in front of the children Janet fought back hurling plates and curses at her husband Jack Bouvier lost most of his money in the depression and he and Janet divorced when Jackie was 11 years old things had only gotten worse between Janet and Jack in recent years though Janet enjoyed the good life with Hugh Dee at Mary wood that didn't stop her from continuing to blame blackjack for all her disappointments and unhappiness she was consumed with hatred for him the previous week Jackie had been invited to attend a dinner in New York for the dozen finalists in vogue magazines annual Prix de pari Jackie had arranged to stay with her father in his bachelor flat on East 74th Street there had been over 1280 college seniors who had applied for the Prix de pari the winner would get a trial year as a junior editor on French Vogue and New York Vogue and a permanent position on the staff if she made good whenever Jackie spent time with her father she became aware again of his desperate financial plight watching him go broke had produced in her a sense of permanent panic about money blackjack used Jackie's visits as an opportunity to tutor her in the ways of the world delivering lectures on fashion antiques and interior decoration but his favorite subject was the eternal mating game between men and women in many ways they were more like sexual confidants than father and daughter from the time Jackie was old enough to understand the difference between men and women her father engaged her in sexually stimulating conversations about his various conquests yet Jackie never felt pushed aside by her father's paramours they came and went but she was the special one the constant in his life my best girl as he liked to say jackie was not the confident young woman that she often appeared to be more than at any time in her life she needed guidance from her parents but as usual they could not agree on anything least of all what she should do after she graduated from George Washington University where she had transferred for her senior year the trouble was the range of opportunities opened to female college graduates was limited women with careers were looked at askance they were considered hard and aggressive creatures and were treated as virtual social outcasts those who had to work were encouraged to take jobs that carried no prestige as nurses teachers or secretaries these jobs wouldn't put them into direct competition with men Jackie was determined to break the mold and thanks to her connections she had an interesting job offer a friend of her stepfather allan dulles a deputy director of the CIA had lined up an entry-level post for her with the organization while in new york after a round of interviews lunches and photo sessions jackie learned that she had won the Prix de pari it was Jackie's mother who had seen the announcement of the contest and urged her daughter to apply now however she wanted her to come home and accept the CIA job her father on the other hand saw her graduation as a chance to woo his daughter away from the hated alking classes he would enjoy having his best girl live near him during her six months at Vogue's offices in New York Jackie was caught between her parents and didn't know what to do part of her the tough Irish common sense part agreed with her mother she should stick close to home and get on with the essential business of finding a rich husband but another part the glamorous French part sided with her father she should return to Paris a city of light which in her mind represented independence and romance with Jack Marquand part for these charming people May and June 1951 Jackie returned to Marywood from New York on the evening of Saturday May 12th mummy Jackie said I'm going to ask mr. Dulles to let me out of my commitment to the CIA job so that I can accept the Prix de Pattie Janet had been anticipating this and she told Jackie that she and ud had decided to send her to Europe this summer along with her 17 year old sister Lee it would be a present from uncle Hugh D Janet explained celebrating Jackie's graduation from George Washington University at the end of the summer Jackie would take mr. Dulles 'as nice little job at the CIA and live at home with her mother and stepfather everything in Janet's mind had been settled isn't it wonderful Janet Auchincloss said the next afternoon as she led her lunch guests into the living room at Mary wood Jackie and Lee are going to Europe together this summer Lee fluttered around the room in a dress that showed off her figure which was better than Jackie's expressing enthusiasm for the trip Jackie sulked in a chair one of the guests was Arthur Kroc the chief Washington correspondent of the New York Times when Janet presented Jackie to him he held her hand longer than he did the others he had an eye for beautiful young women and he saw himself in the role of matchmaker between Jackie and some powerful Washington bachelor crocks wife Martha was also a journalist of sorts she wrote a society column for The Washington Times Herald called these charming people during lunch Judy and crock discussed politics will Truman run again Judy asked Joe Kennedy thinks Truman will step aside and that the Democrats will nominate either Kefauver or Stevenson Kroc said Joseph Peake Kennedy was the 12th richest man in America fortune estimated his worth at four 400 million dollars the equivalent of several billion dollars in today's money and he and crock spoke on the telephone practically every day their relationship went back to the early 1930s as a former Hollywood producer Kennedy understood the importance of publicity and he saw politics is another form of show business he courted powerful figures in the press including crock who was the most trusted journalists of his time by the time the roast beef and Yorkshire pudding arrived crock had launched into a monologue about the impact of modern communications on American politics more than 50% of the homes in the New York metropolitan area now have television sets crock said that's a sure sign that's a political future belongs to the men who can learn to master this powerful new medium of communications and that regard I believe that one of the most interesting contests to watch next year will be the Senate race in Massachusetts between Henry Cabot Lodge and either Paul Deaver the governor or congressman John Kennedy Jackie who was invariably bored by talk of politics was intrigued by the mention of the name John Kennedy the man she was going to meet later that night at the home of Charlie and Martha Bartlett oh you know Jack Kennedy she cooed in a throaty way flirting with crock tell us about him young Kennedy had definitely decided to seek higher office and he had a lot going in his favour crock said he had been voted the best-looking man in the House by the Washington female correspondents and he possessed the kind of boyish good looks that were tailor-made for television what crock did not say was that Joe Kennedy believed that Jack needed a wife and family if he was going to move up from the house to the Senate establish a national reputation and fulfill the Kennedy dream of capturing the White House crock had volunteered to help find a suitable mate for Jack and he had turned to his own wife for help her society column these charming people gave her special knowledge of the daughters of the best Washington family everyone agreed that the most eligible young woman around was Jackie Bouvier crock raised the name of Jackie Bouvier in his daily phone conversations with Joe Kennedy the young woman was Catholic she was beautiful she was brainy and she exuded upper-class breeding she embodied just the right image that Joe was seeking for his son Jack the idea appealed to Joe Kennedy and he gave Kroc the green light to proceed it didn't take the resourceful Croc and his wife long to find the ideal conspirator in their marital plot one of Arthur's journalistic protegees Charles Bartlett Bartlett had agreed to give a supper party that night at his Georgetown home to introduce Jackie Bouvier to John Kennedy Jack Kennedy and Charlie Bartlett were both Navy veterans and they had met right after the war Jack had been working as a roving correspondent for the Hearst Newspapers but he had just made a decision to leave journalism and run for Congress while Charlie was learning his trade as a political journalist Jack was serving in the House of Representatives from the 11th congressional district of Massachusetts they also saw a lot of each other on weekends in Florida where Charlie made a valiant but fruitless effort to emulate Jack's winning ways with women Jack was devoted to pleasure and his Girling as he called it was an open secret in Washington Jack's lack of interest in the give-and-take of legislative life led him to compile one of the worst attendance records in the history of the House of Representatives and none of his colleagues took him very seriously Jack was far better known as a playboy than he was as a politician at 7:30 a group of guests including Jack Kennedy arrived all at once at the Bartlett's door Jackie was already there six feet tall in a hundred and fifty pounds John Fitzgerald Kennedy was as skinny as a growing adolescent boy his tousled reddish brown hair protruding years and flashing white teeth added to the impression of immaturity as did his attire which consisted this evening of a baggy sports jacket and trousers with cuffs that stopped several inches above the top of his shoes it was hard to believe that he was a three-term congressman who would be celebrating his 34th birthday and 16 days as he greeted the room full of friends he caught sight of himself in a wall mirror he was conscious of his appearance and was constantly touching his hair his necktie and the flaps of his jacket pockets he was aware that his complexion changed with the state of his health one day he looked pasty the next he had a sickly yellowish hue he had recently been to Palm Beach working on his tan and tonight he gleamed with health and vigor Jack knew how to work a room in a few moments he had everyone charmed and laughing at his jokes Jack accepted a drink from Charlie and then made it a point to sit on the sofa next to Jackie she fixed him with her widely spaced eyes and seemed to hang on his every word she was different from the women he was used to she wasn't boisterous like his sisters were blatantly sexy like his girlfriends there was a strange other 'no Sabbagh she had large masculine hands and a flat-chested thin hipped boyish body but her face was the face of an exotic beauty I've never met anyone like her Jack told a friend later she's different from any girl I know they were a perfect match two masters of seduction when it came time for Jackie to leave for her late date Charlie offered to escort her to her car she made the round of good nights coming to Jack and she shook his hand he seemed genuinely surprised and disappointed to see her go sir early jackie had opened the car door and we were saying our final good night's Charlie recalled when all of a sudden Jack appeared at our side and mumble something to Jacky along the lines of say Jackie can I take you someplace to have a drink just then our dog hopped through the open door into the car and started yapping and a good-looking young man who had been hiding in the backseat of the convertible popped up his head it was too dark to tell who he was it was Jackie's date perhaps some other time she said to Jack the sight of the man in the backseat punctured Jack's ego and in a rare moment for him he was at a complete loss for words sure he muttered some other time jack telephone Jackie the next day but he did not ask her for a date a few days later Jackie took the train to New York City to take part in Vogue's prix de peri May 21st was her first day at Vogue Janet Auchincloss telephoned her daughter mark my words you're making the biggest mistake of your life you're going to be 22 in July and you're not engaged yet you don't have time to rattle around in a mayor's nest Jacky loved going to work at Vogue everything about it thrilled her and what was even better in a matter of a few months she would be on a great ocean liner sailing back into the arms of John Marquand but as her first week at Vogue wore on the barrage of calls from Mary would never let up on Friday she decided to return to Mary wood for a family Conclave on Sunday she wrote a letter to her bosses at Vogue I won't be able to come to work for you on June 7th Jackie and Lee arrived in New York City and boarded the Queen Elizabeth for the five-day crossing to Southampton England part five a rendezvous with death June 1951 to February 1952 I don't want to marry a girl who's an experienced Voyager Jack Kennedy was saying to his friend Langdon Marvin and I'm not referring to travel on land and sea I mean I want to marry a girl who's traveled sexually who sexually experienced if it hadn't been for his father Jack would have been content to remain a bachelor for the rest of his life but Joseph Kennedy kept telling him that a politician with aspirations for high office had to have a wife and that a Catholic politician had to have a Catholic wife and so in the summer of 1951 matrimony was very much on Jack's mind langdon listened while Jack mulled over the qualities he was looking for in a wife few girls seemed to meet his demanding standards but Jackie Bouvier is different Jack kept saying she's definitely different Langton Marvin and Jack Kennedy had been at Harvard together over the years Langdon had witnessed many of Jack's bouts with his bad back for long stretches of time Jack's back would cause him no trouble at all then without warning he would be struck by excruciating pain like everyone outside the Kennedy family he Langdon accepted the story that Jack's bad back was the result of a football injury at Harvard and that the condition had been exacerbated by Jack's PT boat accident during the war there was a hole in Jack's back that had never entirely healed after his operation and Langdon had looked into that savage wound and seen the metal plate embedded in his friends spine what Langdon did not know was that Jack had been born with a congenital malformation of his spinal column and had been an invalid all his life few people knew that Jack wore a corset or that his left shoe was fitted with an orthopedic lift because that leg was shorter than the other these were closely guarded secrets as were the facts about his other ailments he used and carried with him about the country more pills potions poultices and other paraphernalia than would be found in a small dispensary said Theodore Sorensen went to work writing speeches for Jack the following year he was highly allergic to dogs horses and certain kinds of dust and suffered coughing and sneezing attacks skin rashes and swollen glands as a result of these allergies wrote a Kennedy biographer he was also periodically asthmatic and had a weak stomach in his later years he could not tolerate anything but bland foods in addition he was slightly deaf in one ear chronically underweight through his first 35 years he was fed in his youth a diet of milk cream butter sirloin steaks ice cream and chocolate malteds all of which he ate in large quantities without ever putting on so much as an extra pound since childhood Jack had been the victim of high fevers seizures and collapses like many men whose formative years had been scarred by serious illness Jack was ashamed of physical weakness he feared that if the truth ever came out it would be his personal and political undoing his illnesses sapped his strength and undermined him psychologically as he grew older he began to accept his fate and he lived for the moment defying the odds recklessly seeking pleasure never taking himself too seriously he had spent a good part of his life sick in bed reading and thinking about death his Catholic upbringing with its emphasis on life after death his lifelong illnesses and his hair breath escaped from death in his PT boat in the Solomon Islands had all focused his mind on mortality he did not expect to live beyond his 40s summer gave way to fall and Jack stepped up his hectic pace politicking in Washington mending fences in Massachusetts playing around in Palm Beach but he still did not call Jackie in early October he set off on a seven-week around the world trip aimed at rousing press interest in his coming run for the Senate in addition the trip would give him ample opportunity to feed his enormous sexual appetite gorging on women like food he achieved his greatest sexual satisfaction when he was in bed with two women at the same time prostitutes were not his normal fare but he was not a ladies man either he never spent any time romancing women with sweet words and sentimental gestures and once he had made a sexual conquest he usually lost interest and moved on to the next woman Oh Lord Jack often said paraphrasing a favorite prayer make me good but not yet O Lord not just yet jack sexual education started at an early age when he was 12 years old his father brought home his mistress Gloria Swanson the most glamorous movie star of the day at the time Rose Kennedy was away from Anna's port on one of her frequent shopping trips to Paris and Joe and Gloria went for a sail on his yacht young jack stowed away below deck when he peeked up and saw his father making love to Gloria Swanson the bewildered young boy panicked and jumped into the sea his father had to dive in and save him later Joe Kennedy would amuse his son by describing in clinical detail his sexual conquests of showgirls and other floozies he offered to share his girls with his son and expected his son to reciprocate Jack adopted many of his father's attitudes toward women including the habit of talking about the opposite sex in the most disparaging way the only thing that made sense to Jack was to live for the moment treating each day as if it were his last demanding of life consonant intensity adventure and pleasure this attitude helped explain Jack's compulsive need to sleep with as many women as possible as long as he desired yet another woman responded with an erection and performed in bed he could make himself believe that all was well for the brief time that sexual intercourse lasted and with Jack it never lasted very long he was relieved of his feelings of isolation and anxiety still his fear of impotency and infertility always returned he had contracted venereal disease in 1940 when he was 23 years old and by the fall of 1951 he was suffering from recurrent symptoms burning urine prostate pain secretion of pus and anxiety about the effects on his fertility his nan gonococcal urethritis as it was euphemistically called on his medical charts had become a serious problem according to dr. William P Herbst a venereal specialist who took over Jack's treatment the congressman was treated by periodic massage of the penis and prostate sitz baths and various antibiotics but he was never entirely cured by the time Jack Kennedy arrived in Tokyo he was exhausted from the stress and strain of traveling in his suite at the Imperial Hotel Jack took his blood pressure and found that it had dropped distressingly his doctors had warned him about that when his blood pressure was low his body tissue could not easily absorb the life-saving cortisone that he carried with him wherever he went drained and weary Jack took out a hypodermic needle and gave himself an injection of cortisone in the thigh the next day Jack collapsed he was taken to a well staffed Naval Hospital in Okinawa where he went into shock his fever rose to 106 degrees his condition was listed as critical Bobby Cable their father back in erricka there was little hope for Jack's survival it was an exact replay of Jack's collapse in England in 1947 then he had been rushed to the London clinic and learned that he was suffering from Addison's disease a failure of the adrenal glands the symptoms of Addison's disease matched so many of the debilitating conditions that had plagued Jack during his lifetime chronic exhaustion weight loss poor appetite low blood pressure brown pigmentation of the skin dizzy spells vomiting chills and stomach pains eventually cortisone was developed as a treatment for Addison's disease and by 1950 Jack's condition had dramatically improved he had more stamina and endurance and he experienced a markedly increased sense of well-being the combination of cortisone and a synthetic substance called DCA actually boosted his libido increasing his already extraordinary sex drive there were dangers associated with the administration of cortisone in a healthy body the adrenal glands produced natural cortisone and the pituitary glands regulated its concentration in the bloodstream but in a patient suffering from Addison's disease physicians were unable to fine-tune the level of laboratory produced cortisone excess cortisone led to Cushing's syndrome and Jack suffered at times from many of its symptoms a full red face headaches back pain and muscular weakness he also displayed the psychological symptoms associated with Cushing's syndrome including feelings of grandiosity and invulnerability he became even more brazen and reckless than before as long as he didn't allow himself to become exhausted however cortisone was truly a miracle drug for Jack it gave him a reprieve from death during his recovery at the hospital in Okinawa Jack spent long hours talking with Bobby the brothers were separated in age by eight years which had made a big difference while they were growing up but by that point Bobby was a married man and the father of a baby daughter and their age difference no longer seemed to matter hour after hour Bobby sat beside Jack's hospital bed trying to rally his spirits after Jack got well Bobby said Jack would go back to America and knock lodges block off and find himself a wife nothing beat having your own kids Bobby said they gave you hope for the future Jack listen to Bobby his brother was making a lot of sense after he was fully recovered and had returned to America jack flew up to Massachusetts to test the political waters his father had become convinced on the basis of privately financed polls that the long wasp ascendancy in New England politics was at last coming to an end he believed that a handsome Catholic war hero like Jack now had a real chance of unseating the junior senator from Massachusetts Henry Cabot Lodge the quintessential wasp politician once he set out on the campaign trail the frail aristocratic congressman learned how to husband his energy he slept in late took regular naps showered and changed his shirt and socks as many as four times a day and retired early to bed and that way jack fooled everyone into believing that he possessed virtually inexhaustible stamina in early february 1952 jack began to lay plans for the formal announcement of his candidacy for the Senate when he returned to Washington he picked up the phone and called Jackie they had not spoken in nine months what's new Lee asked how about drinks tonight I'm sorry jack Jackie said I got engaged to be married two weeks ago part six from this moment on February to April 1952 shortly after Jackie and Lee arrived in France Jackie resumed her old love affair with Jack Marquand it was not primarily sex drew her to Ma quand he had a keen mind and a wicked sense of humor and was always great fun to be with though he was drinking more heavily than ever she considered becoming mrs. John Mark Wan jr. upon her return to America Jackie went riding with her mother had Mary wood and when they dismounted to cool down their horses she took the opportunity to disclose her feelings for Jack Marquand under no circumstances Janet said her voice rising was Jackie to see Jack Marquand again or have any communication with him after that I started getting a lot of agitated phone calls from Jackie recalled John Demi gates a young CIA operative and one of Jackie's former Beau's she was being kicked out of the Auchincloss nest where she had lived in the lap of luxury and she had absolutely no money so when her mother refused to let her marry Marquand Jackie became desperate it was at this highly vulnerable moment in her life that she thought she had found protection in the arms of Johnny you stood in background and breeding John gwu stead Jr who sold stocks and bonds on Wall Street resembled the young men Jackie had grown up with the very type she said she did not want to marry he was a tall attractive Yale man who had served in the war with an American field service unit attached to the British forces On January 21st 1952 barely one month after Jacqueline Bouvier and John Husted had their first date the New York Times carried a notice that they were engaged to be married the following June Jackie's friends were alarmed by the quickie engagement and appalled by the lack of joy and love exhibited by the new couple at their engaged party at Mary would buy that winter Jackie's long-distance relationship with the new york-based husted had begun to cool it turned out that he was not and never would be the beneficiary of great inherited wealth jackie began to be seen around Washington and the company of other men in the spring Jackie was invited to attend the last session of the dancing class for the 1951 1952 social season this exclusive subscription dance had been a hallowed institution in Washington since before World War one when Jackie learned Johnny you sted couldn't make it down from New York Martha Bartlet suggested she called Jack Kennedy that's a good idea Jackie said I will dozens of pre dance dinners were held all over town on May 17th the night of the dancing class and Jackie and Lee hosted their own small fete at Mary wood for a handful of friends then Jack Kennedy and Jackie Lee in a new bow the publishing tsiyon Michael Canfield and Langdon Marvin and Gloria Emerson swept into Washington and arrived at the dancing class a little after 11:00 p.m. a couple of hundred people were jammed into the ballroom they danced under large bronze chandeliers whose lights were reflected in a dozen gilt mirrors the men were dashing in their white ties and Tails the young women were dewy beauties in their strapless gowns with tight waists and full skirts but as always it was Jackie with her long neck and wonderful shoulders who attracted the most attention at one point in the evening Jackie Lee and Gloria went to the powder room Lee's date to blonde and devastatingly handsome Michael Canfield and Langdon Marvin headed for the bar left by himself for the moment Jack looked around and spotted a young woman by the name of Wendy burden morgan tall and slim was a dark pageboy haircut Wendy bore a striking resemblance to Jackie wendy was dancing with her husband when Jack cut in before she knew it Wendy had been maneuvered by Jack into one of the dim alcoves off the dance floor we should have lunch he said wasting no time I'm a married woman Jack Wendy said what on earth can you possibly be thinking of suddenly Jack felt a tap on his shoulder it was Jackie come on Jack she said pulling him away in the powder room Jackie had put on eye shadow with tiny star like sparkles her eyelids glittered under the lights of the chandeliers the orchestra began to play from this moment on and Jackie led Jack back onto the dance floor Jack had two left feet and had never learned how to dance properly Gloria watched them dance Jackie's lips moved she was murmuring the words of the Cole Porter song into Jack's ear from this moment on she could you for me dear only 240 dear from this moment on Jackie brought her cheek closer her lips brushed against Jack's face she looked up into Jack's eyes and the sparkles fell off her eyelids onto his padded black shoulders part seven out of the shadows July 1952 to June 1953 over the fourth of July weekend Jack invited Jackie to Hyannis Port to meet his family by now Jackie had broken off her engagement to Husted she arrived at the Kennedy compound with her hair feathered and frosted and wearing a pair of Roman toga sandals with straps Criss crossed all the way up her calf the Kennedys had never seen anyone like her Jack's sisters Eunice Jean and Pat went around the compound in old tennis shirts and sneakers they took one look at Jackie and her chic sandals and decided that she was a pretentious snob they poked fun at her kinky they're wide spaced eyes and size ten and a half feet and joked that her tiny little voice made her sound like a beak in a popular talking doll in phone calls to her sister Lee Jackie compared her reception at Hyannisport to a sorority hazing and referred to the hyperactive Kennedy women as the rah-rah girls Jack remained a cool observer of the goings on he understood that in the eyes of his sisters Jackie's unforgivable sin was that she was different for all their families millions the Kennedy siblings had been brought up with little tolerance for individuality Jack's sisters wanted him to remain in the family fold and marry a proper political wife the tough resilient woman like Bobby's wife Ethel who would gladly shake hands with voters all day and attend rubber-chicken fundraisers at night jackie was no Ethel but what no one in the family seemed to understand was that Jack did not want an Ethel he had struggled all his life to cut himself loose from the raucous Kennedy herd he was attracted by Jackie's elegant old-money manners savoir-faire an exotic other nests she embodied many of the dreams and ambitions that he had always found hard to express while he was in the shadow of his father and his deceased war hero older brother Joe jr. around Jackie Jack felt liberated he saw her as a kindred spirit during Jackie's visit Rose Kennedy took her on a tour of the house in the large living room a forest of framed photographs covered the piano near the doorway Rose pointed out the pictures of Jack as a young boy Jack had been one of those children who never seem to get enough attention and as a result he had not gotten along well with his mother starting in 1929 when Jack was 12 years old rose periodically fled from her unhappy marriage she went abroad 17 times in seven years although she was gone for own short stretches two or three weeks at a time Jack could never find it in his heart to forgive her for those absences Jack struggled to put space between himself and his mother but he was never truly successful in freeing himself from her his most noticeable character traits his sense of calm and his distance from others were acquired from his mother so was his distinctive accent although he did not like to admit it Jack's happiest memories were of the times when his mother came into his sick room sat on the side of his bed ran her hand through his thick hair and read out loud to him then his mother's voice a voice he had incorporated and made his own transported him into a fantasy world inhabited by kings and queens heroes and adventurers and in the glow of his mother's voice a frail little boy felt that he could accomplish anything Joe Kennedy took Jackie aside that evening in Hyannis Port to show her a room full of hundreds of porcelain dolls dressed the native costumes that he had collected from all over the world during their private chat Joe was impressed by the way the young woman stood up to him she displayed the kind of true grit he admired and she wasn't afraid to give him the needle Joe tried to shock her with graphic details of his affair with Gloria Swanson but as the daughter of blackjack Bouvier Jackie had heard worse you have no nuances Jackie teased him everything with you is either black or white while life is so much more complicated than that Joe liked that Joe's friend Morton Downey was one of the dinner guests that night he asked Joe what he and Jackie had talked about money Joe said she talked straight to me she makes the pathetic 56 bucks a week from a job she's got at the Washington Times Herald as a camera girl and her old man gives her a $50 a month allowance and he can barely afford that her stepfathers in bad shape too I told her that I'd fixed it so Jack had his own money he wasn't dependent on me if she married Jack she wouldn't have anything to worry about it and if Jack didn't look after her properly I would and what did she say down he asked not much just looked at me like one of my porcelain dolls but you know what the trouble is Morton what down he asked I like the girl Jo said but I don't think porcelain can carry babies Jack's stunning victory over Henry Cabot Lodge earned him his first front-page story in The New York Times and the beginnings of a national reputation money and organization had played an important role in the race but in the final analysis Jack had overcome the Republican landslide and won by a 70,000 vote plurality because of the magic force of his personality joke Kennedy realized this and had a new appreciation of Jack's talents it represented a turning point in the relationship between the father and son his father's belated acceptance Unleashed an energy and drive in Jack that even he had not suspected was there Jack had actually enjoyed campaigning for the first time he felt exhilarated by the realization that he and his father were embarking on a long and arduous journey to attain the nearly unattainable the White House just the two of them side by side arm and arm without the ghost of Joe jr. between them Joe had come to the conclusion that Jackie Bouvier would make Jack a swell wife she had the three B's Beauty Brains and breeding and what was more she had a lot of pluck Joe and Jackie spoke the same language Joe didn't see any reason for Jack to delay Jack's political operatives in Massachusetts had doubts about Jackie voters weren't going to buy Jackie's little girl voice and hoity-toity manners they said for a man with jacks driving ambition Jackie was a definite political liability since his Senate victory Jack had given a lot of thought to the idea of marriage he asked so many friends for advice about marriage that they joked he should put the matter before the Senate for a vote like all his brothers and sisters with the exception of Bobby he had trouble making a personal commitment something held him back Jack did not object to marrying Jackie because it would put a crimp in his sex life having a wife wouldn't stop him from chasing women but he knew that marriage would bring certain wrenching changes for one thing he would have to trust Jackie with his deepest secrets and considering how he had grown up distrusting his own mother it was hardly surprising that Jack hesitated to trust any woman he could not hide from a wife the facts about his health facts that if made public were enough to sink his chances for the presidency no one would vote for a man with a congenital spinal deformation a [ __ ] who had to wear a corset can use crutches he would not last a minute in public life if people found out about his chronic venereal disease and of course there was his Addison's in 1953 Addison's disease was still considered to be a fatal affliction generally caused by infectious tuberculosis it was like having incurable cancer just think of what his enemies would make of that if all that wasn't bad enough his future was held hostage by J Edgar Hoover the director of the FBI who had knowledge of a compromising affair that Jack had carried on when he was a 24-year old naval ensign the woman in question a blonde blue-eyed former Miss Denmark named Inga Arvid had been a correspondent for a Danish newspaper in Berlin where she had interviewed Adolf Hitler and other top Nazi leaders after the United States entered World War two the FBI suspected Inga of being a Nazi spy and on Hoover's orders the bureau tapped her phone the FBI never proved that Inga was a spy but the tape recordings of her conversations with ensign John Kennedy remained in Hoover's personal safe a potentially lethal weapon of blackmail against candidate John Kennedy and then there was Joseph Kennedy's old connections with underworld figures like Sam Giancana Jack had always wondered about his inability to step out of his own skin and feel love and compassion for another person he had never been in love never lost himself with a woman was it different with Jackie did he love her he appreciated her she had poise and refinement she was eager to be useful she translated French articles and books on Indochina for him she accompanied him to political dinners she shopped with him for clothes helping him pick out expensive made-to-order suits that flattered his thin physique she brought picnic lunches to his office she was everything that his rational mind told him he should want Jack would have been shocked to learn that his intellectual faculties had little to do with his attraction to Jackie her upbringing her outlook on life her voice her manner her body her vocabulary her intellect her height her coloring her smell her football on a hardwood floor her gestures while smoking her literary references her tolerance of extramarital affairs her tomboyish miss her throaty laugh her wicked sense of humor all this and more worked on Jack's emotions his future with Jackie was inescapable Jack's got to ask me to marry him Jackie told her mother I'm going to call him a girl doesn't call a gentleman dear Janet said you must not look too anxious or too eager must keep yourself scarce it was a gray drizzly Saturday afternoon in April and several members of the Auchincloss clan were squeezed into UT's Cadillac they were on their way to the Holy Trinity Church in Georgetown rly was to Mary Michael temple Canfield Jackie was her sister's maid of honor and she looked festive in a ballerina length yellow chiffon dress her feelings however were anything but bright and gay not only was her younger sister beating her to the altar Lee was marrying a man with socially impeccable credentials Jackie felt publicly embarrassed by her kids sister's nuptials people were constantly asking her about to publish reports of a romance between her and Jack Kennedy when were they going to get married to which Jackie's answer was always the same curious non sequitur he wants to be President the fact was Jackie did not know where she stood with Jackie what sort of a man treated a woman this way and why was she taking his punishment by this time Jackie was very deeply in love with Jack her stepsister Nina explained she was besotted by Jack entirely devoted to him Jack Kennedy's friend Chuck Spaulding observed Jackie wasn't sexually attracted to men unless they were dangerous like old blackjack it was one of those terribly obvious Freudian situations we all talked about it even Jack said that Jackie had a father crush what was surprising was a Jackie who was so intelligent and other things didn't seem to have a clue about this one Janet had arranged for Jackie to go to England for the Washington Times Herald to cover the forthcoming coronation of Queen Elizabeth should I see Jack before I leave for the coronation Jackie asked no said Janet tell him you're too busy and that you'll see him when you get back one night in London at the flat in Mayfair where Jackie was staying with her friend Eileen Bowden a cable arrived for you Eileen said Jackie tore open the yellow envelope oh this is from Jack she said what does he say Eileen asked he wants to know if I'll marry him Jackie harbored serious reservations about marrying jack she loved him there was no doubt in her mind about that but she worried about losing her identity in the big raucous Kennedy family she was also concerned that she and Jack would have trouble accommodating to each other's violently independent natures Jackie's old beau Demi gates took her to lunch in London and warned her about Jack Kennedy Jack's a womanizer he blurted out when he comes to New York City he calls up the guys and asks them to line up the girls bimbos of every shape color and Creed oh well Jackie said nothing that Demi said surprised Jackie she had understood Jack from the start and knew exactly what she was getting herself into he would be unfaithful to her but she figured she could handle it all men are like that she told Demi just look at my father on the back of the wedding invitation that she sent to Ellen puffin Dench her Vassar classmate Jackie wrote ha someone asked puffins what she thought Jackie meant by that I think it's so typical of her puffins said I think she was madly in love with the guy and I can't see why she wouldn't have been head-over-heels for the guy and ha meant just that ha I got him she did not have him for long we were all shocked when we heard that he was going over to France with Toby McDonald and his old man leaving Jackie here at the beach said Taylor tuning the often clausus Newport neighbor here was a young man who was the toast of the town very handsome a lot of money and theoretically very much in love with this dark-haired beauty and he just split and went to the Riviera I mean why do you go away alone with a group of men you don't go to Europe unless you have something else in mind I don't think that shows an awful lot of love Jack had instructed Evelyn Lincoln to charter a yacht in the South of France for public consumption she let it be known that the senator was in France conferring with French government officials on the situation in Vietnam but nobody was fooled by that I called Jacqueline about the engagement said Betty Beale the society columnist of the Washington evening star and she said Jack was going to Eden Roc and copped Antibes for his vacation and he wasn't taking her I had never before nor have I since known a man who prefer to take his vacation away from the girl he had just become engaged to this coupled with his reported behavior in Cap d'Antibes was proved to me that he was not really in love with Jacqueline Jackie's wedding gown had a portrait neckline and a fitted bodice that was embellished with interwoven bands of tucking each panel of the bouffant skirt was swirled into a rosette with an orange blossom sprig in the center it was made from 50 yards of taffeta file and was a pale ivory color rather than white so that it would blend with Jackie's yellowed Rose Point lace veil lent by her grandmother which lay on the bed in a box of tissue paper Jackie looked at herself in the full-length mirror the ornate gown emphasized her flat chest and did not compliment her tall spare figure she would have preferred something simpler and more modern but Jack had cast his vote for a traditional wedding dress and she had yielded to his wishes Jack did not normally care about such things but like everyone else he was caught up in the public relations aspects of the wedding every detail of the wedding down to the gown as part of a Joseph P Kennedy production aimed at portraying the new couple as exemplars of youthful glamour family virtue and upward mobility Joe the old Hollywood impresario had arranged for photos of newlyweds to run on the front pages of the New York Times and the Boston Globe he was so concerned about projecting the right image that for the first time he began to worry about Jack's reckless womanizing Joe discussed with me Jack's problem with women George Smathers said he told me George you'd better try to keep Jack more discreet he can't do it in the public eye Jack can't afford to have people talk about is messing around it was one thing for a Catholic politician who aspired to the White House to fool around while he was single it was quite another thing for him to flaunt his affairs once he got married at the age of 36 it was time for Jack to grow up and put aside his adolescent exhibitionism as his wedding day approached Jack seemed willing to turn over a new leaf in an effort to make a clean breast of things with Jackie Jack took his bride aside and told her all about his life as a compulsive womanizer Jack unloaded George Mather said he confessed everything to Jackie she handled it pretty well women of that class and generation were raised to turn a blind eye to sexual peccadilloes but Jack talked too much and he lived to regret that conversation he was just like Jackie's father black jack neither of those guys could change on the morning of the wedding in the Viking hotel in Newport just a few miles from Jackie Michael can't healed Lee's husband observed Jack Bouvier as he dressed Michael had been secretly assigned by Janet to get her former husband so intoxicated that he could not possibly make it to the wedding she wanted ud to walk Jackie down the aisle not black jack Bouvier Michael had stocked the room with the best champagne liquor ice and setups a crowd of more than 3000 people pressed against the police barricades as Jackie stepped out of her limousine in front of st. Mary's Church and lo the dressmaker held the bride's trained high so that it would not be trampled with the first chords of the traditional wedding march and lo let go and Jackie floated down the aisle on the arm of you Auchincloss John Kennedy was waiting for Jackie at the altar he was flanked by ten bridesmaids in pale pink taffeta set off by claret sashes his brother Bobby was the best man the couple knelt before the Most Reverend Richard J Cushing Archbishop of Boston Jack's back was acting up and he was in pain during most of the 40-minute nuptial Mass finally Archbishop Cushing pronounced them husband and wife and they exchanged a chaste kiss then they walked slowly toward the door smiling and nodding to well-wishers suddenly Jackie spotted a familiar face off in a corner almost hidden in the shadows it was her father what was he doing sitting there among the spectators was he drunk if he was sober why hadn't he come to the church in time to walk her down the aisle what had happened there were tears in Blackjacks eyes as he watched his daughter walk by Jackie was blinded by the sunlight at the door she could hear a tremendous roar from the crowd and a familiar clack clack clack of the camera man's speed graphics gradually her eyes adjusted to the light and she saw hundreds of people breaking through the police lines the cops struggled to catch them and push them back but they eluded the police and rush forward trying to get closer to the senator and his new bride Jack flashed a toothy smile and waved to the crowd he basked in their adulation but Jackie recoiled at the frenzied scene of uncovered public emotion the cameraman pressed closer popping on and on with their speed graphics Jacky was blinded again completely unnerved and terrified they spent a week in Acapulco in a pink villa overlooking the ocean Jackie wrote her father a long letter of forgiveness Jack caught a nine-foot selfish play tennis studied a Berlitz guide to Spanish and flirted at a party with some local senoritas then they flew to Los Angeles drove up the old Pacific coast road to Santa Barbara and checked into the San Ysidro Ranch during his heyday in the movie capital Joe Kennedy had shacked up with Gloria Swanson at San Ysidro a luxurious retreat in the foothills of the Santa Ynez Mountains and he had recommended the place to his son as the perfect honeymoon hideaway but by the time the newlyweds arrived there in late September jack was bored as Jack had once told a friend it's the chase I like not to kill once I get a woman I'm not interested in carrying on now that he and Jackie were married the chase was over and so apparently was the thrill Jackie was not like the ripe beloved to us women Jack was sexually attracted to his satisfaction depended on since he was women who were willing to do anything in bed Jackie knew how to be coquettish she could make playful romantic gestures but she was far too ladylike to be really sluttish Jack became increasingly Restless and fidgety when they discussed where Jackie would live after they got back home Jack suggested that she move in with his parents in Hyannis Port in fact he said maybe she wanted to return by herself now while he went on to San Francisco alone to visit an old navy chum jackie declined his offer part 9 what Jackie knew October 1953 to December 1953 like most young wives of the early 1950s Jackie was interested in the popular new art of gourmet cooking but she did not have much talent in this particular domestic area she was much better at interior decorating but once the house had been finished she was at a loss what to do she was only 24 years old and despite a certain Flair and sophistication she was ill-equipped for the responsibilities of married life and the rough-and-tumble world of politics she wanted to make Jack happy but did not know how in New York City for a day of shopping in personal care jackie learned that her regular hairdresser Lawrence was out sick a tall thin man in his late 20s Kenneth would fill in he escorted Jackie back to his booth and studied her thick strong hair in the reflection of the mirror hmm he said at last I think your hair is too short why is Jackie well said Kenneth you are very tall and you have big bones and I think it makes your head look too small and I think it's too curly no hairdresser had ever spoken to her this way before we can use rollers to smooth the front he said to stretch it make it look longer all right go ahead Jackie said you have to remember Kenneth said of his first meeting with Jackie in those days women were running around with their hair spray to a fare-thee-well in those days it wasn't supposed to blow in the wind but certain people simply developed their own kind of look mrs. Kennedy was like that she paid no attention to the latest style she was who she was her style was her style in an earlier era a 36 year old senator would have had to wait at least a couple of decades before he could run for president but television had chain used all that transforming American politics into an exercise in public relations cool and laid back with a self-deprecating sense of humor Jack proved to be the most telegenic politician in America in the first few months of his marriage he appeared on Edward R murrow's person-to-person times Man of the Year Review Meet the Press and a host of other TV programs the Kennedy publicity machine started grinding out newspaper and magazine articles some of them like a city senator looks at the farm problem were submitted under Jack's byline by his brilliant new ghostwriter Theodore Sorensen other times selected journalists were offered access to the perfect young couple who were portrayed enjoying glamorous upscale pursuits sailing oil painting and reading poetry to each other what these personality pieces failed to reveal however was that Jack was rarely at home with his wife during our first year of marriage Jackie said we were like gypsies living in and out of a suitcase it was turbulent Jack made speeches all over the country and was never home more than two nights at a time I was alone almost every weekend it was all wrong politics was sort of my enemy Jack's back was acting up again the pain made him fear de belen short-tempered he was in a quandary over what to do he did not want the voters in Massachusetts to think that he was a [ __ ] and so he hid his crutches when visitors came to his office for her part Jackie could not get pregnant no matter how hard she tried the Kennedys silently blamed her for the barren marriage even though it was not at all clear that it was Jackie's fault in fact Jack had long been concerned that his chronic venereal disease nan gonococcal urethritis or chlamydia would make him infertile during the first year of his marriage he visited dr. William P Herbst an eminent Boston urology and had his sperm count tested to see if he was capable of fathering children he shared his concerns with Jackie she knew that he was taking enormous amounts of antibiotics to eradicate the bacteria that caused his sexually transmitted disease she lived in dread that he might infect her where you have a man who carries non gonococcal urethritis said dr. attila taught a specialist in the relationship between infections and infertility the woman with whom he has sex can sometimes achieve one pregnancy however after the first intercourse the woman becomes infected and the bacteria usually stays behind and multiplies and her subsequent pregnancies can be affected her second baby might come to term immature and subsequent pregnancies can be miscarried furthermore said dr. Toth some of these bacteria may infect her ovaries and after she gives birth those sluggish ovaries will not produce the normal complement of hormones and she can go through hormonal withdrawal and severe depression that can last for months like many Irish Catholic men of his time Jack Kennedy divided the female sex into two categories wantin women's for pleasure and Madonna types for bearing children sex was either animalistic and fun or pure and boring in either case the man was always supposed to feel that he was superior to the woman and that he was immune to her female powers but Jack also had his personal code of honor he never attempted to bribe or frighten a woman into submitting to him that was simply not his way he never pressured a woman or strong-armed her he never promised a woman a good job or a present or money his approach was nonchalant and that was part of the extraordinary power he had over women he did not really seem to care the denizens of Washington were used to politicians with a roving eye but may Jack different was that he flaunted his flirtations in his wife's presence people expected some reaction from Jackie they would stare at her wondering when she would erupt in rage and indignation but Jackie always acted as though she did not notice what Jack was up to even though only a blind person could have missed his flagrant behavior but friends began to notice a change in Jackie she wasn't the same carefree happy Jackie Bouvier anymore Charlie Bartlett said she was much more solemn Jack could not understand why Jackie was so unhappy Jack appreciated her said Chuck Spaulding he really brightened when she appeared you could see it in his eyes he'd follow her around the room watching to see what she'd do next Jackie interested him which was not true of many women unfortunately however this wasn't enough there were many ways to treat a woman but as he saw it only one way to treat a wife and that was the way his father had treated his mother while on one level Jackie must have known what she was getting into by marrying a 36 year old playboy said Len Billy's she never suspected the depth of Jack's need for other women nor was she prepared for the humiliation she would suffer when she found herself stranded at parties while Jack would suddenly disappear with some pretty young girl shortly after Congress adjourned in August 1954 Jack flew up to Hyannis Port his father was shocked by his appearance his sons weight had dropped from 175 to 140 pounds and he had developed an unwholesome pallor my back is getting worse Jack explained I can't make it from my office to the Senate chamber for a quorum call even with my crutches Jack told his father that he had consulted the best specialist in the country they all agreed that he would become a [ __ ] unless he underwent a complicated surgical procedure known as a double spinal fusion because of Jack's Addison's disease the surgeons were not sure that he could survive a severe degree of trauma involved in such an operation his chances were no better than 5050 don't worry dad Jack said I'll make it through Jackie spent the night before the operation in Jack's room at the New York Hospital for Special Surgery early on the morning of October 21st a nurse gave Jack a shot of an opium solution an hour later an orderly came in and lifted his emaciated body onto a gurney jack was given four pints of blood during the three-hour operation at first the hospital put out a press release saying that the operation on Jack had been successful and his condition is good but on his third day of recovery his doctor's worst fears came true jack was struck with a staph infection and was placed on the critical list then he lapsed into a coma that night the chief surgeon summoned Jack's parents and Jackie to the hospital and told them that he did not expect his patient to live until morning still a newlywed Jackie was on the verge of becoming a widow Jack rallied during the night over the following two weeks he fought for his life and by the beginning of November he was no longer on the critical list but he was still ill and Jo and Jackie never left his bedside Jack tried to keep up with the news in the newspapers and on television but after years of being at the center of action he suddenly felt like a passive spectator to the most dramatic events of the time while he was recuperating the Supreme Court ruled that the doctrine of separate but equal in public education was unconstitutional the Communist Viet Minh / and the French garrison that the NBN flew in Vietnam on February 15th 1955 Jack went back into the hospital to have the silver plate in his back removed and a bone graft put in its place this time the operation proved more successful for the first time in months the pain receded enough for him to think about work he decided to write a book about a group of senators who had taken principled positions on controversial issues it was to be called Profiles in Courage propped up by pillows under his knees and behind his shoulders jack dictated his ideas to jackie he worked on the outline and came up with many of the organizing principles for the book Jackie took it all down and shipped off memos to Evelyn Lincoln but the bulk of the research and much of the writing were the work of others in the spring of 1955 Jackie went house hunting not far from Mary wood on the Virginia side of the Potomac River she found a white brick Georgian mansion called Hickory Hill stately yet humane in its proportions Hickory Hill reminded her of her beloved Mary wood there were stables for her horses six acres of pasture land for riding a swimming pool and an orchard it was a real home a sanctuary from the hurly-burly of politics her enthusiasm for Hickory Hill was infectious and Jack quickly agreed to purchase the $125,000 house Jackie called Janet Auchincloss as decorator Elizabeth Draper and the three women mother daughter and decorator said about designing a nursery for Jack and Jackie's first child for at last Jackie was pregnant meanwhile Joe Kennedy made sure that banks of TV and newsreel cameras and a mob of reporters were on hand to record Jack's triumphant return to the capital Jack climbed the marble steps without crutches and with a great effort of will stood there at the top posing for pictures though he still had shooting pains in his back he somehow conveyed the impression of health and vigor visitors stopped and cheered his Senate colleagues came up and shook his hand but as always Jack pushed his luck to the point of recklessness he took a suite on the eighth floor of the Mayflower Hotel which one FBI informant referred to as Kennedy's personal playpen this FBI source attended one of Jack's parties at which Jack and senator Estes Kefauver and their respective dates made love and plain view of other partygoers when they were done the two senators simply exchanged mates and began anew in late May Jacky suffered a miscarriage Langdon Marvin wondered whether the loss of the baby was somehow related to Jackie's torment and anguish over Jack's philandering Langdon said I can only guess that Jack's philandering caused a great deal of tension I sometimes wondered if it wasn't the reason for all those miscarriages and other related problems that Jackie had her doctor told her that if she remained so high-strung she might have trouble bearing children that made Jack nervous and probably induced him to have more affairs he wanted a large family no fewer than five children but realized very early in the marriage that this just wasn't going to happen after her miscarriage Jackie sank into a severe depression at the beginning of July she sailed alone for England where she stayed with her sister and Michael Canfield at their Muse house in the Belgravia section of London Lee looked wonderful she was a big hit on the London social scene and her house was far grander than anything jackie was planning for Hickory Hill the visit reignited all of Jackie's old feelings of jealousy and sisterly competition however Lee's life was not as romantic as it appeared Michael was now a full-blown alcoholic at dinner Lee treated him with gratuitous cruelty after dinner Lee and Jackie went out night clubbing and Michael collapsed into bed the sisters took off for a few days in Paris where they attended fashion shows and went shopping by that point Jackie had unburdened herself to leave after all that she had done for Jack he still treated her with contempt and callous indifference Jackie's anger and frustration had brought her to the point of despair Jackie was looking for something a new start in life a way to change her image she found all that with Lee in Paris every chic woman now wanted to look like Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday Inn Sabrina suddenly curves were out a slim hips slightly boyish silhouette was in with her flat chest long waist and wonderful shoulders and arms Jackie fit the new look to a tee she immediately adopted it as her personal style next Jackie and Lee travelled to the south of France where the Canfield's had rented a villa for the month of August Jackie was remarkably candid about her feelings toward Jack she had left him she said she felt bad about leaving him while he was having trouble with his back but she couldn't help that she and Jack were split I'm never going back Jackie said I'm never going back however Jack showed up at the Villa in late August and began working on Jackie with all his powers of charm and persuasion soon Jack and Jackie appear to have reached a reconciliation Jack and Jackie went to Monte Carlo and took off for a 10-day tour of Poland and an audience with the Pope in Rome they ended their European sojourn with a party on board the yacht of Aristotle Onassis the Greek shipping tycoon was entertaining Sir Winston Churchill one of Jack's heroes hoping to make an impression Jack got dressed up in a white dinner jacket but Churchill ignored him I think he thought you were the waiter Jack Jackie said and one of the more devastating put-downs not long after their return to the States Jackie learned that she was pregnant once again part 10 hitting bottom August 2 December 1956 on the afternoon of Friday August 17th Jackie attended the final session of the 1956 Democratic convention she was nearly eight months pregnant she was in a front-row mezzanine box at the Chicago amphitheater watching the call of the states when she was hit by a wave of nausea and dizziness Chicago was in the grip of a heat wave and there was no air-conditioning in the amphitheater the muskie body odors of 9,000 delegates alternates and on lookers blended with the stench of slaughtered flesh coming from the nearby stockyards Jackie's eyes smarted from the smog of cigar and cigarette smoke she knew that she should not have come here her doctors had made their warnings clear if she wanted to avoid another miscarriage she must forego the physical and emotional demands of the convention but she had felt that it was her duty to be by her husband's side in Chicago the divorced Adlai Stevenson needed a married man as his vice presidential running mate and who would make a better choice than Jack Kennedy a man with a visibly pregnant wife Jack was only 38 and a half vote shy of an absolute majority when the convention started the third ballot but in the end Jack went down to defeat with his pregnant wife beside him Jack stood before the packed convention hall he looked confident appealing gallant and defeat though he had a smile on his face his eyes glistened with emotion this was his great moment the historian James MacGregor burns wrote of Jack's role at the 1956 convention the moment when he passed through the political sound barrier to register on the nation's memory the dramatic race had glued millions to their television sets the impression of a clean-cut boy who had done his best and who was accepting defeat with a smile struck at people's hearts in living rooms across the nation in this moment of triumphant defeat his campaign for the presidency was born Jackie looked exhausted after the hectic week at the convention but now politics could be put aside for the moment and Jack could care for his wife the way she had looked after him during his near-fatal back operation and long convalescence however Jack had different ideas weeks before the convention he had applied for a new passport listing France and Italy as the countries he intended to visit and the purpose of his trip as pleasure he had asked Evelyn Lincoln to charter a yacht and crew in the South of France he planned to take a Mediterranean cruise around Capri and Elba with his brother Teddy and two of his friends Jackie was being packed off to UT Auchincloss as a state and Newport to spend the remaining weeks of her confinement without her husband Jackie's marriage was now foundering in private she told Jack that it would be a mistake for them to be separated now don't go she said spend the time with me instead but he chose to go anyway on Thursday August 23rd less than a week after Jack had gone off to France without her Jackie was rushed by ambulance to the Newport Hospital where she had a cesarean section when she recovered consciousness at 2:00 o'clock on Friday morning the first person she saw was her brother-in-law Bobby she wanted to know was it a boy or a girl Bobby told her that she had given birth to a girl a beautiful little Kennedy girl but the baby had been born dead for a long moment Jackie tried to absorb the meaning of his words she had picked out a girl's name Arabella did Jack know that she had lost baby Arabella where was he on a yacht somewhere off the coast of Elba somewhere had no one been able to reach him not yet said Bobby but don't worry Bobby assured her Eunice was on the case by then Jack and his sailing companions had been at sea for three days time enough to turn their boat into a kind of floating bordello the Washington Post carried a front-page story with the headline Senator Kennedy on Mediterranean trip unaware his wife has lost baby Jack's conspicuous absence was turning into a major political embarrassment Jack arrived at the hospital three days later well Jackie how are you feeling Jackie was so distraught that in truth she did not know how she felt one moment she was angry at Jack then she blamed herself for having gone to the Democratic convention and not getting enough rest the Kennedys did not make it any easier for her Peter Lawford said though the Kennedys never mentioned it to her face there was always the uncomfortable feeling in the air when she was around that as far as childbearing went she had rather let them down I mean babies were literally popping out of these women while Jackie had her share of problems the loss of their child was hard on both Jack and Jackie they were bitter disillusioned and withdrawn they did not have much to say to each other it was as though conversation would only deepen their wounds Jackie plunged into one of her depressions she turned once again to her sister for consolation and in November she flew to London to stay at the can feels elegant new house on Chester Square she found that Lee's marriage to Michael had completely dissolved Lee no longer even tried to hide her indiscretions Jackie threw herself into a round of glamorous parties and shooting weekends in the English countryside word reached the United States of her extravagant life in England and story soon began to appear in the American press that she was behaving like an unattached woman she and her husband appeared to be estranged there was talk of divorce alarm Joe Kennedy decided to take matters into his own hands when Jackie returned to the states he invited her to have lunch with him Jack doesn't want to lose you Joe said well he has a peculiar way of showing it Jackie said I know your relationship hasn't been so hot joe said but you have to stick with jack he's going to be President Jackie said that she did not care for politics or politicians and did not like being a campaign wife she had her own interests which centered around literature and the arts she wanted more freedom what's more though she had always liked Jo personally she felt that she was being suffocated by the Kennedy family when she and Jack were in Hyannisport or Palm Beach she did not want to have dinner every night with the family and I don't want to keep Hickory Hill Jackie said I can't bear the sight of the nursery I understand Jo said we'll find you another place to live the only thing that concerns me is that you and Jack stay together Jackie was not seriously planning on leaving Jack but Jo did not know that and of course Jackie was careful not to tell him it's up to a wife to keep a marriage together Jo went on speaking from personal experience I can tell you that children are the secret to any good marriage I'm going to set up a trust for your children and you'll have control of it when you have children he was offering her a clear-cut inducement to have children and what if I can't have children Jackie asked if you don't have any children within the next ten years said Jo the trust fund will revert to you the money will be yours to do with as you wish jo never mentioned a particular sum of money and Jackie never asked part 11 big casino April 1957 to November 1960 Kennedy had decided privately right after he lost the vice presidency at the 1956 Chicago Convention to go for big casino next time around said Ben Bradley who was covering Congress for Newsweek magazine by the time I got to know him he was writing magazine articles making political speeches barnstorming across the country and spending little time in the Senate during this period when many of their friends thought that their marriage had sunk to a low point Jack and Jackie spent many nights together at home going through books and preparing Jack for his run for the presidency as he traveled around the country making speeches Jack became more self-confident he developed a unique style of expression that created a sense of emotional intimacy between himself and his audience women adored him he was putting on weight and filling out thanks to the oral cortisone he was taking for his Addison's disease standing on a stage under the spotlights he looked handsomer than ever Jack saw himself as one of the great men of history Jacky was pregnant again everything had worked out just as she and Joe Kennedy had planned Hickory Hill was sold Jack and Jackie moved into a three-story red brick house in Georgetown my sweet little house as Jackie called it was an early 19th century gem a Joe Kennedy's insistence Jack gave Jackie carte blanche to transform it into her dream house Jackie's life as a gypsy was over since her lunch with Joe Kennedy she had changed she became determined to put down roots and get on with the business of marriage at the same time that she was changing the appearance of their house Jackie also transformed the way Jack dressed turning him into one of the best-dressed politicians on the hill as the wife of a nationally known figure jackie began to receive large amounts of mail like her husband jackie was developing a stronger self-image for the first time in her life she saw herself as a woman of substance on the last weekend in July Jack and Jackie drove to Newport to celebrate her 28th birthday with Janet and ud Auchincloss while at Hammersmith farm Jackie received a phone call informing her that her father had been admitted to Lennox Hill Hospital in acute pain although she was six months pregnant and her doctors had warned her not to fly she caught the next available airplane to New York City when she entered her father's hospital room she was shocked at his appearance Blackjacks life of alcoholism and dissipation had taken a horrifying toll he was 66 years old but looked at least a decade older his body was swollen and distended veins had burst in his nose and on the cheeks of his once handsome face Jackie did not know that her father was dying from cancer of the liver and she decided it was safe to fly back to Newport that same day a week later however blackjack fell into a coma the only people present during his final moments were his nephew Michelle and Michelle's wife Kathleen Jackie blackjack asked Kathleen clutching her hand is that you is that you Jackie before Kathleen could answer jack Bouvier let go of her hand smiled a little and died Kathleen recalled through a blur of Tears I looked up and saw Jackie standing there her faces pale as fine parchment behind her stood Jack they had missed being at black Jack's side the moment before he died in the final weeks of Jackie's pregnancy Joe turned over one of his New York apartments to Jack and Jackie so that Jackie would be close to her doctors at the New York Hospital on November 27th 1957 Jackie underwent a cesarean section she gave birth to a healthy seven pound 2 ounce girl whom she and Jack named Caroline Bouvier Jack was ecstatic at 40 he was about to become the youngest man and history to seek the presidency and now he was a father a family man in his own right Jackie's recovery was slow and she and Caroline did not come home from the hospital for 11 days Joe Kennedy went to Chicago to see Sam Giancana who was Al Capone's successor and as such the most powerful gangster in America Sam and Joe Kennedy went back a long way they had done business together in the early days of prohibition in the past few years they had met on a number of occasions to discuss Jack's plans to run for the White House in the winter of 1959 Jack had just won re-election to the Senate by the largest landslide in Massachusetts history and the formal announcement of his candidacy for president was only a few months away it was time for Joe Kennedy to talk Turkey to Sam his son would make a great president Joe said but the boy had a lot of obstacles to overcome he wasn't as well-known across the country as dick Nixon who had served seven years as Eisenhower's vice president Jack was young inexperienced Catholic and he did not have the support of the union's the farmers the southerners and the liberal wing of the Democratic Party to win certain key states such as Illinois and Texas Jack would need money and influence Joe had the money the question was was Sam willing to supply the muscle Joe made a promise you're going to have entree Sam you're going to have the ear of the President of the United States Sam had his doubts about this and with good reason Jack Kennedy was a member of the Senate rackets committee and Bobby was its chief counsel if the committee had drawn up a subpoena requiring Sam to show up in Washington to testify before the television cameras ah don't worry about that Sam Joe said that's all show nothing's going to come of it Bobby has everything under control Sam had a saying if it makes a man's heart race it's a weakness there was no question in Sam's mind that the White House made Joe's heart race that made Joe weak and weak people would tell you anything you wanted to hear Sam no longer trusted Joe but he sat there and listened and kept his feelings to himself one night in Las Vegas Frank Sinatra who was a close associate of Sam's interrupted his show at the Sands Hotel and announced ladies and gentlemen it gives me great pleasure to introduce my friend Jack Kennedy who is running for president of the United States Frank was Jack Kennedy's Idol after the show Frank brought one of his former girlfriends over to Jack's table Jack he said this is Judy Campbell Judy was a tall brunette she bore a striking resemblance to Jackie Bouvier Kennedy and she made Jack's heart race it was a fateful introduction Judy would soon become the mistress of Jack Kennedy and a while later of Sam Giancana one day she would write a tell-all book under the married name of Judith Exner about her secret role as a Kennedy Giancana go-between on the eve of the first televised presidential debate jack checked into a suite on the top floor of his father's favorite hotel in Chicago the ambassador east the next day he went up to the hotel's sunroof to work on his tan and submit to one final grilling on the issues by Ted Sorensen and to other staff men then he returned to his room put on a terry cloth robe and climbed into bed there was a knock at the door a short dark-haired man with bright red cheeks appeared this was dr. max Jacobson a New York physician who ministered to an amazing roster of famous patients everyone from Winston Churchill to playwright Tennessee Williams max was known as dr. feelgood and he was carrying an attache case with built-in pockets for his secret elixirs how do you feel max asked my back bothers me Jack said why suffer if you don't have to Mack said from his attache case max took out an unlabeled bottle using a syringe he carefully extracted a small amount of medication a mixture of amphetamines steroids placenta calcium and liver cells with his wrinkled hands he plunged the needle into Jack's buttock you feel like Superman said truman capote the flamboyant writer and one of the patients who experienced instant euphoria from Max's injections of speed after max had gone there was another knock on the door Langdon Marvin Jack's old Harvard classmate entered the bedroom with an attractive young woman Jack had never laid eyes on her before but he swept his 3x5 filing cards off the bed got up and introduced himself while he and the woman were getting acquainted Langdon slipped away quietly closing the door behind him one of the reasons Jack was so calm during the first debate with Nixon was because I arranged for him to get laid beforehand Jack arrived at the CBS studio looking tanned and refreshed he stepped onto the set a gleaming Adonis and the Nixon people panicked Ted Sorensen recalled between the Bleak gray walls and the bright floodlights of the television studio Nixon's gray suit and heavily powder jowls looked flabby and pallid beside Kennedy's dark suit and healthy tan three minutes before airtime Jack took his place at the lectern he and Nixon had been friendly for 14 years but today he ignored his Republican opponent who seemed curiously unnerved by Jack's chilly treatment seventy million people nearly two-thirds of the nation's adult population were tuned in as he began his rapid-fire delivery I think the question before the American people is are we doing as much as we can do to the tens of millions of TV viewers across the country Jack Kennedy came across as tougher smarter sharper and more in control part 12 Queen of the circus November 1962 December 1961 Jackie gave birth to a son John Fitzgerald jr. on November 25th 1960 wess than three weeks after Jack was elected president of the United States Jackie had just undergone her third cesarean section in four years and despite her cheerful outward demeanour she was physically and emotionally spent John John who had been born three weeks prematurely lay in an incubator down the hall fighting for his life and Jackie was despondent over the prospect of losing another baby there was mounting concern among her doctors that Jackie might be on the verge of a nervous breakdown during the election campaign Jackie had been severely criticized in the press for wearing expensive Paris creations in July Women's Wear Daily reported that Jackie spent an estimated 15,000 dollars a year for clothes in Paris the equivalent of about $100,000 in today's money and Jack had hit the roof from now on he said no more Paris clothes only American fashion on the advice of his father Jack called Ola Cassini and asked him to fly immediately to Washington to discuss becoming Jackie's official designer Cassini had worked for time as a costume designer in Hollywood and his conquests of famous movie actresses he had been married to Gene Tierney and engaged to Grace Kelly had won him entree into the kennedys macho inner-circle Oleg was considered a second-tier designer and Jacky knew that his selection would shock the arbiters of style in the fashion press yet in many ways Oleg was an inspired choice Oleg recalled I talked to her like a movie star and told her that she needed a story a scenario as first lady this was exactly what Jackie wanted to hear but she was not prepared to give up control not even to Olek she would become Oleg's collaborator helping him design his cassini originals they would design clothes that shimmered in the light her clothes would make her the focus of everyone's rapt attention together she and Oleg would realize her girlhood dream of becoming a performer in a tableau vivant a costumed actress who remained silent and motionless as if in a picture the queen of the circus snow began falling on Washington late in the day of January 19th the eve of the inauguration the president-elect and the first lady were due at the National Guard Armory at nine o'clock but the hour came and went and Jackie was not ready her Christ's sake Jackie were late Jack call to her from the bottom of the stairs let's go finally at 10 o'clock Jackie descended the stairs dressed in a long white organza gown sparkling jewels and bouffant hairdo Jack stared up at her for a moment he was speechless then he made an okay sign with his thumb and middle finger let's go he said at 11 o'clock two hours behind schedule the lights dimmed in the armory and Frank Sinatra walked onto the stage he began to sing a parody of his hit song that old black magic that old jack magic has me in its spell in the darkness of the vast armory a spotlight swept across the audience and fell on the presidential box framing the handsome couple there was an audible sound as hundreds of people sucked in their breath and began whispering Jack and Jackie Jack and Jackie Jack and Jackie Sinatra kept singing that old Jack magic that you weave so well but it was Jackie who held everyone in her spell Jackie had asked an interior decorator named sister parish to help her with the house with the columns as she coyly referred to the white house together they drew up a master plan to redecorate the entire white house they would put together a fine Arts Commission composed of people they knew in the Social Register who would find furniture paintings and other historic objects and raise funds to buy pieces as gifts to the White House I want to make this a grand house Jackie said Jack violently opposed the idea every president who had tampered with a White House had wound up alienating Congress and losing votes he would not permit his wife to redecorate the White House Jackie said we're not going to redecorate it we're going to restore it less than a month after he became president Jack summoned an ji'er build Duke his chief of protocol to the Oval Office Jackie and I have been talking about what I should expect of her as first lady jack told Angie I'd like you to help me straighten her out would you talk to her about it Angie met with Jackie shortly thereafter first tell me what is the least you will do set Angie where is the bottom line on this the children come first in my life said Jackie I've got a problem the kids are young and I just want to do as much as I can within the bounds of my responsibilities to my children and however you want to phrase it that means I want to do as little as I have to I mean kings and queens that's fine but all those banana republic presidents forget it can't we work out a way to give them the p bo the p bo asked Angie you know said Jackie the polite brush-off can't we give them to Lady Bird to handle I get it Angie said how does this formula strike you when Chiefs of government prime ministers and heads of state come here on working visits without their wives you don't have to appear however if they come with their wives you'll take part you can't pick and choose you've got to support me on this because if you play favorites here it's going to hurt feelings and have political consequences I think if we work along those lines we'll be able to keep your appearances on these occasions to a minimum Angie said I'll work with your social secretary on all these matters we'll draw up guest list to include writers and artists and intellectuals you know the kind of people you're interested in find a key said but there's one other thing the title first lady I don't like it it's corny well Jackie said Angie what should we call you call me mrs. Kennedy about a month before we went to Paris said White House press secretary Pierre Salinger the president called me in and said you know what we ought to do we ought to get French television to do a show with Jackie as the star have Jackie take French television through the White House and talked to them in French and I'll do a little interview at the end in French in English Pierre was a master publicist and he built an elaborate marketing strategy around Jack's simple suggestion he traveled to Paris with the president's advance team and wined and dined French journalists filling their heads and their notebooks with charming anecdotes about the handsome American president and his beautiful young wife Pierre's campaign that reached its climax when Frances state-controlled television devoted an entire hour to a program on the Kennedys just as Jack had hoped Jackie came across as a dewy young princess of the television age Jackie's COO could not have come at a more opportune time for Jack over the previous month he had suffered a series of humiliating setbacks the Russians first man in space triumphs the communist takeover of Laos and most spectacular of all the bungled Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba beneath his easy charm and boyish manner Jack could be just as tough as his father and just as vindictive he had an iron will and was determined to even the score with Castro before he left Washington he gave orders to set up a covert plan later to be called Operation Mongoose to rid the Western Hemisphere of Castro by any means necessary including assassination as part of that plan he reactivated a secret CIA mafia effort to kill Castro and he stepped up his correspondence with Sam Giancana through Judy Campbell Jackie was the star in Paris and for the first time in her 8 years of marriage she was creating a bigger stir than Jack her success in Paris had begun a metamorphosis as oleg cassini noted suddenly this enormous adulation was showered on her and it changed her outwardly no but she became different after Paris she single-handedly began to create Camelot the furniture the ideas the cooks the food the fantastic people she invited to the White House Casals Bernstein frost and she did it all herself well Jack was busy with the presidency Jackie was creating an American Versailles yet even while this transformation in Jackie's character was taking place she felt physically weak she had never recovered her health after the cesarean birth of John Jr she still tired easily I need pep she said that's why I need X on one occasion when the little doctor opened his attache case and took out a syringe Jackie social secretary Leticia Baldrige stepped between Max and Jackie Tish was concerned that Jackie was developing a strong dependence on Max's and fetta means nonsense said max there's nothing in this needle but vitamins here come with me and I'll show you he led tissue a to her nearby bedroom where he gave her a shot that sent her into orbit then he returned to Jackie and injected his magic elixir into her buttock the new independent Jackie disregarded Angie Dukes pleas to abide by protocol and she was photographed waterskiing with astronaut John Glenn when she was supposed to be at the White House greeting a Latin American president and his wife she ignored the objections of Jack's aides and announced plans to go off on an extended trip to Asia and the Far East with her sister Lee she spent so much time away from the White House riding at blen hora her new country estate or sunning herself in Palm Beach that a columnist suggested that a TV newscaster should sign off his program with the words good night mrs. Kennedy wherever you are she had begun to enjoy the title and the life more than anyone ever suspected that she would said JB West the chief usher at the White House she hosted dinner dances until dawn and intimate little parties on the second floor which were strictly off the record to the press toward the end of Jack's first year in office Jacky was asked to host a televised tour of the White House an event that would be seen by nearly 60 million Americans and would turn her into an instant celebrity Jackie's powers first ladies seem to be increasing an inverse proportion to Jack's troubles as president his administration was faced with one crisis after another the Berlin Wall the price dispute with big steel the civil rights disturbances in the south Ted Sorensen counted 16 crises in Jack's first eight months as president a new drama began to unfold in the Kennedy marriage Jackie was changing from a shy and secure young wife and mother into a self confident woman who asserted herself more and more forcefully most of all Jackie began to realize how valuable she had become to Jack according to oleg cassini she began to be aware that she might go down in history as one of the great women of the period as Christmas 1961 approached she had emerged as the most valuable operative in Jack's presidency his chief ally and the one person in the world he could not do without her brilliant success created a kind of chain reaction in a White House she and Jack fused like two nuclei releasing an enormous amount of energy as Ola Cassini said Jack began to think hey wait a minute I discovered her and he so-to-say fell in love with Jackie all over again part 13 The Abyss February to October 1962 in late February 1962 J Edgar Hoover issued a memo addressed to Bobby Kennedy with a copy to Kenny O'Donnell the president's chief political aide it contained information that had been developed by the FBI on the basis of wiretaps telephone interceptions and physical surveillance of Sam Giancana as FBI man Courtney Evans recalled the memo reported but various mobsters had been overheard saying to each other regarding Judith Campbell and the president they talked about the fact that while Judith Campbell was associated with Giancana she also had entree to the president Giancana wasn't jealous that Judith Campbell was seeing the president because it was a good source for him to develop information wasn't Giancana smart the memo also reported numerous calls to the White House switchboard from Judith Campbell however the information in this memo went beyond mere womanizing Sam Giancana was working with the CIA in a plot to assassinate Cuba's Fidel Castro Jack sex life was mixed up with national security when Bobby Kennedy finished reading the memo he told Courtney Evans I'll take care of it at the Justice Department Bobby had assembled a group of gung-ho prosecutors and ordered them to stamp out a conspiracy of evil that was organized crime Sam Giancana and his pals were high on Bobby's list Bobby told his staff don't let anything get in your way if you have problems come see me get the job done and if he can't get the job done get out in private Bobby went to Jack and demanded that he cancel his plans to spend a weekend in late March at Frank Sinatra's home in Palm Springs instead Peter Lawford arranged for Jack to stay in Bing Crosby's home in Palm Springs Bing was a Republican but he jumped at the chance to outdo his rival Frank Sinatra and nabbed the President of the United States as a houseguest although the next presidential election was two and a half years away jack was already starting to think seriously about running for a second term he had come West to lay early plans for the nine sixty-four campaign at Bing Crosby's house he threw a poolside party for a number of big California contributors and show business personalities Peter Lawford showed up with Marilyn Monroe Jack and Marilyn were old if only occasional lovers they had first met back in 1954 when he was a promising young senator with a new bride and she was Hollywood's reigning sex goddess and mrs. Joe DiMaggio after Marilyn divorced Joe she moved to New York City where she began attending acting classes at the Actors Studio one day in 1955 Jack phoned her from his duplex apartment at the Carlyle Hotel and asked her to come over their affair immediately blossomed into a bicoastal romance when Jack was in California he slept with Marilyn at Peter Lawford's beach house in Santa Monica and when he became president he called her to his side in Washington it was after nine o'clock at night when Marilyn showed up at Bing Crosby's most of the guests were out by the pool drinking and listening to music Marilyn was wearing a black wig at 35 years of age she looked more beautiful and alluring than ever she had just emerged from a long stay at New York's Payne Whitney psychiatric clinic where she had been treated for a dual addiction to sleeping pills and alcohol Hollywood producers considered Marilyn unstable and unreliable far more trouble than she was worth Marilyn found Jack in the crowd she seemed to be on something booze or pills and it made her slur her words after most of the guests had left she followed Jack down a hallway and staggered drunkenly into his bedroom by the spring Jack's political operatives had started to put in place a strategy for the upcoming presidential campaign money was their foremost concern in late May the Democratic Party threw a fundraising gala in Madison Square Garden in honor of Jack's 45th birthday the turnout included the royalty of Americans showbusiness and as the showstopper Maryland herself when Jackie heard that Marilyn would be performing at the Birthday salute at Madison Square Garden she decided not to attend and so as the lights dimmed and the show began at the Garden Jack set without Jackie in the presidential box his sisters Pat and Eunice were his female companions Marilyn was backstage in her dressing room drowning her stage fright in alcohol 15,000 people broke into tears as Marilyn came on stage in her skin tight Jean Louie gown which had been sewn onto her body you citee of Time magazine recalled when she came down in that flesh colored dress without any underwear on you could just smell lust I mean Kennedy went limp or something we all were just stunned to see this woman what an ass Jack whispered what an ass Marilyn sang happy birthday to the president in a soft seductive voice after her seven-minute performance she returned to her dressing room and collapsed from nervous exhaustion her maid cut her out of the gown bathed her and helped her into an of address then Marilyn joined Jack and a throng of happy Democrats at the Park Avenue apartment of Arthur Krim the president of United Artists during the party a photographer caught Marilyn Jack and Bobby huddling in a corner it was a totally unguarded moment and the solemn expressions on their faces indicated that all was not well nonetheless after the party Marilyn went back with Jack to his suite at the Carlyle Hotel the gossip columnist Earl Wilson later said I learned from an FBI agent that they remained in the Suites of several hours it was the last prolonged encounter between them from the beginning the relationship with Maryland was just another casual diversion for Jack he never romanced her with sweet words and sentimental gestures and he always maintained his cool months would sometimes go by without a word from him but for Marilyn the affair with Jack meant a great deal more as the illegitimate child of an unstable mother and the survivor of several orphanages and foster homes she took all her relationships seriously more than anyone she had ever met Jack satisfied her need to live out a life of fantasy I am the little orphan waif indulging in free love with the leader of the free world she said Marilyn could not control herself she was telling everyone in Hollywood about her affair with the president and in the summer of 1962 word was getting around newspapers and magazines were looking into the rumors after Marilyn's unforgettable appearance at the Madison Square Garden party those rumours took on a life of their own Jack asked one of his men to squash any stories that might be in the works at Time and Newsweek Marilyn realized the affair was over but couldn't accept it Peter Lawford told the author C David Heyman she began writing these rather pathetic letters to Jack and continued calling she threatened to go to the press she was bitter enough to tell a friend that the president made love like an adolescent the president finally sent Bobby Kennedy to California to cool her down she took it pretty hard that summer Lea and her new husband stache Radwell rented a villa in Ravello a picturesque town set above the limestone cliffs of amalfi on the southern coast of Italy when Jackie arrived there with Caroline in early August she was greeted by the mayor as though she were royalty cheering crowds lining the roads to get a glimpse of a la bella jackie her motorcade roared by accompanied by the wailing sirens of italian police cars and outriders mounted on motorcycles a candlelight dinner was served at night on the terrace of the villa the Raja wills often invited their friend Princess Irene gala Tina the famous Italian couturier one time she brought along Gianni Agnelli the heir to the Fiat automobile fortune and his wife princess Marella Gianni was a ruggedly handsome man with slicked back hair soon Gianni was escorting a sleek and tanned Jackie around Amalfi he scandalized Italian society by inviting Jackie on his 82-foot yacht she was photographed by the paparazzi scuba diving with Gianni and dancing barefoot on the deck of his boat to a five man band finally back in Washington Jack could take no more and he sent Jackie a telegram it said a little more Caroline and less and Yeley in the middle of October Jack was shown aerial photos taken by an American u2 reconnaissance plane flying over Cuba the photos confirm that missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads were being deployed by the Soviet Union in Cuba just 90 miles off the southern coast of the United States Jack was under tremendous pressure from his advisors to launch a preemptive airstrike against Cuba and destroy the Soviet missiles the Pentagon estimated that the missiles could reach an arc of American cities that included Miami Atlanta Houston New Orleans and Washington DC unless he acted he would go down in the history books as the commander-in-chief who looked the other way while the Soviets won the Cold War ever since his humiliation in the Bay of Pigs Jack had been searching for an excuse to crush Fidel Castro now the Russians had given him that excuse he knew he would be justified if he bombed the Cuban leader into extinction yet to almost everyone's surprise he exercised enormous restraint and ordered a naval blockade though bobby was by his side throughout the 13 days of tense deliberations Jack made the final decision by himself he did not want anyone to be able to write at a later date and say the United States had not done all it could to preserve the peace bobby said and the historian Thomas Reeves added part of this attitude may well have reflected a growing sensitivity Kennedy was experiencing toward his own family from all accounts Jack had reached out to his children and had become emotionally engaged in their lives he enjoyed them fretted about them and worried about their future Jack told Dave powers if it weren't for the children it would be so easy to press the button not just John and Caroline and not just the children in America but children all over the world who will suffer and die for the decision I have to make others noticed a marked change in Jack's treatment of Jackie on the eve of his nationally televised speech about the Missile Crisis Jack telephoned Jackie in Glenora their weekend retreat and asked her to come back to Washington we are very very close to war he told her he wanted to spend the next few nights alone with Jackie and their two children Jack informed Jackie about the Pentagon's plans to evacuate the White House and send him to an underground shelter outside the District of Columbia he couldn't wait until the Russians fired their first missile because once a nuclear war began the United States would have a warning period of only 18 minutes he asked Jackie to leave Washington at once so that she would be closer to their assigned underground shelter he would follow but she refused she did not want to leave him alone in the White House when the crisis was over and Khrushchev had back down angie duke noted that Jack and Jackie became more personal with each other Jack became more focused he understood what it meant to exercise power jackie seemed more concerned about him as a person I could see them working more closely together and there is one other thing that I might add Jack had fewer women around their marriage got better said George Smathers Jack loved Jackie very much and in his fashion he was relatively true to her he may not have stopped looking at other women but I know one thing he didn't like anybody better than her part 14 love lies bleeding November 1962 to December 1973 in late November 1962 the Kennedys were gearing up for re-election and Bobby swept through the White House like an avenging angel ridding the place of anything that smacked of foul honest and corruption Sam Giancana complained to a fellow mobster that the president was not paying in his due respect we broke our balls for him and gave him the election and he gets his brother - how does to death during this period Jack might still indulge himself from time to time but nude young women were no longer openly cavorting in the White House swimming pool movie stars like Marilyn Monroe who had shuttled in and out of the presidential bedroom were hard to find and aides did not have to scour rooms in the family quarters for hair pins and other incriminating evidence before Jackie returned from her weekend's away on August 7th Jackie gave birth five and a half weeks early to a baby boy Patrick Bouvier Kennedy the baby weighed 4 pounds 1 ounce he was so sickly that a Catholic chaplain was summoned to come and baptize him while he lay in a pressurized incubator the tiny boy had trouble breathing he was suffering from hyaline membrane disease a respiratory disease in prematurely born infants he was flown to Children's Hospital in Boston Jack donned a white surgical gown and capped and watched as his son fought for his life I was with him at the hospital when he was holding Patrick's hand and the nurse said he's gone Evelyn Lincoln said and tears came into his eyes I had never seen tears in his eyes before Patrick had lived less than 39 hours and all Jack could say when it was over was it is against the law of nature for parents to bury their children Jackie was devastated but she told Jack that they would somehow manage to go on with their lives the one below I could not bear she said would be to lose you Jackie didn't want to go back to Washington the White House was not a real home to her and at that time it would seem more like a prison she received a cable from Lee inviting her to Greece to go on Aristotle Onassis his yacht for a trip she accepted the cruise would be an antidote for the pain and torment she still suffered over the loss of Patrick Jackie had never seen the infant during his three days on earth and she had not been by Jack's eye during the funeral when she stepped aboard the christina and joined her sister jackie was still in deep mourning jackie let it be known that she expected ari himself to escorter when they went ashore ari gladly did the honors showing her his own private island of Skorpios jackie was excited by the super abundance of luxury and she was fascinated by ari who reminded her of her swarthy father Aires features were repulsive his education rudimentary his cultivation practically nil but Jackie found him to be a fabulous raconteur as Jackie knew Lee was in love with Ari and had petitioned the Vatican to annul her marriage she wanted to marry the Greek ship owner less clear however was whether Ari who was in love with opera singer Maria Callas wanted to marry Lea as the Christina made its way across the Mediterranean it began to dawn on Jackie that her sister might actually win areaway from Calais and claim all this luxury for herself as mrs. Aristotle Onassis Li would become a richer and more resplendent queen than Jackie who after all would one day have to vacate the White House Jackie began giving Ari the full Jacky treatment a paparazzo where the telescope lens caught Jackie in a bikini and the shocking picture of the president's wife was seen all over the world the others aboard the christina could not help but notice what was going on between Jackie and Airy Jackie appeared oblivious to all the gossip she wrote long rambling letters to my dearest jack one of them ended with this disingenuous thought wish you could enjoy the Mediterranean calm with me Jack put in calls to the yacht late at night Jackie often wasn't there he sent her a telegram demanding that she returned home she ignored it at the end of the cruise Ari presented Jackie with a diamond and ruby necklace and so many other gifts at least said I can't stand it the author Diana Dubois wrote Li would tell her intimates later that she was only trying to do something nice for her sister when she brought her along under Christina and that Jackie co-opted Onassis on that cruise Jacky's expropriation of onassis drove a deep wedge between the two women Jackie had won the battle with her sister but her victory was tinged with guilt she had done everything but sleep with Arry and a lot of people thought mistakenly that she had done that too I don't think that Jackie had an affair with Onassis on that cruise said Robin Duke Angie's wife the only way to keep on ass is interested in us to drive him nearly mad with desire you would not go to bed with him because once you did you would be like everybody else and believe me Jackie wasn't like everybody else she was not about to lose her mystique when Jackie returned to America suntan but exhausted Jack did not say anything instead he seized the opportunity to play on Jackie's guilt maybe now you'll come with us to Texas next month he said sure I will Jack she said I'll campaign with you wherever you want her doctors advised her against it they told her that it was still too soon after Patrick's death for the rigors of a campaign trip but Jack insisted the presidential election was only a year away his popularity ratings were down and he needed Texas to win she had to make an appearance okay Jack she said I'll go Jackie's hairdresser Kenneth was at the White House on the morning of November 21st putting the finishing touches on Jackie's hairdo when Jack came into the room are you ready he asked the helicopter is here Kenneth remembered there was none of the strain that I sometimes had seen between them before important state dinners and things like that and I remember thinking they look marvelously happy together as happy and close as I've ever seen them we're really flying into nut country today Jack said it was November 22nd and Jack was reading the Dallas Morning News there was a full-page black-bordered ad denouncing him for signing the nuclear test ban treaty he handed the newspaper to Jackie last night would have been a hell of a night to assassinate a president he said he paced back and forth in the hotel room where he was waiting for the motorcade that would take them through Dallas I mean it there was the rain and the night and we were all getting jostled suppose a man had a pistol in a briefcase then he could have dropped the gun in the briefcase and melted away in the crowd Jackie if someone wanted to shoot me from a window with a rifle nobody could stop it so why worry about it Jackie peered out the window and examined the sky it was dark and threatening it looked like rain she hopes so she had spent hours making herself ready and she did not want to ruin her hairdo in a 45-minute ride in an open car oh I want the bubble top she said but the sky cleared and the Sun came out and it started to get hot Jack and Jackie climbed into the backseat of the lead limousine a 1961 Lincoln Continental the bubble top had been removed so the crowds would feel closer to their president and first lady in the front were two Secret Service agents and the driver Texas Governor Connally and his wife Nellie took the jump seats behind the driver and in front of the Kennedys behind the president's continental was a car of Secret Service agents followed by the car carrying Vice President and mrs. Johnson and senator and mrs. Ralph Yarborough the crowds lining the route screamed Jack Jackie Jack Jackie they seemed to want her as much as they wanted him said Nellie as we would drive along the people were screaming and yelling and you could hear Jack say take your glasses off and apparently she took them off but then a little bit later she put them back on and he said take your glasses off when you're riding in a car like this in a parade if you have your dark glasses on you might as well have date at home the motorcade moves slowly toward a triple underpass then we saw this tunnel ahead Jackie remembered I thought it would be cool in the tunnel I thought the Sun wouldn't get in your eyes Jack raised his hand to wave at a boy gunshots shattered the bright peaceful day a six point five millimeter bullet struck Jack at the base of the neck a little to the right of the spine and exited at his throat nicking the knot of his tie it was not fatal another hit Connally in the back no no no no Connolly shrieks they're going to kill us all Jackie turned toward her husband then Jack turned back so neatly Jackie remembered later his last expression was so neat you know that wonderful expression he had when they'd asked him a question about one of the 10 million pieces they have in a rocket just before he'd answer he looked puzzled then he slumped forward he was holding out his end Jack raised his right hand toward his tousled hair just as a third bullet entered the back of his head blood and brain spewed into the air creating a red cloud over his head I've got his brains in my hands Jackie shrieked my god what are they doing my god they killed jack they've killed my husband Jack Jack she tried to hold the top of his head down trying to keep the brains in but there was nothing there she jumped up and scrambled onto the trunk of the car later she told writer William Manchester that she was trying to retrieve a portion of her husband's head Secret Service agent Clint Hill was the first man in the car Jackie told journalist theater H white a few days after the assassination we all lay down in the car and I kept saying Jack Jack Jack and someone was yelling he's dead he's dead all the ride to the hospital I kept bending over him saying Jack Jack can you hear me I love you jack when they carry Jack into the hospital Clint Hill threw his coat over Jack's head it wasn't repulsive to me for one moment nothing was repulsive to me and I was running behind this big intern I was running behind with the coat covering Jack I remember this narrow corridor I said I'm not going to leave him I'm not going to leave him then doc Berkley came toward me just shaking with sobs he said mrs. Kennedy you need a sedative I said I want to be in there when he dies so Berkeley forced his way into the operating room and said it's her prerogative it's her prerogative and I got in there were about 40 people there doc Perry wanted to get me out but I said it's my husband his blood his brains are all over me there was a sheet over Jack his foot was sticking out of the sheet whiter than the sheet I took his foot and kissed it then I pulled back the sheet his mouth was so beautiful his eyes were open they found his hand under the sheet and I held his hand all the time the priest was saying extreme unction in Dallas Lyndon Baines Johnson was sworn in as the new president of the United States but it was Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy who held the country together for the three days that followed once back in Washington she asked Bill Walton her artist friend Sargent Shriver her brother-in-law and Angie Duke to help with the funeral arrangements they set up a working group in the West Wing and dispatched teams of people to the Library of Congress to do research on Abraham Lincoln's funeral Jackie wanted the White House to be draped in black just the way it was when Lincoln lay in state every detail of the Lincoln funeral had to be duplicated from the riderless black horse and the horse drawn caisson to the design of Lincoln's catafalque the platform on which the coffin would rest first to last Jackie made all the decisions for what would become the greatest pageant in American history she had gotten her wish she was the overall art director of the 20th century but her wish had been granted at the cost of her husband's life Cardinal Cushing spoke on behalf of the Kennedy family he suggested that Jack be buried in Boston in the Kennedy plot Jackie would not hear of it Jack did not belong merely to Boston he belonged to the entire nation he would be buried at Arlington National Cemetery and there would be an eternal flame won't people find that pretentious Sargent Shriver asked let them Jackie said then she added and I'm going to light that flame myself who was going to break the news to Caroline and John Janet Auchincloss raised the subject with Jackie at Bethesda Naval Hospital while the autopsy was being performed on Jack Jackie are you going to tell the children or do you want me to or do you want miss Shaw what did her mother think well John can wait Janet said but Caroline should be told before she learns from her friends oh yes mummy Jackie said what will she think if she suddenly she stopped and thought a moment then continued I want to tell them but if they find out before I get back ask miss Shaw to use her discretion Janet as usual took matters into her own hands she telephoned the nanny Maud Shaw mrs. Kennedy wants you to tell Caroline Janet said please please can't someone else do it no mrs. Kennedy is too upset after she hung up Maude put John to bed then went into Caroline's bedroom the little girl loved her nanny Maude had brought the newborn Caroline home from the hospital in New York and she had broken the news that baby Patrick the brother Caroline had been looking forward to had gone to heaven your father has been Maude told Caroline they took him to a hospital but the doctors couldn't make him better Caroline did not say anything so Maude continued your father has gone to look after Patrick Patrick was so lonely in heaven he didn't know anybody there now he has the best friend anyone could have still Caroline remained silent God gives each of us a thing to do Maude went on God is making your father a guardian angel over you and your mother and his light will shine down on you always his light is shining now and he's watching you and he's loving you and he always will Caroline threw herself on the bed buried her face in the pillow and cried Jackie refused to take a sleeping pill that night she wanted to be clear-headed for the challenges of the coming day but she did make one concession to her feelings of utter abandonment as she walked toward her bedroom she stopped and called to her stepfather you Auchincloss whom she had invited to stay at the White House with her mother Uncle Hugh she said I don't want to sleep alone Hugh Dee took her arm led her into the bedroom and lay beside her all night long the next day after a family Mass Jackie returned to the family quarters Maude Shaw had dressed Caroline and John in powder blue coats and red lace-up shoes she added a black mourning band for Caroline's hair Jackie came into the nursery carrying blue stationery you must write a letter to daddy and tell him how much you love him she told Caroline after Caroline had finished her letter she helped John scribble on his piece of stationery Jackie then took the three notes hers and the children's and put them into envelopes she found a pair of gold cufflinks that she had given jack and a piece of scrimshaw bearing the presidential seal with all of these items in hand she went downstairs and entered the East Room where Jack lay in his casket together she and Bobby kneeled by the open coffin Bobby was wracked by unbearable feelings of grief and guilt he had been informed that Lee Harvey Oswald Jack's assassin had connections to Castro's Cuba it was Bobby who had approved the CIA mafia plot to assassinate Castro and it was Bobby who had hounded and harassed the mob especially Sam Giancana and his henchmen was Jack's death Castro's revenge had Jack been murdered by the mob was he bobby personally responsible for his brother's death others were beginning to wonder too for in Dallas Lee Harvey Oswald had just been shot in front of television cameras by Jack Ruby a nightclub owner with connections to the mob Jackie told the author William Manchester that she had kept thinking this isn't Jack it isn't Jack she put the three letters the cufflinks and the scrimshaw in the coffin Bobby removed his PT type-in he should have this shouldn't he Bobby asked Jackie yes she whispered then Bobby took out another memento an engraved silver rosary and slipped that in the coffin too the coffin was wheeled out of the East Room and placed on a gun carriage mummy John asked Jackie what are they doing they're taking daddy out his mother said but why do they do it so funny so slow because they're so sad a hundred million Americans were tuned to their television sets as the gun carriage left the North Portico of the White House and made its way a Pennsylvania Avenue toward the Capitol in homes across the country TV images flashed back and forth often so fast that people had a hard time absorbing their meaning there was Jackie veiled and dressed in black leading the funeral procession walking the eight blocks from the White House to st. Matthews her brother-in-law and Jack's cabinet members following her trying to keep step to the slow mournful beat of the muffled drums and the world leaders de Gaulle Haile Selassie and Prince Philip all marching together in honor of the fall and young president and then suddenly there was an instant replay of Jack Ruby's shooting Oswald NBC's commentator Tom Pettit standing five feet away from Oswald gasping saying he's been shot Lee Oswald has been shot there is panic and pandemonium we see little in the utter confusion but what everyone remembered was Jackie she stood with her children one in each hand her eyes swollen her mouth drawn up in grief looking much as she had at her father's funeral six years before the cameras were frozen on the motionless widow Manchester wrote and omitting those who were reading newspaper accounts or talking to friends nearly everyone in the United States was watching mrs. Kennedy 95 percent of the adult population was peering at television or listening to radio accounts - the Americans must be added all of Europe and those parts of Asia which were periodically reached by relay satellite even Russia had announced that the Soviet Union would televise the funeral including the mass in st. Matthew's by Sunday noon the USA and most of the civilized world had become a kind of closed-circuit hookup nothing existed except this one blinding spotlight and that spotlight was focused on Jackie four days after jack was buried at Arlington Jackie showed up at Hyannis Port without any prior warning I'm here to see grandpa she told Rose the aged patriarch was paralyzed and mute following his stroke Jackie wanted to give Joe a full and detailed account of everything that had happened since she and the president left Washington for Texas and turn for the funeral in the burial she had wanted him to hear the full story from her after she finished the Ambassador nodded closed his eyes and fell back on his pillow while she was on the Cape Jackie met with Theodore White a worshipful Kennedy biographer whose articles frequently appeared in Life magazine she had asked him to Hyannis Port she said because she wanted him to make certain that Jack was not forgotten in history she shared a memory at night before we'd go to sleep we had an old Victrola Jack liked to play some records and the song he loved most came at the very end of this record the last side of Camelot sad Camelot don't let it be forgot that once there was a spot for one brief shining moment that was known as Camelot they'll never be another Camelot again the healing process was slow I feel like a wounded animal Jackie told a friend eleven days after the funeral Jackie moved out of the White House and into an elegant Georgetown house that had been made available to her by Averell Harriman the millionaire diplomat dressed in black she continued to receive visitors cabinet officials foreign dignitaries the rich the great and the famous as the widow of the martyred president she was expected to live a life worthy of imitation commendable exemplary saint-like she could not be seen going out for an evening even to the ballet or a concert she considered her life to be in ruins people thought that money was no problem that Jack had provided for her truth was quite different Jack had left an estate valued at 1 million eight hundred and ninety thousand dollars perhaps 10 million in today's currency interest on that sum was not much for a woman of Jackie's tastes she had always depended on older men to protect her but she suddenly found herself alone Bobby tried to fill the role of protector but in the end it turned out that he needed her as much as she needed him other men did not dare approach her she was no longer a woman she had become a national monument shortly after the turn of the year she abandoned Washington and bought an apartment on upper fifth avenue in new york city directly across from the Central Park Reservoir for a while after she moved to New York she found it hard to be with people who reminded her of Jack when friends tried to bring up the White House years she would invariably stop them and say as she had once said to me please let's not talk about the past I have to remain alive for myself I don't want to dredge up the past once an appropriate time had passed however she started going out in public in the company of men friends like director Mike Nichols Tiffany's design director John Loring and journalist Pete Hamill then in 1968 after Bobby was assassinated she panicked and sought safety for herself and her children in the married arms of aristotle onassis a move that shocked the entire world and seemed at least for time to damage her image overnight she had gone from being Saint Jackie to being Jackie O but Jackie had an unerring sense of her stardom and a connoisseurs appreciation of her own persona she continued to wrap herself in the mythic cloak of Camelot and worked hard to raise millions of dollars for the IM Pei design John F Kennedy Library outside of Boston she began inviting friends would work closely with Jack to come to her home and speak to her children about their father Arthur Schlesinger jr. Theodore Sorensen and Robert McNamara were among those she invited these private seminars for Caroline and John continued for years in 1973 ten years after Jack's assassination jaci invited pierre salinger jfk's press secretary to fly to Scorpius the Greek island owned by Onassis make some notes before you come she told him you know Salinger told Jackie's children after he arrived your father was an extraordinary man he had many parts and no one knew him completely person who knew him best was your mother [Music] all too human the love story Jack and Jackie Kennedy was written in red by Edward Klein it was a bridge for audio by Harold Schmidt the recording engineer was Jocelyn Gonzalez with editing and post-production by Stephen Strasburg the mix engineer was Paul Fowley the associate producer was Florence burrow Adams all-too-human was produced and directed by carol Shapiro this has been a presentation of Simon & Schuster audio all too human the love story of Jack and Jackie Kennedy is also available in book form from Pocket Books you

Channel: Leanne Haag

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Rating: 4.7077627 out of 5

Keywords: all, too, human:, the, love, story, of, jack, and, jackie, kennedy

Id: TzuayPAGT6o

Length: 182min 52sec (10972 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 23 2018