"Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy" by Caroline Kennedy & Michael Bechsloss ****

> Audiobook
> Book Club Selection April 2012

>Notes:

• Part of an oral history project, 1964 
• Interviewer:  Arthur Meier Schlesinger, Jr. (October 15, 1917 – February 28, 2007) was an American historian and social critic whose work explored the American liberalism of political leaders including Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and Robert F. Kennedy. A Pulitzer Prize winner, Schlesinger served as special assistant and "court historian"^[1] to President Kennedy from 1961 to 1963. He wrote a detailed account of the Kennedy Administration, from the transition period to the president's state funeral, titled A Thousand Days. In 1968, Schlesinger actively supported the presidential campaign of Senator Robert F. Kennedy, which ended with Kennedy's assassination in Los Angeles. Schlesinger wrote the biography Robert Kennedy and His Times several years later.
  He popularized the term "imperial presidency" during the Nixon administration by writing the book The Imperial Presidency. He also was an avid supporter of Harry Truman.
  
• Interviews were done four months after the President's assassination, then put in a vault, not to be released until the 50th anniversary of his death
• Caroline Kennedy's dilemma over publishing them edited a bit so as not to offend anyone or not...did not edit
• Jacqueline born 1929, died 1994
•  Raised  on Park Avenue and Long Island....surprised at her heavy accent
• Met JFK on a train, then later more formally, he was already a congressman
• Married in 1953
• Back surgery...later proved unnecessary....in 1955
• Wrote "Profiles in Courage" while mending from surgery, in order to have something to do
• Their life was "fast-paced", and they were "rarely alone"
• JFK described himself as "an idealist without illusions"....I really like that
• Tended to incite bitter jealousies among men who had not achieved as much by such a young age
• Conflict over "Profiles in Courage" authorship with Ted Sorenson, Jackie says he took some cast off pages with editorial comments on them, but JFK still had the original handwritten notes of his own, so proved his authorship, JFK gave all proceeds to Sorenson for his help, but Jackie says that was just his way...to reward Ted for very hard work......."Ted" Sorensen (May 8, 1928 – October 31, 2010) was an American presidential advisor, lawyer and writer, best known as President John F. Kennedy’s special counsel, adviser and legendary speechwriter. President Kennedy once called him his “intellectual blood bank.
• Jackie translated books from the French for JFK
• Wasn't considered "serious" to travel with your wife, so she did not generally travel abroad with him
• JFK was appalled and "deeply affected" by flip, insensitive comments of the rich about the poor
• Schlesinger, "He didn't wear his heart on his sleeve..."
• Jackie:  so important for JFK to get "out of Washington and see how much he was adored"
• JFK was "never one to run with a pack"
• Comparison of campaigning in Wisconsin v. West Virginia......"never met a person I liked in Wisconsin", "never met a person I didn't like in West Virginia", seen as "Papists"
• "All these Irish seem to have a peculiar sense of persecution"
• Senate wives rolled bandages on Tuesdays, vice president wife (Pat Nixon) wore nurse's uniform
• Dislike of LBJ, story of him sitting in Mr. Kennedy's chair on the Cape
• Jackie worried about life for JFK post white house...spoke to Bobby...he spoke to Ted who said he would bow out of the senate.....JFK found out, was angry and made her tell bobby to tell teddy no
• JFK's gift giving....brought in 30 gifts for her to choose from...she chose the one she could tell he wanted her to pick
• Story of not taking bathrobe to bathroom and then hiding in there because JFK and Salinger were meeting in the bedroom, and about bursting in with Truman one time
• Story of Robert Frost at inauguration being unable to see the words on his paper
• Like that JFK would call her a"Jack"
• she didn't know how to wave in the inauguration parade
• Sounds like she was exhausted quite a bit, was given Dexedrine in order to have the energy to get up and dressed for inaugural balls
• Described their relationship as "renewals of love after brief separations"
• Schlesinger indicated that his advisers felt they let JFK down re Bay of Pigs
• Khrushchev's daughter looked like a "Wehrmacht blonde who ran a concentration camp."
• Stayed on Onassis yacht in mid 1950s
• Got all her political ideas from her husband......felt it was a great thing
• "Power made him a better man"....a portrait painter said that to Jackie
• Day after Cuban missile crisis......JFK said if anyone is going to shoot me, this would be the day to do it......referring to his belief that Lincoln greatness was what it was because he died after abolishing slavery, but not being alive to deal with the no win situation of Reconstruction
• MLK Jr....Bobby told her of orgy tapes and that he had made fun of JFK's inauguration
• During Cuban missile crisis..."no day and night"
• JFK foresaw trouble with LBJ's presidency re:  southeast Asia
• Skyhook....extraction of agents 
• Jackie saw herself as a detriment to JFK's career until they got to the White House 

> Review:  I was 5 years old when President Kennedy was assassinated.  I have powerful visual memories of my mother weeping and watching the funeral on our black and white television.  As is true for most Americans I have the powerful iconic images from media of the Kennedy family, their tragedies and faux pas.   Hearing Jacqueline's voice, in its strong Long Island accent, has filled out my internal images of her tremendously.  She comes across as a smart, physically frail, classic 1950s wife, who seemed to adore her husband.  She tells tales from their married life, which was actually fairly brief.  She shares her opinions of many individuals she met over time.  All of this is done while the listener hears her take a puff on her cigarette and hears the clink of ice cubes in her glass.....even hearing the occasional pitter patter of her children running through the room.  She paints a picture of JFK as incredibly intelligent, hard-working, considerate, and completely dedicated individual. 

It is a wonderful experience to listen to these interviews