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Shortly after President John F. Kennedy's assassination, with a nation deep in mourning and the world looking on in stunned disbelief, Jacqueline Kennedy found the strength to set aside her own personal grief for the sake of posterity and begin the task of documenting and preserving her husband's legacy. In January of 1964, she and Robert F. Kennedy approved a planned oral-history project that would capture their first-hand accounts of the late President as well as the recollections of those closest to him throughout his extraordinary political career. For the rest of her life, the famously private Jacqueline Kennedy steadfastly refused to discuss her memories of those years, but beginning that March, she fulfilled her obligation to future generations of Americans by sitting down with historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., and recording an astonishingly detailed and unvarnished account of her experiences and impressions as the wife and confidante of John F. Kennedy. The tapes of those sessions were then sealed and later deposited in the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum upon its completion, in accordance with Mrs. Kennedy's wishes.… (more)
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This is a must own for anyone who is even remotely
I'll get the boring out of the way, and it's not much but
Hearing Jackie speaking was awesome until the times you realized what she just said (Did she really say THAT?). You could tell she was doing her best to preserve JFK's legacy, perhaps even build it up, but she was also very candid. While I'm sure JFK had flaws, although no one seems to admit it, you will not know it from these tapes. I understand what they were trying to accomplish with the tapes but I think they seem a bit....I don't know. It's tough to put my finger on.
Jackie had very candid opinions about everyone, including MLK, Jr. (Who knew he liked orgies??) and she has been blasted in the news since this book came about about being so candid. On that note, I need to say: everyone has opinions. At this point, she was removing herself from the public eye and why shouldn't she be allowed to speak her mind? Especially since these tapes were not to be released til after her death. I don't fault her for this at all. In her mind at the time, it seems she did not consider herself valuable to the public and was working on helping JFK's legacy, not her own.
This is well worth the listen, I think, if only to hear a little piece of history. I'm sure folks who lived through this time will appreciate it even more. And for the record, thank goodness Jackie's opinions on "a woman's place" changed as she got older. I cringed at some of the antiquated ideas of how a woman should be/act/live.
These 1964 conversations between Jacqueline Kennedy and friend and historian, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. have been under lock and key until this recent publication. My set included 8 CDs of the actual recordings, paired with a volume of written
The highlights, however, were the tapes themselves. Mrs. Kennedy's voice is so expressive - joy, irritation and engagement are all palpable. Background noises - ice cubes clinking, inhaling cigarettes, planes overhead - provide such immediacy to these tapes. One can picture sitting there with Jackie and Arthur while the recorder is purring along.
Some things were prescient, such as her commentary on Cambodia and Laos. Some were more emblematic of the time, such as her statements on the role of women. (I understand she supported feminists and women's rights later in life.) Some were catty, which might explain the desire to keep the tapes sealed until most participants had died. Many things were poignant. In loving tones, she called the White House years the happiest of her marriage. I was particularly moved when young John, Jr. is heard telling of his fun visiting the airport.
Throughout, Jacqueline Kennedy speaks with grace intelligence and candor. I would think those who remember the Kennedy presidency will find this particularly interesting. Even younger readers will enjoy this insider's look into an important point into our country's history just 50 years ago.
It would have been interesting to read what
Everyone in my parent's generation can tell you exactly where they were when Kennedy was shot, something that those of us born in the next decade can only relate to by comparing it to the Challenger explosion or 9/11. While I'll never be able to understand the feeling of the country's feelings for the era completely, after hearing these seven session taped so shortly after her husband's death, I can certainly understand the fascination the world had with the woman.
I was 5 years old when President Kennedy was assassinated. I have powerful visual memories of my mother weeping and watching the
It is a wonderful experience to listen to these interviews
It would have been interesting to read what
Everyone in my parent's generation can tell you exactly where they were when Kennedy was shot, something that those of us born in the next decade can only relate to by comparing it to the Challenger explosion or 9/11. While I'll never be able to understand the feeling of the country's feelings for the era completely, after hearing these seven session taped so shortly after her husband's death, I can certainly understand the fascination the world had with the woman.
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I found it very interesting to hear Jackie's memories juxtaposed with what I know of history. Her seeming naïveté concerning Kennedy's reputed affairs was sad. Her 1960s morality and understandings of women's
Paradoxically, she on the one hand tells of Jack's extreme dislike of Hoover (and supposedly, Hoover's imminent dismissal after the upcoming election) and how untrustworthy he was, and the draconian files he kept on innocent people and on the other tells how Bobby told her of the wiretaps (surely illegal) that Hoover had on MLK ordering up girls for an orgy. But she evidently couldn't hear the irony in her statements.
The narrative is essentially unedited from tape transcriptions. As such, it contains interruptions, sentence fragments, stream of thought and other natural comments and reflections. Consequently, the book cannot be considered to have "been written" by anyone as an author. The insights and opinions of Mrs. Kennedy at the time are priceless history.
Speaking less than a year after the assassination, Jackie is obviously still devastated and filled with bitterness, but her love for her husband really shines through. The personal details are what stand out for me, not the political opinions that Schlesinger is pressing for (Jackie's interview was part of an oral history project to record JFK's term of office for posterity). Why he keeps asking her what she thought of this man, or what she remembers of that event, I'm not sure, because while Jackie is certainly more clued up that she lets on, her standard answer is usually 'Oh, I was in hospital/home sick/don't know'. Yet when she talks about her home life with Jack and the children, she sounds much more thoughtful and animated.
While I appreciate Caroline Kennedy's decision to transcribe her mother's oral history recordings almost verbatim, the print format is hard to follow in places - perhaps listening to the audiobook would be easier. And again, Schlesinger's political questions seem like a wasted opportunity with hindsight. He hardly lets her talk about herself, and his questions about Jack mostly concern his political career. After William Manchester's book, however, and her controversial interview with Theodore White after the assassination, this remains one of the very few honest and expressive accounts that Jackie gave of that time, so every word counts. I was touched by the flashes of genuine love and grief in and amongst the politicians and presidential crises.
★ ★ ★ ★
These interviews took place only months after the assassination of JFK. But you won't hear about the assassination in these interviews (the
I am usually content with either the audio version or the paper edition of a book. This is one of the few times I must say that having both is a must. The paper book is much easier to sift through and the pictures are amazing. The book is made to make it easier to read so all the “uh, ah”, mumbling, background noises (planes, walking, etc) and interruptions are obvious taken out. Also, a lot of people are mentioned in the audio version – and are actually explained as footnotes in the book on who they are (and unless you are extremely knowledgeable in 1950s and 60s politics, there will be questions of who these people are) . However, listening to the actual recording of, what I think, is one of the greatest women ever was absolutely awe-inspiring. And when John Jr. walks in, hearing his 4 year old voice saying he knows his dad “has gone to Heaven” was so heart crushing. The emotions and the voices are something the book can't hold.
My only complaint is I wish Jackie would have delved a little more into their personal life and her own. There was a lot on JFK's political policies and how he and Jackie felt about every political person of the period. But given that John Kennedy was a politician, it seems logical. And I've heard people complain that Jackie's thoughts on marriage and the role of the wife is dated. Well..obviously people. It was an interview by a woman born in the 1920s and married in the 1950s. Putting today's thoughts and standards on history's thoughts just doesn't work. I enjoyed the book but it wasn't one I could sit down and go through in one sitting. I could only handle a little bit at a time.