In March of 1964, just 4 months after her husband's assassination, Jackie Kennedy sat for a series of recorded open conversations with her friend and historian Arthur Schlesinger to talk about her experiences as First Lady. These were not conversations about that horrific day in Dallas, but rather a love letter to her husband and a revelation about this woman's vulnerability,insecurity, strength and candor. These never revealed recordings, 8 hours in total, along with a book, Jacqueline Kennedy:Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy, have just been released to a great deal of hype ,chatter and an ABC Diane Sawyer special "Jacqueline Kennedy: In Her Own Words" which drew 8 million viewers, ABC's largest non sports audience in five years. Jackie Kennedy throughout her life was a fiercely private public woman,..perhaps the most famous woman in the world, who for obvious reasons guarded her privacy, her children and her life. So why would she have done this and what did they tell us about Jackie? At just 34 she knew that time would move and alter the history, and I believe she wanted a record in her words for the record of history of not only the man she loved, his work,but also the extraordinary experiences of being in the White House in those years.
I think what surprised me the most about the interviews was that for all her sophistication, her very well read intelligent mind, she seemed almost naive at times- though we know how sharp and shrewd she could be. The image that emerges of Jackie from these interviews is one that scrapes against the perfectly coiffed and adorned icon who smiled through such times. She had very strong and judgemental opinions and voiced them about everyone and everything, almost catty and snobbish, she was quite candid about her opinions on people from Indira very Ghandi ,who she called "a real prune" to LBJ. She was also so conscious of her role not only publicly but privately. I was most surprised by her feelings of inadequacy and her own self image. Here the most admired revered woman in the world, the woman every other woman wanted to look like and be, admitted to weeping and bouts with exhaustion and depression, and her feelings of being so not up to the role..."I felt like such a dud" she would say and she talked about apologizing for what a poor campaigner she thought she was- ironic because once in the White House Jackie would become one of the Kennedy's greatest political assets charming world leaders and assessing the President's friends and foes while enthralling a nation and decorating literally and figuratively a new era in Washington.
Her determination was to fulfill what she saw as her most important job, that of sustaining and supporting her husband and shielding him, creating a safe and haven like world from the stress of the Presidency. She wanted the fairy tale world to be real and worked to be sure both during and after her time in the White House that the myth become truth for herself and for the world. Stunning because she lived a life so very far from a fairy tale. Jackie saw her role as extremely traditional, in almost "Victorian" terms, "I get all my opinions from my husband". Well that obviously wasn't the case. "Women should not be in politics, we just aren't suited for it."-ironic because she was in her own right a very political woman who was in fact a master of strategic relationships. Her opinions on a "Woman's Place" did not surprise me as much because of the time she lived in, we know her life would change as would her opinions on women's role, she would later lament the fact that "women are not encouraged to use their full gifts"...but at that moment, this is where women were-they were by their husband's sides, they were creating perfect homes and perfect worlds for their men and their children.. We know now of course what all that "perfection" would lead, ironically it was Jackie's image that fueled that desire in women of the 60s.
Jackie felt her purpose,her job, was to be there for her husband. Her role was to create "a climate of affection and comfort and detente when he came home...I think a woman always adapts, and especially if you're very young when you get married. You know, you really become the kind of wife you can see that your husband wants," she said. She relished the role of a "Japanese Wife" happy to stand in the shadow of this man, but ironically she was the one that shone and in that house she very much became her own woman.
The interviews also show an irreverent almost acerbic wit that at times was surprising in her comments that seemed so unlike the image we have of this graceful, classic icon. Yet it has to be remembered that this was 4 months after his loss, and she seemed so very determined to begin monument building and be sure the world remembered him as she saw him and as she wanted him remembered. "Camelot" was the romantic cloth she spread, and I think was determined to cover so much with it. Since her husband would never be able to write his memoirs about his presidency and give his story and view, Jacqueline Kennedy would do it for him, ensuring that it would be her view and memories that would be recorded for history.
Yet the voice I wanted to hear was Caroline's. I was disappointed in Diane Sawyer's interview--so many questions that only she can answer. I wanted to hear more of her reaction to her Mom's comments and get to know more from the daughter that must have so many stories to tell. It is amazing and so commendable that Caroline did release these tapes which do show that her Mother was real and honest and perhaps not as pitch perfect as the cultural icon we have revered. We see a woman of her own mind, complex, a woman filled with contradictions and judgements and a woman determined in her grief and throughout her life to maintain the image of John F. Kennedy as hero. I understand and applaud Caroline's reserve and her determination to guard as much as she can the world her Mother built while allowing a new and fuller portrait into her family's history.
Caroline said "...I think people really need to understand the purpose of an oral history. And it really – the value of it is it is immediate, it is honest...I think that was very brave of her to do that and to be honest. But it’s got limitations. It’s just – it’s a primary source document. It’s like a diary or something like that, it’s really a snapshot...This was something where she felt the obligation to be honest and she had always told us that she was going to put it away for 50 years...There are flashes throughout where I hear her and there are parts to me where it sounds like it was a very long time ago, just the way she speaks and the things she said...It was funny because my daughters listened to it too and they were just absolutely horrified…’Did she really think that?’ And of course time has moved on and it shows you both there are many timeless things in here but it really is a snapshot of a world that we barely recognize,”
