Reading Jackie

by William Kuhn

  Dickinson, Emily. Skies in Blossom: The Nature Poetry of Emily Dickinson. Edited by Jonathan Cott, illustrations by Mary Frank. New York: Doubleday.

  Jhabvala, Ruth Prawer. Shards of Memory. New York: Doubleday.

  Moyers, Bill D. The Language of Life: A Festival of Poets. With James Haba and David Grubin. New York: Doubleday.

  West, Dorothy. The Wedding. New York: Doubleday.

  1996

  Radzinsky, Edvard. Stalin: The First In-Depth Biography Based on Explosive New Documents from Russia’s Secret Archives. New York: Doubleday.

  Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis as an Author

  (IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER)

  Onassis, Jacqueline. “Randolph.” In The Grand Original: Portraits of Randolph Churchill by His Friends, edited by Kay Halle. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1971.

  Bouvier, Jacqueline, and Lee Bouvier. One Special Summer. New York: Delacorte, 1974.

  Onassis, Jacqueline. “The Talk of the Town: Being Present.” The New Yorker, January 13, 1975.

  Onassis, Jacqueline Bouvier. Afterword to Longing for Darkness: Kamante’s Tales from Out of Africa with Original Photographs (January 1914–July 1931) and Quotations from Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen), by Peter Beard. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1975; San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1990.

  Onassis, Jacqueline, ed. In the Russian Style. With the cooperation of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Introduction by Audrey Kennett, designed by Bryan Holme. New York: Viking, 1976.

  Onassis, Jacqueline Kennedy. “A Visit to the High Priestess of Vanity Fair.” In Vanity Fair, with essays by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Polaire Weissman, and Stella Blum. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1977.

  Zvorykin, Boris. The Firebird and Other Russian Fairy Tales. Edited and with an introduction by Jacqueline Onassis. New York: Viking, 1978.

  Adams, William Howard. Atget’s Gardens: A Selection of Eugène Atget’s Garden Photographs. Introduction by Jacqueline Onassis. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1979.

  Nevins, Deborah, ed. Grand Central Terminal: City Within the City. With a foreword by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. New York: Municipal Art Society of New York, 1982.

  Young, James L. A Field of Horses: The World of Marshall P. Hawkins. With a foreword by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Dallas: Taylor, 1988.

  Jackson, Michael. Moonwalk. With a foreword by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. New York: Doubleday, 1988.

  Sources

  INTERVIEWS

  Interviewees are identified by their occupation at the time they were dealing with Jackie.

  Alderman, Robert partner of Mark Zebrowski, consulted for book on Indian art

  Ansel, Ruth art director, New York Times Magazine

  Auchincloss, Hugh D., III stepbrother

  Auchincloss, Louis (d. 2010) author

  Barry, Bill colleague

  Bass, Jack author

  Beevor, Antony author

  Bernier, Olivier author

  Bernier, Rosamond friend

  Beyer (formerly Porges Holland), Claudia illustrator

  Bradford, Sarah biographer

  Bryson, Bill author

  Cabot (formerly Brandon), Mabel author

  Cahill, Thomas colleague

  Chase-Riboud, Barbara author

  Clow, Irina daughter of Leonid Tarassuk, consulted for books on Russian art

  Cookman, Whitney colleague

  Cott, Jonathan author

  Crook, Elizabeth author

  D’Anglejan-Chatillon (formerly Ladd), Mary-Sargent author

  Dawnay, Caroline literary agent

  De Combray, Richard author

  De Pauw, Linda Grant author

  D’Orso, Mike author

  Ewing, William curator at International Center of Photography, consulted for books on photography

  Feibleman, Peter neighbor on Martha’s Vineyard

  Fitzgerald, Jim colleague

  Franklin, Lynn literary agent

  Fraser, Lady Antonia (Lady Antonia Pinter) friend

  Gere, Richard author

  Gernert, David colleague

  Giles, Sarah author

  Gollob, Herman colleague

  Golob, Paul colleague

  Gonick, Larry author

  Haslam, Nicky acquaintance

  Haykel, Navina curator, colleague of Stuart Cary Welch, consulted for book on Indian art

  Hitchcock, Jane friend

  Hoving, Thomas (d. 2009) director, Metropolitan Museum of Art

  Hunt, Conover author

  Jacka, Jerry photographer

  Jong, Erica acquaintance

  Kaplan, Howard colleague

  Kasinec, Edward librarian, New York Public Library, consulted for books on Russia

  Katz, Karl director of film, television division of Metropolitan Museum of Art, friend

  Kennedy, Eugene C. Author

  Kornbluth, Jesse Author

  Kruzan, Peter colleague

  Kuhn, David arts editor, Vanity Fair, consulted about serial rights

  Lawrence, Greg author

  Lazin, Sarah book packager at Rolling Stone, later literary agent

  Levin, Martha colleague

  Linscott, Jody author

  Linz, Mark director, American University in Cairo Press, colleague

  Loring, John author

  Lyons, Robert photographer, author

  Mansel, Philip author

  Mason, Francis (d. 2009) author

  Moyers, Judith executive producer of Bill Moyers’s TV interviews

  Moyers, Scott colleague

  Myers, Philip author

  O’Brien, Edna friend

  Porizkova, Paulina author

  Quinn, Marysarah colleague

  Radzinsky, Edvard author

  Ramati, Raquel author

  Riboud, Marc photographer, author

  Rossetti, Chip editor, American University in Cairo Press, colleague

  Rubin, Stephen colleague

  Rusoff, Marly colleague

  Schwartz, Marian translator

  Simon, Carly author

  Sís, Peter author

  Stafford, Sidney Frissell author

  Stenn, David author

  Swan, Bill photo editor, Town & Country, consulted about serial rights

  Talese, Nan colleague

  Tarassuk, Ilya son of Leonid Tarassuk, consulted about books on Russian art

  Tracy, Bruce colleague

  Trewin, Ion editor, Hodder & Stoughton, colleague

  Tuckerman, Nancy friend, assistant, colleague

  Udall, Stewart (d. 2010) author

  Vickers, Hugo author

  Vitale, Alberto colleague

  Wasserman, Stephen colleague

  Welch, Edith contributor to book on India, wife of author Stuart Cary Welch

  Wenner, Jann friend, collaborator on several book projects

  Zaroulis, Nancy author

  ARCHIVES AND MANUSCRIPTS

  Ansel, Ruth: Courtesy of Ruth Ansel

  Auchincloss, Hugh D., III: John F. Kennedy Library, Boston

  Beaton, Cecil: St. John’s College, Cambridge, U.K.

  Crook, Elizabeth: Courtesy of Elizabeth Crook

  Doubleday Papers: Courtesy of Doubleday, New York

  Franklin, Lynn: Courtesy of Lynn Franklin

  Galbraith, John Kenneth: John F. Kennedy Library, Boston

  Macmillan, Harold, Lord Stockton: Bodleian Library, Oxford, U.K.

  Myers, Philip: Courtesy of Philip Myers

  O’Brien, Edna: Courtesy of Edna O’Brien

  Oral histories: John F. Kennedy Library, Boston

  Pinter, Harold: British Library, London, U.K.

  Roberts, Ray: Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas, Austin

  Salinger, Pierre: John F. Kennedy Library, Boston

  Schiff, Dorothy: New York Public Library

  Schlesinger, Arthur M., Jr.: John F. Kennedy Library, Boston

  Udall, Stewart L.: University of Arizona, Tucson

  Vickers, Hugo: Courtesy of
Hugo Vickers

  Vogue, Prix de Paris: John F. Kennedy Library, Boston

  Vreeland, Diana: New York Public Library

  Walton, William: John F. Kennedy Library, Boston

  Wenner, Jann: Courtesy of Jann Wenner

  White, Theodore: John F. Kennedy Library, Boston

  Zebrowski, Mark: Courtesy of Robert Alderman

  Notes

  ABBREVIATIONS

  JBK Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy

  JKO Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

  JFK John F. Kennedy

  JFKL John F. Kennedy Library

  NYPL New York Public Library

  PROLOGUE

  1 flu symptoms: K. L. Kelleher, Jackie: Beyond the Myth of Camelot ([Philadelphia]: Xlibris, 2000), p. 199.

  2 a famous paint: Author interview with Peter Sís, June 10, 2009.

  3 non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma: Robert D. McFadden, “Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Has Lymphoma,” New York Times, February 11, 1994.

  4 She told Arthur Schlesinger: Sarah Bradford, America’s Queen: The Life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (New York: Penguin, 2001), p. 437; Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., Journals: 1952–2000, ed. Andrew Schlesinger and Stephen Schlesinger (New York: Penguin, 2007), pp. 761–62.

  5 “Nancy, what’s a sabbatical?”: Author interviews with Nancy Tuckerman.

  6 former president Nixon: Schlesinger, Journals, p. 472.

  7 three of her favorite books: Kelleher, Jackie, p. 199.

  8 one of the Kennedy sisters: Marie Brenner, Great Dames: What I Learned from Older Women (New York: Crown, 2000), p. 108.

  9 She was “surrounded”: Janny Scott, “Onassis Burial to Be Monday at Arlington,” New York Times, May 21, 1994.

  10 “I drop everything for a book on ballet”: Vogue, Prix de Paris application form, JFKL.

  11 wiped the soles of her bare feet: Ibid.

  12 Mary Barelli Gallagher: Mary Barelli Gallagher, My Life with Jacqueline Kennedy, ed. Frances Spatz Leighton (London: Michael Joseph, 1970), p. 154.

  13 Antony Beevor: Author interview with Antony Beevor, January 29, 2008.

  14 “a brain”: Nancy Tuckerman, “A Personal Reminiscence,” The Estate of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, auction, April 23–26, 1996 (New York: Sotheby’s, 1996), p. 17.

  15 “There was an unwritten law”: A Tribute to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (New York: Doubleday, 1995), p. 1.

  16 “You have the power”: JKO to Edna O’Brien, May 5 [1991], courtesy of Edna O’Brien.

  17 “The books of somebody who reads”: Nancy Mitford, Madame de Pompadour (New York: Harper & Row, 1968), p. 181.

  18 a group of midwestern ladies: Carl Sferrazza Anthony, As We Remember Her: Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in the Words of Her Family and Friends (New York: HarperCollins, 1997), p. 134.

  19 “regarded books as his ‘friends’ ”: Thomas Wright, Oscar’s Books (London: Chatto & Windus, 2008), pp. 4, 5.

  20 “I think it’s too bad”: Author interview with Jane Hitchcock, February 23, 2008.

  CHAPTER 1

  1 “never be a ballet dancer”: Mary Van Rensselaer Thayer, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy: A Warm, Personal Story of the First Lady Illustrated with Family Pictures (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1961), p. 39.

  2 “Rhett Butler reminded her”: Hugh D. Auchincloss III, “Growing Up with Jackie, My Memories, 1941–1953,” originally published in Groton School Quarterly 60, no. 2 (May 1998): 27; in Papers of Hugh D. Auchincloss III, JFKL.

  3 “edged into her teens”: Thayer, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, p. 39.

  4 “some funny-looking ‘gink’ ”: Ibid., p. 74.

  5 The biggest framed photo: Philip Myers, “Squished,” unpublished manuscript; author interviews with Philip Myers, September 1 and 3 and December 21, 2009.

  6 British prime minister Lord Melbourne: Barbara Leaming, Mrs. Kennedy: The Missing History of the Kennedy Years (New York: Free Press, 2001), pp. 9–10.

  7 She asked the academic editors: Press release about White House library, June 21, 1962, Salinger Papers, Box 101, JFKL.

  8 “a library is dead”: JBK to Arthur Schlesinger, undated [1963?], Schlesinger Papers, Box P-6, JFKL.

  9 Denis Diderot, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson: Carl Sferrazza Anthony, “The Substance Behind the Style,” Town & Country, July 1994, p. 59.

  10 “The Greek way”: JBK to Harold Macmillan, September 14, 1965, Papers of Harold Macmillan, Lord Stockton, Bodleian Library, Oxford, MS. Macmillan dep. C. 563, folios 54–59; see also Alistair Horne, Harold Macmillan, Volume II, 1957–1986 (New York: Viking, 1989), p. 294.

  11 “Lyndon Johnson is really the Roman”: JBK to Arthur Schlesinger, May 28, 1965, Schlesinger Papers, Writings, A Thousand Days, Background Material, JFKL.

  12 Kazantzakis led her: See also her comments on Kazantzakis in John F. Baker, “Editors at Work: Star Behind the Scenes,” Publishers Weekly, April 19, 1993, p. 20.

  13 “half Tarzan, half Byron”: Christopher Andersen, Jackie After Jack: Portrait of the Lady (New York: William Morrow, 1998), p. 248.

  14 Aristotle Onassis complained: Donald Spoto, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis: A Life (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2000), p. 254.

  15 Schiff’s note of what she recalled: Dorothy Schiff memorandum on lunch with JBK at her apartment, 1040 Fifth Ave., April 16, 1968, dated April 19, 1968, Dorothy Schiff Papers, New York Public Library, Box 45, Editorial Files, Onassis, Jacqueline, December 13, 1960, to August 31, 1970.

  16 Greta’s chief complaint: Ibid., article translated from Oggi.

  17 lounging on a sofa reading a book: The Estate of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, auction, April 23–26, 1996 (New York: Sotheby’s, 1996), 76; see image at p. 557, lot 1175.

  18 Boucher painting of Pompadour with a book: Princess Grace of Monaco, with Gwen Robyns, My Book of Flowers (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1980), p. 103.

  19 he would not let her: Author interviews with Nancy Tuckerman.

  20 wearing a blouse that was unbuttoned: Dorothy Schiff memorandum on lunch with JKO, November 7, 1975, Schiff Papers, NYPL, Box 45, Editorial Files, Onassis Jacqueline, 1971–77.

  21 shared a mistress with President Kennedy: Sally Bedell Smith, Grace and Power: The Private World of the Kennedy White House (New York: Random House, 2004), pp. 172–73.

  22 last person she allowed in: Eleanor Dwight, Diana Vreeland(New York: Harper-Collins, 2002), p. 285.

  23 “out of the middle classes”: Diana Vreeland, Allure, with Christopher Hemphill (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1980), p. 116.

  24 “I have a holy attitude”: Martha Graham, Blood Memory (New York: Doubleday, 1991), p. 274.

  25 The second of two authors: Author interviews with Judith Moyers, May 26, June 11 and 12, 2009.

  26 “one sure path into the world”: Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth, with Bill Moyers, ed. Betty Sue Flowers (New York: Doubleday, 1988), p. xv.

  CHAPTER 2

  1 “I keep thinking”: Gerald Clarke, Capote: A Biography (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1988), p. 272.

  2 “temperament and talent of a writer”: Carl Sferrazza Anthony, As We Remember Her: Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in the Words of Her Family and Friends (New York: HarperCollins, 1997), p. 19.

  3 “could write like a million”: Ibid., p. 49.

  4 “by writing a book”: Mary Van Rensselaer Thayer, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy: A Warm, Personal Story of the First Lady Illustrated with Family Pictures (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1961), p. 36.

  5 clearly a writer: Mary E. Campbell to Carol Phillips, Vogue Prix de Paris file, JFKL.

  6 “Jackie and my mother”: Author interview with Carly Simon, June 7, 2009.

  7 “pronounced enough”: Vogue, Prix de Paris file, JFKL.

  8 short story she submitted: The story is reproduced in full in Anthony, As We Remember Her, pp. 49–51.

  9 envious of Pamela Harriman: Author interview with Sarah Bradford, January 28, 2008.

  10 among the first presidential wives: “First Ladies and College Degr
ees,” at first-ladies.org, the website of the National First Ladies’ Library.

  11 “John is always taking one out”: Jacqueline Onassis, “Randolph,” in Kay Halle, ed., The Grand Original: Portraits of Randolph Churchill by His Friends (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1971), pp. 283–85.

  12 One Special Summer: Jacqueline Bouvier and Lee Bouvier, One Special Summer (New York: Delacorte, 1974).

  13 “Lovely it is”: “Being Present,” The New Yorker, January 13, 1975, pp. 26–29.

  14 freeing her at last to take up a career: Author interviews with Nancy Tuckerman.

  15 “A huge man”: Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, ed., In the Russian Style (New York: Viking, 1976), p. 29.

  16 Catherine the Great: Ibid.

  17 $60,000 for a snuffbox: C. David Heymann, American Legacy: The Story of John and Caroline Kennedy (New York: Atria, 2007), p. 148.

  18 Nabokov said that her book: Nicolas Nabokov, “Under the Cranberry Tree,” New York Review of Books, March 3, 1977.

  19 her friend Leonid Tarassuk: Leonid Tarassuk, “Cranberry Sauce,” Letters to the Editor, New York Review of Books, November 24, 1977, and “Cranberry Jello,” March 23, 1978; both of the foregoing with replies from Nicolas Nabokov.

  20 The exhibition, entitled Vanity Fair: Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, “A Visit to the High Priestess of Vanity Fair,” in Vanity Fair (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1977).

  21 “many summer mornings when”: C. P. Cavafy, “Ithaka,” read by Maurice Tempelsman, quoted in In Memoriam Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, 1929–1994 (New York: Doubleday, 1995), pp. 20–22.

  22 “a gift of gratitude”: Jacqueline Onassis, ed., The Firebird and Other Russian Fairy Tales (New York: Viking, 1978), p. 6.

  23 “The royal vision lingers”: William Howard Adams, Atget’s Gardens (London: Gordon Fraser Gallery, 1979), pp. 6–7.

  24 “Let us now praise Grand Central Station”: Deborah Nevins, ed., Grand Central Terminal: City Within the City (New York: Municipal Art Society of New York, 1982), p. 8.

  25 “The inexorable press”: James L. Young, M.F.H., A Field of Horses: The World of Marshall P. Hawkins (Dallas: Taylor, 1988), p. 9.

  26 pressed her to write a foreword: Mark Shanahan and Meredith Goldstein, “Names: Remembering Michael,” interview with Stephen Davis, Boston Globe, June 27, 2009.