Jackie's Newport
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speaking engagements, Frost created the opportunity to openly endorse the Massachusetts junior senator. The presidential hopeful took to ending many campaign speeches with the words from one of Frost’s most famous poems:
“Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening . ” The popular piece, which Frost penned in about twenty minutes, 78 ends with a call for more work to be done:
“The woods are lovely dark and deep. But I have promises to keep. And
miles to go before I sleep. And miles to go before I sleep.”
When the president-elect invited Frost to participate in his inauguration, he asked if he was planning to recite a new poem. If not, he requested “The Gift Outright,” a poem that Frost himself described as “the history of the United States in a dozen [actually sixteen] lines of blank verse.” 79 The young president came close to getting both new and old, but a freshly fallen blinding snow and blazing sun eliminated the former. The poet had written, specific for the occasion, a poem he originally called “Dedication , ” which he planned to read as a preface to the president’s requested verse. The glare of the sun reflecting off the snow made it impossible, however, and Frost recited from memory “The Gift Outright.” “Dedication,” which Frost later changed to
“For John F. Kennedy on His Inauguration,” ended with:
The glory of a next Augustan age
Of a power leading from its strength and pride,
Of young ambition eager to be tried,
Firm in our free beliefs without dismay,
In any game the nations want to play.
A golden age of poetry and power
Of which this noonday’s the beginning hour.
Before leaving Washington, Frost visited the White House. President and
Mrs. Kennedy thanked him, and he presented the president with a manuscript copy of “Dedication , ” inscribing: “Amended copy. And now let us mend our 35
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ways.” Frost advised the new president not to let the Harvard in him “get too important.” 80 “Poetry and power,” wrote Frost, “is the formula for another Augustan Age. Don’t be afraid of power.” Written on the president’s thank-you note were the words, “It’s poetry and power all the way!” 81
The new generation’s inclusion of the octogenarian poet served as
a clarion call to the “next Augustan age.” Poet William Meredith said the inclusion of Frost “focused attention on Kennedy as a man of culture,” 82 and Horizon magazine’s Douglas Cater called Frost’s participation the beginning of a “cultural renaissance in America.” 83
As sure as Jack became the face of this “cultural renaissance,” it was Jackie who was its designer, architect, and implementer. “The president’s curiosity and natural tastes,” wrote Arthur Schlesinger, “had been stimulated by Jacqueline’s informed and exquisite responses: art had become a normal dimension of
existence.” 84 The American people were ignited by the passing torch, and Jackie’s “informed and exquisite responses” would not be lost on foreign leaders, nor their citizenry. Jackie’s impact was immediate and powerful.
“It only took about three weeks after the inauguration,” wrote Jackie’s
social secretary, Tish Baldridge, “for those of us in the White House to realize…we had a huge star on our hands.” 85 Jackie received nine thousand letters per week, mostly from women wanting to know everything from her
brand of shampoo and lipstick color to how many rollers she put in her hair at night and what baby food she fed little John.
In early April the White House announced plans for its first official state visits: Ottawa, Canada, in mid-May to be followed by a visit to Paris and Charles de Gaulle. There was immediate speculation on behalf of the press that “Mrs.
Kennedy…will set a precedent for US First Ladies by acting as the unofficial interpreter between her husband and the French President.” 86 Why not? She was a self-proclaimed Francophile, fluent in French, and she carried a BA in French literature from George Washington University. She had lived
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in France, studying at the Sorbonne, and had read de Gaulle’s biography
in French. She had also spent some time with him at a garden party in
the French Embassy in 1960. “Jack was campaigning in Oregon,” Jackie
remembered. “I guess I talked to him for about ten minutes…I told him how much Jack admired him.” 87 In those ten minutes, she so charmed the French president that upon his departure he said, “The only thing I want to bring back from America is Mrs. Kennedy.”
Jackie’s charm and elegance captured hearts beyond just de Gaulle’s; she also “scored some diplomatic coups with Ambassador and Madame Hervé
Alphand.” 88 Following the first diplomatic corps reception, Nicole Alphand noted, “You could tell there was a different person there [in the White House]
and the lighted candles everywhere…the flowers arranged the way French
women do them…natural and a little wild.” 89 In France, they wrote of her as if she were a Hollywood starlet: “Her full lips, high cheek bones, widely spaced, heavily lashed eyes, and black hair.”90
It was April 12, 1961 when worldwide news shouted that the Soviets had
successfully launched a man into space. “RUSSIANS PUT MAN IN
ORBIT,” declared New York’s Daily News, while in London the Guardian announced on its front page, “RUSSIA HAILS COLUMBUS OF SPACE.”
The Soviets and their cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin, were the toast of the world.
A U.S. setback in both image and prestige, it proved a tiny blip compared to the humiliation awaiting President Kennedy and America in merely five days. The United States launched a CIA-backed and led invasion of Cuba.
The campaign’s abysmal failure was a crushing blow for the esteem of the United States and its president.
The Bay of Pigs marked the low point in Jack’s presidency, and it
was the most depressed Jackie ever saw him. “We were down in Glen Ora
[Virginia],” Jackie recalled, “with Jean and Steve Smith.” At about 5:00 p.m.
the president received a phone call from Secretary of State Dean Rusk. “He 37
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was sitting on the edge of the bed…and it went on and on and he looked so depressed when it was over.” The invasion was underway, and it was clear from the outset that the desired outcome would not be achieved. “Jack just sat there on the bed…looking in pain almost and he went downstairs and
you just knew, he knew what had happened was wrong…I just saw him…
terribly, really low.” 91
Despite the personal anguish that beset the president and the world’s
lambasting of the United States, Jack’s approval rating rose to 83 percent, the high-water mark of his entire presidency. This was due, in part, to the press conference in which he stated, “Victory has one hundred fathers and defeat is an orphan,” and added, “I’m not looking to conceal responsibility, I am the responsible officer of the government.” It was in this atmosphere that Jack and Jackie planned their first international excursion, and in mid-May America learned: “Kennedy, Khrush Meet in Vienna June 3, 4.” 92
Speculation about the political ramifications of the meetings with de
Gaulle and Khrushchev filled newspapers around the globe. Of no less
interest was Jackie and the role she would play. As their departure drew near, the attention intensified. “Paris fashion houses are buzzing with orders from prominent women, all ordering gowns for the receptions to be held during the Kennedys’ visit.” 93 Interest ran high over what Jackie might wear, what couturiers she might or might not visit, and what shops and other Parisian
“delights” she might wish to indulge in. Her role as translator never came to fruition, as her focus became other official goodwill duties. These duties proved far more impactfu
l and ignited a worldwide fascination with the
young American president and his thirty-one-year-old first lady.
Jackie threw herself into preparing to execute those duties, which
included hiring a tutor to freshen up her French and poring over State
Department briefings. Meetings with designer Oleg Cassini organized a
wardrobe to please the most critical Parisian eye. “She didn’t plan to outshine the president,” noted Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, “but she certainly 38
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gave thought to what her impact would be and how to plan her behavior and actions in a way that was supportive and compatible.” 94
Canada was the first stop, and as Jackie’s staff prepared, they received a visit from Canadian ambassador Arnold Heeney. He met with Tish Baldridge
to deliver a preemptive caveat, preparing all for a cool reception from the Canadian people. It would not come from a lack of respect or even affection, but Canadians were just not as demonstrative as Americans. “In fact,” he added abjectly, “even the Queen [Elizabeth] is always prepared, but a trifle upset by, the cool reception she receives in Ottawa.” 95
On May 16, the president and first lady were welcomed by 100,000 cheering Ottawans. The city not known for its over-enthusiastic welcomes of state visitors welcomed them enthusiastically, and they loved Jackie. The Canadian press showered her with adulation: “She’s a living doll…radiant…a Madonna in an Oleg Cassini outfit” and a “modern day Venus DiMilo.” 96
An hour-long motorcade to the Government House was followed by a
greeting by Prime Minister and Mrs. Diefenbaker and the Governor-General and Mrs. Vanier. President and Mrs. Kennedy then partook in the Canadian tradition of tree planting by distinguished visitors. Using silver spade shovels, they turned the soil. “Mr. Kennedy…accepted the shovel…and dug in…his
hefty shovels of earth spread around the base of the tree.” After four or five shovelfuls he turned to the prime minister and, grinning, said, “Isn’t this supposed to be symbolic?” 97 He handed a beaming Diefenbaker the shovel
and said, “How about you?” Jackie, on the other hand “had a more feminine approach…her high heels digging into the soft wet grass…she managed a
few tiny shovelfuls of earth.” 98 Unbeknownst to anyone, Jack had tweaked his famous bad back and then shoveled through the stabbing pain. For the next couple of weeks, he would be using crutches away from the public eye, and on the subsequent trip to Europe he sought refuge as often as possible in a hot bath.
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Excited, animated crowds followed Jackie’s visit to Canada’s National
Art Gallery and the exhibition of the “Musical Ride” by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. They appreciated her genuine enthusiasm in exploring the museum and the fervor with which she applauded the difficult equestrian
maneuvers of the Mountys, all prompting one UPI reporter to note, “The
American First Lady’s only problem was how to cope with adulation.” 99
Words like radiant, conquest, triumph, and smashing appeared in newspapers throughout the world, describing the reception Jackie received from her
northern neighbors. The head of the Canadian senate, Mark Drouin, added,
“She has conquered all of our hearts,”100 while virtually every member in Parliament was in agreement that America’s first couple was received
with more warmth and enthusiasm than Queen Elizabeth herself. Jackie
remembered, “Everyone was saying Ottawa was so cold and never gave
receptions…nice ones to anyone.” They were “terribly enthusiastic crowds and everyone was flabbergasted.” 101
Tish Baldridge recalled, “The Canadians…screaming Jackie, Jackie in
the streets, and Canadians just don’t scream like that normally.” Following this visit, Jack saw his wife with “new eyes.” Somewhat annoyed with the
“extra stuff” Jackie packed, “he was very proud of her and of the lavish descriptions of her personal appearance.” This brought him to a new
understanding; “he realized it was all a very important part of her image of impeccable grooming and beauty and style.” 102 It was evident that Jackie invoked as much enthusiasm from the crowd as did Jack. This elicited playful ribbing, which he took with both amusement and pride.
On May 5, Navy Commander Alan B. Shepard became the first American in
space, successfully completing a fifteen-minute suborbital flight. The success of the mission lifted the spirits of the nation and took some of the sting out of the Gagarin flight. Days before departing for Europe, President Kennedy lifted the eyes of the nation toward the stars. Speaking before a joint session 40
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of Congress, he linked the exploration of space to the worldwide struggle between freedom and tyranny. Realizing the “impact of this adventure [space]
on the minds of men everywhere,” he set forth a national goal: “I believe this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.” 103
The world watched and waited to see how the young president, armed
with his vision, would fare in his meetings with the seventy-year-old French president and the sixty-seven-year-old Soviet premier.
Jack and Jackie met at New York’s Idlewild Airport at 10:00 p.m. on May 30
for the overnight flight to Paris. Their plane landed at 10:30 a.m. the following day. While they were in flight, the citizens of France watched a thirty-minute television interview with President and Mrs. Kennedy. Completed
at the White House two weeks earlier, French TV anchor Pierre Crenesse
had conducted Jackie’s entire interview in French, leaving “Paree wackee, waiting for Jackie.” 104 The vast majority of France’s two million television sets were tuned in, and anticipation was heightened when she said, “I cannot describe to you my emotions at the thought of again seeing France where I was a student and where I will now be on a state visit with my husband.” 105
President de Gaulle greeted “my dear President” and the asset “at your
side…the most gracious, Mrs. Kennedy.” 106 He acknowledged the challenges these allies faced, and then President Kennedy spoke. Referring to France as
“our oldest friend,” Jack touched on the common goals of preserving both freedom and peace. A forty-five-minute motorcade followed through the
streets of Paris, to the Quai d’Orsai, the French government’s guest palace, where Tish Baldridge was waiting. “I stood on the balcony…and watched
the procession.” The “marvelous Garde Republicaine [French Honor Guard]
on the horses and those wonderful steel helmets glittering in the sunshine, their long plumes waving behind and the clipclop of the horses’ hooves
and the marvelous blaring of the trumpets. And then to see the French, the 41
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blasé French, erupting with joy and surprise as this handsome young couple appeared!” 107
With ardent fervor, one and a half million Parisians greeted President
Kennedy with shouts of “Viva Kennedy!” as he rode, with President de
Gaulle, in the motorcade’s lead car. Jackie followed with Madame de Gaulle, and she was met with unbridled enthusiasm as cries of “Jacqu-ie, Jacqu-ie!”
and “Viva Jacqu-leen!” rose from the crowd. “People fainted in the crush,”
Baldridge remembered, “and the sounds of ambulance sirens mingled with
the roar of fighter jets…overhead…The noise was deafening…The cries of
Viva l’Amerique rang out from tongues that spoke many languages. And
through it all, the constant chant Jacqu-ie, Jacqu-ie”.108
“She drew a larger crowd than he did,” said Baldridge, “and he laughed
about it,” while chid
ing that “he should be jealous.” Jack could not contain his joy at the reception Jackie received. “The president was so very, very proud of her,” Baldridge recalled, “and the marvelous way she handled herself.” 109 As much as they admired the American president, their affinity for Jackie went a little further and was best articulated by a Parisian cabbie. “We respect the president for all his actions and his courage,” he said, but alluding to Jackie’s French ancestry, it came down to one simple fact: “Madame, after all, is French.” 110 It was clear “from the moment of her smiling arrival…the radiant young first lady was the Kennedy who really mattered.” 111
Within an hour Jack left for a forty-minute private meeting with de
Gaulle. Jackie and the presidential entourage joined them for luncheon.
Built in 1722, the Elysee palace was home to General de Gaulle for the ten years he served as president. Jackie was seated next to de Gaulle. Having already impressed him a year ago, Jackie now enchanted him, asking him
“things of history…all the things I wanted to know…like who did Louis
XVI’s daughter marry…did she have any children?” At one point de Gaulle
“leaned across the table to Jack…and said in French, ‘Mrs. Kennedy knows more French history than most Frenchwomen.’” 112 Time magazine reported 42
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that “Jacqueline zeroed in with a flashing smile and began to speak in her low slow French. The glacial Charles de Gaulle promptly melted.” 113
Sitting across from McGeorge Bundy, the seventy-year-old general
and now president, who had led the French resistance against the Nazis in World War II and then headed the provisional government reestablishing
France’s democracy, learned firsthand that the torch had been passed to
a new generation of Americans. “You know, Bundy looks very young,”
Jackie said, recalling the event, “and de Gaulle asked who he was.” “Head of National Security,” she replied, then added, “The most brilliant young head at Harvard.” In his characteristic pompous air, de Gaulle asked Bundy a question in a condescendingly “slow French,” and Bundy shot back his