Jackie's Newport

by Raymond Sinibaldi

  answer in clear, articulate French. “I was so proud,” said Jackie. “First run for our side.” 114

  Seasoned diplomat Charles Bohlen observed, “There’s a tremendous

  value in Mrs. Kennedy’s fluent French and charming youthfulness.” Jackie’s company buoyed the spirits of the French president putting him “visibly in a very good mood.” 115 This was not a condition often observed.

  Following lunch, Jackie visited a children’s medical clinic that was

  started by the American Red Cross following World War I. A crowd of

  nearly two thousand gathered quickly to catch a glimpse of the first lady.

  Comprised primarily of mothers with children in their arms, they patiently waited while Jackie toured the facility. Exiting, she addressed the gathering in French, telling them she would send furniture to outfit the clinic’s reception area. As she entered her car, about one thousand people broke through police barriers. Streaming across the street shouting “Bravo!” and “Viva Jackie!”

  they swarmed around her vehicle, peering through the windows and gushing compliments. Jackie sat smiling, composed, repeating over and over again,

  “Merci, merci.” 116 It was just more of the “blasé French erupting with joy.”

  The crème de la crème for Jackie came on the eve of departure, when

  President and Madame de Gaulle hosted dinner at the Palace of Versailles.

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  For Baldridge it invoked memories of when she and Jackie had toured the palace. As schoolgirls the pair would dream about what it would be like to live as a member of the court of Louis XIV, and now at that very same palace Jackie was a guest of honor.

  Dinner took place in the Hall of Mirrors around a long rectangular

  table adorned with exquisite porcelain, elegant crystal, and splendid silver.

  An eighteenth-century candelabra held flickering candles that cast a mystical glow on the refurbished frescoes looking down from the ceiling.

  Following a six-course dinner accompanied by three wines and

  champagne, the après dinner entertainment provided a stroll back in time to the court of French royalty of which Jackie had dreamed as a child.

  Musicians, dressed in eighteenth-century costumes, appeared through the

  darkened corridors playing period instruments. Led by liveried footmen

  bearing burning candelabras, the presidential entourage wound their way

  through long, darkened hallways to the palace theater. “There seated on tiny chairs fit for eighteenth century legs and posteriors…we watched a ballet commissioned for Louis XV, with torches as spotlights, performed just as it would have been for the king.” 117 Wrapped in the splendor and majesty of a childhood fantasy, Jackie was beside herself with joy. “I thought I was in heaven,” she said. “I have never seen anything like it.” 118

  The allure of the evening continued as they motored back to the Quai

  d’Orsai. Weaving its way through the magical gardens of Versailles, the lead car bearing Jackie and Jack stopped as it came upon an illuminated fountain.

  They emerged and walked toward the fountain. Reaching its edge, they

  paused, watching as diamond sprays leaped into the darkened sky, twinkling when captured by the light. There they stood, hand and hand, sharing a

  moment that belonged to them and only them: the first lady of the United States and her president.

  The following day, their last in Paris, the president held a press

  conference. In his opening statement he encapsulated the impact Jackie had 44

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  on the state visit. “I do not think it, altogether inappropriate,” he said, “to introduce myself to this audience. I am the man who accompanied Jacqueline Kennedy to Paris. And I have enjoyed it.” Longtime diplomat David Bruce

  added, “Jackie proved herself more valuable to United States prestige than ten divisions.” 119

  Khrushchev was already in Vienna, and within twenty minutes of the first couple’s arrival, Jack was in a meeting with the Soviet premier. Following the meeting came a luncheon at the American Embassy and dinner at the

  Schoenbrunn Palace. Built in 1642 and remodeled in 1740, it served as home to emperors and as Allied headquarters during World War II. With the

  reestablishment of the Austrian Republic, it became a museum open for

  special events. Bringing together the two most powerful men in the world certainly qualified as a special event.

  Described by Jack as a “combination of external jocosity and internal

  rage,” 120 Khrushchev had a reputation for both public and private belligerence.

  Jack experienced it privately, and in his most celebrated public display, Khrushchev removed his shoe at the United Nations, waved it, and then

  banged it on his rostrum while nearly coming to blows with Filipino delegate Lorenzo Sumulong.

  At dinner, it did not take Jackie long to cut through the gruff exterior of the bombastic premier. “Jack had advised me to stay away from political talk…talk to them about something different…I’d just read The Sabres of Paradise by Lesley Blanch,” she recalled, “which was all about the Ukraine in the nineteenth century and the wars and things…It sounded to me so rather romantic. I was telling him how I loved all that and the dance, the lezginka and the Kabarda stallion.” Khrushchev responded with a quick rundown of

  how the government had placed more teachers in the Ukraine, and they were now producing more wheat. “Oh, Mr. Chairman President,” came Jackie’s

  slightly admonishing reply, “Don’t bore me with that, I think the romantic 45

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  is so much [better].” The chairman responded with a hearty laugh, and it became clear to Jackie that “at last, he could let down too.” From then on it was “just one gag after another…like sitting next to Abbott and Costello121

  or something.”

  Jackie found the Soviet women tougher to engage. De Gaulle cautioned

  her about Madame Khrushchev. “Mefiez vous, c’est elle la plus maline,” he told her. (“Watch out, it’s she who is the craftier of the two.”) Jackie found her and Mrs. Dobrynin (the wife of the head of the foreign ministry) to be somewhat patronizing and condescending. “Both of them have this really

  gamesmanship thing,” Jackie recalled. “If you’d smoke they’d say ‘Russian women don’t smoke.’” They asked, “Did you go to engineering school?”

  Their inquiries were designed towards “trying to make themselves seem

  better…I suppose it was a chip on their shoulder,” Jackie concluded. Ever the refined debutante, she fought the uncomfortable air and continued “trying to be polite.” Reflecting on the Soviet first lady, Jackie concurred with de Gaulle. “Yeah, she was a bit maline [crafty]…I got sick of…those little digs all the time.” 122

  However, Jackie sensed a deep shyness in the difficult woman and twice

  reached out to compassionately guide her through it. The first time came at lunch, where Jackie was rendezvousing with Madame Khrushchev at the

  Palais Pallavicini. Crowds had gathered in the Platz awaiting their separate arrivals. Mrs. Khrushchev was first on the scene and was greeted with

  respectful, warm applause. “When Mrs. Kennedy’s car appeared…a ripple

  of excitement ran down the packed lines,” and “the gentle policeman…

  restrained the enthusiasts.” The delighted Viennese chanted, “Jackie,

  Jackie!” as she smiled and waved to the crowd. When she disappeared

  inside, a collective moan of disappointment rose from the gatherers, and immediately the chant resumed, “Jackie, Jackie, Jackie!” 123 Jackie walked over to the open window and waved. “The crowd erupted and the noise was

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  terrific.” Turning away from the window, and cognizant that there were no voices calling f
or Madame Khrushchev, Jackie went to the Soviet first lady.

  “They want to see you too,” she said, leading her to the open window. 124 “A familiar shining dark head appeared and inches below a curly grey one…

  It was Jackie and Nnia [ sic] side by side…Jackie smiled her smile and Mrs.

  Khrushchev beamed. The crowd cheered.” 125

  Dinner at the palace was made uncomfortable for Jackie by a conflict

  of protocols: the international protocol of heads of state and Jackie’s

  personal protocol. “I outranked her,” Jackie explained, “because Jack was president and Khrushchev was just chairman…so she wouldn’t leave the

  room before I did. I didn’t like to go before an older woman…and…she

  was just hanging back.” A stalemate ensued until Jackie acted. “I took her by the hand and said, well I’m very shy and so you have to come with me,”

  and the two left the room hand in hand. Thrilled at Jackie’s solution to their dilemma, the Soviet first lady darted over to a Russian in her party.

  “Did you hear what she said to me?” she exclaimed, “sort of beaming.”

  This caused Jackie to conclude of the Soviets that they “have their little chips,” but “they’re all shy underneath.” 126

  On December 1, 1963, a mere six days after Jack’s funeral, Jackie wrote

  a letter to Khrushchev. It read, in part:

  Dear Mr. Chairman President,

  You and he were adversaries, but you were allied in a determination that the world should not be blown up. You respected each other and could deal with each other…The danger that troubled my husband was that

  war might not be started so much by the big men but by the little ones.

  While big men know the needs for self-control and restraint, little men are sometimes moved by fear and pride. If only in the future the big men can make the little ones sit down and talk, before they fight…”

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  Citing their meeting in Vienna, she concluded,

  “I read that [your wife] had tears in her eyes when she left the

  American Embassy in Moscow, after she signed the mourning book.

  Please thank her for that.

  Sincerely, Jacqueline Kennedy.” 127

  The trip ended with an overnight stay in London, where crowds chanting,

  “We want Jack and we want Jackie!” broke through barriers outside

  Buckingham Palace as they dined with the queen. Coupling a state visit with the christening of their niece Anna Christina at Westminster Cathedral, they stayed at the home of Jackie’s sister Lee and Stas Radziwill. “Mrs. Kennedy…

  won princess like acclaim in London, as quickly as she had triumphed earlier over Paris and Vienna.” 128 Jackie remained in London when Jack went home and then spent a week traveling with Stas and Lee.

  The thirty-one-year-old first lady enraptured de Gaulle, beguiled

  Khrushchev, charmed Madame de Gaulle, and protected Madame

  Khrushchev—an astonishing performance when one considers that she was

  not even half the age of the pair of crusty, seasoned European leaders and their respective first ladies. Hundreds of newspapers from Boston to Honolulu, Racine to Brownsville, and all stops in between smothered their front pages extolling the virtues of Jackie and her remarkable European exploits.

  Using myriad phrases under a multitude of headlines, copy editors

  nationwide sought to capture Jackie’s impact: “Le coup de foudre, love at first sight,” said one under its heading, “Paris Falls in Love with Jacqueline.” 129

  Boston declared, “Head Over Their French Heels, Paris Falls for Jacqueline,”

  adding, “Jacqueline Kennedy and France were made for each other.” 130

  Tampa proclaimed, “La Tres Belle [the very beautiful] Jackie…Mrs. Kennedy Charms French.” 131 And Texas touted, “Jackie Turns Scene Stealer.” 132

  The effusive praise emanated from Vienna, as well. A Baltimore

  headline included an “Often-Grim Nikita” as a “Jacqueline Triumph.” “A

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  twinkle lit his eye” as he was “shifting his chair closer” to share the musical part of the evening next to her. 133 The west Texas town of El Paso announced,

  “Krushy Twinkles at Jackie,” 134 while the Oklahoman splashed a huge front-page photo of Krushy, “a twinkle in his eyes” fervently gazing at a smiling Jackie. 135 Racine trumpeted, “Jacqueline Wows Nikita,” referring to Jackie’s

  “elegant triumph” and noting, “The tough and often belligerent Communist leader looked like a smitten schoolboy.” 136

  Jackie had become an international superstar. “The Jackie Look,” now a

  regular selling point on New York’s Seventh Avenue, went worldwide. The

  Polish magazine Swait wrote, “The face and silhouette of Jackie are known to all people all over the civilized world.” 137 She even penetrated the Iron Curtain, where a Leningrad fashion magazine advertised “Jackie Look” clothes. “The deck has shifted,” 138 Protocol Officer Angier Biddle Duke told his soon-to-be-wife, Robin. Jackie had replaced Jack as the face of the administration.

  She had become, in a sense, a roving ambassador for her husband. Tish

  Baldridge recalled her emergence as an international force. Not enamored with the backroom politicking and arm twisting necessary in garnering

  votes, Jackie nevertheless was “such a bright, intelligent person…interested in the issues. She very definitely shared his opinions and interrogated him as to what was going on…and she helped him. She would write hand-written letters and go on for pages and pages to General de Gaulle and Prime Minister Nehru and all…this was her way to further the political gains of the United States of America and its foreign policy. I am sure no other First Lady has ever done that.” 139 Lyndon Johnson witnessed her allure firsthand in Texas when she delivered a speech in Spanish the night before Jack died. So impressed was he that, in 1964, he openly spoke of offering her the position of Mexican ambassador.

  Inspired by Vienna, London, and above all, Versailles, Jackie returned

  and began preparing to welcome Pakistan’s president Ayub Khan in a way

  that no foreign leader had ever been welcomed to the United States.

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  Jackie joined Jack on Marine I to welcome Pakistani president Ayub Khan

  to Newport as their extended Hammersmith stay was drawing to a close.

  Here she greets Khan with a handshake. On the right is Angier Biddle

  Duke, the U.S. chief of protocol.

  In the early days of the administration, Tish Baldridge received a phone call from Cecil Wall, the director of Mount Vernon. Suggesting “a little special entertaining for special pals,” 140 he extended an invitation to the White House, offering Washington’s Potomac River estate for use any evening

  throughout the summer. Baldridge crafted a memo to Mrs. Kennedy stating

  the same, never guessing that “a little special entertaining for special pals”

  would turn into the most historic state dinner in American history.

  The “special pal” was Pakistan’s president Mohammad Ayub Khan.

  Khan came to power in 1958 as a result of a military coup. He endeared

  himself to America and the Kennedy administration with his general anti-

  communist stance and his commitment of five thousand of his finest troops to battle communist forces in Laos. “Anything Ayub wants from me now,” the

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  They returned to Hammersmith for lunch, and then Khan went on to

  Washington where they met him for evening festivities. Jackie and Khan

  went riding the next day in Virginia. This was their third official meeting; the state dinner at Mount Vernon and Jackie’s trip to Pakistan in March of 1962 marked t
he first two.

  president told Kenny O’Donnell, “he can have.” 141 What he got, for starters, came compliments of Jackie.

  Jackie was basking in a whole new light, having learned to “use power

  with tact and reticence,” leaving “all the men…in love with [her].” 142

  Her influence was not lost on the diplomatic corps or foreign heads of

  state. De Gaulle himself adroitly observed Jackie’s augmentation to the

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  Kennedy presidency “without mixing in politics…she played the game very

  intelligently.” 143 Kenneth Galbraith, Indian ambassador, offered the most compelling synopsis: Jackie “would observe, hear, and render judgment…

  She distinguished sharply between those who were serving him and those

  who were serving themselves…especially…the accomplished frauds. Her

  wise and astringent analysis was especially important to Jack Kennedy.”

  Jackie was fully aware of her place and what she brought to Jack and his presidency. “I was an observer,” she wrote to British prime minister Harold Macmillan, “not a participant as [Jack] didn’t wish his wife to be that way. He knew I did not miss much…and that I was so aware of all that he was doing.

  He was proud that I knew.” 144 Jack counted on her insight into people, no matter their status or station.

  Energized by her experience at Versailles, a veritable tiptoe through

  the days of Louis XIV, Jackie was intrigued with the prospect of unveiling a piece of America’s past. What better vehicle than a state dinner, and what better venue than the home of the man who commanded the army that won

  America’s independence and then presided over its first government? First, however, it would have to be ascertained whether the venue was suitable for such an undertaking. Jackie headed a group of eight, including Baldridge, Cecil Wall, and Francis Beirne, the regent of the Mount Vernon Ladies

  Association, meeting them on the premises for an escorted tour.

  Built on land garnered by George Washington’s great-great-grandfather

  John in 1674, construction began on the current home in 1734, when the

  future president was two years old. Construction continued throughout four decades, with the final product completed in 1778.