Needless to say, the common, modern niceties were missing or
rudimentary at best. Baldridge noted there was “virtually no electricity, no heating, limited restroom and kitchen facilities.” 145 It was clear the antiquated home presented far too many obstacles to provide the amenities necessary to host a state dinner. Jackie, on the other hand, was enchanted, which fueled her 52
THE SUMMER WHITE HOUSE
desire to showcase the home of the father of the country. “One look at Jackie’s animated face,” recalled Baldridge, “and I knew we were all doomed.” 146
What the staff viewed as unconquerable hurdles, Jackie saw as
opportunities, and in her soothing, charming way she pelted Wall and Beirne with questions. She wanted to know how the bathrooms and parking could
be accommodated. The dining she had already settled in her mind, and all she needed to know was where on the lawn it was flat enough to put up a
beautiful tent.
Francis Beirne was flabbergasted, yet her own sense of history found the idea exciting. It became her burden to bring Mrs. Kennedy’s idea back to the Board of Regents, who owned, maintained, and operated Mount Vernon.
Initially consternated at the thought of over one hundred people making
merry with food and drink on General Washington’s front lawn, Mrs. Beirne convinced them of the value of playing host to the dinner, and they approved it. It now fell to Tish Baldridge and her “doomed” staff to execute what was to become one of the most memorable nights of Jack and Jackie’s 1,037 days in the White House.
They had just short of a month to pull it off, the same time frame
normally used to plan a simple dinner at the White House. There was
nothing simple about this affair, however, as virtually “every single item had to be transported to the site.” 147 Standing on the lawn Jackie visualized everything from the guests arriving via boats on the Potomac (Jack’s idea), to the tent color and the plates, flowers, and vases to be placed at the sixteen circular tables that would seat eight.
The government VIPs would be intermingled, separated from their
spouses at different tables—Jack with Khan’s daughter, Nasir Aurangzeb, and Jackie with the Pakistani president. No detail was overlooked. Practice runs up and down the Potomac revealed that, despite the daytime temperatures, the evenings were often breezy, bringing a chill upon the river. This was remedied by placing on each boat “a delightful hodge-podge of…sweaters
53
JACKIE'S NEWPORT
and chiffon scarves…French designer things lent by Jackie and items from Bloomingdales and Macys lent by the rest of us.” 148 Nagging summer insects presented a major challenge. In a measure that clearly indicates a bygone era, “the mosquitos and chiggers failed to feast upon the banquetiers [ sic]…
because the area had been thoroughly doused with insecticides well in
advance.” 149 It was actually a bit more complicated than that, however. The lawn was mowed in the early afternoon and then sprayed to eliminate the
critters awakened by the clamor. By 4:00 p.m. “the mosquitos were holding their own state dinner and the sprayers were ordered back to work.”150 The food had just arrived from the White House, and as the insecticide hovered over the lawn, a breeze from the river carried the perilous cloud toward the kitchen tent. White House chef Rene Verdon, worried that the food might
have been compromised, openly wondered if the guests would die if they ate it. Two brave Secret Service agents acted as court tasters. Neither of them died, and both reported the food tasted just fine.
Four boats cruised the Potomac for an hour and fifteen minutes listening to the strings of live orchestras. Jack and Khan’s daughter, Nasir, hosted on the Honey Fitz, while Jackie, President Khan and Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn welcomed guests on the Sequoia. As they approached the Mount Vernon Pier they came to a stop across the river. With all the military at attention and saluting, they listened as the national anthem flowed over the trees and across the river, bringing everyone to a halt. “There was not a dry eye on the river,” recalled Tish Baldridge. “Even the Pakistanis were undone by that.” 151
Inspired by her stroll through French history at Versailles, Jackie
delighted the guests with her own orchestrated, dazzling transport to
America’s nascent days. Limousines greeted them as they disembarked,
carrying them past the Marine honor guards who lined both sides of the
winding road to Washington’s home. Mint juleps were served in silver cups on the veranda following a tour of the mansion. Washington’s recipe for the 54
THE SUMMER WHITE HOUSE
bourbon libation was followed, while frosted orange drinks were offered to accommodate the Muslim guests who did not imbibe alcohol.
Fifty Marines bearing the colors of each state rimmed the lawn of
the circular drive as the Army Color Guard and Fife and Drum Corps
performed close-order drills. The guests stood in rapt attention as the unit, bedecked in the scarlet redcoats, powdered wigs, and tri-cornered hats of Washington’s Continental Army, performed the drill of their forbears. The drill ended with the firing of blank muskets across the green. The White House Press Corps had assembled there, and through the wafting cloud of
white smoke appeared a handkerchief waving the white flag of surrender.
President Kennedy roared with laughter. “That’s the press corps,” he said to his Pakistani counterpart. Khan, also laughing, said, “I’m so glad, that’s just what we would have done in our country.” 152
The military display ended, and all moved into the tent for dinner,
which began with a toast. President Kennedy honored his guest by likening him to Washington in leading his fledgling country in their struggle for independence. He invoked Washington’s words from a letter he wrote to
David Stuart153. “I had rather be at Mount Vernon with a friend or two about me, than to be attended at the seat of government by the officers of state and the representatives of every power in Europe.” 154
Dusk was melting into darkness as the lights of the Coast Guard boats
crisscrossing the Potomac sent sparkles rippling along the surface of the river. The candlelight of the hurricane lamps twinkled off crystal goblets and diamond earrings, reflecting shimmers of light everywhere. A group of fireflies even appeared and hovered over the lawn, creating a mystical glow.
The Strolling Strings of the U.S. Air Force meandered among the tables,
their violins singing with romantic ballads, and presiding over it all was Jackie—smiling, shining, radiant.
On a makeshift stage, with floodlights silhouetting clusters of trees,
some of which Washington actually planted, the seventy-four-piece National 55
JACKIE'S NEWPORT
Symphony Orchestra brought the evening to a splendid close. The guests
sipped champagne to the strains of Mozart, Debussy, Martin Gould, and
George Gershwin. Liszts’ “Rakoczy March” brought the magical night to an end and President Kennedy to his feet. “The history making White
House social venture, conceived by Mr. Kennedy’s wife Jacqueline…went
off without a hitch.” 155
Jackie had unveiled a piece of America’s past with the same elegance,
grace and style that had been unveiled at the Palace of Versailles a few short weeks earlier.
Locals gathered around St. Mary’s every time Jack and Jackie were in
Newport, waiting and hoping to get a glimpse of the first couple coming to church or leaving.
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THE SUMMER WHITE HOUSE
Two months later, Jack and Jackie made their first presidential visit to Hammersmith Farm, arriving on Tuesday, September 26, following the
president’s UN speech the day before. On Wednesday, at the Newport War
College, the president introduced John McCone
as the new director designate of the CIA, replacing Allen Dulles. Then it was back to Hammersmith
Farm, the Honey Fitz and sitting by the bay.
On Thursday morning, Clint Hill, the agent charged with Mrs.
Kennedy’s protection, received a call at the Secret Service Command Post.
“Mr. Hill,” Jackie said, “I was hoping to go out water skiing this afternoon.
Will you make sure you have my skis on the jet boat?” A veteran of two
previous presidents, Hill was taken aback. “Water skiing?” he repeated. “Are you sure? Do you realize how cold the water is, Mrs. Kennedy?”
“That doesn’t bother me,” came her amused reply. “I’ve got a skin
diving suit. I’ll be fine.” The cavalier, matter-of-fact response elicited a chuckle from Hill.
“Mrs. Kennedy,” he said, “I hope you realize that the press will be dying to get a picture of you in that wet suit…I can tell you Mamie Eisenhower and Bess Truman never went water skiing, with or without a wet suit.”
Laughing, she responded, “Well, now you know I have to go, Mr. Hill.”156
Returning from her ocean excursion, Jackie hitched a buggy up to
Caroline’s pony, Macaroni, and ushered Caroline and her baby brother
down Harrison Avenue. Mornings and evenings found them relaxing on
Narragansett Bay. “We sit for hours on the terrace, just looking at the bay and drinking in the beauty,” she wrote, “and all one’s strength is renewed.”
157 It was the first time since he had assumed the presidency that Jack
actually relaxed.
The first presidential visit to the homestead was dedicated primarily
to relaxation, which meant, time to be on and by the sea. A plane from
Washington arrived every day, dumping a pouch of papers and intelligence briefings, and Jack had access to the White House by virtue of a special phone 57
In between races, time was spent sailing the Coast Guard yacht Manitou. In the top photo, Jackie shares a moment with Fiat heir Gianni Agnelli. In the bottom shot, “Mummy” is cooling off some chowder, while sister Janet is at the tiller. Brother “Yusha” is in red. On the left is former Secretary of State John Kerry, who was dating Janet at the time, and to his left Nina Auchincloss.
THE SUMMER WHITE HOUSE
hookup. However, he took few calls and reread an old favorite book of his: Talleyrand by Alfred Duff Cooper.158
Following another water skiing adventure on Friday, Jackie was
off to Newport Country Club for a little golf. Accompanied by Clint Hill and longtime friend William Walton, Jackie looked like a natural as, Hill observed, “she hit the ball long and straight…With almost any sport she
tried, she was a natural…she was determined to do well.” 159
Jackie was often maligned as too soft or dainty to engage with the roughand-tumble Kennedy clan; however, she was an outstanding athlete in her
own right. An award-winning, highly accomplished equestrian from the age of three, a water skier, and an adept tennis player, her competitive nature was perhaps best revealed through golf.
She had just taken up golf in earnest with
lessons from Hyannis club pro Tom Niblet. “Tom,
you have your work cut out for you,” she told him
in their initial meeting. However, her athleticism
was apparent in her body movement. She was “very
well coordinated,” said Niblet, and she moved with
an “athletic grace.” Her competitive nature was
revealed when Niblet inquired what her objectives
were regarding the game. She fired back quickly,
“To beat my sisters-in-law.” 160 She improved
rapidly, but she was never willing to substitute her
time riding for time on the golf course.
At 3:30 p.m. on Monday Jack rode the Honey
Fitz to the dock at Quonset Navy Base to board
The Bradlees accompanied Jack and Jackie to celebrate with
them their tenth wedding anniversary in Newport. Part of the
celebration included some golf at the Newport Country Club
where Jackie tees off.
59
JACKIE'S NEWPORT
Air Force I for his return to Washington. Jackie went home and, in the quiet of the Hammersmith evening, wrote to her mother: “You can’t imagine
what you have done for the country by letting us come here, for Jack to have a rest. He was much tireder [ sic] than I ever thought and now he is ready to start again.”161
The escape served as a boon to Jack’s outlook, demeanor, and energy.
“He’s like he used to be,” Jackie wrote, “laughing and full of jokes…not preoccupied or exhausted the way he has been.” His elevated spirit was not lost on those around him. “Charlie Bartlett and Bill Walton couldn’t get over it.” And at the White House, “everyone was saying what a great mood the
prez was in after his vacation.”162
The family signed the guestbook before departure. Caroline drew a
picture of the pond and dictated to her mother, who wrote, “I like the pond I got wet in,” while little John added his first scribbles to the occasion. Thinking ahead, Jack added the notation, “What about next year?” and Jackie dittoed his marks, closing with: “All the memories come back, no place in the world as lovely as Hammersmith Farm.” 163
In November they returned to receive Indian prime minister Jawaharlal
Nehru, Hammersmith Farm’s first head of state. Leaving Hyannis Port,
Jack, Jackie, and Caroline, accompanied by Lem Billings and General
Clifton, arrived via the forty-minute helicopter ride, and within fifteen minutes they were aboard the Honey Fitz on Narragansett Bay.
It was just before noon on Monday, November 6, 1961, when President
Kennedy and Indian ambassador John Kenneth Galbraith greeted Nehru
and his daughter, Indira Gandhi, at Quonset Naval Base. Jackie, who was
scheduled to visit both India and Pakistan at the end of the month, was
awaiting them at Hammersmith.
The president and prime minister shook hands warmly before boarding
the Honey Fitz for the ten-minute cruise to Hammersmith Farm. Along the 60
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way, the president pointed out a few of the majestic estates on the bay and, exhibiting his classic wit, said to the seventy-one-year-old prime minister,
“I wanted you to see the way the average American family lives.” 164 Not particularly tickled, Nehru informed the president that he’d been informed of American affluence. Jackie, with Caroline in hand, greeted the prime minister when they reached the farm. “She’d picked a little flower for him and made a curtsey,” Jackie recalled. “That’s the first time he sort of smiled.” 165
In what Jackie described as “damned spoiled brattishness,” a drink
was shared before lunch, during which time Nehru “never said a word…
It was just such heavy going.” 166 The pre-lunch cocktail lasted just under fifteen minutes, and then Nehru joined the president and aides in the dining room. Jackie dined with Indira Gandhi and Lem Billings in the living
room. The short preliminary was not enough time for Jackie to crack the icy
“brattishness” of the prime minister, a task she had executed flawlessly with Nikita Khrushchev.
Jack also watched Nehru fall into virtual silence when discussion turned to Vietnam. In the living room, Billings and Jackie found Madam Gandhi
“really quite amusing.” Displaying a self-deprecating sense of humor, she related stories “about the growing up years and her relationship to her father.”
She spoke of her political experiences in India and her early struggles, “not only in public speaking, but in accomplishing things not expected of women at that time.” The two came away having “enjoyed her immense
ly.”167
As the day progressed a different impression of Madame Gandhi
emerged. She was irked that she did not dine with the men. “She hated
that,” recalled Jackie. “She liked to be with the men.”168 Chilliness carried onto Marine I from Hammersmith to Quonset and continued on the ride
to Washington. “The president flicked through newspapers…Nehru read
National Geographic, Indira looked at Vogue and Jackie was immersed in Malraux.”169 At the White House dinner Gandhi admonished the president
about American policy and sang the praises of a staunch anti-American in 61
JACKIE'S NEWPORT
New Delhi. “She is a real prune, bitter, kind of a pushy horrible woman,”
opined Jackie. “I just don’t like her a bit. It always looks like she’s been sucking on a lemon.”170 However, Nehru sat between Jackie and Lee, and the charm of the Bouvier sisters lit the “light of love” in Nehru’s eyes, thawing the icy premier. By evening’s end Jackie knew she was not prepared to visit India two weeks hence, and the trip was rescheduled for the spring.
The thaw did bring some light-hearted banter to the remainder of the
week, as Jackie informed Jack how Billings and Madame Gandhi had hit
it off at lunch. The Indian contingent was staying at the Blair House, from which Billings began receiving phone calls. “On Sunday afternoon, I received many phone calls, presumably from Madame Gandhi.” The calls continued
throughout the evening, expressing “her desire to see me, to have dinner with me.” Each time Billings returned the call, Madame Gandhi was either out or unavailable. It took some time before Lem realized that the “whole thing was a hoax arranged through the White House switchboard.”171
Before Nehru left Washington, Jackie found him “easy and charming.”172
However, not so his daughter. “One of those women who when marriage and
love and all of those things don’t turn out right…It all goes back inside you and the poison works inside like an ulcer…She’s a truly bitter woman.”173
In March 1962, more than 100,000 people lined the streets welcoming
Jackie and Lee to India. In preparation, Jackie read Nehru’s autobiography, which served as a catalyst for conversation. Jackie came to know Nehru. “He was terribly sweet to Lee and I…He would come home every afternoon and
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