take us for walks in the garden and we’d feed the Pandas. He used to walk me back to my bedroom…and sit in there for about an hour and talk to me…I
asked him about the times in prison and everything…his life.” Nehru’s
youngest sister, Krisna Nehru Hutheesing, would also visit with them. “It’s so good for my brother to have you two girls here,” she told them. “It’s some relaxation….His daughter fills the poor man’s life with politics. It’s politics at lunch, politics at tea, politics at dinner. He never has any relaxation.” 174
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THE SUMMER WHITE HOUSE
Jackie concluded that her trip to India was “a relaxation for him, the kind of thing I’d try to bring into Jack’s life in our evenings at home. Someone who wasn’t connected to what was worrying him all day.” 175 Jackie did for Nehru what she did for Jack: she created a place to rest, a place to relax, a place that was not “connected to what he was worrying about all day.”
It was May before she saw Newport again. Traveling first to Groton,
Connecticut, along with her mom, she christened the USS Lafayette, a nuclear-powered Polaris sub. Outside the gates of the naval base was a small gathering of pacifists protesting this addition to the fleet. Jackie earned a protester’s caveat, for among the crowd was a sign that read, “Jackie si, Polaris no.” 176 A luncheon followed, and then Jackie and Janet were bound for Hammersmith to work out the details of a planned presidential vacation in September.
In late September 1961 Jackie and Jack enjoyed their “best vacation” of
the summer, as Hammersmith and Newport provided far more privacy and
space than Hyannis Port. Seeking more of both, in 1962 they rented a home on Squaw Island, around the corner and away from the Kennedy compound.
The following day, Jackie, Janet, and a local attorney viewed four
homes in the vicinity of Hammersmith Farm with an eye toward renting
one in August and September. Reports circulated that they would lease one on Ruggles Avenue, but these were quickly squashed in a White House
statement. “Mrs. Kennedy has not leased any house in Newport and really doesn’t know what her summer plans are.” 177 Hammersmith Farm would
more than suffice as the summer White House for September’s America’s
Cup races.
As for August, Jackie and Caroline were bound for Italy. Leaving John
at Hammersmith with Gran Mere Janet, the girls rendezvoused with Lee,
her husband Prince Radziwill, and their son Tony for three weeks on Italy’s Mediterranean coast. The Villa Episcopio, a 900-year-old ancient palace of 63
Caroline feeds her pony Macaroni. A gift from Vice President Lyndon
B. Johnson, Macaroni was well traveled, spending summers in Newport,
autumns in Virginia, and winters at the White House.
The Bailey’s Beach pool was a frequent stop with the kids. Here, Jack is in the water helping John muster up the courage to take the leap.
THE SUMMER WHITE HOUSE
Ravello bishops, carved into the rocky cliffs overlooking the breathtaking Amalfi Coast, served as their home abroad.
While Caroline and “America’s first lady,” clad in a “pea green one
piece bathing suit…splashed merrily in knee deep water of the blue
Mediterranean,” 178 Hammersmith Farm served as the “banner attraction”
of the third annual mansion tour of the Newport County Preservation
Society. Nearly 3,500 patrons, curious for a look into the private world of the president and first lady, filed through the summer White House. Early arrivals caught a glimpse of young John, but later visitors settled for a walk through the stables where the children often played.
Air Force I touched down at Quonset at 6:55 p.m. on August 31, 1962.
Jack, Bobby, and Ethel were on board, and Jackie and Caroline were due
within the hour. The commensurate welcoming took place: a twenty-one-
gun salute, a band, a welcome from Governor Notte, hundreds of Navy men
in dress whites, and about a thousand onlookers. True to form, Jack made his way through the crowd accepting well wishes and shaking hands.
Within a half hour, the Caroline touched down, taxiing nose to nose with Air Force I, as the band played the national anthem. Jack boarded the plane alone and within two minutes reappeared with Caroline in hand and Jackie following them down the ramp. After a brief conversation with the governor and naval officers, it was off on Marine I for the hop across Narragansett Bay to Hammersmith’s lawn, where John awaited them.
The Newport Daily News welcomed the president with an editorial expressing the hope that he could “suspend the cares of his important
office not for a mere weekend but a succession of stays from the White
House.” 179 The succession of days turned into the better part of four
weeks, and although the cares could never be completely suspended, there were luncheons on the Honey Fitz, sailing on the Manitou, and swimming in the heated pool of Mrs. Robert Young on Ruggles Avenue or the one at
Bailey’s Beach.
65
Jackie and Jack arrive at the Breakers for a dinner hosted by the Australian Ambassador and Lady Beale (in orange on left). It was the night before the first 1962 America’s Cup races. Jack delivered a famous speech about humans’ connection to the sea. The ambassador called him first rate.
Jack and Jackie share a
THE SUMMER WHITE HOUSE
moment with Australian
Ambassador Sir Howard
Beale at the Breakers the
night before the America’s
Cup challenge in September
1962. Beale said of Jackie, “I
fell in love with her. She was
great company, bubbly and
just nicely irreverent.”
Jackie observes the fourth
America’s Cup race from the
top deck of the USS Kennedy
in late September 1962.
Jackie shares a moment
with Rhode Island senator
Claiborne Pell (left) and
Jack’s Naval aide Tazewell
Shepard on the deck of the
Kennedy during the fourth
race of the America’s Cup. It
was Pell who sponsored the
bill that named the National
Center for the Arts the John
F. Kennedy Center for the
Performing Arts.
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JACKIE'S NEWPORT
Jackie relaxes on the deck
of the USS Joseph P Kennedy
Jr. , during a break in the
action of the first race of
the America’s Cup. She is
conversing with Franklin
Roosevelt Jr. (standing,
white shirt) while Jack
converses with Pierre
Salinger.
Jackie converses with an un-
identified man while sitting
on the deck of the Kennedy.
A little over a month later,
the USS Kennedy would
be in the Caribbean
participating in the blockade
of Cuba during the Cuban
Missile Crisis.
Jack and Jackie share a
private moment in the midst
of the crowd on the deck.
When they came aboard,
they were welcomed in a
ceremony in which the crew
presented them a model of
the ship.
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THE SUMMER WHITE HOUSE
The highlight came when Jack, Jackie, and a plethora of guests and
dignitaries watched the America’s Cup races from the deck of the USS Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. History was made as the deck of the Kennedy was smattered with tables covered with white tablecloths and accompanied by a full
bar—a first for the U.S. Navy. It was “absolutely divine…And Jack was in absolute heaven…he really did love the Navy and love the sea.” 180 Jackie also enjoyed her time aboard the Kennedy, especially the wide range of guests from across the American landscape of art, culture, and power.
The Newport vacation came to an end with the welcoming of an old
friend. Ayub Khan returned and was received for a luncheon at Hammersmith Farm, just as his Indian counterpart Nehru had been a summer before. Jackie’s March trip to India and Pakistan was a smashing success in both countries.
Well received by both Nehru and his people, Jackie developed a deep interest in Indian art and architecture. Nehru appreciated Jackie’s company, as she was
“an American not obliged to talk about politics” 181 and one with an interest in Indian art, its culture, and its people.
However, Jackie had developed a special connection with Khan.
Initially born of a shared love of equestrian pursuits, she came to find him
“like Jack…magnificent in his uniform…tough and brave and wants things
done in a hurry.” 182 Over 400,000 Pakistanis lined the streets of the capital city of Rawalpindi waving paper flags and signs reading, “Long live Mrs.
Kennedy.” Virtually everyone who lived in the city was present for what was
“the biggest welcome ever given a foreign visitor.” 183 Khan presented her with a ten-year-old bay gelding named Sadar, which was flown home in a
military plane to be ridden by Jackie at Middleburg.
Jackie and Jack flew to Washington that evening, and the following day
Jackie and Khan rode across the Virginia countryside together, her upon
Sadar while Khan rode Jackie’s horse Minbreno.
It was Saturday morning June 22, 1963, three days following Medgar
Evers’s burial in Arlington National Cemetery. President Kennedy held
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JACKIE'S NEWPORT
separate meetings with NAACP director Roy Wilkins and then with thirty-
four-year-old Martin Luther King Jr. In just two months King would
forge his place in history, professing his dream on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Another meeting followed as James Farmer, Whitney Young,
A. Philip Randolph and John Lewis joined Wilkins, King, and twenty-five
others discussing the fight for integration.
The president spent the afternoon at Camp David with Jackie and the kids before boarding Air Force I at 9:35 p.m. for a flight to Germany. He would visit Germany, Ireland, England, and Italy before returning home for the Fourth of July in Hyannis Port. What awaited him was the most electrifying moment of the entire Kennedy administration and a visit to his ancestral homeland, which Jack would refer to as “the three happiest days…in my life.” 184
Jackie, nearing thirty weeks pregnant, dined in Georgetown with
Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara before returning to the White
House, where they watched replays of Jack’s speech at the Berlin Wall.
Virtually every one of the 2.5 million citizens of West Berlin came out to see the president, either cheering on the motorcade route waving and chanting,
“Ken a dee, Ken a dee, Ken a dee,” or as part of the 1.5 million who gathered in the square to hear him speak from in front of the wall. Standing with West Berlin mayor Willy Brandt, Jack’s speech culminated in one of his most famous lines when he closed with: “All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin. Therefore as a free man I take pride in the words, Ich bin ein Berliner [I am a Berliner].”
As Jack was being welcomed in his ancestral home, Jackie was flying
from Washington, D.C., to Newport and Hammersmith. A photo of a smiling
Jack, standing in a car as it motorcaded through the streets of Cork, occupied the front page of the Newport Daily News. Just below, a short story declared,
“Mrs. Kennedy Here for a Visit.” While the eyes and ears of the world were on President Kennedy and his rousing speech at the Berlin Wall, Jackie was in “her favorite place…the deck room,” where ceiling-to-floor glass windows 70
THE SUMMER WHITE HOUSE
afforded a spectacular view of Hammersmith’ s emerald green lawn running to the shores of Narragansett Bay. It was in this room that she sat painting and listening while members of the Auchincloss crew watched news footage of Jack, espousing the virtues of freedom. 185 Following a few quiet days and a couple of trips to Pitcher’s Drug Store for ice cream cones, Jackie and the kids headed for Hyannis to await both Jack and the Fourth of July.
Expecting her baby at the end of August, Jackie settled in at
Brambletyde, their Squaw Island home. It was the third Cape Cod summer
home for the first family, with each one affording them more privacy. The plan was to remain there throughout the summer, returning to Washington
for a C-section delivery at Walter Reed Hospital. Gifts and letters to Jackie were being received at the White House—about three hundred per day.
Arriving from all over the world, they included bibs, bonnets, sweaters, and homemade quilts. Some were suggestions for names, others offers to be godparents, and some even suggested that she have the baby at the White
House. With still eight weeks until her due date, more than one hundred
gifts had been received. Jackie released a statement informing all that the gifts would be donated to charitable organizations and also declared that only gifts under fifteen dollars would be accepted. With Jackie’s history of premature births, the hospital at nearby Otis Air Force Base was being prepared for that possibility.
Jackie also announced that she was breaking with her policy of not
endorsing any programs outside Washington, D.C., and Newport became
the benefactor. She lent her name as an honorary patron of “Newport
Weekends,” a newly formed group dedicated to bring top musical programs
to Newport’s Van Alen Casino Theater through Labor Day. This was not
a random choice, for Jackie’s patronage of “Newport Weekends” combined
her passion for music, the arts, historical restoration, and preservation. After being closed for several years, the Newport Casino reopened on July 11, 1963, with Mrs. Kennedy listed as its “honorary patron.”
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JACKIE'S NEWPORT
The joyful anticipation of the baby’s birth turned to unspeakable heartache when Patrick Bouvier Kennedy was born on August 7 and died just two days later. In the aftermath of Patrick’s death and through the profound sadness and depression that followed, two significant family events took place.
The first was the revelry of the Kennedy patriarch’s seventy-fifth birthday.
Grampy Joe was surrounded by his offspring and twenty-one grandchildren.
There was gaiety and laughter as the kids gave Grampy gag gifts and sang to him. As the day turned to evening, Jack sang to his father “September Song , ”
a Kennedy favorite and a staple at family gatherings: “Oh the days dwindle down, to a precious few, September, November. And these few precious
days I’ll spend with you.” 186 It was a poignant juxtaposition—Grampy Joe Jackie arrives at the entrance to the Elms in September 1962. Completed in 1901 for coal baron Edward Berwind, it was nearly destroyed after his niece Julia died in 1961. The Newport Preservation Society purchased it in the nick of time in July 1962, saving it from the wrecking ball.
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THE SUMMER WHITE HOUSE
celebrating his seventy-fifth year one month removed from the birth and
death of his grandson, who lived but thirty-nine hours. “That was a killer,”
Martha Bartlett recalled. “The old man in a wheelchair, the son singing.” And, Bartlett added, “you almost felt, Jack knew he wasn’t going to see old age.” 187
The gray skies and chilly breeze of this precious September weekend did
n
ot prevent Jack and Jackie from cruising Lewis Bay aboard the Honey Fitz.
It is serendipitous that on the last weekend of Jack and Jackie’s last summer together, Charlie and Martha Bartlett, the two who brought them together, would be their guests. They talked of the possibility of Bobby running for president in 1968 and thought he would have to fight Lyndon Johnson for
the nomination. They also mused at what they might do upon leaving the
Jackie unveils the model for the National Center for the Arts. Present were: Geraldine Page (blue dress, brown cover) and Danny Kaye (right). Partially obscured by flash on the right are Paul Newman and his wife Joanne Woodward. Janet Auchincloss is behind Jackie. The center would become the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
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JACKIE'S NEWPORT
White House. Jackie joked that she had no interest in being “the wife of a headmaster of a girl’s school.” Although not happy with the barb, Jack told Charlie that he was thinking about being the ambassador to Italy because
“Jackie would like it.” 188
On September 12, Jack and Jackie’s tenth anniversary, Jackie, Caroline,
and John Jr. boarded a helicopter on Grampy Joe’s Hyannis Port front lawn for the forty-minute ride to Hammersmith’s back lawn. Jack was scheduled to arrive from Washington at 6:30 p.m., and then they would celebrate an intimate dinner at Hammersmith Farm commemorating their first decade
of marriage. Jackie was feeling better physically, but the loss of Patrick weighed heavily on her. She had experienced post-partum depression before, and this time it was heightened exponentially by Patrick’s death. With Janet’s encouragement, Jackie was poised to do her best to make the weekend a
happy one.
Flying with Jack on Air Force I were old Georgetown friends Ben and
Toni Bradlee and two of the Kennedy family dogs, a cocker spaniel named
Shannon and a wolf hound named Wolf, both given to the president by
the people of Ireland. The Bradlees were joining Jack and Jackie for their anniversary celebration. It was 6:37 p.m. when Air Force I touched down at Quonset. The Marine I helicopter was waiting, and Jack told Ben and Toni to wait in the helicopter, as he had to do a “little toe dance” with Rhode Island’s Republican governor John Chafee. About five hundred people were gathered for the president’s “toe dance,” 189 which consisted of a ten-minute ceremony.
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