Fascinating Book

I have just finished reading a truly fascinating book. Published in September, 2011, the book is actually a set of transcripts of a series of tape-recorded interviews of Jackie Kennedy starting in March, 1964 and concluding in June, 1964. This was a surprisingly short time after Kennedy's assassination in November, 1963. (Also, note that the assassination occurred fifty years ago next month!) Those of you who were, like me, young adults during the early 1960s may find this as fascinating as I did. The younger among you may enjoy it as well, although you may not be as familiar with some of the issues or persons mentioned in the interviews.

I read the book on my iPad using iBooks. This enhanced electronic book contained video and audio recordings. For each of the individual interviews in the book (seven, as I recall), I was able to listen to a recording of that interview with Arthur Schlesinger asking questions and Mrs. Kennedy responding, while at the same time I could follow along by reading the transcript and seeing selected photographs along the way. Hearing Mrs. Kennedy's voice was amazing, and her candor in dealing with many of the topics, including her opinions of prominent individuals of the time, was quite something. Schlesinger was a member of President Kennedy's staff, so his questions and contributions to the interviews were also interesting. I very much enjoyed revisiting the history of this time through their recollections, and I came away with a deeper understanding of some of the more significant events. Honestly, Mrs. Kennedy showed some attitudes in her responses that are surprising now (e.g. women's roles), and I have to believe her thoughts and opinions must have changed in later years. Caroline Kennedy is featured in a video preface to the book and describes both Mrs. Kennedy's intentions in doing the interviews and her own (Caroline's) decision about publishing the interviews at this time. Michael Beschloss, a presidential historian, offers some concluding thoughts.

Given current events and the horrendous behavior of Congress and the Republican leadership (or lack of same) that we are now seeing, I found some things in the book that really grabbed my attention. Permit me to share a couple with you. In one section Mrs. Kennedy is discussing how much the President read, and she cites his interest in the Edmund Burke address to the people of Bristol, England in his 1774 “Speech to the Electors of Bristol.” the Anglo-Irish statesman-philosopher said, “Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgement; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion.” I suggest that our government would be much more effective if our elected representatives would heed this advice. Tea Party members, especially, would do well to think about this.

In another part of the interviews, Mrs. Kennedy opines that the New York Times v. Sullivan Supreme Court decision of March 9, 1964, was most unfortunate. The decision decreed that a plaintiff in a defamation or libel case must prove that the defendant’s statement was made with actual malice, in full knowledge or reckless disregard of its falsity. This ruling granted new license for publication of vicious comments about presidents and other public figures. This made me think of the incredible and unbridled distortion of facts and the lying that occurs constantly on our so-called cable news channels and in campaigns and on the Internet. In my opinion, Fox News celebrities have an especially terrible record in this regard–witness their constant attacks on President Obama in terms of the ongoing false claims about his citizenship, birth records, religious views, etc. By the way, on the day of President Kennedy's assassination, there was a full-page, right-wing attack ad against Kennedy in a Dallas newspaper, and "wanted for treason posters" railing against the President's record were being distributed throughout the city. You can read a bit about this by clicking here.

Enough from me! Consider reading the book, and let me know what you think.