C. David Heymann - American Legacy: The Story of John and Caroline Kennedy

You just keep going along.

You just keep going along or youre left behind.

C AROLINE K ENNEDY

People keep telling me I can be a great man.

Id rather be a good one.

J OHN F. K ENNEDY J R.

A FTER THE assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, his widow, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, took it upon herself to raise their two children, John Jr. and Caroline, in as normal an atmosphere as their celebrity would allow. As a single parent, Jackie gave them her love and her time, and supported them in their daily activities and life decisions. Her strong commitment to her children and her fervent desire to keep them out of the glare of the spotlightnot always successfullywere nevertheless a testimonial to her diligence, a true sign of her devotion. The results of her efforts were (and are) clearly visible. Unlike so many of the other Kennedys of their generation, John and Caroline were centered and successful. For all their losses and travails, they managed to avoid the pitfalls and scandals that beset so many of their cousins. Their values reflected the better part of their heritage. They were humble, modest, and refinedrare attributes in any individual regardless of background.

What makes John and Carolines story unique is that from the moment of their births, they occupied a central position in what is generally regarded as the most famous family in the United States, if not the world. Even as young children growing up in the White House, their most subtle gestures and actions made headlines. As they grew older, their fame derived less from their accomplishments than from what each came to represent in historic terms. As the children of arguably the most famous American couple of the second half of the twentieth century, they were destined to live their lives in the public domain, the subject of countless magazine articles, television specials, and newspaper reports. Yet until now they have not been the subject of a dual biography. In that sense, this volume represents a first.

In good times and bad, John and his sister, Caroline, were unusually close, bound together not only by common heritage and circumstance but by a series of traumas and tragedies that ultimately altered the course of their lives. Yet what seems particularly unique about them is that despite their shared intimacy, the two were vastly different in personality and temperament. A wife and mother, Caroline has always been introverted and intensely private. She possesses her fathers appearance but her mothers strength of will. She is as devoted to her own children as her mother was to hers. Like her mother, she is something of a mystery, difficult to read, hard to interpret. John looked more like his Bouvier mother but boasted his fathers debonair charm, outgoing conviviality, and sense of humor. Caroline has always been reticent, whereas her brother shone in public. Had he lived, it is likely he would have followed in his fathers footsteps and entered the political arena. Given the opportunityand with a bit of Irish luckhe might well have gone all the way.

In several respects, this book is more about John than it is about Caroline. His life is complete. For better or worse, his tragic (and untimely) end allows us to examine him in a fuller, more definitive vein. Many of his friends and acquaintances were willing to speak on the record for the first time. Carolines life continues to evolve. In this regard, she remains very much a work in progress. While generally cooperative, her friends and associates were less forthcoming and more protective. Approaching the age of fifty, she is still an open book, a volume with an ending yet to be written. What emerges is a portrait of two siblings, a brother and sisterone perspective drawn in full color, the other limned in shades of black and white. This, then, is their story.

O N N OVEMBER 17, 2002, Caroline Kennedy, accompanied by her uncle Senator Edward M. Kennedy, flew from New York to Paris, France, to celebrate the opening at the Louvre of Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years, an exhibition of Jackies Camelot-period fashions, featuring formal attire, travel outfits, sportswear, riding clothes, and personal favorites. On loan from the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston, Massachusetts, the exhibit had been shown the year before at New Yorks Metropolitan Museum of Art, opposite the Fifth Avenue apartment building where Jackie had resided the last thirty years of her life, until her death in May 1994 at age sixty-four.

In flawless French, Caroline addressed an overflowing audience, including French government officials and members of the European press, at the Louvres Muse de la Mode et du Textile, telling them that Jacqueline Kennedys lan and trendsetting flair were born of the French capital. While a student at Vassar, said Caroline, my mother spent her junior year abroad, studying at the Sorbonne. She took courses in French art and literature. Her passion for French history guided and informed her work in the White House. Paris is the city my mother loved best and that inspired her the most. And so it is fitting that this exhibit should come to the Louvre.

Caroline continued in the same vein for another five minutes. As she concluded her speech, the audience rose and gave her a resounding ovation. The next speaker was Ted Kennedy. Standing at the podium, the Massachusetts senator, hale and hearty looking if a bit overweight, observed that the exhibit represented a milestone for the Kennedy clan. The Kennedys have come full circle, he remarked. Jackie has returned to Paris, and this visit will be remembered and cherished in both our countries.