J. Randy Taraborrelli - Jackie, Janet & Lee: The Secret Lives of Janet Auchincloss and Her Daughters, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Lee Radziwill

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To my parents, Rocco and Rose Marie Taraborrelli

I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith.

PAUL THE APOSTLE

March 15, 1961. The White House.

It was an evening Janet Auchincloss would never forget, the kind that made her wonder whose life she was living, because it certainly didnt seem like her own. Wearing a beige silk dress with a delicately jeweled bodice, pearls at her neck, and a fine emerald pin on her shoulder, Janet, with her husband, Hugh, walked into the State Dining Room and stood in stunned silence. Before them was a sea of people in formal wear seated at round tables, seven at each, in chairs covered in yellow, brown, and raspberry-colored silk. The tables were draped in gold cloth with simple yet elegant centerpieces of yellow-and-white hydrangeas, freesia, peonies, a sprig of tangerines, and two perfectly placed, tapered white candles. The flatware was antique vermeil. The room itself was also stunning, adorned tastefully in an eighteenth-century Louis XVI style with pale yellow walls, gold silk drapes, and crisp white molding. As a small string quartet softly played, people milled about searching for their place settings while chatting happily among themselves.

As Janet would later recall, it took a minute or so for her to focus on the seventy-plus guests before she realized that most of them were relatives and personal friends. Continuing to survey the room, she saw one animated young woman trying to flag her down. It was her daughter Lee. Janet made a beeline for her. After an embrace, Lee took her mother by the hand to the table where she was seated with her husband, Prince Stanislaw Radziwillknown to all as Stas. Hugh, impeccably tailored in a gray-and-white tuxedo, greeted his stepdaughter with a warm hug and Stas with a firm handshake.

As everyone enjoyed one anothers company, the anticipation in the cavernous dining room continued to build. Finally, a stately-looking gentleman went to a microphone and, with great pomposity, announced, Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, and the First Lady, Jacqueline Kennedy. At that point, everyone rose and applauded as the first couple made their way slowly through the dining room, smiling, shaking hands, and graciously greeting guests.

Janets oldest daughter, JacquelineJackiewas a real beauty, her ink-black short hair in a glossy yet simple coif, her angular face clear and luminous as if carved from polished marble. She had prominent cheekbones and dark eyes set far apart. Her teeth werent perfectly aligned, but her smile was appealing just the same, as if that one flaw lent humanity to her goddess-like quality.

Love and pride lit up Janets face as Jackie reached out to her and kissed her on the cheek. Jackie then embraced Hugh and Stas, saving her sister for last. Smiling, she and Lee joined hands, holding each other at arms length to compliment their fashion choicesJackie in white sleeveless organza, Lee in flowing red silkbefore finally hugging each other.

Janet knew the evening was one Jackie had planned especially for Lee because Lee hadnt been well. Shed had a difficult time giving birth about six months earlier, which had debilitated her to the point where shed not even been able to attend the inauguration of President Kennedy. Making things all the more difficult for her, Lee was now living in Europe with Stas, an ocean separating her from her beloved family members. These days, she seemed muted, sad. She was certainly gorgeous, though, with a slender and willowy frame. Her eyes, large and intelligent, were maybe her greatest feature. Some people thought she was actually prettier than Jackie. She didnt comport herself with the same authority, though. Jackies beauty was more than skin deep; it emanated from within because of her unwavering self-confidence. Lee just wasnt as vital and arresting a person, at least not these days. Therefore, out of concern for her, Jackie decided to host this dinner-dance in Lees honor.

Of course, it had to have felt a little to Lee like it was Jackies night, especially given the grand entrance shed just made. Lee was used it, though. After all, Janets girls had been in competition since they were youngstersmostly one-sided, Lees side, unfortunately. Now that Jackie was First Lady, there was scant hope that Lee would ever be able to top that.

Though the Kennedys had moved into the White House only a few weeks earlier, it already felt to a lot of people as if theyd taken the country by storm. Jackie was, at thirty-one, a new kind of youthful, elegant First Lady, especially coming after the conservative, sixty-five-year-old Mamie Eisenhower. Her husband, Johnbetter known to friends and family as Jackwas forty-three and handsome in a rock-solid sort of way, fairly bursting with vitality, or what the Kennedys liked to call vi-ga! His extended family was fascinating, too; tonight, though, they were scarce. In fact, if one were to peruse the official White House guest list, on top would be found The President and Mrs. Kennedy, of course. Next was Prince and Princess Stanislaw Radziwill (that would be Stas and Lee), followed by Mr. and Mrs. Hugh D. Auchincloss (Hugh and Janet), after which was The Atty. General and Mrs. Kennedy (Bobby and Ethel, naturally), and then all of the other guests, mostly friends of Jackies, Janets, and Lees. Though Jacks brother-in-law Sargent Shriver was present, that was only because, less than two weeks earlier, Jack had announced a ramping up of his plans for a Peace Corps with Sargent as its director. Jackie thought he should be present out of respect for Jack, but his wife, Eunice, was nowhere to be found. There were no other Kennedys.

If anything, Jackies decisions relating to who would be invited to this particular dinner-dance underscored her pride in her own side of the family. Looking back all these years later, some might view the Auchinclosses as the other side of Camelot, the romantic term Jackie would one day use to describe her husbands administration. After all, Jackie really did have a full life that had nothing to do with the Kennedys; for instance, she had a half brother and half sister the world didnt seem to know a thing about: Janet Jr., fifteen, and Jamie, fourteen, born to Janet and Hugh and both at boarding school.

Though many people didnt realize it, Jackie had modeled herself after her mom, Janet Lee Bouvier Auchincloss. Janet was remarkably stylish in her own right. At the age of fifty-three, her face was barely lined or scored by the years. She was petite and in shape thanks to her dedication to long walks, horseback riding, and isometric exercises. Self-assured, she held herself with a bearing that could best be described as regal. It made sense. After all, shed been raised in an entitled world of privilege and money. Her first marriage to a scoundrel named Jack Bouvier in 1928 would result in their two daughters, Jacqueline Lee BouvierJackieand Caroline Lee Bouvierknown simply as Leenow twenty-eight.

Of course, mother and daughters didnt always get along, each headstrong, passionate, and, at times, temperamental. However, they were bound not only by a deep affection for one another but, like most families, by a shared history of triumphs and disappointments. Incredibly enough, their journey had somehow led them to this astonishing momentone that found Jackie as Americas First Lady, Lee as a princess, and Janet the proud mother of two accomplished, intelligent young women of substance.