Leaming paints a portrait of a political creature whose every action was premeditated, from her whispery voice designed to project a non-threatening femininity, to her decision to quit Washington every weekend in order to allow Jack to conduct his extramarital affairs out of her sight. Meanwhile, Jackie’s determination to be a good wife is what spurred her to enter the world’s stage. Thus, the Bay of Pigs fiasco is explained as a son attempting to compensate for his ambassador father’s perceived weakness when, decades before, the elder Kennedy counseled conciliation in the face of Hitler.The US involvement in Vietnam is traced back to Jack’s inability to focus on foreign affairs after the death of his newborn son.
In Leaming’s view, the personal and political spheres of the Kennedys are inseparable. Armed with a remarkable level of detail and turning an eye toward psychological analysis, the author briefly explores her subject’s childhood, and then dives into the Kennedys’ life together.
With admirable obsession, biographer Leaming ( Marilyn Monroe, 1998, etc.) has plumbed the vaults of the many official libraries (JFK’s, LBJ’s, Oxford’s Bodleian) and consulted with Secret Service personnel, Kennedy friends, and White House log books to create a convincing day-by-day chronicle of the Kennedy marriage and presidency. Kennedy has met her match and is herein revealed-along with her husband and his administration-respectfully but thoroughly, by an author possessed.
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