November 22, 2011

“Why does the Kennedy mystique endure?” asked Gleaves Whitney, director of the Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies. Historian Jason Duncan went beneath the hype and explored that question by using the newly released interviews of Jacqueline Kennedy as a springboard. Since he is writing a major new biography of our 35th president, his talk sharpened our understanding of Kennedy as a man, husband, father, politician, and president.

Beginning in March of 1964, just a few months after her husband’s assassination, Jacqueline Kennedy sat down for a series of interviews with historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. on her life with John F. Kennedy. She spoke in great detail about her husband, both as a public and private figure, focusing especially on the nearly three years they spent in the White House. Professor Jason Duncan of Aquinas College spoke on the highlights of Jacqueline Kennedy’s memories of life with JFK, on what she revealed and what she chose not to reveal. Her history sheds new light on one of the most storied and glamorous couples ever to occupy the White House, their hold on the public imagination remaining strong a half century after John F. Kennedy became President.