Jack and Jackie: Portrait of an American Marriage

Jack and Jackie shows that deeply, unbelievably flawed people can still accomplish great things snd achieve some good in the world. This is a warts and all look at the Kennedys that seems well-sourced. Everybody talked with the exception of the close family—friends, friends of friends, ex-lovers, business acquaintances, service people—all spilled everything they knew. All the sex, drug use and other questionable behavior jumps from the page. Every gritty detail, offhand remark, joke and misstep was taken note of by someone and Anderson gathered it all. With friends like these who needs enemies? Jackie allegedly left an autobiography to be published long after her children’s lifetime but if anyone is still interested by then I show more doubt it will reveal anything new. show less

Behind the scenes conjecture about the Kennedy's and their troubled life together. The book ends with the terrible events of the Dallas assassination and details about what Jackie saw inside the car. In this book, it was JFK who wanted the protective covering removed apparently to display Jackie to the crowds unimpeded. A good book which tries to make sense of their different personalities. Marilyn Monroe was considered a girlfriend to JFK who would never leave Jackie for her. The famous MSG appearance was a terrible act of hubris by JFK to the world that no one knew of their relationship. Marilyn wore a white ermine, removed it then handing it to Peter Lawford revealing a flesh-colored gown shimmering with rhinestones. JFK is claimed show more to have had trysts with Lee Remick, Sophia Loren, Angie Dickinson, Judith Campbell, and Audrey Hepburn. The author says that Hepburn got involved with William Holden to get back at JFK for infidelities to her. The book claims that Castro was to be killed by the US government, 'eliminated' by intelligence material wording but that the mob was involved with the Dealey Plaza shooting. The book claims that the top of JFK's head was blown off by the headshot and the JFK fell into Jackie's lap bleeding to death before she tried to climb out of the car. She supposedly covered his head with a jacket from Clint Hill from the Secret Service so that people wouldn't see the damage to the President. JFK had gone to Texas due to Lyndon Johnson's requests, which JFK found amusing and laughed off. Jackie kissed his lips while a Catholic priest anointed him at the hospital. This is an interesting book, if you are into the Camelot days of the JFK presidency. show less

This was an interesting take on one of the most famous marriages of the twentieth century. Though it relies heavily on testimony from close "friends" and acquaintances of the Kennedys, the book gives us a glimpse of what it must have been like inside the Kennedy marriage. No one can ever really know what truly went on behind closed doors, but this book presented its gathered information in an interesting and engaging way.

Interesting read. He makes the case that Jackie was after money; that Jack needed a wife to run for president and fulfill his father's ambitions; that Jackie tolerated Jack's philandering because her father had done the same thing; and that they weren't in love at first but that they were by the time he was assassinated.

Is Christopher Andersen my favorite Kennedy biographer. No. Does he make a good living cranking out books like this? Yes. I can only envy him. I think Christopher Andersen is better at getting book contracts and exposure then he is as an historian. This is a crowded field. If you like your celebrity journalism and the same things over and over again, this is your guy.

But Kennedy readers generally read everything they can get their hands on when it comes to this family especially if the cover has a glowing photo of the doomed couple, so this is like me shouting into the wind. This book was utterly forgettable. It was not good. It is not bad. The best Kennedy book out there is Ask Not by Maureen Callahan and I will die on that hill. I show more will die on a hill piled with all the Kennedy books I have read (maybe 60, many of them re-read). show less

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