Jacqueline Kennedy, The White House Years
Thayer, Mary Van Rensselaer. Jacqueline Kennedy, The White House Years. Fourth Printing. 1971. Book is in very good condition; dust jacket is in very good minus condition—jacket shows mild discoloration.
President John F. Kennedy might have famously accompanied his elegant wife Jacqueline to Paris, but she returned, in an extraordinary coup for the United States, with the Mona Lisa. As this book relates, the decision of the recalcitrant French to send one of their most prized possessions to America for an exhibition was based solely upon the charm and sophistication of Mrs. Kennedy. This book emphasizes Mrs. Kennedy’s mastery of her position as first lady—how her cultural sophistication and love of history upped the prestige of the United States in the eyes of its citizens, European allies, and the world. Is it a hagiography? Yes. But much of it is also true, and the cover is divine.
“The most acclaimed of all Kennedy era state guests was not honored at a White House dinner. Yet she was more eagerly awaited and more enthusiastically received than any other visitor. She was the Mona Lisa.”
--Mary Van Rensselaer