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 with the Mona Lisa, having charmed France’s minister of culture into loaning the priceless artwork to the United States for an exhibition. As this book relates, the decision of the recalcitrant French to send one of their most prized possessions to America for an exhibition was entirely attributable to Mrs. Kennedy. This book emphasizes her mastery of her position as first lady—how her cultural sophistication, love of books, and understanding 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 the essence is true, and the cover, 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