Jackie Kennedy after the President's Death | FULL DOCUMENTARY - video Dailymotion

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“Never, ever, publish them!” What was it Jackie Kennedy wanted to keep secret?   Acclaimed director Patrick Jeudy has access to a series of conversations recorded a few months after her husband’s assassination in Dallas on November 22, 1963.   The young widow was then 34, and recounts the past like a novel about her dream life with her husband John Kennedy. The film reveals a series of unknown conversations about history, and their story – including some very intimate secrets and controversial opinions.   The Lady in Pink was continually driven by a dual purpose: that of molding her own image, whilst managing that of the president. She cannot change the past, so she may as well rewrite it and start to build the legend of JFK.  Documentary: JACKIE WITHOUT JACK Directed by: Patrick Jeudy Production: What's Up Films for France Télévisions  #fulldocumentary #documentary #film #docuseries   Related Keywords: American Culture American History American Icons American Legacy American Traditions Bobby Kennedy Assassination Cold War Era Famous Women First Lady Historical Documentaries Historical Events JFK Assassination National Heritage Political History Premium Content Presidential Legacy Public Figures Public Image Management The American Story - US History Documentaries United States History The First Ladies: Jackie Kennedy Documentary The First Ladies: Jackie Kennedy Biography The First Ladies: Jackie Kennedy Jacqueline Onassis Kennedy Biography Jackie O Biography Jackie O Documentary Jackie Kennedy First Lady Jackie Kennedy Biography JFK First Lady First Lady Documentary Jackie Kennedy Movie Online Jackie Kennedy Watch Online Jackie Onassis Jacqueline Onassis Kennedy Jackie Kennedy last words Jackie Kennedy death cause How old was Jackie Kennedy when she died Jackie Kennedy last Photo Jackie Kennedy Children's death Did Jackie Kennedy remarry Jackie Kennedy last days How old was Aristotle Onassis when he married Jackie Kennedy Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Jackie Kennedy last words Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis cause of death How old was Jackie Kennedy when she died How old was Aristotle Onassis when he married Jackie Kennedy Did Jackie Kennedy remarry John F Kennedy wife Why did Jackie marry Onassis Jackie Kennedy dress Size Jackie Kennedy documentary Netflix Jackie Kennedy last words Jackie Kennedy death cause Jackie Kennedy interview 1964 Jackie Kennedy last days Jackie Kennedy last Photo Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis died How old was Jackie Kennedy when she died

Transcript

00:00Never, ever publish them.

00:11Jackie had asked her children time and time again, and repeated her plea some years later

00:15to her daughter Caroline on her wedding day.

00:20Suddenly turning serious, she told her, never, ever publish them.

00:27What was it she wanted to keep secret?

00:30A series of conversations recorded shortly after the assassination of her husband in

00:35Dallas on November 22, 1963.

00:40They are conversations about history, and about her own personal history, including

00:46some very intimate secrets and controversial opinions.

01:04Since then, time has passed and life has carried on.

01:07Jackie pursued a brilliant career as an editor in New York until her death in May 1994.

01:15Until now, Caroline had kept the promise she made to her mother, but in 2011, a television

01:22network decided to make a fictional portrayal of the Kennedy saga.

01:26The series would reveal certain family secrets.

01:31In an attempt to stop the rumor mill and to avert controversy, Caroline decided to make

01:36public the eight hours of interviews that the still distraught Jackie gave barely four

01:42months after her husband's death.

01:45The young widow was then 34, and she recounts the past like a novel about her dream life

01:51with her husband, John Kennedy.

01:52She cannot change the past, so she may as well rewrite it.

01:58Her confessions reveal the true personality of the former first lady.

02:04Caroline was seven years old when her father died.

02:07She remembers the weeks that followed the assassination in Dallas.

02:11Her distraught mother walled herself in silence.

02:15The insights she gave were interrupted by sighs.

02:18The words wouldn't come out.

02:23Jackie talked of her solitude, providing small details of her existence.

02:28The end of a dream life.

02:31The American dream, which turned into a nightmare.

02:41She could still hear the incessant drumming from Jack's funeral.

02:49Jack.

02:53She always called him that in the interviews.

02:55Never John.

02:56Not JFK.

02:57But Jack.

02:59That way their names are like twins.

03:01Jack and Jackie united forever.

03:22The night of her funeral, her only thought was about knowing where she would sleep from

03:26then on.

03:28Even when everything else crumbles, life must go on.

03:32There has to be reference points, familiar places, security.

03:44Jackie left her home for the first time on December 3rd, 1963, ten days after her husband's

03:50death.

03:55Clint Hill, her bodyguard, and the man who jumped onto the hood of the president's vehicle

04:00when the first shot rang out, was being decorated with the Medal of Honor.

04:08Hill had spent three years at her side, protecting and advising her.

04:12The only day he failed in his duty was in Dallas.

04:19The two of them felt adrift.

04:21She had lost her husband.

04:23Hill had not managed to keep him alive.

04:30Jackie said that Hill would have given his life for us.

04:50Three days later, on Friday, December 6th, Jackie left the White House and moved a few

04:55blocks away to Georgetown.

05:14Sometime before, she had invited the journalist Theodore White to the family estate at the

05:19end of the sport.

05:22She had chosen him as confident to deliver her testimony of the assassination.

05:28She trusted him, so she chose him to deliver her testimony of the assassination.

05:35The journalist had always been sympathetic to the president.

05:38She didn't want anyone else to tell her story.

05:43She had an immense need to speak.

05:45She talked for four hours.

05:49Jackie relived the presidential trip to Dallas.

05:52She talked about her pink suit, a color she loved.

05:56Jack had asked her to wear it that day.

05:58She wore it all day, despite the bloodstains that soiled it, to show the world what the

06:04killing of the president had done to her.

06:12Just after the fatal shots, she climbed onto the hood of the car.

06:17It was neither an act of desertion nor dishonor, but a bid for life.

06:22There was nothing more she could do for Jack.

06:26With Theodore White, she talked about the assassination in a rather delirious manner.

06:32She talked about the beauty of the inside of Jack's skull, which she held in her hands,

06:36the concentric circles of its matter, with an iridescent layer of red.

06:46No one imagines this would be her leitmotif, a beautiful and perfectly formed head that

06:52did not deserve this fate.

06:55She also talked about the death of their son, Patrick, who died at birth that very summer,

07:00an event that brought them closer together.

07:05That day, she took the weeping Jack in her arms and told him,

07:09The only thing I couldn't bear would be losing you.

07:19Theodore White's article, carefully edited by Jackie, appeared in Life magazine on December

07:246, 1963.

07:27It was here that she laid the foundations of the Kennedy myth, starting to build the

07:31legend of JFK, a man who died a hero, like King Arthur on the battlefield, sword in

07:38hand.

07:43The Lady in Pink was continually driven by a dual purpose, that of molding her own image

07:49while managing that of the President.

07:53But lost, crushed, the Lady in Pink was no more.

07:59In her place, a young woman in black was emerging, wondering what her future would

08:04hold.

08:29Bobby assumed Jack's place alongside her, and it was from his offices in the Department

08:34of Justice that Jackie thanked the American people for their help and support.

08:39She was enveloped, almost kept under surveillance, by her brothers-in-law, Bobby and Ted.

08:44I want to take this opportunity to express my appreciation for the hundreds of thousands

08:45of messages which my children and I have received over the past few weeks.

08:46The knowledge of the affection in which my husband was held by all of you has sustained

09:02me, and the warmth of these tributes is something I shall never forget.

09:06Because the Kennedys had embarked on constructing a myth, a shrine to the glory of the assassinated

09:11hero.

09:13This began with the building of a large library in Boston, as well as a project collecting

09:19memories, stories, and accounts, including Jackie's own account, which at her request

09:27was not to be divulged until fifty years after her death.

09:32Her desire to confide in someone was endless, but not reckless.

09:40She and Bobby preferred to manage the Kennedy legend themselves.

09:44They wanted to move on, once and for all.

09:47She spoke to forget.

10:01The renowned historian and advisor to JFK, Arthur Schlesinger, took over responsibility

10:07for these conversations with Jackie.

10:10Seven times she invited him into the new home she had made in an upscale neighborhood of

10:15Washington.

10:17But the curious still flocked to her door.

10:20She felt constantly observed and under scrutiny.

10:30The recordings began on Monday, March 2nd, 1964.

10:37Jackie, while remaining discreet and timid, didn't hold back.

10:42Telling her own story was her route to freedom, a way of evacuating her tensions, expressing

10:47her passions, and of laying the foundations of the JFK myth.

10:53She returned to the very beginning.

11:20Right away, she contradicted the Kennedy clan's version of the legend that it was

11:24Joe, the eldest brother, who had been designated by their father to one day become President

11:30of the United States.

11:36This brother fell as a war hero, but he possessed neither Jack's stature, nor his talent, or

11:42his intelligence.

11:45No, her husband did not become President by default.

11:55She was a young, fashionable photo reporter in Washington.

11:59She sacrificed her ambition by making the choice to become the perfect wife of the young

12:04senator from Massachusetts.

12:06For the two years and nine months of JFK's presidency, she kept her mouth shut, limiting

12:12herself to smiling.

12:14Now, she wanted to underline her role in Jack's nascent career.

12:20She told how she translated books from the French for him about the century's greatest

12:24men, and how she had organized dinners and receptions.

12:29She was no trophy wife and didn't like that expression.

12:42And he was no narcissistic playboy, although other men were jealous of his youth and good

12:47looks.

12:55She claimed for herself the role of confident and assistant to the future president, but

13:01she certainly was neither his muse nor his inspiration.

13:05Between us, we talked politics the whole time.

13:10Jack's ambitions crumbled in 1956 after his failed candidacy as Vice President of the

13:15United States, a candidacy that Joe, his father, thought a waste of time since it was lost

13:25from the start.

13:29Jack had thrown himself into it like a rabid dog.

13:39She stood by his side.

13:41John would sleep in his hotel room alone, but she stressed that not a day went by when

13:46they didn't see each other.

13:49JFK's victory in the 1960 presidential election owed a lot to Jackie.

13:57Always at her husband's side, she shook thousands of hands, keeping a calm composure, an eternal

14:03smile on her face.

14:05She became a true campaign professional.

14:10Kennedy only just won the election against Nixon, his disgraceful and sick opponent,

14:18whose wife was too submissive in Jackie's eyes.

14:26His first interview session was rambling, a sort of test run.

14:30Jackie and Arthur Schlesinger arranged to meet the following day.

14:45Jackie recounted her everyday life in the wake of Jack's death, furnishing her new home,

14:54the bills to pay, Caroline's schooling, and so on.

14:59Soon at night, she would smoke and drink and no longer answer the phone.

15:08Caroline told her schoolteacher about the sadness that reigned in the household.

15:16The previous night, John John had torn a page out of the newspaper showing a picture of

15:20his father's assassination in order not to hurt mommy.

15:29During the second interview, Arthur Schlesinger questioned Jackie about the days that followed

15:34Jack's victory in the presidential election.

15:37The date was November 1960.

15:42It was the high point of their lives.

15:45Her son John John was born shortly after the election, and it was an immense source joy.

15:52Jack came to see Jackie at the maternity ward three times a day.

16:05This almost made her forget the summer of 1956 when, four years earlier, she lost her

16:10daughter Arabella due to a premature birth.

16:15Upon hearing the news, Jack, who had been on vacation in the Mediterranean, reportedly

16:20told his brother, the kid's dead, what do you want me to do?

16:25Bobby had to convince him to get on the plane.

16:34She recalled the weeks preceding his inauguration as the new president, by far the dearest of

16:38the entire presidential episode.

16:41First off, their vacation in Florida, then the preparations for the festivities.

16:48The inauguration ceremony was held on January 20th, 1961.

16:53Both of them felt like children on Christmas Eve.

16:56Preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.

17:00So help me God.

17:01So help me God.

17:03Jack wrote his own memorable speech.

17:06She knew this, she said, because he had recited excerpts to her in Florida.

17:16And yet, it was common knowledge that a loyal collaborator wrote Kennedy's speeches.

17:46Jackie was sorry she wasn't able to kiss her husband at the inauguration.

17:56She left in the middle of the party.

17:58The president's loyal friends were all present, Frank Sinatra, Peter Loffert.

18:04And she knew that neither of them was a model of good behavior.

18:08The party promised to be a wild affair.

18:14Jack came to see her in the middle of the night.

18:17She was still awake, overwhelmed with joy.

18:20They slept in the same bed.

18:28The years of the presidency made up her best memories.

18:40Jackie accorded herself much importance, a major historical role that she probably

18:45never had.

18:49She talked of world events as if she had been there, implicated, consulted, and involved

18:55in strategic decisions.

18:59In reality, the president was alone, poorly advised, served by a bad cabinet, and envied

19:10by foreign leaders.

19:15She even recounted that Jack would have her read diplomatic telegrams.

19:19Jackie wasn't just a witness or accomplice to his power, but a genuine collaborator of

19:24the president.

19:44Cuba, Kennedy's nightmare moment.

19:50In April 1961, an attempted landing in the Bay of Pigs, led by anti-Castro troops equipped

19:57by the CIA, failed miserably.

20:04The humiliating episode proved critical for the president.

20:08The Lady in Pink commented, Jack, under immense pressure, found it impossible to keep his

20:15calm.

20:16Castro's presence in Cuba terrified him.

20:23The event shook them.

20:25The newly elected president's credibility had nearly been ruined in the eyes of the

20:29world.

20:32She blamed the FBI and the CIA.

20:34Jack had been given no choice.

20:37She condemned Nixon and Eisenhower as responsible for allowing Castro to come to power in Cuba.

20:43Cuba was an open wound.

20:45After the Bay of Pigs, she saw Jack cry.

21:01A year later, the president negotiated the release of the rebels with Cuba's leader,

21:06Maximo, bringing an end to the episode.

21:10He then put Brother Bobby in charge of special operations from that point on.

21:29Although John was tough and generally slept well, his one moment of weakness and borderline

21:34depression was triggered by Khrushchev.

21:47Nikita Khrushchev was the leader of the Soviet Union.

21:51The pair met in June 1961 in Vienna, Austria.

21:59Kennedy and Khrushchev talked of the tsars, of Tolstoy, of Laika, the dog that had just

22:05conquered space.

22:09Some weeks later, a present from Russia arrived for Jackie at the White House, one of Laika's

22:20puppies.

22:24In Vienna, she spent her time with Mrs. Khrushchev, of whom she painted a cruel portrait.

22:31Whenever Jackie took out a cigarette, the matronly woman warmed, do not smoke so much.

22:37Russian women do not smoke.

22:39She also made it clear she thought Russian women were far superior to their American

22:43counterparts, which Jackie took as a slap in the face.

22:52She nonetheless recalled that Mrs. Khrushchev had a delightful face.

22:56de Gaulle had warned her, be on your guard, she's the most crafty woman.

23:03In Vienna, Jack found himself confronted with a cynical, warlike Khrushchev with a gloomy

23:09sense of humor.

23:12Khrushchev deemed Kennedy intelligent but weak.

23:16On the other hand, he saw Khrushchev as a gangster through and through.

23:23Jackie described a terrified Kennedy who confided something of the sort, there will perhaps

23:28be a war with the USSR.

23:42Despite the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962, came a hair's breadth away from triggering

23:48a third global conflict.

23:53For ten days and nights, the president worked in an apocalyptic atmosphere, and she remained

23:59at his side, loyal as ever.

24:03Jackie cast herself as witness of these monumental events taking place on the international political

24:09stage.

24:37The Cuban Missile Crisis ended with indisputable victory for Kennedy, Jack enjoying his glory

24:44told her, if anyone has ever wanted to shoot me, today would be the perfect moment.

24:57Jackie also appeared to bask in the reflected Kennedy glory, I was the best, Jack was proud

25:33Still, the presidency was worrisome.

25:41On weekends, the presidential couple would often leave for their residence in Glenora,

25:46Virginia, where they planned to live.

25:49Jackie would ride horseback while he slept, each in their own solitude.

25:57She described how he would devour history books, he would read in the car at the table

26:02even while walking.

26:04A fortnight later, she would recognize extracts from the books in his own speeches.

26:11He was on board boats that Jack was at his most relaxed.

26:14He loved the water, the sun, and the absence of telephones, that was true happiness.

26:21He regretted not having known more happy moments in his lifetime.

26:29For behind his permanently tanned face, Kennedy was sick and had been for a long time.

26:36Addison's disease gnawed at his bones, his spine slowly crumbling, the pain was crippling,

26:44his atrophied muscles even prevented him from putting on his shoes.

26:49He slept on a horsehair mattress placed on planks.

26:53Jack suffered greatly from his back, he was always suffering, all his life.

26:59Jackie spoke of Jack's courage, of Jack the martyr, of that wounded body, of crutches

27:05after surgery in 1955.

27:09That was when he discovered Novocaine, and it was as if he was born again.

27:15But what she could not speak about was his addiction to the drugs supplied by the scandalous

27:20Dr. Jacobson.

27:22In the early days of his presidency, Jacobson prescribed him shots that made the president

27:27euphoric.

27:29Bobby had the FBI analyze these drugs, Demerol, cocaine, painkillers, JFK was an addict.

27:39That was why after the assassination in Dallas, Bobby accepted a botched autopsy to prevent

27:45anyone from discovering his brother's drug problem.

27:54The third interview with Arthur Schlesinger took place the next day.

27:59Jackie by turns revealed herself, hid and revisited her life.

28:04Everything was so tangled.

28:09That night she'd been thinking about Lyndon B. Johnson, her husband's successor.

28:14After his brother's death, Bobby Kennedy remained the Attorney General.

28:18In his eyes, Johnson had no mandate, he was an usurper.

28:27Jackie herself couldn't forgive the new president for having pounced at the presidency, being

28:31sworn in in Dallas barely one hour after Jack's death.

28:35And yet, those are the rules.

28:44Johnson?

28:45He amused Jack, she said, but he was incompetent, crude and lazy, the kind of man who couldn't

28:53make a decision, who yielded to everyone's opinions, envious, greedy, only interested

29:00in the superficial symbols of power, planes, protocol, the fame.

29:08Jack would say, do you realize what would happen to this country if he became president?

29:16Jackie said she was thrown out of the White House, but she was lying, it was she who wanted

29:22to leave.

29:25Shortly after, Johnson offered her the post of ambassador in Paris, and anyway, she didn't

29:31want to go back there.

29:35Whenever she went anywhere in Washington, Jackie would go out of her way to avoid the

29:39place where she spent the best years of her life.

29:46She kept everything from those years, like so many trophies, the diaries, the menus,

29:52the memos.

29:54She used to love taking care of the plants there and setting the table for official dinners.

30:01Beauty, elegance, distinction, it had been her house.

30:08With the president's blessing, Jackie hired a French interior decorator, despite the misgivings

30:14of American public opinion, afraid she was too much of a Francophile.

30:21Under the Kennedy's rule, the White House was transformed into the court of the Sun

30:26King, a setting worthy of Versailles.

30:31She had feared that her marriage might run aground during the presidency, but they had

30:36never been so close, a united family, an inseparable couple.

30:42She had an office in the White House and saw Jack every day, at any moment.

30:48She continued to paint a glowing and tender portrait of him, always attentive, always

30:53warm, always kindly, and she, the model wife.

31:00He loved putting the kids on his lap, she recalled, but he couldn't carry them in his

31:11arms or lift them into the air because of his back.

31:17He would tell them a lot of stories, the one about the white shark and the black shark

31:23or the one about Bobo the Lobo, the perfect husband and an ideal father.

31:42Who could believe her?

31:44She wasn't talking to her interviewer, she was talking to posterity, the legend must

31:49live on.

31:52Jack was her God, God bless America, and God we trust.

32:07American presidents have always proclaimed their faith.

32:10Jack had decided to believe out of superstition, she said, but added, I think that God is unjust

32:19because God didn't believe in John Kennedy.

32:26She paused, overwhelmed with emotion.

32:30She took a drink, hesitated.

32:34He had the most incredible aura.

32:37Jack was a living myth, the idol of youth the world over.

32:44Knowing that he was loved made Jack feel great, and it was exactly that which distinguished

32:50him from the old dinosaurs in the senate.

33:00A fortnight went by between the third interview and the next.

33:06Jackie traveled to New York and went out with Bobby.

33:09She spent a lot of time with him.

33:12Was their relationship platonic or romantic?

33:16Today, some tend to believe he was a source of comfort that went beyond the merely spiritual.

33:28Bobby was more than just her brother-in-law, he was the brother she'd never had, her friend.

33:35Bobby and Jackie were soulmates.

33:41After Bobby's death four years later, she wept, I hate America, it's killing the Kennedys.

33:55One weekend in September 1963, two months before Dallas, they were in Newport.

34:02Jackie was recovering from the death of Patrick, her third child.

34:08In pictures from that trip, we can see Ben Bradley, a friend from the Washington Post,

34:13accompanied by his wife Tony, the blonde woman.

34:17According to Tony, JFK attempted on several occasions to seduce her.

34:23If it could be called seduction, so aggressive was his technique.

34:29The other woman is Tony's sister, Mary Pinchot Meyer, the president's most loyal mistress.

34:39Jackie can't not know.

34:51Especially when she learned that he had spent the night with Mary Meyer,

34:55not to mention the succession of women in her husband's bed, from bathing session to siesta,

35:01friends of the family, society women, models, actresses, secretaries, and prostitutes.

35:16Jack compartmentalized his life, his family, his work, his friends,

35:24and the part he never revealed, an unbridled sex life.

35:28In Puritan America, it was perhaps his dark side.

35:37There were so many women in Jack's life, but Jackie didn't say anything about any of these affairs.

35:43In one moment of defiance, though, she threw down this challenge.

35:48She'd better be wonderful, that mistress of yours, to justify cheating on a woman like me.

36:01Instead, Jackie emphasized how discreet her husband was.

36:05He'd send her abroad as much as possible so that she could have fun.

36:09Go to Italy with your sister, go to New York or Greece.

36:35While she was vacationing on Capri in June of 1962, Mimi, an intern at the White House,

36:41became the president's mistress at the tender age of 19.

36:48Years later, Mimi recounted that Kennedy repeatedly offered her drugs.

36:54He would also offer her to his collaborators as a gift.

37:07Jackie said of Jack, he doesn't ever cheat in anything.

37:17Then she fell silent.

37:20She seemed lost in her memories.

37:23She took a deep breath, had a drink, and asked, may I say that?

37:29Arthur Schlesinger encouraged her.

37:31You may say whatever you like, Jackie, but suddenly she reconsidered.

37:35No, actually, it's not worth it.

37:52She never mentioned how jealous Jack was.

37:56It is said that Kennedy even demanded paternity tests for their two children, Caroline and

38:00John John.

38:02He was convinced that his wife behaved as immorally as he did.

38:07When she took a trip to Greece in 1963, he instructed Clint Hill, Jackie's bodyguard,

38:13to make sure that Onassis didn't get too close.

38:23During her final remarks of this session, she talked of what she calls the poison of

38:28the presidency.

38:29We were completely cut off from the world in the White House, and were always the last

38:34to hear what everyone was saying about us.

39:00Around that time, Jackie had put the house in Glenora up for sale.

39:04They never got to live there, after all.

39:07It was a home just for the two of them, for after the presidency.

39:11She couldn't bring herself to settle there without him.

39:18She wanted to move to New York, perhaps to follow Bobby, who had decided to run for senator.

39:25She wanted to distance her children from the Kennedy clan.

39:36The Warren Commission hearings to investigate the Kennedy assassination had started.

39:42The first to be interrogated was the other widow from Dallas, the wife of Oswald, the

39:48presumed assassin.

39:53She would soon have her turn.

39:59During the fifth interview, Jacqueline Kennedy touched on a sensitive subject, France.

40:15Known for her love of the country, Jackie now, however, painted a harsh and cruel caricature

40:20of it during the interview.

40:25Throughout his trip to Paris on May 31st, 1961, Kennedy was presented as the guy accompanying

40:31Jacqueline Kennedy.

40:34A couple won over the French, who found Jackie brilliant and cultivated, and the jubilant

40:40crowd welcomed her like a legendary princess.

40:50France was the homeland of the Bouviers, Jackie's paternal side of the family.

40:55She felt at home there.

40:56She'd spent time in Paris during her youth.

40:59She adored French fashion designers, the city's architecture, and the great figures of French

41:04history, Napoleon, Saint-Simon, Lafayette, and Madame Recamier, as well as a certain

41:12Charles de Gaulle, France's liberator.

41:19Strangely, three years after this voyage, Jackie seemed to renounce this love.

41:35Kennedy's advisor had warned them, de Gaulle is a fascist, an arrogant colonialist, or

41:40at best, a Don Quixote who is full of himself.

41:47Hence the meeting between the two leaders proved difficult, fraught with fundamental

41:51disagreements, although there was a certain reciprocal admiration.

41:56De Gaulle presented himself as Kennedy's friendly yet critical protector.

42:02Playing the polite yet curious guest, Kennedy questioned the old general.

42:07He pretended to accept his advice, assuring him of his admiration, even going so far as

42:13to cite the opening sentence of his memoirs of war, which he paraphrased as, I've always

42:19had a certain idea of the United States.

42:28Overcome with sorrow, Jackie now admitted that her husband felt nothing but contempt

42:33for de Gaulle, and that she disliked the French just as much as him.

42:41He fueled his bitterness, his general was vindictive, his pride had compromised relations

42:47with the United States, he was disloyal.

42:54Nevertheless, de Gaulle had been an unconditional ally during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

43:08In an act of childish spitefulness, she even had all the Cezanne paintings taken down in

43:14her private quarters to remove any French presence in the White House.

43:23She didn't spare poor Madame de Gaulle either.

43:34She had seemed so weary, she seemed to have suffered so much.

43:38She sort of drifted about on her own, staring into space.

43:46Sitting next to her, Jack tried to talk about something other than embroidered tablecloths.

43:51He still chuckled.

43:59Once again, it was all about the legend.

44:03De Gaulle was supposedly so infatuated with Jackie that he couldn't take his eyes off

44:07her throughout the entire stay.

44:11In Paris, Jackie showed her seductive side, later recalling without the slightest modesty,

44:17I know that the general was interested in me.

44:21She did, however, acknowledge a certain gallantry and courtesy in the general's manners.

44:27But still, she named her poodle de Gaulle.

44:35Choked with sorrow, she closed the interview with this venomous portrait of the old general,

44:41who she saw as guilty of having outlived her husband, of still being alive while her husband

44:47wasn't.

44:59Today in Arlington, an eternal flame burns on the tomb of the assassinated president.

45:05Jackie wanted this flame to be just like the one burning at the Arc de Triomphe, and she

45:09got that idea from her trip to Paris.

45:18In Paris, she insisted on meeting with the very romantic French hero, the writer André

45:28Malraux, the de Gaulle's minister of culture.

45:32She overflowed with adulation.

45:36Meeting Malraux was like running an obstacle course in fog at 70 miles an hour.

45:40With him, your mind goes back and forth.

45:43He is the most fascinating man I've ever spoken with.

45:52She presented Kennedy as a worthy conversation partner for Malraux.

45:56He had an amazing exchange with my husband, she says.

46:02Usually parsimonious with her praise, this time she gave in, effusing.

46:07The brilliance of one was reflected in the brilliance of the other.

46:11She invited him to the United States on two occasions.

46:15Kennedy had asked his wife to serve as liaison between de Gaulle and America, so as not to

46:20lose the connection.

46:22André Malraux brought the Mona Lisa with him, which was exceptionally borrowed from

46:27the Louvre for an exhibition at the National Gallery in Washington.

46:35The exhibition had an enormous impact, and in Jackie's eyes, enhanced the splendor of

46:40the Kennedy presidency.

46:45But Jackie made another gaffe, and tactlessly described him and his wife, Madeleine, as

46:50being like two sinister crows.

46:55Malraux's face was pale and bloated with tears, distorted by nervous tics.

47:05André Malraux had just lost his two sons in an accident.

47:08She was aware of this, but couldn't help herself.

47:18Malraux, she said, worshipped de Gaulle like a Spaniel worships its master.

47:23De Gaulle would talk down to him, like to a servant, perhaps out of jealousy, because

47:28Malraux was too close to me, she added.

47:38Speaking slowly, in a rather childish voice, Jackie was cold-bloodedly candid.

47:49At the end of March 1964, Jackie was faring much better.

47:53She took her children to Aspen, taking some time to reflect on history, and on her own

47:58story.

48:02Now, she opened up a bit more, allowing the sad and frightened woman, hidden under the

48:09arrogant lady in pink, to emerge.

48:13When Jack was president, like a little girl, I thought I'd never be afraid again of falling

48:18asleep.

48:22She admitted that she dreaded the day when he would no longer be president.

48:26He would have become a writer, journalist, or speaker.

48:32She had dreamed that Kennedy would be named president of the United States for life.

48:37Only he, dazzling and intelligent, could prevent the country going off the rails.

48:44She was no doubt still convinced of this.

48:49On May 29th, 1964, Jackie commemorated her husband's birthday.

49:05I would like to say, if you will never be a dead John Fitzgerald Kennedy, I look forward

49:10to retiring to his leave so strongly.

49:13Simply or simplistically, she concluded that not a single one of Jack's contemporaries

49:18could measure up to him.

49:20Churchill, Nehru, Adenauer, Martin Luther King.

49:24None was the equal to Jack.

49:27Good evening, my fellow citizens.

49:29Peace and freedom.

49:30The cause of freedom.

49:31In a time of danger.

49:32In the world of communism.

49:34Freedom, not coercion, is the wave of the future.

49:37And we hope around the world, free to choose their own future.

49:41All the way.

49:42And we shall win.

49:45November 19th, 1964.

49:47My husband had looked forward to his retirement.

49:49My husband believed so strongly in him that one's aim should not just be...

49:53This last visit.

49:54John was so intensely involved in life.

49:57Following this last interview, Jackie was to be questioned by the Warren Commission

50:02about the assassination in Dallas.

50:04The questioning lasted 15 minutes.

50:07She didn't say anything.

50:0815 minutes.

50:09She didn't say anything.

50:10Or rather, she said she didn't want to know who assassinated him.

50:14They'd taken her husband, her hero, away from her.

50:18And nothing could bring him back.

50:21The important thing now was to write the myth.

50:28These intimate details were supposed to be kept a secret.

50:31To be unveiled 50 years after her death.

50:35The image of the radiant lady in pink gives way to the painful face of a woman in black.

50:40In mourning of herself.

50:42Who seems to be asking whether, despite appearances, her life has passed her by.

50:51Jackie's memories turned sour.

50:53Like bad wine.

50:55She awoke from the intoxication of power.

50:58And to better sober up, she spewed forth on everything and everyone.

51:03Then, she looked in the mirror and fixed her face.

51:06For the face of history.

51:10On June 3rd, 1964, she told Arthur Schlesinger his task was over.

51:16She never wrote her memoirs.

51:18Nor gave any more interviews about her dead husband or life in the White House.

51:25These posthumous confessions are her only testimony.

51:28Soon after that, the former First Lady left Washington and her memories behind.

Jackie Kennedy after the President's Death | FULL DOCUMENTARY

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