Jackie Kennedy's granddaughters are 'absolutely horrified' by the former First Lady's old fashioned view of the role of women in taped interviews released this week, their mother, Caroline, has revealed. In the 1964 interviews with Arthur Schlesinger Jr., the young widow described her marriage as 'a rather terribly Victorian or Asiatic relationship' and said she borrowed all her opinions from her husband, President John F. Kennedy. She also said she didn't believe women should be politicians and described being subordinate to her husband on principle. If the couple argued, 'I'd rush and say I'm so sorry. He loved that, because it's hard for men to make up first,' she said.
Speaking on Good Morning America, Jackie Kennedy's daughter Caroline Kennedy said her two daughters were 'absolutely horrified' when they listened to that portion of the tapes. Rose and Tatiana Schlossberg, 23 and 21, who attended Harvard and Yale, were so shocked they asked their mother: 'Did she really think that?'
Liberal America has been shocked by the book of transcripts published today, which offer unique insight into Jackie Kennedy's views while and just after she was the First Lady. In the tapes, she offers catty opinions on a host of the era's major personalities, including fellow political wives and Martin Luther King. But it was her views on women which shocked her granddaughters. In a breathy voice - with background sounds of matches striking, ice cubes clinking and children playing - she paints a picture of unfailing devotion. ‘I think women should never be in politics. We’re just not suited to it,’ she says.
Their marriage, she admitted, might have been ‘rather terribly Victorian or Asiatic’, but she was determined to provide a ‘climate of affection, comfort and detente’.
Caroline Kennedy described her family's reaction and how she explained her mother's world view to her daughters. 'It was funny because my daughters listened to it too and they were just absolutely horrified,' she told GMA. '[They asked] "Did she really think that?" And of course time has moved on and it shows you both there are many timeless things in here but it really is a snapshot of a world that we barely recognise.' She added: 'I think people really need to understand the purpose of an oral history. And it really - the value of it is it is immediate, it is honest.’
Caroline first read the transcripts after her mother died in 1994. She decided to release them as an important historical source as the 50th anniversary of JFK's inauguration approached. 'There are flashes throughout where I hear her and there are parts to me where it sounds like it was a very long time ago, just the way she speaks and the things she said,'
The Jackie Kennedy tapes have offered startling insight into the disdain she felt for many political figures of the time. She described civil rights leader Martin Luther King as a ‘terrible’ man, who took part in orgies. India’s future leader Indira Gandhi was ‘pushy, horrible... bitter prune’, while French president Charles de Gaulle was a ‘spiteful egomaniac’, according to Mrs Kennedy. U.S. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, meanwhile, was accused of being a bitter and uninspired drinker and she thought Sir Winston Churchill was ‘really quite ga-ga’.
Speaking about fellow political wives, she was particularly scathing. Lady Bird Johnson, LBJ’s wife, was ‘sort of like a trained hunting dog,’ she said. Of South Vietnam’s First Lady Madame Nhu and conservative congresswoman Clare Boothe Luce, she added: ‘I wouldn’t be surprised if they were lesbians.’
Speaking on Good Morning America, Jackie Kennedy's daughter Caroline Kennedy said her two daughters were 'absolutely horrified' when they listened to that portion of the tapes. Rose and Tatiana Schlossberg, 23 and 21, who attended Harvard and Yale, were so shocked they asked their mother: 'Did she really think that?'
Liberal America has been shocked by the book of transcripts published today, which offer unique insight into Jackie Kennedy's views while and just after she was the First Lady. In the tapes, she offers catty opinions on a host of the era's major personalities, including fellow political wives and Martin Luther King. But it was her views on women which shocked her granddaughters. In a breathy voice - with background sounds of matches striking, ice cubes clinking and children playing - she paints a picture of unfailing devotion. ‘I think women should never be in politics. We’re just not suited to it,’ she says.
Their marriage, she admitted, might have been ‘rather terribly Victorian or Asiatic’, but she was determined to provide a ‘climate of affection, comfort and detente’.
Caroline Kennedy described her family's reaction and how she explained her mother's world view to her daughters. 'It was funny because my daughters listened to it too and they were just absolutely horrified,' she told GMA. '[They asked] "Did she really think that?" And of course time has moved on and it shows you both there are many timeless things in here but it really is a snapshot of a world that we barely recognise.' She added: 'I think people really need to understand the purpose of an oral history. And it really - the value of it is it is immediate, it is honest.’
Caroline first read the transcripts after her mother died in 1994. She decided to release them as an important historical source as the 50th anniversary of JFK's inauguration approached. 'There are flashes throughout where I hear her and there are parts to me where it sounds like it was a very long time ago, just the way she speaks and the things she said,'
The Jackie Kennedy tapes have offered startling insight into the disdain she felt for many political figures of the time. She described civil rights leader Martin Luther King as a ‘terrible’ man, who took part in orgies. India’s future leader Indira Gandhi was ‘pushy, horrible... bitter prune’, while French president Charles de Gaulle was a ‘spiteful egomaniac’, according to Mrs Kennedy. U.S. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, meanwhile, was accused of being a bitter and uninspired drinker and she thought Sir Winston Churchill was ‘really quite ga-ga’.
Speaking about fellow political wives, she was particularly scathing. Lady Bird Johnson, LBJ’s wife, was ‘sort of like a trained hunting dog,’ she said. Of South Vietnam’s First Lady Madame Nhu and conservative congresswoman Clare Boothe Luce, she added: ‘I wouldn’t be surprised if they were lesbians.’
