Kennedy's Last Days: The Assassination That Defined a Generation (10 page)

Evelyn Lincoln was Kennedy’s personal secretary from his days in the Senate until his death. Caroline visited her office in the White House almost daily.
[© Bettmann/Corbis]

After swimming, Kennedy eats a quick lunch upstairs in the first family’s private rooms, often referred to as “the residence.” He then naps for exactly 45 minutes. Other great figures in history such as Winston Churchill napped during the day. For Kennedy, it is a means of rejuvenation.

Sometimes business turns into pleasure, as when Kennedy and prime minister of Ireland Sean Lemass (in front of the flag) try out golf clubs.
[JFK Presidential Library and Museum]

Then it’s back to the Oval Office, most nights working as late as 8:00
P.M.
After business hours, Kennedy often puts two feet up on his desk and casually tosses ideas back and forth with his staff. It is the president’s favorite time of the day.

When everyone has cleared out, he makes his way back upstairs to the residence for his evening meal with his family or with friends Jackie invites.

CHAPTER SEVEN

WINTER 1961

United States, Cuba, and Soviet Union

T
HE WORLD OUTSIDE THE
W
HITE
H
OUSE
is turbulent. The Cold War is raging. Americans are terrified of the Soviet Union and its arsenal of nuclear weapons. Towns stock bomb shelters, and in schools, children practice curling up under their desks to protect themselves in case of attack. J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI have created an atmosphere of suspicion by telling people that Communists are threatening America.

These children are arranging cans in a bomb shelter.
[© Seattle Post-Intelligencer Collection; Museum of History and Industy/Corbis]

Ninety miles south of Florida, Fidel Castro has recently taken over Cuba. Castro is also a young, vibrant leader, and he inspires Cubans much as John Kennedy inspires Americans. But Castro is a friend of the Soviets and communism, not of the United States and democracy.

Fidel Castro toured the United States for eleven days in 1959, three months after his revolutionaries overthrew the Cuban dictator. Here he arrives in Washington, D.C., to meet with Vice President Nixon.
[LOC, DIG-ppmsc-03256]

In America’s Southern states, there is growing racial strife. Since 1957, Martin Luther King Jr. has been an inspirational leader in the civil rights movement. His commitment to nonviolent protest has inspired sit-ins and marches throughout the South. Protesters insist on equal treatment under the law for all people, regardless of the color of their skin. In the spring and summer of 1961, college students from around the country travel to the South by bus. White and black kids sit together to see if the police or security people will make them separate, because at the time, bus travel between states is segregated. These brave people are called “freedom riders.”

Freedom riders on their way from New York City to Washington, D.C., to picket the White House in support of equal rights for all people.
[© Bettmann/Corbis]

On August 13, the border between communist East Berlin and democratic West Berlin is closed to keep people from deserting the East by running across the border to the West. The Communists build a massive concrete wall to encircle West Berlin and shoot anyone who tries to crawl over it.

The Kennedy family arrives back from a vacation in Palm Beach, Florida, where JFK’s parents have a home.
[JFK Presidential Library and Museum]

Inside the White House, Jackie Kennedy is getting used to her role as first lady. Like her husband, Jackie was raised with wealth. She attended expensive girls’ boarding schools and Vassar College, and spent her junior year in Paris. Upon Jackie’s return to the United States, she transferred to George Washington University, in Washington, D.C., receiving a diploma in 1951.

JFK, Jackie, LBJ, and Lady Bird at a diplomatic reception in 1962.
[JFK Presidential Library and Museum]

Growing up, the first lady was taught to be extremely private and to hold thoughts deep within herself. She likes to maintain “a certain quality of mystery about her,” a friend will later say. The American people respond to her and to the little bit of mystery that surrounds her, as well as to her glamorous hairdos and clothes.

Jackie Kennedy likes to think of herself as a traditional wife, focusing most of her attention on her husband and children. But she also has a major project—an extensive renovation of the White House. The current style of furniture, rugs, and curtains is from the early 1950s, when Harry Truman was president. Many pieces of furniture are copies instead of period originals. Jackie wants the White House to look like it did when it was first built. She has arranged for the White House to be declared a museum in order to preserve it for all Americans.

John Jr. exploring under his father’s desk.
[© Bettmann/Corbis]

She thinks she has years to finish the renovation.

At least four. Perhaps even eight if her husband is reelected.

*   *   *

March 17, 1961

In the far-off city of Minsk in the Soviet Union, Lee Harvey Oswald has just met a woman at a dance for union workers. The 19-year-old beauty wears a red dress and white shoes and styles her hair in what he believes to be the French fashion. Marina Prusakova is reluctant to smile because of her bad teeth, but the two dance, and he walks her home. Later, he writes in his journal, “We like each other right away.”

Between the nights of March 18 and March 30, they spend a great deal of time together. “We walk,” he writes. “I talk a little about myself, she talks a lot about herself.”

Their relationship takes a sudden turn on March 30, when Oswald enters the hospital for an adenoid operation. Marina visits him constantly, and by the time Lee is discharged, he knows he “must have her.” On April 30, they are married. Marina almost immediately becomes pregnant.