Grace and Power; The Private World of the Kennedy White House

New York: Random House, 2004. First Edition [Stated], First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. Katherine Lambert (Author photograph) and Mark Sha. xxix, [1], 608, [2] pages. The Kennedy Court. Preface. Illustrations. Source Notes. Index. DJ has slight wear and soiling. Sarah Bedell Smith (born May 27, 1948) is an American journalist and biographer. She has been a contributing editor for Vanity Fair since 1996. Previously, she was a cultural news reporter for New York Times and Time. She has written biographies of political, cultural, and business figures in the United States and members of the British royal family. She earned her Master of Science from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where she won the Robert Sherwood Memorial Travel-Study Scholarship and the Women's Press Club of New York Award. From a Publishers Weekly article: Smith, narrates scenes from the Kennedy White House. Publicity for this volume emphasized that Smith has interviewed "scores of Kennedy intimates, including many who have never spoken before". Smith waltzes through portraits of the Kennedys entertaining, with the likes of Gore Vidal, Ben Bradlee, William Walton and Mary Meyer. Not a few of the people who loom large in Smith's volume have previously—as Smith's profuse footnotes attest—written their own accounts of the Camelot scenes in which they play. Endeavoring to interweave her eloquently rendered social history with the political history of the Kennedy administration, Smith tends on occasion to oversimplify and understate major strategic discussions and initiatives. For those who seek a highly readable account of the White House milieu shaped by John and Jackie Kennedy, Smith's book does the job. In Grace and Power: The Private World of The Kennedy White House, New York Times best-selling author Sally Bedell Smith takes us inside the Kennedy White House with unparalleled access and insight. Having interviewed scores of Kennedy intimates, including many who have never spoken before, and drawing on letters and personal papers made available for the first time, Smith paints a richly detailed picture of the personal relationships behind the high purpose and political drama of the twentieth century's most storied presidency.
At the dawn of the 1960s, a forty-three-year-old president and his thirty-one-year-old first lady - the youngest couple ever to occupy the White House - captivated the world with their easy elegance and their cool conviction that anything was possible. Jack and Jackie Kennedy gathered around them an intensely loyal and brilliant coterie of intellectuals, journalists, diplomats, international jet-setters and artists. Perhaps as never before, Washington was sharply divided between the "ins" and the "outs." In his public life, JFK created a New Frontier, stared down the Soviets, and devoted himself to his wife and children. As first lady, Jackie mesmerized foreign leaders and the American people with her style and sophistication, creating a White House renowned for its beauty and culture. Smith brilliantly recreates the glamorous pageant of the Kennedy years, as well as the daily texture of the Kennedys' marriage, friendships, political associations, and, in Jack's case, multiple love affairs. Smith's striking revelations include new information about what drew Jack to his numerous mistresses - and what effects the relationships ultimately had on the women; about the rivalries and resentments among Kennedy's advisers; and about the poignant days before and after Kennedy's assassination. Smith has fashioned a vivid and nuanced portrait not only of two extraordinary individuals but of a new age that sprang to life around them. Shimmering with intelligence and detail, Grace and Power is history at its finest.