* Grief and Accuracy

The Jacqueline Tapes

Anyone who knows anything about grieving know that the impressions of the bereaved on any matters related to his/her loss four months after the death of a loved one, are dramatically influenced by intense emotions, more so when you witnessed the loved one's murder.


When the entire world is grieving with you, one wonders how much accuracy their is to interviews or diaries . (In the Old World, the grieving period was one year, during which time one took the bereaved's impressions with a grain of salt and compassion.)


Saying that "Lyndon" (the new president) came over and got "drunk" and questioned his own ability to discharge the duties of president is unkind to say the least.  I'm sure no one would have dared to say of Jack Kennedy, when president, that he got "drunk."


Also, during the Cuban Missile Crisis:  To say that you, the First Lady, wanted to stay with the president and die with the president, should it come to that, is understandable.  To say she told the president that "the children (three and eight years old) feel the same way." is a bit odd.  What can a three and eight year old know about "death"?


These tapes (now a book) are a historic snapshot of a moment in time. Anyone who lived through that moment in time know how turbulent emotions were in America and the world for a year after the assassination, a fact which needs to be taken into account when reading these pages.