Monday, May 30, 2011

CAMELOT CENSORED

Jackie Kennedy went to great lengths to try and censor William Manchester’s 1967 bestseller ,The Death of a President . In 10 hours of taped interviews, Jackie gave the author personal information which she later wanted struck out. This included the fact that Jack got about in his underwear and that she smoked , a secret kept from the public while she was the First Lady . While the book had been approved by Bobby Kennedy, he later strongly opposed it and asked for a magazine serialisation to be shredded. Lawyers were called in , and in the ensuing battle the popularity of Jackie suffered as a result , so to did Senator Kennedy’s political career. The book sold a million copies in double quick time and it was reported that passengers on United Airlines stole 1800 of Look magazine's first instalment copies from binders.

If Jackie Kennedy were alive today ,one wonders what her reaction would be to the TV series THE KENNEDYS being shown on the ABC in which Frank Sinatra has been portrayed in a most unflattering way , a crawling spiv, mixing with the Mafia , and trying to make out he has influence with the Kennedys.