Bobby and Jackie: A Love Story

[Old Hippie]

Bobby and Jackie: A Love Story
by C. David Heymann

From Publishers Weekly

Pulitzer-nominated biographer Heymann delivers a gawk-worthy beach read with this fascinating look at Jackie and the Kennedy clan in the aftermath of John F. Kennedy's assassination. Life for JFK and Jackie was less than perfect; one story finds him cheating on Jackie during their 1953 Acapulco honeymoon, leaving the new Mrs. Kennedy "by herself on the verandah." Still, Jackie's devastation was real; afterward, her love for his brother Bobby was equally genuine. Unable to find peace (her Georgetown home had become a stop for all D.C. tour buses), Bobby gladly volunteered to play surrogate father to her kids; before long, an affair began. According to Truman Capote, it was "perhaps the most normal relationship either one ever had." It was not necessarily simple, however; both saw a number of people while together. Promiscuity aside, the Kennedys were also notoriously "chintzy" in their personal lives-they didn't tip and employed undocumented workers at home- though Jackie fares marginally better. It's anyone's guess how the affair would have ended if Bobby hadn't been killed; just four months later, she married Aristotle Onassis. Heymann's research is top notch, with plentiful attributions, making this train-wreck love story a substantial guilty pleasure and a sizzling reminder of how the rich are different.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

I grew up in the early 60s when everyone thought the Kennedy's were saints. JFK was a hero for PT109, and then his farce of a book. Joe Jr. (maybe the only honest one) died in a plane crash. We were quick to ignore Teddy letting his girlfriend die in his Delta 88 -- but prayed for him when he had a plane crash. I stood by the tracks in Metuchen, NJ waiting for RFK's funeral train to pass by on its trip from NY to DC.

Later we started to find out what scumbags they were.

This book was great. Once you start reading -- you won't be able to put it down. JFK, RFK, Jackie, and even Ethel were such scumbags -- that they made Teddy look like a freaking saint. This book was well researched by an author who specialized in researching Jackie -- and most information was obtained by freedom of information and interviews of those in the know. Facts are properly noted in the rear of the book -- to leave not doubt that this was a fair and honest biography.

This is one of the few political books that both husband and wife will enjoy reading. You don't have to be into politics -- just have an interest in the Kennedys.

I strongly suggest you order it now -- and take the time to read it. I read it on a cruise -- but I read a book a week relaxing in the evening in the hot tub.



Bobby and Jackie, C. David Heymann, Book - Barnes & Noble

[Old Hippie]

Read an Excerpt

Author's Note
I first heard hints and whispers of a romantic involvement between Robert and Jacqueline Kennedy while res earching and conducting interviews for A Woman Named Jackie, my 1989 biography ofthe former First Lady. Because Jackie was still very much alive at the time, it is easy to understand why interviewees were reluctant to discuss the romance in great depth or detail. Following Jacqueline's death in 1994 — and after I had begun work on RFK, my 1998 biography of Robert Kennedy — interview subjects, old and new, were suddenly much more eager to explore the topic. Thereafter nearly every biography of Bobby or Jackie, including volumes by Edward Klein, Christopher Andersen, Sarah Bradford, and Peter Evans, capitalized on my research and reported on the Bobby-Jackie affair, in certain instances adding new details to those already known.
After the publication of RFK, I continued to probe the subject, collecting further material and information. I was aided in part by the release in 2007 of a set of previously unavailable reports and briefs prepared by the Secret Service and the FBI, released to me under the Freedom of Information Act. Covering the years 1964 to 1968, when the liaison took place, these documents confirmed what I had already ascertained by way of personal interviews. I was thus able to piece together a complete picture of the complex relationship that existed between two of the most heralded figures of the twentieth century.
Too often in earlier biographies, Robert Kennedy was depicted as something of a choirboy when, in fact, he enjoyed the same proclivity for extramarital affairs as hisbrothers, Jack and Ted Kennedy. Insiders, among them Ted Kennedy as well as his sisters, were evidently well aware of the circumstances. Given Bobby's and Jackie's shared grief over the 1963 assassination of Jack Kennedy, it is not difficult to imagine how such an unlikely union could begin. The relationship grew and continued on its own, ending not because of lack or loss of affection but out of pure practical necessity when RFK decided to run for president in 1968. It is also clear, in the confusing days following Bobby's death, why Jackie turned to Aristotle Onassis for solace, agreeing to marry him and to leave the United States and raise her children abroad.
Despite the conclusive accounts of those insiders quoted in this volume, I don't doubt for a moment that some readers will remain skeptical that a romance actually took place. In the course of writing four books on the Kennedys, I have come across individuals who still deny the rampant womanizing of JFK, both before and after he became president. It took The New York Times, often cited as our most authoritative newspaper, some thirty years to admit in print that Jack Kennedy had numerous affairs outside his marriage. With all this purported womanizing, the doubters ask, how is it possible that JFK still had time to run the country? A somewhat related query might be posed regarding Bobby and Jackie. If such an affair took place, how is it conceivable that they managed to keep it out of the public eye? The answer to the first question is that President Kennedy compartmentalized his life to such an extent that he was able to preside over the nation while at the same time pursuing a hyperactive social schedule. The answer to the second question is that in the 1960s, the private lives of public figures were simply not covered by the media, certainly not to the extent that they are today when even the slightest impropriety, sexual or otherwise, gets reported, probed, and reported again.
Certain readers may also wonder or ask if it is even necessary to divulge the inner (or private) lives of biographical figures such as Robert and Jacqueline Kennedy. As a biographer, it has always been my conviction that sexual (or personal) behavior is integral to a fuller understanding of a person's life, particularly in the case of a public personality. Knowing that Robert and Jackie Kennedy became romantically involved following JFK's death — and for reasons that this volume attempts to reveal — sheds a whole new light on who they were and what made them tick. It demonstrates, among other things, that they were motivated by many of the same temptations and emotions that drive the rest of us. It helps us gain a fuller comprehension not only of them but also of ourselves.
Copyright © 2009 by C. David Heymann

[matt delio]

When you want to sell a trashy book why don't you go to fox news, they like to buy all that garbage. I see NO proof, NO facts Then you step on yourself by sighting the New York Times-Going out of business- for the scoop. nice that they waited until Everyone was DEAD to write about it. Class act if I ever saw one. Why did you wait sooo long(Afraid of being sued by any chance?? Later matt.

[Old Hippie]

Liberals can't handle the truth

[matt delio]

You know hippie, it's not that I can't handle the truth, I just can't stand leaches who make money off half truths, twisted stories,and hearsay.I wonder how they would react if it was done to them? I also don't believe everything the dems. say, and I do think the reps. have some good ideas. I know it's past the bickering stage, But we need to start solving problems instead of "I'm right your wrong all the time" stand. For some reason we can't get past this blockage. Later, matt.

[taxidave]

Originally Posted by matt delio

You know hippie, it's not that I can't handle the truth, I just can't stand leaches who make money off half truths, twisted stories,and hearsay.I wonder how they would react if it was done to them? I also don't believe everything the dems. say, and I do think the reps. have some good ideas. I know it's past the bickering stage, But we need to start solving problems instead of "I'm right your wrong all the time" stand. For some reason we can't get past this blockage. Later, matt.

But, Conservatives are RIGHT and they are Wrong.

[Old Hippie]

I'm only surprised that he didn't blame Bush for the book -- isn't that the talking point they tell the Liberal sheeple to spout first?

Not a good day for a Liberal. Massachusetts' election of Brown has started the pendulum to swing away from Communism -- and Matt isn't having a good day.

[matt delio]

Okay, now that brownie is elected let's give him a chance to see what he can do. There's alot of old money up there in mass. I wonder how much the're willing to part with. As for blaming Bush, come on Hippie I couldn't see blaming a guy that can't read or write, can you? That's probably why Mr. Bush hasn't done his autobiography yet! Later, matt.

[Castle50]

Bush was smart enough to Fly and Navigate a F-102. Obama sold Ice Cream at Baskin Robbins. No school records from the Obama Turd either....wonder why?
I always amazed and the lack of intellect from Liberals. Maybe why most are Union members. They can't hold a job without paying for the privilege.

[winslo]

Bush may have not been given credit for being smart by the dumbcrats but he out foxed them at almost every turn.