Rating: 
Summary: Read it more for the humanity than the history
Review: All the well-known incidents of Kennedy's 1000 Days are here, but I don't think you'll find anything substantial you didn't know about The Bay of Pigs, the Cuban Missle Crisis, Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, etc. What makes this book special are the highly credible anecdotes about the President and First Lady, the little things that make them come to life. I enjoyed reading about President Kennedy's complicated relationship with Adlai Stevenson and his fascination with the men women found attractive, and why. I also was intrigued by Jackie's ambivalence about her role as First Lady and her role in history, which seemed to be a reflection of her ambivalence about her marriage to the fascinating, trying man she loved. The tales in this book lend texture and depth to our understanding of the Presidency that helped shaped the turbulent 1960s.
Rating: 
Summary: Once there was a moment...
Review: Anyone old enough to remember the terrible days after the assassination of President Kennedy understands that line from the play "Camelot" that has come to be associated with his Presidency. It begins, "Once there was a moment that was known as Camelot...," alluding to a magical kingdom.
One would have thought that, by now, there would have been nothing left to be said about the Kennedy presidency and the Kennedy marriage. And, perhaps, for another author, this might have been true. Yet for an author with the impressive reputation of Sally Bedell Smith, witnesses have offered information that never before has been revealed publicly.
This may be that most of the principals now are dead, long dead, and that those who survive realize that there is nobody left to harm by divulging some private memories. Equally, it may be that these survivors realize that this may be their last chances to preserve their memories for posterity.
Admittedly, some of the information about the Kennedy White House, and the deliberate way in which Jacqueline Kennedy modeled the social aspects of the administration on the French court, was shocking. After all, that court had met its quite deadly demise centuries earlier, so to ape its manners in the democratic United States appears unseemly. Accordingly, this attitude never was made known to the American public.
Similarly, it also was a shock to read that the Kennedys were consciously elitist and condescending in their perceptions of middle class America.
GRACE AND POWER also provides some new and touching details about the period immediately following the assassination of President Kennedy, and about how Mrs. Kennedy dealt with her loss.
In all, GRACE AND POWER is a worthwhile contribution to the miles of Kennedy-themed books filling the shelves of libraries everywhere.
Rating:
Summary: An Explosive Biographical Examination of JFK and Jackie
Review: Golly, it was great fun to be the President and First Lady before that pesky press realized it could reveal all your dirty secrets. Vanity Fair editor Sally Bedell Smith dishes the essential dirt in GRACE AND POWER, an explosive biographical examination of John and Jackie Kennedy, the late king and queen of America's only "royal" family.Citizens initially complained that JFK was a Catholic. With a large percentage of the book's 608 pages devoted to the Kennedy administration's notorious sexfest, Smith clearly shows that the voters should have been more worried that JFK was a rather rotten Catholic. The presidential election of 1960 ushered in a Kennedy administration that was best described, initially, as "giddy with power" on the job and "cavalier" when the day's work blended into each evening's cocktails, dancing, affairs and cigars. From her more than 140 interviews with Kennedy insiders and a detailed sifting of over 100 germane books, Smith opens the door to the party to reveal an often ill and heavily drugged JFK so distracted by sprightly young debutantes, and a Jackie so self-involved, that the duties of leadership and family fell to more selfish pursuits. The other sides of JFK the Hero and Jackie the Beautiful are exposed, finally, in a rather brave literary venture by Smith, who uses the facts to tarnish the two political treasures America has cherished. It's about time; the dreamy Kennedy hero worship (the Knights of the Round Table images that Jackie herself worked so hard to cultivate) has gone on too long. Smith's role in the disintegration of the Camelot myth remains one of objectivity, allowing the reader to make the necessary conclusions. She writes, "JFK's persistent womanizing was a mystifying trait, given the beauty, brains, and luminous style of his wife." GRACE AND POWER deftly solves the mystery by revealing that, while intelligent and popular, Jackie was rather frivolous and conceited, living in a royal fantasy world, one that JFK ignored. President Kennedy warily faced Khrushchev, the division of Germany, Cuba, Laos, Vietnam, a national recession, the threat of nuclear war, and the space race, while Jackie trounced off on fox hunts, tired easily at balls, and slept until noon after too much socialization. Kennedy chose a cabinet of the country's most brilliant men to maintain world peace and stabilize the economy, while Jackie pondered the White House redecoration, shunned the press, belittled her staff, and refused to attend important events. Smith disrobes a Jackie who was spoiled, frigid and easily embarrassed, noting after JFK's inaugural address, "I could scarcely embrace him in front of all those people..." Obsessed with the cosmopolitan, French culture and history, Jackie tried desperately to recreate such an atmosphere in the White House, while JFK used the place as a brothel, placing sexy Ivy leaguers on staff to satisfy his seemingly endless desires. Most interesting are the justifiers and apologists who populate the biography, attempting to excuse the President's and the First Lady's behavior. JFK routinely cheated on Jackie because this was the way of the wealthy, because the "King" needed stress relief, because he emulated his father, because these smart college women comforted his mind and eased his loneliness. Like Bill Clinton redefining the word "sex," the Kennedy friends redefine the words "classy," to describe Diana de Vegh, JFK's twenty-two-year-old Radcliff fling, and "loyal," labeling JFK's reluctance to discuss his relationship with Jackie to his inquisitive concubines. One lover says that JFK was blatantly promiscuous "to keep proving himself ... Those little clandestine adventures enabled him to deal with ... a dreary and stressful life ... and playing with fire was part of his nature." The "adventures" were the subject of many FBI probes, including JFK's trysts with Helen Chavchavadze, who, like a prostitute, was apparently paid by the president to keep quiet. One political reporter even goes so far as to say that he didn't think JFK's Don Juanism affected his ability to be president. So while the most powerful man in the world loved and left, trendsetter Jackie, who, in her own words, was "hoping to be the Marie Antoinette or Josephine of the 1960s," worried over exclusive guest lists, French artistry, decoration and fashion, ordering personal clothier Oleg Cassini to keep the designs of her dresses secret so she wouldn't see any "fat little women hopping around in the same dress." In the end, the sins of the king and queen roar back tenfold in the form of ugly karma --- exposé and tragedy, proving that, no matter how hard Jackie tried, she could not rewrite history to cover the truth. --- Reviewed by Brandon M. Stickney
Rating:
Summary: A fascinating retelling of Camelot
Review: GRACE AND POWER gives the reader the sights, sounds and textures of the Kennedy White House. William Safire called the book "a stunning new history" (his column lead me to buy the book)) and he's right. You feel like you are right there in the Washington DC of the early 1960s, and what a very different DC it was! The Kennedys liked to work hard and play hard, and Bedell Smith shows the rivalries, friendships and goings-on of the Kennedy's inner circle. This is truly the first book to make Jack and Jackie human, and Bedell Smith does a wonderful job of telling both the political and social sides of the First Couple. I read the Vanity Fair excerpt and there is indeed new material here: Jackie's intimate conversations about her marriage with Dr. Frank Finnerty, her secret therapist who helped her improve her relationship with her husband; one of JFK's lovers who speaks for the first time about their two-year affair; and most importantly, details of JFK's last days and the aftermath of the assassination from the sealde (for 40 years!) papers of historian William Manchester, who authored DEATH OF A PRESIDENT. A historical, serious and fascinating retelling of the Camelot years.
Rating:
Summary: A compelling read-- what the reviewers have to say
Review: Grace and Power is a compelling read, and I highly recommend it. Instead of offering my own comments, I thought Amazon readers should hear what the professionals-- reviewers, historians, columnists and feature writers around the country-- have been saying about the book. I took these quotes from the author's website, www.sallybedellsmith.com . Washington Post Book World (page one review by William E. Leuchtenburg, Professor of History Emeritus at the University of North Carolina): "Sally Bedell Smith has written the nonfiction beach book of the season...she is in firm command of the vast Kennedy scholarship...The book is impressively well researched and smartly written. It is rich in character sketches, anecdotes and accounts of events" Los Angeles Times (page one review by Gary Indiana): "A gracefully written tell-all that really does tell a story worth reading...Smith's portrait of Jackie is irresistible...One falls in love with her all over again." The New York Times (William Safire column): "A stunning new history... [written] with taste and sensitivity... prodigiously researched... The reader is placed right there in the salons of Georgetown and upstairs at the White House"
Liz Smith (syndicated columnist): "A ravishingly readable book" Houston Chronicle (review by Fritz Lanham, Books Editor): "Smith writes neither to make idols nor to break them. She's unblinking but fair-minded in her assessment of the Kennedys and their friends, and she writes lucidly and engagingly... Grace and Power really does make you feel that you've stepped inside the private quarters of the White House" New York Daily News (Sherryl Connelly): "Stylistic grace and authoritative reporting...the ultimate account." The Philadelphia Inquirer (Karen Heller): "The White House that Smith presents is an elite circle of brilliant men and elegant women...In this history, Jacqueline Kennedy emerges as a more engaged, substantial and controlling presence." The Boston Globe (Recommended Summer Reading by David Mehegan): "The background is the thousand days of the Kennedy administration, and the big events are here. But the narrative tension is in the tight circle around Jack and Jackie Kennedy... If we did not already know the ending, one might say this book reads like a novel" San Francisco Chronicle (Carolyne Zinko): "What emerges is the complex nature of the relationship between the president and first lady, a marriage strained by his infidelity yet preserved in part by her tolerance of it; the transformation of the White House into a royal court of sorts... and the degree to which the president manipulated his advisers and the press, for good and bad." Daily Mail (London): "Riveting history...Grace and Power paints a lively picture of this `social' White House, but though Bedell Smith captures its glamour she never falls in love with it... Throughout the book, Bedell Smith deftly manages to include the weightier events of those Cold War years without either trivialising them or lessening the fun of her lighter gossip." Newsweek: "Smith has made a career out of turning the lives of bold-faced names into meticulously researched biographies...Smith chronicles Jack and Jackie's highs and lows, heroic diplomacy, prodigious infidelity and a sparkling intellectual and social life unsurpassed by their successors." Dallas Morning News (Joy Dickinson): "A book that puts journalistic integrity above gossip but includes juicy details."
Rating:
Summary: Fair and enticing: interesting and easy readI just finished
Review: I just finished Grace and Power : The Private World of the Kennedy White House by Sally Bedell Smith, and it was a terrific read from start to finish. It reads like a very long and interesting magazine article and is, hence, not gossipy, but factual and interesting. It's a well-constructed account of the days from the election to JFK's assassination; it covers both the political and social history of JFK's brief time in the White House. Thousands of sources are called upon as the author has painstakingly pieced together her story. There is much in the book that is new information about the Kennedys and their days in the White House, though not being a Kennedy aficionado, I was not aware of what was old and what was new. I felt the book was very fair and did a wonderful job of calling forth the duality of the Kennedy panache and mystique coupled with the huge burden of tragedy that seemed to be part of their heritage. I'd highly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: "Camelot" re-revealed magnificently...
Review: The essence of "Camelot" wasn't necessarily the inspiring leadership of John Kennedy (although this certainly doesn't hurt the Camelot mystique) or the seemingly serene picture of the youngest elected President and his equally youthful wife, rather it was a culture, indeed an attitude or mystique that many historians have tried to capture with heretofore moderate to little success. In this light, Sally Bedell Smith has presented her attempt at synthesizing the mystique with the well documented history of JFK's administration and has succeeded fabulously with "Grace and Power". The perspective that Smith presents is one that many historians have missed...in a day when JFK administration books abound, Smith gives us a whole new view into the Kennedy family. Right from the beginning of this work, we delve into the personal and behavorial side of both the new President and his First Lady and see how they are in turn affected by the avalanche of the media and policy machine. JFK's full medical history (recently made public in Robert Dallek's magnificent work "An Unfinished Life") is further explained by Smith with many new nuances and she describes how these many maladies not only affected his work as President, but his family life as well. Indeed, we see JFK's covert doctor (Max Jacobson..."Dr. Feelgod") administering to Jackie as well (during periods of stress or depression) and it's this level of new information, presented not in a tawdry gossipy style, but in fair and elegant prose, that really made this work hard for me to put down. JFK's dalliances with many other women comes to be a main theme at the beginning of the story and we see how Jackie's attitude of benign acceptance at this behavior is formed over time in the White House. At the same time, Smith suceeds in presenting JFK as a loving Father and husband...further enhancing this mysterious component of JFK's behavior. The social scene at the JFK White House is comprehensively descibed...at times offering a counter-balance with what is happening in the world and I thought this added a fullness to the Kennedy story that is usually missing from many otherwise excellent JFK works. For example we see the dinners and the guests who attended them given equal importance in the book while the emotion and stress of the Cuban Missile Crisis is distracting the President. How JFK reacts at these events (i.e. away from "work") is a fascinating new look at the Crisis and Administration as a whole and is this new information that I mentioned that should be the selling point for this work. Closing out the book, Smith eloquently descibes the before and after affects of the assasination on all the participants (old girlfriends as well as close family friends) and tries to philosophize on what the tragedy meant to each. Historians may argue that the level of scholarship pertaining to Presidential history is lacking (although, I thought Smith did an admirable job describing the events that she did cover), but clearly the focus of this work was not a historical narrative but a genuine social/historical synthesis. Supported by many new interviews and research, Sally Bedell Smith has added immensly to the monumental amount of literature surrounding the JFK administration and given us a unique perspective that should be used by all as an emotional target for that magnificent and tragic time. A fairly quick read (about 470 pages of readable text) and lively written, I would recommend this book very highly.
Rating:
Summary: A New Dimension to The Kennedy Presidency
Review: The eye-catching "Vanity Fair" cover from a couple of months ago drew me into the preview article about this book. From that article, which was well-paced and interesting, it was a short distance to buying "Grace and Power." The Kennedy family is of course fascinating, and there always seems to be another book about a family member or the family itself. That said, "Grace and Power" effortlessly and compellingly plumbs into the texture of the relationship between Jacqueline Kennedy and her husband. This book does what other Kennedy books have wanted to do: Provide truly new information about the Jackie and JFK that does not rehash old gossip or re-spin oft-told tales. Ms. Smith has clearly worked hard on getting the surviving members (they're getting on in years) of the White House inner circle to tell stories and provide insights on incidents and relationships hitherto unknown. In sum, "Grace and Power" effectively walks the line between cultural history and the historical information associated with a book that will be of interest to readers with serious interest in how the JFK White House worked.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating
Review: Though I haven't read any other books about the Kennedy administration, and consequently cannot say if this one is better or worse than others on the same topic, this one caught my attention. The book appears to be well researched and documented and gives the reader a real feel for what the Kennedy White House must have been like, warts and all. I found the view to be balanced, presenting both the strengths and the personal foibles of the people involved. The book is full of fascinating historical dichotomies; for example, it shows how the administration would deal with war with Russia over Cuba during the day, and then party at night. (One must maintain one's standards, even in the face of nuclear annihilation.) The reader also gets a real sense of tremendous responsibilities and burdens that go with living in the White House. To digress a bit, what I really got from this book was a reminder of what politics in the USA used to be like, when politicians were more interested in doing what was best for the country, before the citizens of all political persuasions allowed it to become so bitterly and unproductively polarized. There used to be dialog between the political parties instead of ranting; there used to be pragmatic compromises and solutions instead of unyielding positions; and there used to be respect for the concept that reasonable minds can differ. Camelot, indeed. That reminder alone makes this a worthwhile read.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating
Review: Though I haven't read any other books about the Kennedy administration, and consequently cannot say if this one is better or worse than others on the same topic, this one caught my attention. The book appears to be well researched and documented and gives the reader a real feel for what the Kennedy White House must have been like, warts and all. I found the view to be balanced, presenting both the strengths and the personal foibles of the people involved. The book is full of fascinating historical dichotomies; for example, it shows how the administration would deal with war with Russia over Cuba during the day, and then party at night. (One must maintain one's standards, even in the face of nuclear annihilation.) The reader also gets a real sense of tremendous responsibilities and burdens that go with living in the White House. To digress a bit, what I really got from this book was a reminder of what politics in the USA used to be like, when politicians were more interested in doing what was best for the country, before the citizens of all political persuasions allowed it to become so bitterly and unproductively polarized. There used to be dialog between the political parties instead of ranting; there used to be pragmatic compromises and solutions instead of unyielding positions; and there used to be respect for the concept that reasonable minds can differ. Camelot, indeed. That reminder alone makes this a worthwhile read.
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