Jacqueline Kennedy - Caroline Kennedy [39]
Tell me, tell us, about the last day before the election.
Well, everybody was at the Cape. Oh, no—
You went to Boston—
Yeah, we woke up in Boston so we must have slept there the night before.
There was a big rally at the Boston Garden the night before. I think you were there, weren't you?
No, I wasn't. I was at the Cape, so I must have gotten up very early and been driven to 122 Bowdoin Street30 and from there we went to the voting place. Then we flew down to the Cape in the Caroline,31 and then that long day started. I remember we had fish chowder. You could still sit outside. And it's so funny, talking about the longest day, who should come running out from the garage in sort of a servant's part but Cornelius Ryan, who had written The Longest Day, with a print of a picture.32 We both said, "What are you doing here?" We didn't really know him—he introduced himself. So then Jack started questioning him all about The Longest Day and the this and the that part of it. And you should ask Ryan about that—and I guess he'd gotten in it through Pierre.33 Then you'd take walks and you'd go over to his father's house, to Bobby's house.
What kind of a day was it?
It was a cold, fall Cape day—very clear. But I know we lay out on the porch with blankets on us, sort of in the afternoon in the sun. Then he'd go over—Bobby's house had been turned into just a, you know, command post—I mean, radios, telephones, boards, workers. But Jack kind of stayed away from that. And then dinner—
How did he seem—
Sort of restless, but quiet. He'd go over there, then he'd try to take a nap.
He wouldn't speculate about things anymore—
Oh, no, he wouldn't talk about it. I mean, it was—you had what he loves—his fish chowder—and then he was picking Cornelius Ryan's brains about The Longest Day. That poor man was so amazed. Then we'd take a little walk because you knew that the really bad part wasn't going to get until night. And then—I forget which house we had dinner at, but afterwards we were all watching it in our house. I remember Connecticut came charging in. And I said to Jack, "Oh, you know, now you're President now," and he said, "No, no" very quietly. So I watched until, I guess, about 11:30 or twelve and then everyone knew that it would be an all-night thing. So then I was sent up to bed. And all the—it was so sweet—Jack came up and sort of kissed me goodnight—and then all the Kennedy girls came up, and one by one we just sort of hugged each other, and they were all going to wait up all night. And Jack slept in the next room that night. So when I woke up in the morning, I went flying into his room to see—just to hear the good news—to hear that he'd heard sometime while he'd been awake—and no, there wasn't anything.
He had gone to bed, eventually.
Yes, he went to bed I think about four or something, and this was about a quarter of nine or eight thirty.
Was he still sleeping when you came in?
Yes. [laughs]
You woke him up?
Sprang him—and there was nothing, so then I woke the poor man up. Then you'd get up and then everybody walked around—you've seen those pictures—in raincoats. Up and down. Then the press people were sort of gathering and I guess it was about noon or one o'clock that the word finally came.
Nixon finally conceded then.
PRESIDENT-ELECT JOHN F. KENNEDY (CARRYING CAROLINE) AND THE FIRST LADY-TO-BE, HYANNIS PORT, THE MORNING AFTER THE 1960 ELECTION
Bob Sandberg, Look magazine/John F. Kennedy Library and Museum, Boston
And then—oh, then I had to see the press in Ethel's house—all those women saying, "What kind of First Lady will you be?" Those horrible women. And then we all had our pictures taken together in the big house. Then we were all going to go