OH, THIS IS GONNA STING!!!

[calimary]

32. I've said it before, here. And I still mean it.

I would love to see Jackie Kennedy’s Rose Garden restored, and celebrated yet again. The public thought she was IT when it came to good and elegant taste.

And one other thing:
She was IT when it came to the handling of JFK’s assassination coverage and aftermath. Jackie had it her way. She was responsible for his state funeral being classy, memorable, historic, and deeply moving for an America in shock that pretty much shut down, that weekend. And so tasteful! So understated. The coverage was BEYOND compelling.

I watched it all weekend. I think I was 10. I was transfixed. I remember the statement she made with her black skirted suit. Lots of admiring commentary about that. AND how well-behaved little Caroline and John-John were, standing with all the grownups, dressed in their Sunday best. That made such a huge impression on my mom, who watched a lot of it with me. Even as a little kid, I knew this was something pretty doggone earth-shaking in U.S. history. This was the biggest big deal I’d ever seen in the news. I knew every detail mattered, excruciatingly.