♪ >> it's snowing and there's a feeling because she's dressed in this beautiful white gown and they just seem to be stepping into a fairy tale.

"turn on the interior lights so people can see them as they go by." he asks his wife to sit forward because she is so beautiful. having the president from that very moment place her in the spotlight tells us what the presidency is going to be like and how mrs. kennedy will be at the center of it. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> inauguration day 1961, america welcomes a young and glamorous president and first lady to the white house. >> dwight eisenhower was 70. here came kennedy, who was 43, and mrs. kennedy's 31.

>> the kennedys knew how to turn their youth into something deeper and more symbolic of america entering an age of renewal, with a new generation that was going to conquer the world. >> jackie was the epitome of style and glamor. this was going to be a white house of unprecedented elegance, and the country loved it. >> going to the inauguration was amazing. this was new and energetic. this was, in fact, the new frontier. >> jackie later recalled her memories of that momentous day. >> everyone says, why didn't jack kiss you after? which of course you would never do there. but you had to march out in such order. and i so badly wanted to see him alone. >> she's worried about being separated from her husband as he starts this new role as leader of the free world. she didn't know what it would do to her marriage.

and she can't quite get to him. >> and i caught up to him in the capitol, and he's just looking at me, and there really were tears in his eyes. i mean, that was so much more emotional than any kiss. just say, oh, jack, you know, what a day. >> the kennedys had always recognized jackie's value. >> she was much more elegant, to put it mildly, than my family, the kennedy family, who was known primarily for football and sailing. jackie had a really good sense of taste and elegance. >> jackie had a very privileged childhood. she had every advantage in terms of her education. she went to miss porter's, she went to vassar. >> jackie kennedy was the perfect prize of the wasp establishment. she also knew that the kennedy family was using her. she once said, the family treats me like a thing, like an asset, like rhode island.

even her wedding was a political event. >> for spectators outside the church, it's a real story book wedding, the top society wedding of the year. >> there's glamor on the outside, heartache on the inside. jackie's own father gets so drunk before the wedding that he can't make it up the aisle. >> jacqueline kennedy had a father she adored, john bouvier, but he had many flaws. he was an alcoholic, he was a gambler, he was a womanizer. >> after divorcing john bouvier, jackie's mother janet married standard oil heir hugh auchincloss. >> janet hits the gold mine there because he's incredibly wealthy. she drills into jackie's mind, you need to marry a wealthy man, you need to have that security. >> the future seems bright for the junior senator from massachusetts. >> there were 1,200 people at the reception. jackie said she didn't even know

the guests at her own wedding. >> to be at your wedding and have to meet hundreds of people that you don't know i think says a lot about their relationship. >> jack and jackie kennedy remain to this day the only first couple to have a baby, john f. kennedy jr., between the election of the president and the inauguration. she had a cesarean section birth. she suffered a terrible loss of blood. and baby john jr., premature, had a lung ailment when he was born. >> that day, she was absolutely exhausted. you see them on the platform, and she's there. and then, suddenly, she's vanished. she simply physically couldn't keep up. that was when she went back into the white house. >> she didn't know, how am i going to be able to go off to

five different inaugural balls? she had to be a sent herself and go and, it's not too strong to say, collapse in her new home, the white house. >> i was really so tired that day. that night i was laid out in the queen's bed. i just couldn't move. >> she calls for the president's physician, dr. janet travell, who comes in with two pills. >> she had two pills, a green and an orange one, she told me to take the orange one, which i did. dexedrine, which i'd never had in my life. >> that's speed, which is obviously to rev up the motor of the individual, which mrs. kennedy said, it did. it allowed her to get out of bed, get dressed, and look her most beautiful. >> jackie rejoins her husband for the first inaugural ball. ♪ >> on this greatest of all days,

high on dexedrine, this young queen goes forth into the night. jackie kennedy knew how to put on a show. >> there was this stunningly beautiful 31-year-old woman playing this new role of a gorgeous first lady of the united states. and if we didn't know the so-called backstory, we would think there was absolutely nothing wrong. >> she got through it as far as the dexedrine would take her, but she couldn't get through the whole evening. >> it was like cinderella and the clock striking midnight. i guess that pill wore off. so jack said, "you go home now." >> he carried on to three more inaugural balls and various parties where he was seen with women not his wife and carries on without her. >> it was never going to be smooth sailing between them, because they were two fiercely independent people. but this independence was the

secret of surviving being married to jack kennedy.

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very boisterous, fun-loving daughter, caroline. >> jackie was a good mother, she was excellent with them in the white house, and they had a lot of fun. i think she did everything she could to normalize it. >> do you really hope to keep a private life for your children? >> i hope it is, and i'm going to try very hard to do that. because otherwise, how can i bring up normal children? >> president kennedy knew the asset of having a photogenic family. because he had come from one. and he knew those two children were beautiful and beguiling. >> when jackie was out of town with caroline, president kennedy asked, is there anyone here from "look" magazine? there's this iconic photograph of john kennedy jr. peeking out from under the resolute desk in the oval office. the president said he knew she would be angry and jackie came back and was furious. >> jack came from a political family. they were accustomed to sharing

their lives. and jackie didn't think that was helpful for a child to be exposed at the age of 3 to mass media. so they didn't always agree about that. >> jackie has her own ideas on how to make her mark as first lady. >> what do you think has to be done to the white house? >> there's very little antique furniture here now. the thing i care about most is to make it more of a museum. >> mrs. kennedy is very upset at what she sees in the white house when she arrives. it looked like the furnishings had come from a statler hotel, she said. >> she understood that the white house should represent the history that had taken place there. >> jackie has grand plans to transform the white house. but she immediately faces opposition. >> everybody on president kennedy's staff said no, you don't know what you're doing, how dare you touch the white house.

she's 31 years old. she stands up to all the president's advisers and says, i'm going ahead. >> jackie raises money to buy back furniture belonging to past presidents and persuades collectors to donate antiques. she welcomes a film crew into the private quarters for the first time. >> mrs. kennedy, i want to thank you for letting us visit your official home. this is obviously the room from which much of your work on it is directed. >> yes, it's attic and cellar all in one. >> this was probably her most important performance during her whole time at the white house. she was tense. she was very, very nervous. every time they had a break, she would smoke like a chimney. she had some brown liquor with her. and she invariably dropped the ashes on this beautiful silk settee.

>> so exciting to see things, though, every day -- >> at the end of the day, the producer shows the kennedys what they had filmed. >> he said that when he looked over at jack, his admiration and pride was unmistakable. >> i think everything in the white house should be the best -- ♪ >> for the next hour, mrs. john f. kennedy invites you to visit the president's house and see some of the restorations she's made in its interior -- >> the record 80 million viewers watched jackie's tour. donations to her restoration project flood in. >> are all the pieces from lincoln's time? >> yes, they are. the most famous one, of course, is the lincoln bed. every president seemed to love it. >> it got rave reviews. there were governors' wives all over the country who were saying, we have to do this with the governor's mansion. >> it was bought by mrs. lincoln. she made her husband cross, he thought she spent too much money. >> people tended to

underestimate her intelligence, which was considerable. the whole historic preservation movement in this country owes a great debt of gratitude to her. >> the dictatorship of fidel castro -- >> three months into the presidency, the kennedy administration suffers its first major setback. the cia-backed invasion of cuba ends in disaster. >> reality really bit both kennedys. it was a humiliation. kennedy had been too influenced by advisers. >> he came back over to the white house, to his bedroom, and he started to cry. just with me. just put his head in his hands and sort of wept. >> it brought home to him that he had to be more self-reliant

and more reliant on his partner. as jackie said, in the white house, the only two people you really have are each other. ♪and you're mine, and you look so divine♪ ♪come and get your love♪ get a dozen double crunch shrimp for one dollar with any steak entrée. only at applebee's.

john kennedy's debut on the international scene gets off to a start in france as the president is greeted formally

by president charles segall. >> four months into the presidency and reeling from the bay of pigs fiasco, the kennedys embark on a world tour. >> the cold war is approaching a dangerous point. charles de gaulle is famously cold and austere. >> crowds estimated as high as 2 million line the route to cheer the president -- >> but all eyes are on jackie. >> people are screaming "vive jacqueline." the president and mrs. kennedy are taken aback by how many people are there. >> jackie was bred in the bone as a francophile. she loved america, but she had a fascination with france. >> it was a particular triumph to be as elegant as she was in

the land that, in effect, invented elegance. >> imagine what it's like to try to have a conversation with the president of france. you can't be talking about paris fashion. they're talking about french history. de gaulle says, "she knows more history than most frenchwomen." she more than holds her own. >> i do not think it altogether inappropriate to introduce myself. i am the man who accompanied jacqueline kennedy to paris, and i've enjoyed it. >> in the eyes of her husband, she now was a major asset in diplomacy. making inroads in areas where he was not doing that well.

>> after paris, kennedy faces his first superpower summit with soviet leader nikita khrushchev. >> the world looked to vienna as the president of the united states arrived. >> kennedy thought he could get through that summit by virtue of his knowledge, which was expansive. >> president kennedy expressed nuclear's desire for effective test controls and disarmament agreement. >> but khrushchev did not allow that to happen. in fact, he bullied kennedy. >> once again, it's jackie who breaks the ice. >> when khrushchev sees her, his face lights up. its described in the press as looking like a russian schoolboy on the banks of the volga river when the snow melts in the springtime. and he is doing everything possible to impress mrs. kennedy, including telling her how many tractors are made in soviet factories. and she famously says, in her breathy voice, "oh, mr. chairman, don't bore me with

statistics." and he just roared with laughter, because nobody tells the head of the soviet socialist republic, don't bother me with statistics. but he loved her sharp wit. jackie's impact on nikita khrushchev at a minimum diverted attention from a superpower summit that kennedy described later as "the toughest thing i've ever been through." >> jackie succeeds in bolstering her husband's presidency. but his loyalty to her has its limits. >> i said what are you going to do about all your affairs, jack? and he said, well, you know, in the white house it should be easier. the secret service will protect me. and he was right. the secret service did protect him. >> jackie kennedy was well aware of her husband's infidelities. how could she miss? her own secretary, pam turner, was sleeping with the president, along with a lot of other women who worked at the white house. jackie was no fool.

they were all around her. >> i've always thought jackie really loved jack, really loved jack. and was always trying to get him to be faithful to her. >> during a family football game at bobby kennedy's home, jackie sprains her ankle. she is tended to by bobby's friend and neighbor, dr. frank finnerty. >> the way he projected compassion and warmth clicked with her, and she said, do you think i could call you from time to time? and he said, well, yes, of course. >> for the next two years, jackie calls dr. finnerty twice a week. >> she said, i'm not naive, i know that he's having a lot of affairs. she alleged that he was having an affair with marilyn monroe. and she said that really bothered her.

she somehow felt inadequate. it was his role to reassure her that it was not her fault, and at the same time, he actually gave her a kind of set of talking points about how to improve their sex life. and she said it had actually improved, but he was still womanizing. >> jackie was working as a photo journalist for "the washington times herald" when she was introduced to jack kennedy through mutual friends. >> i think we just automatically thought they'd be good for each other. he was fun, he was very good looking, and she was intelligent and fun to be with. >> jackie kennedy took one look at jack and saw the main chance. >> but when jack proposed, jackie agonized for four weeks before accepting.

>> she could see the prospect of adventure, but she could also sense danger. she knew that he had the capacity to be unfaithful. but she decided that life with him was worth it. and that she loved him. she was being interviewed three years into their marriage, which was really when their relationship sort of hit rock bottom. >> you're pretty much in love with him, aren't you? >> oh, no. >> jackie kennedy knew jack had been a playboy, but she had not banked upon the sheer scale of his infidelity. >> i said no, didn't i? >> yes, do you want to do it again? >> she couldn't say anything other than an honest reaction in that moment? >> you are pretty much in love with him, aren't you? >> i suppose so. >> by 1958, jackie had had enough of her husband's

infidelities. while jack was away campaigning, she confided in her friend, walter ritter. >> jackie said, he's so badly behaved, he's away again, god knows who he's with, i just can't take it anymore. i think i have to divorce him. and my husband said, jackie, think about this, you do not want to have on your conscience that you prevented him from becoming president. by divorcing him, she would have ended his political career. but by staying with him, there would be a tradeoff, giving her the latitude if he became president to do what she wanted to do. >> mr. president, the late marilyn monroe. ♪ happy birthday to you ♪

>> at jack's 45th birthday celebration, jackie is notably absent. ♪ happy birthday mr. president ♪ >> one reporter said that it was making love to the president in front of 40 million people. and this was a really embarrassing moment for jackie. >> everybody, happy birthday! >> to the extent that she that you about her husband's womanizing, she had two choices. she could stay and know that it was going on around her, or she could get away from it. and sometimes i think she chose the latter. and yet what a terrible paradox, because to leave gave president kennedy an open field in which to graze. nothing kills more viruses, including the covid-19 virus, on more surfaces than lysol disinfectant spray.

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a crisis is near. a sctrategic reconsns pilot soars overhead, the evidence unmistakable -- >> president kennedy is informed the soviet union is building missile sites in cuba. the nation stands on the brink of war. >> the president says, we're in real trouble, do you want to go away and get into a shelter? we all said, no, we'll stay with you, daddy. the same happened with jackie. >> i said, please don't send me away to camp david. anything happens, we're all going to stay right here with you. i just want to be on the lawn when it happens. i want to die with you and the

children do too. >> what shall be the policy of this nation to regard any missile launched from cuba toward any nation in the western hemisphere azine attack. >> a lot of people were very scared it was going to be the end of our world. those generals, they wanted to go to war. >> sometimes he would take me out for a walk around the lawn. he didn't very often do that. it was his vigil. >> as soviet ships sailed towards cuba, kennedy defies his military advisers and orders a naval blockade. kennedy demands that the missile sites be dismantled. khrushchev refuses. >> there was no waking or sleeping and i just don't know which day was which. there was no day and night.

>> she really knew what was going on. she was a sounding board. and they were really growing closer together through this trauma. >> as the days go by, the pressure mounts on kennedy to invade cuba, an act that would result in war. on the 13th day, kennedy and khrushchev finally break the deadlock. >> i have today been informed by chairman khrushchev that all weapons will be withdrawn in 30 days. >> nuclear war averted, kennedy presents his closest advisers with tiffany's silver calendars marked with the 13 crucial days. he also gives one to jackie. >> and finally, when it was over, he thought of giving that calendar to every member. i was just surprised that i had one. >> it was elevating her as someone he looks upon with as much respect he did his own brother, who was by his side during that 13 days.

that gift was incredibly important to her, and she treasured it all her life. >> yesterday, a shaft of light cast into the darkness. negotiations were concluded in moscow to ban all nuclear tests in the atmosphere. >> 1963 had been a good year for jack and jackie. and the most important thing in their personal lives right then was they were looking forward to the birth of a third child. >> jackie was surrounded by kennedys who were having loads of children, including bobby and ethel, who had gone on to have 11. the president wanted a large family, and jackie felt inadequate in that she had these terribly difficult pregnancies. >> seven years earlier, jackie went into premature labor. but jack was totally absent. >> in 1956, she gave birth to a

stillborn daughter whom she named arabella. jack was away being a playboy in the south of france. and it really took somebody saying to him, you have to get on a plane and go home and be with your wife at this moment. but in 1963, his mindset was very different when she went into labor. >> mrs. kennedy has given birth to a 4 pound 10 1/2 ounce baby boy who was 5 1/2 weeks premature. >> born by emergency c-section, baby patrick has severe breathing difficulties. he is immediately taken from his mother and flown to boston for life-saving treatment. >> all jack could do was watch through this little porthole in the room and see this child inside an incubator. and when it was finally clear that he was going to die, they brought him out and put him in his father's arms.

>> patrick kennedy died at 4:04 a.m. the struggle of the baby boy to keep breathing was too much for his heart. >> jackie only saw patrick in an incubator. she never had a chance to hold him in her arms. jack was disconsolate, and he immediately flew to the hospital where jackie was. >> he came back from boston to me in the hospital, and he walked in the morning, about 8:00 in my room. just sobbed. put his arms around me. >> after patrick, i think they were a lot closer. it's the first time i've ever seen them hold hands. >> it was symbolic that he would

be so publicly tender to her. it showed the world that this was something that they were sharing and had, in fact, deepened their bond. >> a month later, jackie writes to charles bartlett, the friend who had introduced her to jack. >> it begins as a letter of gratitude to charlie for having been the matchmaker back in 1951. >> i have so much to thank you for, dear charlie. all my life, jack, john, and caroline. when i think of the narrow escapes, how we might never have met, it is quite frightening. >> i think the most poignant thing in the letter is she writes that, without jack, her life would have been a wasteland. i mean, that is a very vivid image.

you do get the sense that they have achieved this equanimity in their marriage. and it is actually followed by her recommitment, really, to their marriage and to their political life. >> two years ago, i introduced myself in paris by saying that i was the man who had accompanied mrs. kennedy to paris. i'm getting somewhat that same sensation as i travel around texas. >> there's no question that he was thrilled that she wanted to come to texas with him, that she wanted to campaign with him. >> this is a very dangerous and uncertain world. we would like to live as we once lived. >> it was a bright, sunny day. and jackie put on her sunglasses. and jack said, "please take them off, i want them to see you."

>> as they're in the motorcade, nellie connally, governor connally's wife, turns to jfk and said, "you can't say that dallas doesn't love you." and the president says, "you certainly can't." y time has been amazing. it has given me such a sense of control. the program puts everything you need for overall wellness all in one place. you don't have to give up your life to lose weight. you can still eat the foods that you love. i've lost over 90 pounds and i feel the best that i've ever felt. why wait to feel better, your time is now. the new myww+. more holistic. more personalized. more weight loss. ww weightwatchers reimagined. join today for 40% off plus our cooking kit! offer ends february 8th! ♪hail♪ ♪with it, baby, 'cause you're fine♪ ♪and you're mine, and you look so divine♪ ♪come and get your love♪ get a dozen double crunch shrimp for one dollar with any steak entrée. only at applebee's.

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>> the sounds and the screaming and the motors racing. for him then literally to fall into her lap so that she is staring into the wound and knowing that he's gone. >> there's numerous people running up the hill alongside elm street -- >> she's in a war zone, and she starts to climb out of the car. >> and then clint hill, the secret service agent, pushes her into safety, pushes her back down. but now she's back into the horror of this chamber in which her husband has been murdered. >> we have them coming directly into parks and hospital -- >> president kennedy has been assassinated. it's official now. the president is dead. there's only one word to describe the picture here, and that's grief. secret servicemen standing by the emergency room, tears

streaming down their face. >> this is probably going to be one of the last times she is with him ever. very soon they're going to come and put him in a casket, and she wants to give him something, something personal that she can put in with him, i guess to have a piece of her with him. and she chooses her wedding band. and removes it from her finger and attempts to place it on his. >> president kennedy's body is to be placed aboard air force one. already arrangements for swearing in the new president are being made. >> she is wearing a bloodstained suit. and she is asked, would she like to change? and she refuses. and says, with maybe anger, "i want them to see what they've done to jack." >> i do solemnly swear that i will faithfully execute -- >> standing next to lyndon

johnson, yes, she's in shock. but she's already thinking, what is she going to do to preserve her husband's legacy? >> on the flight back, she is talking about wanting her husband's funeral to be just like lincoln's funeral. >> she knows the symbolism of the lincoln martyrdom should infuse her husband's farewell to the united states and the world. and back in washington, we literally gasped to see mrs. kennedy appear behind the casket, streaked with her husband's blood. she was the message that her husband had been killed in a political assassination. >> president kennedy's body is returned to the white house. only then does jackie finally leave his side. >> that was a moment, i'm sure, of profound isolation for her. >> in the 8 seconds that is it took to fire off three shots,

she lost her husband, her job, and her home. >> and she said, "i had worked so hard at the marriage and succeeded, and he had really come to love me and to congratulate me on what i did for him." >> she said, just when we had it all settled, she had the rug pulled out from under her without any power to do anything about it. that's not true, actually. she had power, and she used it. >> in the imposing rotunda of the capitol, the casket rests on the same catafalque used when abraham lincoln's body lay in state nearly 100 years ago -- >> jackie wishes to walk behind her husband's casket. this presents a nightmare for the secret service. >> the secret service say, if you're going to march from the

white house to st. matthew's cathedral, which is about seven, eight blocks, surrounded by tall buildings, the very kind of building the president was shot from in dallas, world leaders and president johnson and mrs. johnson are going to want to march in solidarity with you too. >> the secret service says under no circumstances should president johnson take that risk. that day, kennedy's assassin is shot in dallas. >> jackie stage managed her husband's funeral perfectly. every detail. the riderless horse, to heartbreaking children standing next to her with john john saluting as his father's coffin rolled by. >> and jackie holds firm to her

final wish. >> jackie walked with bobby and teddy, followed by all these other world leaders, charles de gaulle and prince philip, halle selassie. >> believed to be first time a president's widow has walked in his funeral procession. all followed behind the president's casket. >> jackie doesn't know whether president johnson has joined the procession. reaching the cathedral she turns to discover that he has defied the secret service. she smiles, the only smile displayed those four days. >> she's so happy that johnson has followed her lead. fact these leaders put their own lives at risk meant a lot to her. >> i remember my parents saying if she can get through this, so can we.

>> these became iconic moments for the nation when the presidency reminds us of who we are. >> the funeral was incredibly memorable capstone to this all too brief presidency. it really was the beginning of the creation of her husband's legacy. using salonpas patch reported reductions in pain severity, using less or a lot less oral pain medicines. and improved quality of life. ask your doctor about salonpas. it's good medicine.

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a week after her husband's assassination, jackie calls journalist and historian

theodore white to hyannisport. wants a piece for "life" magazine. >> he was the chronicler and "life" magazine had great power. >> she is obsessed with how the president will be remembered. trying to get jump on the first grasp of history, journalism. >> midway through recalling the events in dallas in graphic detail, jackie suddenly changes the subject. >> she tells this very sweet story that they would put on the soundtrack from the broadway musical "camelot," that the president's favorite line was don't let it be forgot that once there was a spot for one brief shining moment known as camelot. and then mrs. kennedy said there will be great presidents again

but there will never be another camelot. >> arthurian legend is full of infidelity, betrayal, death and loss. so there's a darker side that's weirdly the truthful image. but like many things that jackie kennedy did it was brilliant stagecraft. it was brief and shining. white said she could have sold him the brooklyn bridge. but she's pouring over his copy and she edits it. white files a story, editors a little skeptical, is this camelot a little bit much? she insists, no camelot, no story. >> country was enjoying a brief interregnum before vietnam, before watergate, an innocent america willing to be lured into

fantasy. a fantasy that was so appealing. >> jackie prepares to leave the white house for the last time. >> dear mr. chairman president, so now one of the last nights i will spend in the white house, in one of the last letters i will write, i would like to write you my message. >> but jackie's letter is not to a family member or close friend, but soviet premier nikita khrushchev. >> i send it because i know how much my husband cared about peace. used to quote your words in some of his speeches. in the next world the survivors will envy the dead. you and he were adversaries but you were allied in determination that the world shouldn't be blown up. >> her final act in the white house really revealed the depth of her seriousness.

it's in that letter to nikita khrushchev, urging him to continue the nuclear disarmament talks that had begun with her husband. >> the danger which troubled my husband was that war might be started, not so much by the big men, but by the little ones. while big men know the needs for self-control and restraint, little men are sometimes moved by fear and pride. it's really good let's continue for future generations. >> if the mark of a great president is understanding the big issues of the day, the mark of a great first lady is a more subtle thing, and jackie got this. and that is understanding the essence of the time. and america as a global player,

she perfectly reflected that. and in fact shaped it. >> although she became jackie o., and had a whole life as a book editor and everything else that she did subsequent to the white house, she was in the end inevitably defined by what she did as first lady. i believe the republican party has a platform that is a banner of bold republican colors with no pale or pastille shades. >> they call it the gaze. a look of adoration so compelling even the cameras

can't break away. >> do i remember the gaze? it was a talent because she looked at him as though he were a god. >> it was almost hypnotic that gaze. >> she just saw in her husband someone who should be president. her husband's glory would be their glory. >> the ragens were the first show business family to the white house. >> she wanted to be the producer, director behind the scenes. >> how do you feel about this, mrs. reagan? >> i agree with everything he said. i always do. >> he never would have been elected governor without nancy. he never would have been elected president without nancy. they were a team. she gave him strength inasmuch she gave him encouragement. she gave him hell. >> you a