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  • >> Princess Grace: Another side of him I remember...

  • well he turned to me suddenly and asked: "Is that a Givenchy you're wearing?"

  • And I said, "Why how clever of you, Mr. President! However did you know?"

  • "Oh," he replied, "I'm getting pretty good at itnow that fashion is becoming

  • more important than politics and the press is paying more attention

  • to Jackie's clothes than to my speeches.

  • >> [Music: France Gall "Pense a Moi"]

  • >> Paul Gallico: Was this the first time that you had met the President?

  • >> Princess Grace: Well actually, no. The first time was before he became President,

  • during that year that he was in the hospital in New York with his back.

  • I had been to a dinner party where I had met

  • Mrs. Kennedy and her sister [Lee Bouvier Kennedy] for the first time.

  • They asked me to go to the hospital with them

  • to pay a visit to help cheer him up.

  • They wanted me to go into his room and say I was the new night nurse.

  • >> Paul Gallico: Did you?

  • >> Princess Grace: Well I hesitated. I was terribly embarrassed.

  • Eventually I was sort of pushed into the room by the two girls.

  • I introduced myself, but he had recognized me at once

  • and couldn't have been sweeter or more quick to put me at ease.

  • >> Paul Gallico: When today you think of the late President Kennedy [John F. Kennedy],

  • what is it that comes to your mind most vividlyor, shall we say, to your heart?

  • >> Princess Grace: His youth. He was one of my own generation,

  • so that for the first time in my life I became deeply involved,

  • spiritually, and sympathetically, with the presidencythe office as well as the man.

  • I felt personally involved.

  • >> Paul Gallico: Speaking as an American?

  • >> Princess Grace: Oh, yes, as a born American

  • but also as the wife of the head of an independent European country.

  • We felt somehow that at last the United States had a leader who,

  • from the point of view of age, appearance, and dynamic personality,

  • genuinely reflected his era.

  • My husband often remarked what a pity

  • it was that a great country like America,

  • which in Europe is still regarded as such a young nation,

  • should be represented seemingly only by old or infirmed men.

  • >> [Music: Julius Hemphill Sextet "The Hard Blues"]

  • Princess Grace: From the moment he became President,

  • it seemed as though a wave of excitement ran through

  • all of the young painters, poets, writers and musicians of the United States.

  • Now that someone of their own age was in the White House,

  • there was somehow a better chance for them to be seen or heard.

  • >> [Music: "The Hard Blues" continues]

  • >> Princess Grace: I remember the luncheon

  • that we were privileged to have at the White House.

  • I kept the menu. I'm one of those people who keep everything.

  • We had soft-shelled crabs and spring lamb and strawberries Romanov.

  • Mrs. Kennedy and I fell into woman talk

  • with a discussion of our children of courseour two Carolines

  • [Caroline Bouvier Kennedy; Princess Caroline]—and our special problems

  • connected with bringing them up. I remember Jacqueline was very upset

  • about that time at the photographers who were hounding the children.

  • She was determined that Caroline and John [John F. Kennedy, Jr.]

  • should be able to get in and out of the White House

  • without being pestered by photographers

  • or being made constantly aware of their position.

  • >> [Music: -Advent Chamber Orchestra "Concerto for 2 Oboes in Fmajor Op9 no3 Allegro"]

  • >> Paul Gallico: Do you feel that his lifeand death,

  • will have any lasting effect upon international relationships?

  • >> Princess Grace: Are you asking me whether

  • I think that President Kennedy died in vain?

  • >> Paul Gallico: In a sense, yes.

  • >> Princess Grace: Well, it might not seem so today, but I, for one,

  • cannot believe that a man of Mr. Kennedy's stature and achievements

  • was put upon this earth for no other purpose than to stop an assassin's bullet.

  • I believe that God allows these certain tragedies to happen

  • in order to emphasize the man and his achievements

  • and to inspire those who follow to have the strength

  • and the will to accomplish his unfulfilled dreams.

  • >> [MUSIC: XPURM "BRPLE"]

  • [END]

  • Subtitles by the Amara.org community

>> Princess Grace: Another side of him I remember...

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