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Tapes of interviews that Jacqueline Kennedy gave after JFK's death have been released, and they reveal the former First Lady's thoughts on topics ranging from presidential life to marriage and to public figures such as Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Kennedy had sat with historian and White House aide Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. and gave him more than eight hours of interviews. She commanded that the tapes not be released until 50 years after her death, but daughter Caroline thought otherwise.
Caroline allowed the tapes to be released to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Kennedy presidency.
The tapes are "just a snapshot of a world we barely recognize," she said, the Associated Press reported.
The book "Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy" is being released today, along with eight CDs of audio recordings.
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Kennedy, it turned out, had strong opinions about people she came across during her husband's political career.
She thought former Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi was "a real prune" and referred to Charles DeGaulle as "that egomanic." She also thought Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was "a phony."
The BBC noted that Kennedy liked the people her husband liked, and disliked the ones he disliked.
She liked his brother, former attorney general Robert Kennedy, former defense secretary Robert McNamara, and former national security adviser McGeorge Bundy, the BBC reported.
She and her husband both disliked vice president Lyndon B. Johnson, but that feeling was always known by historians to be mutual.
"Jack would say you could never get an opinion out of Lyndon at any cabinet or national security meeting," Kennedy said in the tapes, the BBC reported. "He'd just say, you know, that he agreed with them - with everyone - or just keep really quiet. So Lyndon, as vice-president, didn't just do anything."
