t3003 Prince Philip was born a prince of Greece in 1921, but the title promised far more than life delivered. He was 18 months old when his family was forced into exile. His father was court-martialed. His mother, Princess Alice, suffered a severe breakdown and was eventually institutionalized. His four sisters moved to Germany, where three … Read more
On April 17, 2021, a 94-year-old woman sat alone in a wooden pew in St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle and waited for her husband's coffin to pass. She wore black and a face mask. There were 30 mourners in a chapel built for 800, and pandemic rules placed a two-metre gap between her and … Read more
Elle était habillée simplement, une veste légère sur un chemisier gris, ses cheveux sombres tirés en arrière. Elle est passée devant moi dans la cuisine sans un mot, comme elle le faisait toujours, puis elle s’est retournée et m’a enlacée. Pas une accolade rapide du côté comme elle me donnait d’habitude, mais un vrai câlin, … Read more
On November 25, 1963, the day of President John F. Kennedy's funeral, the nation watched in collective grief. The procession wound through the streets of Washington, where hundreds of thousands of mourners had filed past the flag-draped coffin in the Capitol Rotunda. Television images from that day were seared into American memory. Jacqueline Kennedy, composed … Read more
On July 13, 1960, at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, Lyndon Baines Johnson sat in his suite chain-smoking, surrounded by his closest aides. The Democratic convention had just nominated John F. Kennedy for president. Johnson, the most powerful Senate majority leader in American history, was about to receive a visit that would throw his … Read more
On November 8, 1960, the national networks called the presidential race too close to call by 11:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 43-year-old senator from Massachusetts, was running within fractional margins against Vice President Richard Nixon in the states whose electoral votes would decide the presidency. The popular vote would ultimately separate … Read more
On November 22, 1963, Harry Truman sat in his private library in Independence, Missouri, reading the Kansas City Star when his phone rang at 1:45 p.m. The caller was a Secret Service agent. President Kennedy had been shot in Dallas. Truman gripped the receiver until his knuckles turned white. He asked one question: Is he … Read more
In 1969, a 79-year-old woman stood in a Brookline bedroom and recorded a tour of her own house. America knew her as the Kennedy matriarch, rosary in hand, grief borne without complaint. She was not remembering that house. She was editing it. This was a woman who logged her children's weights and illnesses on index … Read more
The Warren Commission concluded that three shots were fired at President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, all from a single rifle in the hands of one man. That finding, published in September 1964 after a ten-month investigation led by Chief Justice Earl Warren, became the foundation of the official history. According to the … Read more
On May 23, 1994, a Belgian-born diamond dealer stood at a Catholic altar on Park Avenue and read a Greek poem over Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. America called it the gentlest love story of her life. He was another woman's husband that morning, and had been for 45 years. Her will left him one item by … Read more