Posts
....The World Shares Its Grief,
Letters November 1963
Author Interview, Review, and Giveaway
GIVEAWAY ENDED
DEAR MRS. KENNEDY,
THE WORLD SHARES ITS GRIEF
LETTERS NOVEMBER 1963
BY JAY MULVANEY and PAUL De ANGELIS
ABOUT THE BOOK:
In the weeks and months following the assassination of her husband, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy received over one million letters. They came from political luminaries such as Winston Churchill, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Charles De Gaulle; from Hollywood stars like Lauren Bacall, Vivian Leigh, and Gene Kelly and foreign dignitaries like Queen Elizabeth and the Prince of Monaco. Distinguished artists, writers, and well known society figures—Ezra Pound, Noel Coward, Babe Paley, Langston Hughes, Oleg Cassini, Josephine Baker—offered heartfelt condolences. “Ordinary” citizens of this country and many others wrote as well, as did children, often with the most heartbreaking sincerity.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Paul De Angelis served more than three decades in the book publishing business as Editor, Editorial Director, or Editor-in-Chief of such publishing companies as St. Martin’s Press and E.P. Dutton and Kodansha America. After becoming an independent editor in 1996 he founded Paul De Angelis Book Development, which assists authors, agents, publishers and organizations in turning ideas & manuscripts into books. Since 1997 Paul has edited, contributed to, and co-published the quarterly guide to the Rhinebeck-Red Hook-Hudson area of the mid-Hudson Valley, AboutTown. In the past few years his main writing and research interest has been American culture and politics in its intersection with the wider world.
Volunteers reading and sorting condolence letters. Nancy Tuckerman is standing at the back of office, leaning on the desk, with her face turned slightly towards the camera. Jacqueline Kennedy’s office in the Executive Office Building, December 11, 1963. (JFK Library)
AUTHOR INTERVIEW:
1. Welcome, Mr. De Angelis! It is an honor to have you on my blog today. To start this interview, can you share a little bit about your life and work?
I’ve written and wanted to have published books since the first mystery I wrote when I was in fourth grade. My first novels were pretty unpublishable, and I became a book editor in New York City. A few years ago I started ghostwriting on a regular basis; DEAR MRS. KENNEDY is the first book on which I have a public author credit. It’s also very meaningful to me, since I grew up in the suburban Washington DC area and my parents were stalwart FDR Democrats who, from my perspective (being born in 1949) finally had a hero for president when JFK was elected in 1960. For more on my professional background people should go to my website, pauldeangelisbooks.com, or the website of the Independent Editors Group I belong to, bookdocs.com.
2. It must have been so interesting to be able to read all the letters of Mrs. Kennedy. Were there any letters that you remember more than others? If so, why is it?
I only wish I could have reads all the letters by Mrs. Kennedy. She was a notoriously private person and tried to keep as little as possible from being published, and her estate continues to withhold permission to publish most of her letters and writings. I specifically wished to include some responses she wrote: to Richard Nixon for his condolence letter about the assassination, to Earl Warren, to Bess Truman years later about the death of Harry Truman (Mrs. Kennedy wrote truly wonderful condolence letters, including an eight-page one to Katherine Graham).
Of the letters that were written to Mrs. Kennedy (collected in my book), I of course remember every single one that is given either in full or part in the text, especially since I had to go through an extended process of obtaining permission to publish each one, which meant I became acquainted with the person and/or estate/relatives of the letter writer. It has been a FASCINATING journey. Each letter not only reveals the personality of the letter writer, but the relationship of that writer to Jack or Jackie Kennedy, whether through personal connection or from afar. Each is its own pearl.
I also remember very well those letters for which I gained permission but was NOT able to include in the book for one reason or another (many of them can be found on my website; I particularly like the ones from John Carl Warnecke, who became romantically involved with Jackie Kennedy after the death of JFK; and that from Sarah Blanding of Vassar College, partly because it describes the Vassar campus right after the assassination, and I live quite near it and am so familiar with it). I also remember well those letters I WANTED to include but for which I could not locate the writer; only in one or two instances was I refused permission or asked for a sum of money (usually from the agent of some famous person) beyond my permissions budget.
3. I was reading on your website about your book THE NOBEL BOOK OF ANSWERS. I wonder if you might like to share about that book as I think it is quite unique and how did you come up with the idea?
THE NOBEL BOOK OF ANSWERS is one of the books I translated with my wife, Elisabeth Kaestner. It originated as a series of articles/interviews with Nobel Prize Winners put together by freelance journalist Bettina Stiekel. The series first ran in the weekend magazine of the German newspaper the Süddeutsche Zeitung and was so popular that it turned into a book published in Germany, the rights for which were bought by an editor at Simon & Schuster in the USA. In her foreword, she describes going to a conference of Nobel laureates on Lake Constance in Switzerland in order to conduct interviews: “I don’t know exactly how I recognized them, the smartest people of our era. Perhaps it was something about their eyes. The way Nobel laureates look at the world seems focused and directed outward while at the same time focused deeply inward: an expression that is curious yet restrained, almost introverted.”
4. What questions were children allowed to ask and was there a particular question you are fond of and Nobel Winner’s answer that you might share with the readers?
Bettina Stiekel selected the questions that many kids of her friends and associates posed, particularly those of a boy named Johnny who was the son of one of her closest friends. My favorite questions were “Why is the sky blue?” and “Why can’t I live on French fries?” My favorite answer was the one given by Nobel laureate for literature Kenzaburo Oe, the Japanese novelist, to the question: “Why do we have to go to school?
5. With DEAR MRS. KENNEDY, you took over the writing when Jay Mulvaney died suddenly. How difficult was it to then finish the book and make it your own?
Jay had completed one of the trickiest parts of any book project, which is writing a proposal that is eloquent enough not only to convince the publisher to advance money on the project, but effectively conceptualizes the book, providing a kind of “end goal” or vision that I was able to hook into at various times in the actual writing to provide guidance about where I ought to be heading. Of course, it helped that I was in real sympathy with Jay’s writerly aims, even though I had never met the man, and we otherwise had very different backgrounds and interests as writers. In the way I think I complemented some of Jay’s interests and vice versa: he had a real background in fashion and design and Hollywood personalities and I had more of a background in American politics and history. And it was good that Jay had only suggested a number of possible ways to organize and/or write about the letters in the book without ever having made a stab at doing a real outline. This left the field pretty clear for me to take it in hand and run with it as I saw fit—along with the expert guidance of my editor at St. Martin’s Press, Charles Spicer.
6. In the book 9-11, what were your feelings while you were translating the first hand accounts from the Der Spiegel team?
Well, INSIDE 9-11 was a very emotionally draining and tricky book to translate. First of all, we were dealing with a text that had been reported in German, but was often based on interview material that had originated in English. We of course had no access to the interview material, and I’m sure that in any event it was heavily edited to turn it into a coherent story . . .. . So it was essential that the text be idiomatic and fresh and capture the immediacy of the terrible things that were happening inside the buildings during the tragedy, but at the same time be impeccably accurate, since we were really establishing the historical record of a unique event. DER SPIEGEL of course was in a very good position to report about the terrorists who carried out the operation since they had been based in Hamburg. Because my wife is German, she kept careful watch that when I made something idiomatic I didn’t at the same time distort its original meaning. And, also, she herself had worked for many years in one of the World Trade Center buildings, so it was a doubly disturbing—but ultimately also rewarding—venture for her to be revisiting this locus of her earlier professional life which had now disappeared forever.
7. What books would you say have made the biggest impression on you, especially starting out? What are you currently reading?
When I was a teenaged boy I loved HOT ROD and STREET ROD by Henry Gregor Felsen as well as political thrillers like ADVISE AND CONSENT and SEVEN DAYS IN MAY. I later became a real fan of fantastic literature, often of the Latin American variety, but also fell in love with Leonora Carrington’s THE HEARING TRUMPET, which I published when I worked as an editor at St. Martin’s press back in the mid-1970s. Right now I’m reading Steven Weisman’s DANIEL PATRICK MOYNIHAN biography in letters and diaries, THE THREE ROOSEVELTS by James McGregor Burns and Susan Dunn and TWITTER POWER 2.0 by Joel Comm.
8. What is the next or current book/project you are working on?
I’m fascinated by the great sea change in American popular opinion from 1920s isolationism to 1940s internationalism, and I’m hoping to write about the dual role played by Franklin & Eleanor Roosevelt in provoking, responding to, sometimes leading and sometimes being led by the American public (and contemporary opinion makers on right and left, cultural and political). Also, of course, how people and events outside the USA shaped their and our response. What lay underneath the genuine but superficial rhetoric of patriotic togetherness? I think we project back onto that WWII era a lot more black-and-white thinking than what was actually the case, and we tend to dismiss the isolationists and pacifists, but they re-emerged in different form during the Cold War and are REALLY re-emerging now, I believe, in a world in which the USA is no longer the unquestioned international leader.
9. What is your advice to anyone, including young people, who want to be writers?
Do it: blog, articles, journalism, stories, poetry, whatever. But do it with and for an audience, whether a writing group or a class, or a local publication, or make some agreement with other bloggers that you’ll mutually criticize each other . . . because without feedback a writer is most likely to become discouraged and unfocused.
I’ve written and wanted to have published books since the first mystery I wrote when I was in fourth grade. My first novels were pretty unpublishable, and I became a book editor in New York City. A few years ago I started ghostwriting on a regular basis; DEAR MRS. KENNEDY is the first book on which I have a public author credit. It’s also very meaningful to me, since I grew up in the suburban Washington DC area and my parents were stalwart FDR Democrats who, from my perspective (being born in 1949) finally had a hero for president when JFK was elected in 1960. For more on my professional background people should go to my website, pauldeangelisbooks.com, or the website of the Independent Editors Group I belong to, bookdocs.com.
2. It must have been so interesting to be able to read all the letters of Mrs. Kennedy. Were there any letters that you remember more than others? If so, why is it?
I only wish I could have reads all the letters by Mrs. Kennedy. She was a notoriously private person and tried to keep as little as possible from being published, and her estate continues to withhold permission to publish most of her letters and writings. I specifically wished to include some responses she wrote: to Richard Nixon for his condolence letter about the assassination, to Earl Warren, to Bess Truman years later about the death of Harry Truman (Mrs. Kennedy wrote truly wonderful condolence letters, including an eight-page one to Katherine Graham).
Of the letters that were written to Mrs. Kennedy (collected in my book), I of course remember every single one that is given either in full or part in the text, especially since I had to go through an extended process of obtaining permission to publish each one, which meant I became acquainted with the person and/or estate/relatives of the letter writer. It has been a FASCINATING journey. Each letter not only reveals the personality of the letter writer, but the relationship of that writer to Jack or Jackie Kennedy, whether through personal connection or from afar. Each is its own pearl.
I also remember very well those letters for which I gained permission but was NOT able to include in the book for one reason or another (many of them can be found on my website; I particularly like the ones from John Carl Warnecke, who became romantically involved with Jackie Kennedy after the death of JFK; and that from Sarah Blanding of Vassar College, partly because it describes the Vassar campus right after the assassination, and I live quite near it and am so familiar with it). I also remember well those letters I WANTED to include but for which I could not locate the writer; only in one or two instances was I refused permission or asked for a sum of money (usually from the agent of some famous person) beyond my permissions budget.
3. I was reading on your website about your book THE NOBEL BOOK OF ANSWERS. I wonder if you might like to share about that book as I think it is quite unique and how did you come up with the idea?
THE NOBEL BOOK OF ANSWERS is one of the books I translated with my wife, Elisabeth Kaestner. It originated as a series of articles/interviews with Nobel Prize Winners put together by freelance journalist Bettina Stiekel. The series first ran in the weekend magazine of the German newspaper the Süddeutsche Zeitung and was so popular that it turned into a book published in Germany, the rights for which were bought by an editor at Simon & Schuster in the USA. In her foreword, she describes going to a conference of Nobel laureates on Lake Constance in Switzerland in order to conduct interviews: “I don’t know exactly how I recognized them, the smartest people of our era. Perhaps it was something about their eyes. The way Nobel laureates look at the world seems focused and directed outward while at the same time focused deeply inward: an expression that is curious yet restrained, almost introverted.”
4. What questions were children allowed to ask and was there a particular question you are fond of and Nobel Winner’s answer that you might share with the readers?
Bettina Stiekel selected the questions that many kids of her friends and associates posed, particularly those of a boy named Johnny who was the son of one of her closest friends. My favorite questions were “Why is the sky blue?” and “Why can’t I live on French fries?” My favorite answer was the one given by Nobel laureate for literature Kenzaburo Oe, the Japanese novelist, to the question: “Why do we have to go to school?
5. With DEAR MRS. KENNEDY, you took over the writing when Jay Mulvaney died suddenly. How difficult was it to then finish the book and make it your own?
Jay had completed one of the trickiest parts of any book project, which is writing a proposal that is eloquent enough not only to convince the publisher to advance money on the project, but effectively conceptualizes the book, providing a kind of “end goal” or vision that I was able to hook into at various times in the actual writing to provide guidance about where I ought to be heading. Of course, it helped that I was in real sympathy with Jay’s writerly aims, even though I had never met the man, and we otherwise had very different backgrounds and interests as writers. In the way I think I complemented some of Jay’s interests and vice versa: he had a real background in fashion and design and Hollywood personalities and I had more of a background in American politics and history. And it was good that Jay had only suggested a number of possible ways to organize and/or write about the letters in the book without ever having made a stab at doing a real outline. This left the field pretty clear for me to take it in hand and run with it as I saw fit—along with the expert guidance of my editor at St. Martin’s Press, Charles Spicer.
6. In the book 9-11, what were your feelings while you were translating the first hand accounts from the Der Spiegel team?
Well, INSIDE 9-11 was a very emotionally draining and tricky book to translate. First of all, we were dealing with a text that had been reported in German, but was often based on interview material that had originated in English. We of course had no access to the interview material, and I’m sure that in any event it was heavily edited to turn it into a coherent story . . .. . So it was essential that the text be idiomatic and fresh and capture the immediacy of the terrible things that were happening inside the buildings during the tragedy, but at the same time be impeccably accurate, since we were really establishing the historical record of a unique event. DER SPIEGEL of course was in a very good position to report about the terrorists who carried out the operation since they had been based in Hamburg. Because my wife is German, she kept careful watch that when I made something idiomatic I didn’t at the same time distort its original meaning. And, also, she herself had worked for many years in one of the World Trade Center buildings, so it was a doubly disturbing—but ultimately also rewarding—venture for her to be revisiting this locus of her earlier professional life which had now disappeared forever.
7. What books would you say have made the biggest impression on you, especially starting out? What are you currently reading?
When I was a teenaged boy I loved HOT ROD and STREET ROD by Henry Gregor Felsen as well as political thrillers like ADVISE AND CONSENT and SEVEN DAYS IN MAY. I later became a real fan of fantastic literature, often of the Latin American variety, but also fell in love with Leonora Carrington’s THE HEARING TRUMPET, which I published when I worked as an editor at St. Martin’s press back in the mid-1970s. Right now I’m reading Steven Weisman’s DANIEL PATRICK MOYNIHAN biography in letters and diaries, THE THREE ROOSEVELTS by James McGregor Burns and Susan Dunn and TWITTER POWER 2.0 by Joel Comm.
8. What is the next or current book/project you are working on?
I’m fascinated by the great sea change in American popular opinion from 1920s isolationism to 1940s internationalism, and I’m hoping to write about the dual role played by Franklin & Eleanor Roosevelt in provoking, responding to, sometimes leading and sometimes being led by the American public (and contemporary opinion makers on right and left, cultural and political). Also, of course, how people and events outside the USA shaped their and our response. What lay underneath the genuine but superficial rhetoric of patriotic togetherness? I think we project back onto that WWII era a lot more black-and-white thinking than what was actually the case, and we tend to dismiss the isolationists and pacifists, but they re-emerged in different form during the Cold War and are REALLY re-emerging now, I believe, in a world in which the USA is no longer the unquestioned international leader.
9. What is your advice to anyone, including young people, who want to be writers?
Do it: blog, articles, journalism, stories, poetry, whatever. But do it with and for an audience, whether a writing group or a class, or a local publication, or make some agreement with other bloggers that you’ll mutually criticize each other . . . because without feedback a writer is most likely to become discouraged and unfocused.
MY REVIEW and THOUGHTS:
I’d like to think we all are able to look back at times from our youth when we were carefree and life had no limitations. All was right and good with our world. For those of us who are now it seems the much talked about, baby boomers, the 1960‘s were about peace and love, flowers in our hair, standing up for civil rights, Woodstock and Hendrix and Joplin. Even if we thought we had the weight of the world on our shoulders, we were still going to “ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country“ because we were led, protected, and inspired by our young and vibrant leader who told us that, President John Fitzgerald Kennedy.
The Kennedy family became known as our American Royalty. With this new, young President and his elegant, trend setting, fashionable wife, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, and their two precious children, Caroline and John, Jr. (John-John), we were a country in love with our leader. But as I found out in high school on this day 47 years ago, the life we knew was about to change forever. President Kennedy was assassinated and the whole country, and most of the world, stood still. In shock and disbelief, we watched as over the next week, we walked around in incredulity, staying near the ones we loved, sheltering our feelings as best we could. For over one million people, the way to express our love, sympathy, and concern, to our First Family, was to write to Mrs. Kennedy. To put down in words our feelings and share our sympathies, we wrote. Brought together by this tragedy that unfolded before our very eyes over that week, the world wept. And these letters poured into the White House and as we knew she would, Mrs. Kennedy took on the responsibility to heal our hearts while hers was breaking. She promised the people that the letters would be preserved in a future Kennedy presidential library. And that is where they have been for the past 40+ years.
Now we can all, young and old, read about this time in our history and experience the feelings of so many, through these letters because of an amazing book from Jay Mulvaney and Paul De Angelis. In fact, Mr. Mulvaney passed away before the book was finished and Paul De Angelis took over and completed it on his own, and now DEAR MRS. KENNEDY, The World Shares Its Grief - Letters November 1963 is an amazing work in which you can witness the grief and sorrow of world leaders, celebrities, politicians, but also every day men, women, and children, who felt the need to write. Mrs. Kennedy promised to acknowledge them all and with the help of over 3,000 volunteers, in the days before computers, these letters were organized into groups and Mrs. Kennedy sent out responses all on the same day some weeks later thus making sure no one person felt their thoughts were any less important than someone else.
This is truly a unique and extraordinary book. As I read the first part with the details all flooding back about those days in November, I would often wipe a tear as I remembered it so well. I was in high school that day where my sister happened to be teaching next door to the class I was in when that final announcement was made that President Kennedy was dead. I was not surprised to see our teacher in tears, or to witness the big football player next to me, stoic as tears slid down his cheeks. I was fortunate to have my sister there giving me at least the security of family nearby on that horrific day. Just as years later, again in school but this time on the teaching end, I experienced the explosion of the Challenger where my students could literally see the fiery trail in the sky south of our Florida school, I knew that would be their “time stood still” memory from their youth, or later on when I carried on teaching rather than scare the children even after I heard about the first tower falling on 9-11. Those days in 2001 were eerily familiar as we as a nation, and the world, once more came together as one, experiencing the shock and sorrow. This book made all those thoughts come back but what touched me most about DEAR MRS. KENNEDY is that I could tell by reading all the letters that I had not been alone…no, rather, far from it. I thought some of the children’s letters got to me the most but for some reason, the one from Sir Winston Churchill touched me deeply because he was so eloquent in his sympathies. The book is history but it is also human feelings written for us all to experience thanks to Mulvaney and De Angelis. I know with a book like this around we can still think about the Kennedy family’s time in the White House as the famous Lerner and Lowe musical so put it when we all became enamored with OUR King and Queen and their Camelot . Thank you, Lisa and TLC Tours, for sending me this book, and Mr. De Angelis for his time and patience…and more so for DEAR MRS. KENNEDY because with it we can always understand those words from Camelot…
“Don't let it be forgot
That once there was a spot,
For one brief, shining moment
That was known as Camelot.”
The Kennedy family became known as our American Royalty. With this new, young President and his elegant, trend setting, fashionable wife, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, and their two precious children, Caroline and John, Jr. (John-John), we were a country in love with our leader. But as I found out in high school on this day 47 years ago, the life we knew was about to change forever. President Kennedy was assassinated and the whole country, and most of the world, stood still. In shock and disbelief, we watched as over the next week, we walked around in incredulity, staying near the ones we loved, sheltering our feelings as best we could. For over one million people, the way to express our love, sympathy, and concern, to our First Family, was to write to Mrs. Kennedy. To put down in words our feelings and share our sympathies, we wrote. Brought together by this tragedy that unfolded before our very eyes over that week, the world wept. And these letters poured into the White House and as we knew she would, Mrs. Kennedy took on the responsibility to heal our hearts while hers was breaking. She promised the people that the letters would be preserved in a future Kennedy presidential library. And that is where they have been for the past 40+ years.
Now we can all, young and old, read about this time in our history and experience the feelings of so many, through these letters because of an amazing book from Jay Mulvaney and Paul De Angelis. In fact, Mr. Mulvaney passed away before the book was finished and Paul De Angelis took over and completed it on his own, and now DEAR MRS. KENNEDY, The World Shares Its Grief - Letters November 1963 is an amazing work in which you can witness the grief and sorrow of world leaders, celebrities, politicians, but also every day men, women, and children, who felt the need to write. Mrs. Kennedy promised to acknowledge them all and with the help of over 3,000 volunteers, in the days before computers, these letters were organized into groups and Mrs. Kennedy sent out responses all on the same day some weeks later thus making sure no one person felt their thoughts were any less important than someone else.
This is truly a unique and extraordinary book. As I read the first part with the details all flooding back about those days in November, I would often wipe a tear as I remembered it so well. I was in high school that day where my sister happened to be teaching next door to the class I was in when that final announcement was made that President Kennedy was dead. I was not surprised to see our teacher in tears, or to witness the big football player next to me, stoic as tears slid down his cheeks. I was fortunate to have my sister there giving me at least the security of family nearby on that horrific day. Just as years later, again in school but this time on the teaching end, I experienced the explosion of the Challenger where my students could literally see the fiery trail in the sky south of our Florida school, I knew that would be their “time stood still” memory from their youth, or later on when I carried on teaching rather than scare the children even after I heard about the first tower falling on 9-11. Those days in 2001 were eerily familiar as we as a nation, and the world, once more came together as one, experiencing the shock and sorrow. This book made all those thoughts come back but what touched me most about DEAR MRS. KENNEDY is that I could tell by reading all the letters that I had not been alone…no, rather, far from it. I thought some of the children’s letters got to me the most but for some reason, the one from Sir Winston Churchill touched me deeply because he was so eloquent in his sympathies. The book is history but it is also human feelings written for us all to experience thanks to Mulvaney and De Angelis. I know with a book like this around we can still think about the Kennedy family’s time in the White House as the famous Lerner and Lowe musical so put it when we all became enamored with OUR King and Queen and their Camelot . Thank you, Lisa and TLC Tours, for sending me this book, and Mr. De Angelis for his time and patience…and more so for DEAR MRS. KENNEDY because with it we can always understand those words from Camelot…
“Don't let it be forgot
That once there was a spot,
For one brief, shining moment
That was known as Camelot.”
GIVEAWAY
THANKS TO LISA AT TLC TOURS,
I HAVE ONE COPY OF THIS VERY
SPECIAL BOOK TO GIVE AWAY
TO ONE LUCKY WINNER
RULES:
--U.S. AND CANADIAN RESIDENTS ONLY
--NO P. O. BOXES
---INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS
IN CASE YOU WIN!
--ALL COMMENTS MUST BE SEPARATE TO
COUNT AS MORE THAN ONE!
HOW TO ENTER:
--NO P. O. BOXES
---INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS
IN CASE YOU WIN!
--ALL COMMENTS MUST BE SEPARATE TO
COUNT AS MORE THAN ONE!
HOW TO ENTER:
+1 ENTRY: IF YOU WERE ALIVE ON NOVEMBER 22, 1963, COMMENT ON WHERE YOU WERE AND WHAT YOU REMEMBER ABOUT THIS DAY 47 YEARS AGO. IF YOU WEREN'T ALIVE, COMMENT ON WHAT YOU KNOW ABOUT THIS TRAGIC AND SAD TIME IN OUR COUNTRY.
+1 MORE ENTRY: BLOG OR TWEET ABOUT THIS GIVEAWAY AND COME BACK AND LEAVE A LINK THAT I CAN FOLLOW
+1 MORE ENTRY: GO TO PAUL De ANGELIS'S WEBSITE HERE AND COMMENT ON SOMETHING YOU FIND INTERESTING THERE.
+1 MORE ENTRY: GO TO PAUL De ANGELIS'S BLOG HERE AND READ SOME OF HIS INTERESTING POSTS. COMMENT THERE ABOUT READING ABOUT HIS BOOK ON BOOKIN' WITH BINGO WHILE YOU ARE THERE.
GIVEAWAY ENDS AT
6 PM, EST, DECEMBER 6!
6 PM, EST, DECEMBER 6!
GOOD LUCK!
88 comments:
I already have this book, but wanted to tell you that there is a lovely remembrance also in today's New York Time's by Clint Hill, who is the agent, you may recall, who literally covered Jack and Jackie's bodies with his own after the president was shot.
I remember on that day, that I was in a U.S. History class in the second seat from the front row. We were studying the Civil War battles. Over the PA came the radio message that President Kennedy had been shot. Everyone in class froze. My teacher stood very stiffly by me with his hand on my desk. I remember looking at his watch.It seemed that I couldn't move I could just listen.
There was a pause and then we hear the radio again, three times altogether. We all looked at each other. At that time we were all in total shock. Then there was an announcement by our principal that the classes were dismissed. We quietly filed down the hallway and boarded the school buses. My bus mate and I always sat together. We were both crying. Some the boys were sniffling. I ran into my house and my mother was watching TV. Our neighbor had called her about it. We
were all hoping and praying that he would be alright.
Then we saw the announcement from Walter Cronkite that the President had passed away. My mother left to plant some rose bushes in his memory. My cousin Mike rode the bus over to join my brothers, Dan, Steve and me watch the TV continously for that day and the weekend. It seemed like grief came in wave after wave. Just as soon as I thought that I could accept what had happened, a reporter would choke up and another wave of grief came.
I remember Mrs. Kennedy wearing the stained pink suit on the airplane back to Washington D.C. and John John saluting at the funeral parade. The whole nation was in mourning. The TV told of expressions of mourning from around the world. Thank you for asking us to recall this memory.
CarolNWong(at)aol(dot)com
I tweeted.
Carolee888 is my Twitter name.
http://bookinwithbingo.blogspot.com/ Giveaway for 'Dear Mrs. Kennedy'.
CarolNWong(at)aol(dot)com
I remember so well that historical day in history as I was with my cousins in Salina, Kansas. What I remember most is how upset my mother was over the sad news. I still remember this day as if it was yesterday and I now see how America was brought together in grief and anger over the senseless killing of President Kennedy. I would very much love to read this compilation of letters. Thanks so much for hosting this giveaway.
steven(dot)capell(at)gmail(dot)com
I accidently hit the wrong button and my computer shut off so I don't know it yopu received it. So here it is again!
I tweeted:
My Twitter name is Carolee888
http://bookinwithbingo.blogspot.com/ Giveaway for 'Dear Mrs. Kennedy'.
Mr.DeAngelis wrote has written some other books. I am interested in his and Nancy Amphoux's translated from French of Jean-Philippe Toussaint’s
book,'The Bathroom'. I am going to put it on my wish list as it is a story of an researcher who lives in his bathroom!
CarolNWong(at)aol(dot)com
I posted a comment about reading about his book on Booking with Bingo. This is on the post dated October 24,2010 called "A Seedling of Hope". That post is about Sandy Jones planting a blue spruce. Another blue spruce had been planted near where she grew up after President Lincoln had died.
CarolNWong(at)aol(dot)com
According to my mother, I was in my playpen (I was one) and she was washing the floor and when she heard it on the radio she burst into tears and just sat there crying for ages.
littleone AT shaw DOT ca
I was very small on that day, but do remember my mother ironing and watching TV and crying.
Went on to Mr. DeAngelis's website and really like the excerpt for his book, In the Bathroom and have put it on my TBR list.
Post on his blog about this book and the picture of Jackie & Bobby with the flag. Have never seen that photograph before and let Mr DeAngelis of that fact.
I wasn't born yet. My mother told me that she took the a NY subway home that day and everyone was silent. The whole country was in shock.
lizzi0915 at aol dot com
Yes, I was alive on 11/22/63, but I was probably just doing baby things. I was only 8 months old.
Can we get an extra entry if we were named after her? A lot of us born in 1962 are named Jacqueline (only mine is spelled Jacquelyn).
Jackie, I am not sure it would be fair to others but what an honor for you. Perhaps it will bring you good luck...and thanks for entering! Bingo!
Fabulous interview, review, and giveaway in remembrance of this fateful day. Thank you.
I was barely 9 years old and in a classroom at the time. An announcement was made over the speaker system and the teacher turned out class TV on. We were rushed into early school dismissal. I remember watching it on TV, over and over, day after day, fascinated with the love everyone had for this man and his family. My mother was enthralled by Jackie Kennedy, so we were well aware of everything JFK at that time. Truly a tragedy for this nation, in many ways. And truly a tragedy for those who loved this man.
Obviously, I'd love to win this book.
ruthcox at abitosunshine.net
FYI...I followed your blog link from Book Blogs.
Also... please visit my blog, (snag my badge, I'll snag yours) to add this book giveaway to the B-Y-G-B linky list: http://ruthireads.blogspot.com/2010/11/b-y-g-b-december.html
Thanks, Ruthi for you interesting comment. It is so nice to hear you remember this from childhood. I am on my way now to visit your blog!
I Twitter tweeted this post:
http://twitter.com/abitosunshine/status/6824853030047744
ruthcox at abitosunshine dot net
I commented on this post by Paul De Angelis: http://www.pauldeangelisbooks.com/blog/2010/11/20/impact-of-an-assassination.html
What a fantastic interview and a lovely review as well! Thank you so much for participating in the tour.
I was not living in the U.S. at that time but it was felt just as much where I was located. I was home after school and learned about it while watching t.v. Everyone was shocked and devastated. saubleb(at)gmail(dot)com
What a fascinating book. I suppose if the same thing happened today, there would be more condolence emails than letters for researchers to look at 50 years later. I wasn't alive when Kennedy was shot, but I lived in Dallas for a time as a kid and the whole story was shown to me time and again everytime we had company. We drove the route and passed the Book Depository many times.
JHolden955(at)gmail(dot)com
I was not alive at that time, but know that the country was in shock.
slb3334@gmail.com
This event affected so many people. We were dismissed from school and were in a daze. People were glued to the coverage. rojosho(at)hotmail(dot)com
http://twitter.com/#!/alterlisa/status/6912803969441792
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alterlisa AT yahoo DOT com
http://lisaslovesbooksofcourse.blogspot.com
Oh, I know exactly where I was. I was 8 years old and I had to stay at home cause I had the measles. I can remember laying in the top bunk of bed and hearing my mom cry. She had stayed at home with me that day from work and was watching soap operas when they broke in with the news.
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alterlisa AT yahoo DOT com
http://lisaslovesbooksofcourse.blogspot.com
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alterlisa AT yahoo DOT com
http://lisaslovesbooksofcourse.blogspot.com
I saw a picture of sixteen-year-old Bill Clinton shaking hands with JFK in the Rose Garden, July 24, 1963; Clinton was in Washington as a delegate from Arkansas to the Boys Nation Convention.
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alterlisa AT yahoo DOT com
http://lisaslovesbooksofcourse.blogspot.com
"That the Moynihans sought this kind of refuge, in the same way that thousands of New York city residents looked for country homes after the World Trade Center & Pentagon bombings of 2001, underlines the oddly similar depth of national anguish provoked by the tragedy of November 22 and the attacks of September 11."
I don't think I'd ever considered the parallels of both of these tragedies, I almost wish I was still in school so I could take the time to research and write a paper on this subject. I'm definitely going to mention it to my daughter who is busily taking as many history courses as she can at college.
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alterlisa AT yahoo DOT com
http://lisaslovesbooksofcourse.blogspot.com
I was born, almost exactly a year later. I remember my mother saying it felt like the whole country just froze up, the pain was so bad.
twoofakind12@yahoo.com
I learned the author has over 3 decades in the publishing business as some form of an editor. I think that would give him so much experience, it would show in his writing.
twoofakind12@yahoo.com
I am a follower and email subscriber. I was not alive when this event occurred. All I really knew was President Kennedy was shot to death in his car. Please enter me in contest. I love reading about history. Tore923@aol.com
Hi! I wasn't alive that day. I remember seeing the tapes of him being shot and then the funeral. I remember the flame that still burns for him...
Thank you for this giveaway.
aliasgirl1976@yahoo.com
I am a historian, and this event is what sparked my interest in history. In 1988, it was the 25th anniversary of the assassination, and I was in 4th grade. I watched a TV News special called "Four Days in November." Since then, I have amassed a collection of 100+ books on JFK, his presidency, and the assassination. But I don't have this one yet, and I would love to add it to my collection.
krtrumpet [at] aol [dot] com
I was in grade school & I was home that day because I was sick. My grandmother lived in our attic and I remember her watching her soaps.(it was a big attic kind of like a mini apartment so don't feel bad for my Memmy)
I think it was As The World Turns when it was interupted by the annoucement that The President was shot. She started crying and I remember thinking who is this President. I was probably in 2nd grade & I went to Catholic school so either I wasn't paying attention
or something but I had no clue. I had a clue after that day though.
Love & Hugs,
Pam
pk4290(at)comcast(dot)net
I think this is an interesting way to look at history from a different perspective ... letters written by "ordinary" folks and "extraordinary" folks in an extraordinary situation.
I don't think I have ever enjoyed reading an interview or review more than I did this one. Thanks, for that and another sad reminder of that day so long ago...I was in the 11th grade, in shorthand class when the announcement was made over the intercom system. I was tearing up just reading this and remembering how devastated we all were when this happened! It's still amazing how many of us share the same feelings and admiration for this leader who I felt I understood and could actually listen to when he spoke. No other has effected me the same way. And, Jackie was just as admired to the point that we dressed like her and wore pill box hats and gloves..I could go on and on.... I have other books about the tragedy of that time but, I would love to have this book to read! Thanks for hosting such a wonderful giveaway.
gcpeach17 at aol dot com
I was sitting in my ninth grade English class when they made the announcement. Along with the rest of the country we were glued to the tv for the next several days.
lkish77123 at gmail dot com
I was in school and an announcement was made. I believe they dismissed school early that day
tiramisu392 (at) yahoo.com
I was six months old at the time so can't share any personal memories. It was a tragic time in our nations history. Thanks for the giveaway.
glenn_pessano AT yahoo DOT com
I was not alive on Nov 22, 1963. However, from hearing older members of my family speak about the day Kennedy was shot I know that it was both a shocking and tragic event for the country.
bookloversarah at yahoo dot com
Sarah E
Tweet:
http://twitter.com/BookLoverSarah/status/10335009785257985
bookloversarah at yahoo dot com
Sarah E
I found it interesting that the author co-publishes a quarterly guide to the Rhinebeck-Red Hook-Hudson area of the mid-Hudson Valley.
bookloversarah at yahoo dot com
Sarah E
I commented on the author's blog:
http://www.pauldeangelisbooks.com/blog/2010/10/1/forty-seven-years-and-one-month-later.html?lastPage=true#comment10707139
bookloversarah at yahoo dot com
Sarah E
I know he was the 35 president and I've seen the video of his assassination. I know he was killed by Lee Harvey Oswald.
chirth7@yahoo.com
http://twitter.com/#!/Romantic73/status/11031253893513216
chirth7@yahoo.com
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/permalink.php?story_fbid=123203874408829&id=100000641625482
chirth7@yahoo.com
http://www.stumbleupon.com/stumbler/chirth7/review/48265572/
chirth7@yahoo.com
I found another book that I'd found interesting INSIDE 9-11:
What Really Happened
but not quite as much as I want to win this one, becasue I didn't get to live through the Assassination, I'd love to read what was going on in people heart and mind at the time. chirth7@yahoo.com
I went TO PAUL De ANGELIS'S BLOG READ an INTERESTING POST. and commented there about reading about his book on your blog
chirth7@yahoo.com
I wasn't born yet, But I watch a lot of history channel, I just love learning more and more about our country. I'd love to win this book. This is something they don't tell you on tv, How people really felt.
jeff72768@yahoo.com
http://twitter.com/jeff72768/status/11058493930864640
jeff72768@yahoo.com
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/permalink.php?story_fbid=128284200565633&id=100000609680005
jeff72768@yahoo.com
http://www.stumbleupon.com/stumbler/Jeff72768/review/48267558/
jeff72768@yahoo.com
questions asked in The Nobel Book of Answers
WHY ARE SOME PEOPLE RICH AND OTHERS POOR? Daniel L. McFadden
WHY IS THERE WAR? Desmond Tutu
WHY DO I FORGET SOME THINGS AND NOT OTHERS? Erwin Neher
sounds like an interesting book.
Jeff72768@yahoo.com
+5swag shundelt@yahoo.com
http://twitter.com/Grandmamaof10/status/11061196992020480
shundelt@yahoo.com
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/permalink.php?story_fbid=181958715151548&id=100001087052807
shundelt@yahoo.com
http://www.stumbleupon.com/stumbler/shundelt45/review/48267752/
shundelt@yahoo.com
I'd like to also read Inside 9-11: What Really Happened.
shundelt@yahoo.com
I left a message on his site telling him about the contest on your blog.
shundelt@yahoo.com
I was in the kitchen washing dishes while watching tv, my 1 1/2 yr old son in the room with me and I was Shocked when I heard about it. Very shocked and very sad. I'll never forget that day! I would like to know how the world might have turned out if he was never shot.
shundelt@yahoo.com
I was in 6th grade & while we were outside for recess the teacher called us over & told the class. We were let out early & I remember coming home to find my mother watching TV & crying. What a sad & terrible day.
ruthiekb72ATyahooDOTcom
I was in elementary school and remember school let out early. Later we were glued to the TV for the funeral. It was such a sad time.
dlodden at frontiernet dot net
tweet: http://twitter.com/#!/darcy1956/status/11402159312609280
dlodden at frontiernet dot net
I wasn't born yet; however, I know that it was sad day for everyone that witnessed it. I've watched shows about that day on the History Channel.
shawnac68@hotmail.com
I know that the country was going through a lot of political and social change at that time. The assassination was truly a tragedy. Thanks.
president(dot)peaches(at)hotmail(dot)com
I was in the bathroom when a coworker came in and said the president was shot. Thinking she was joking, I told her there was nothing I could do about it while in the bathroom. When I got back to my desk, everyone was listening to the radio, and as I sat transformed, the tears started to flow. I was too young to vote for Jack Kennedy, but being a Bostonian and having met and campaigned for him, it was like a living nightmare.
zameta3 at gmail dot com
I was only a year old but my mother tells me we were home when she heard the news.
mce1011 AT aol DOT com
It was interesting that Mr. DeAngelis had copies of the actual letters on his site.
mce1011 AT aol DOT com
i wasn't alive but i know it was a horrible day in our history
susansmoaks at gmail dot com
I was in elementary school when somebody came in and told the teacher about the assassination. I didn't know who Kennedy was. garrettsambo@aol.com
I was in second grade and remember our principal coming to the door to tell the teacher. we just all sat there stunned not knowing what it meant. I remember we didn't have school the day of the funeral and the riderless horse was quite a sight!! Love to read or win this book!!
lknott@partnercom.net
I was in my kindergarden class in Livonia, Michigan. I don't remember much else-
Diane Baum
esldiane@gmail.com
I was not quite 5 years old but I remember watching the funeral with my dad. He was a huge JFK fan and was very upset by it. I think his love of "Camelot" rubbed off on me because I have read everything I can on the Kennedys except this book so would love to add it to my repertoire.
BornajhawkATaolDOTcom
Tweeted giveaway: http://twitter.com/#!/MamaHendo3/status/11862954437771264
BornajhawkATaolDOTcom
I was newly married and working in my first post college job when the news came. The shock reverberated through the building, but even more memorable were the tears and sobbing seen and heard on the subway on the way home that day. I will never forget that day.
From Mr. DeAngelis' website I learned that he is fluent in French, Italian and German.
BornajhawkATaolDOTcom
Left comment under "Impact of an Assassination" on Mr. DeAngelis' blog.
BornajhawkATaolDOTcom
I was in school and remember the whole world being in shock. In the days following we watched the news on TV.
yourstrulee(at)sasktel(dot)net
http://twitter.com/rlee1950/status/11883749440495616
I tweeted this
yourstrulee(at)sasktel(dot)net
Jay Mulvaney died unexpectedly shortly after signing up the book and completing an initial selection of several thousand letters. Experienced writer and book editor Paul De Angelis then took over the task of bringing Jay’s project to fruition.
This is very interesting info.
yourstrulee(at)sasktel(dot)net
I was a little girl in elementary school. We weren't told what happened and we didn't know the reason for early dismissal.
When got out onto the street we saw an older girl running and screaming that there would be a war because the President Kennedy had been killed in Texas. I had to go to a neighbors home that afternoon because my mother had an appointment. The neighbor was annoyed that her soap opera was pre-empted for the coverage. My mother came back early, my father came in from the field early after my Granny ran out to tell him the news. Our entire home was filled with sadness that day. My mother was particularly upset because Mrs. Kennedy was now a widow with two young children. Now that I think back, I completely understand my mothers special sadness for Mrs. Kennedy.
http://www.pauldeangelisbooks.com/contributor/11804653 (not sure if this is right)
I posted on Paul's blog as RobynL
yourstrulee(at)sasktel(dot)net
I wasn't alive yet but have always been raised hearing wonderful things about the Kennedy's, and would really love to read this.
misusedinnocence@aol.com
I was only three years old.
theyyyguy@yahoo.com
I wasn't alive then but I've read a lot and seen movies about it
danvice[at]yahoo[dotcom]
I was a junior in high school and they made an announcement in the study hall by the vice principal that the President been shot and school was being dismissed. When I went home I sat in front of the TV to watch the newscasts and there on tv I say Jack Ruby shoot Lee Harvey Oswald. The picture that sticks in your mind from that time of course is the funeral picture with Jackie and her 2 children.
I wish I was born back then! But my dad was 10 and said that everyone was constantly crying. On the bus ride home from school a lot of the little girls were crying.
I wasn't born yet when Kennedy was was killed, but I remember my parents and others talking about how everyone was crying and so upset because he was such a well-repected and well-liked president.
nancyecdavis AT bellsouth DOT net
Tweet! Tweet!
@NancyeDavis
http://twitter.com/NancyeDavis/status/11912942240923648
nancyecdavis AT bellsouth DOT net
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