My Life with Jacqueline Kennedy

New York: David McKay Company, Inc, 1969. Second printing [stated]. Hardcover. Good/Good. x, 396, [2] pages. Illustrations. Some page and fore-edge soiling. DJ has some wear, soiling, tears and chips. Mary Gallagher, is uniquely situated to understand the real woman beneath the goddess figure that the world made of Jacqueline Kennedy, having been her personal secretary for eight years. She was privy to Mrs. Kennedy in her white house years as well as the years of her marriage before he took office. She was with her on that black day in Dallas. This is an intimate look at the real woman behind the legend. It is not a tell-all that betrays, but a peek at a woman who was the Queen of Camelot. Gallagher was personal secretary to Jacqueline Kennedy from 1957 to 1964, which includes the Kennedy presidency. Before that, she was Sen. John F. Kennedy's secretary and worked briefly for Jackie's mother. Gallagher took care of many of the first lady's affairs even before the White House, including reporting her expenses to her husband, a task she was issued thanks to a St. Patrick's Day toothache. The senator had been scheduled to march in a St. Patrick's Day parade in Boston, but when Gallagher arrived at the Georgetown home to organize Mrs. Kennedy's affairs, she found him at home with a puffy cheek and a toothache. He became interested in the expenses and requested that Gallagher keep him informed of his wife's excessive spending, a job that would take up much of her time in the next years. "Any time our paths would cross in the White House, I'd end up with homework because he'd ask me about her bills," she said. "I like to say, ‘His toothache became my headache.' " Derived from a Kirkus review: There will be many readers for this close-up which does reveal Jackie throughout the running account of over three years. Jackie is seen, generally aloof, serene, unruffled and devoting herself to the "projects of her own choice" which were overwhelmingly clothes, but also a feverish acquisitiveness of everything from ashtrays to new domiciles. Jackie seems to have been pretty independent of people in general; not too considerate to the mothers; and if the children did anything to annoy her, they were quickly removed. None of this of course does much to improve the image she spent some time, somewhat less honesty, and considerable shrewdness in maintaining--not to mention the money which led to recurrent difficulties with John F. who has lost none of his lustre in this version of Versailles at Camelot.