Jackie, Ethel, Joan: Women of Camelot (35 page)

larger—than life, and he knew it. Though you could say he was rather ugly, the moment he opened his mouth to speak, he could seduce anyone.”

When Lee told Ari, as he was known, that Jackie had ac- cepted his invitation to cruise, Ari glowed at the prospect of entertaining the First Lady. (The news, however, did not sit well with the woman with whom he was having a romance, opera star Maria Callas.)

During Jackie’s recuperation, there had been growing concern about her sister Lee’s budding relationship with Ari, an assignation that would only serve to complicate matters for Jackie. (For the previous four years, Lee had been mar- ried to her second husband, the exiled Prince Stanislaw Al- bert Radziwill, known as “Stas,” pronounced “Stash,” a Polish nobleman who had made his fortune in British real estate.)

David Metcalfe, an insurance company executive in Lon- don, and a friend of Lee’s, told her biographer, Diana DuBois, of Lee’s affair with Onassis: “It was all supposed to be very discreet, but Ari was out in the open because he rev- eled in publicity. One couldn’t be discreet with Onassis.”

When the affair was brought to the President’s attention, partly because of a gossip item in the
Washington Post,
and then confirmed by his aides, he was uneasy about his sister- in-law’s new romance. While he liked Onassis personally, he was not eager to welcome him into the family. Over the years, the Greek millionaire had earned a personal and pro- fessional reputation that was shadowy. He had been em- broiled in serious legal disputes with the United States government after being indicted for fraud during the Eisen- hower years for not paying taxes on surplus American ships. Jack also had a loyalty to Lee’s husband, Stas, who had

worked hard on behalf of the Kennedy-Johnson ticket in 1960 and had been very effective for him in Polish commu- nities in the Midwest.

Jackie agreed that the romance was a problem and, unless Lee was serious about Onassis, not worth the political risks to Jack. In her weakened and exhausted condition, however, she didn’t have much more to say about it.

Of course, as was wont to happen in the Kennedy clan, other family members had plenty to say about the affair. Ethel, with her eye always on the bigger political picture, had heard about Lee’s involvement with Onassis and felt that the “situation,” as she called it, was a problem in the making.

“Talk to your brother about it,” she told Bobby, trying her best to adhere to protocol. “It’s a political liability. If it were personal, I’d speak to Jackie. But since it’s political, you should talk to Jack.”

Bobby agreed with his wife, and mentioned the matter to Jack, who, in turn, told him to bring it up with Jackie. “She’ll know what to do,” Jack said.

So, during a private White House luncheon, Bobby pulled Jackie aside and said, “Listen, this business with Lee and Onassis, just tell her to cool it, will you?” Wearily, Jackie said she would “try to look into it” once she was aboard the
Christina.

“Not Ethel’s Best Moment”

H
istory has always painted a picture of Jackie Kennedy ea- gerly joining her sister on Aristotle Onassis’s cruise, anxious for a vacation after the tragedy of her baby’s death. Nothing could be further from the truth. Based on the best evidence we now have, Jackie didn’t even want to go.

Says Lee Radziwill’s Swiss friend, Mari Kumlin, “Lee told me that Jackie was adamant that she wanted to stay with her children. She wasn’t happy, which was precisely the point of the trip.”

Jackie probably decided to take the trip, however, because it was easier than arguing with Lee about it. It was a pattern in her life, anyway, to get away when she needed time alone to think—whether it was to Glen Ora, Hyannis Port, or to some far-off country.

In the fall, the White House made it official: The First Lady was going away to rest, recuperate, and recover her peace of mind on a cruise on the Onassis yacht, though it was suggested in the press release that she was a guest of Stanislas Radziwill’s and that Onassis’s yacht had just been secured for the trip. Nevertheless, the decision was bound to stir up controversy, and it did. There were protests in Congress against allowing the First Lady to accept Onassis’s hospitality because of his ruthless repu- tation. Also, Jack’s advisers warned him that with an election campaign coming up in less than a year, voters would likely be offended at Jackie’s reappearance in the jet set so soon after the death of her baby. And, anyway, sug-

“Not Ethel’s Best Moment”
277

gested the naysayers, why couldn’t Jackie vacation else- where?

Closer to the Kennedy home front, there was one woman who was unhappy about Jackie’s upcoming vacation with the controversial Onassis and, as usual, she was not afraid to make her views known: Ethel.

Ethel, still recovering from her difficult pregnancy, also had other matters that weighed heavily on her mind. At this time her sister Ann was involved in an extramarital affair with a wealthy, married New York business- man whom she had met at a cocktail party. Eventually Ann would become pregnant, give birth to a girl, and have to confess to her husband that the child was not his. Di- vorce proceedings followed this revelation. At the same time, Ethel’s brother, George, left his spouse and became romantically involved with a Swedish stockbroker. Ethel, with her high moral standards, was deeply troubled by these turns of events. To her mind, divorce was sinful; she would never have considered it, no matter what Bobby might do.

Ethel became preoccupied with Jackie’s controversial cruise plans. Her concern was not unreasonable: Bobby might have a chance at the Presidency one day, and any scandal that tarnished Jack would also, by association, affect Bobby. As sorry as she was for the loss of Patrick, Ethel was distressed by Jackie’s decision to cruise with Onassis, a man she referred to as “a known criminal if ever there was one.” Usually a much more politically minded woman than Jackie—and an alarmist as well—Ethel had a meeting with Jackie at the White House and warned her sister-in-law that she could be playing into the hands of one of the world’s

biggest scoundrels.

In a series of telephone conversations between the sisters- in-law that took place over a three-day period, Jackie stood her ground. She was cruising with Onassis, she said, and it would be none of Ethel’s business.

“But there are political ramifications to everything you, as First Lady, do,” Ethel protested, as if Jackie didn’t realize it. Ethel was amazed that Jackie couldn’t see the potential pub- lic relations problem of such a cruise, and even more as- tounded that Jack was allowing her to go.

“Well, I think they’re both crazy,” she told Lem Billings. “Jack is so cavalier about these things, and so is Jackie. This country will not be happy seeing pictures of the First Lady, so soon after Patrick’s death, carousing with the likes of Onassis. When Bobby and I are in the White House,” Ethel decided, “not one decision will ever be made that could cause any controversy whatsoever.”

Finally, perhaps out of frustration because Ethel would not drop the subject, Jackie was forced to tell her to keep her opinion to herself. Her patience tried, the First Lady then took the matter up with the Attorney General. According to George Smathers, Jackie told Bobby, “I don’t mean to be rude, but someone needs to remind your wife of her place. I’m going on this trip, and that’s final. I don’t do what Ethel wants me to do. She’s my friend,” Jackie continued, “but this is not her best moment.”

Aboard the
Christina

A
t the beginning of October 1963, Jackie Kennedy went off to Greece. This would be her second visit, for she had stayed in Greece previously, in June 1961, for nine days, after accompanying Jack on state visits to Paris, Vienna, and London. Even though she was supposed to curtail all en- gagements, the day she was scheduled to leave she decided to attend the welcoming ceremony for Emperor Haile Se- lassie of Ethiopia, reportedly because she just couldn’t resist meeting him.

After the African leader presented her with some choice leopard skins, she graciously bowed out and headed to the airport. Before she left, a floral arrangement was delivered to the White House for her—lilies from Ethel with a simple, handwritten card: “Have a safe trip to the land of the Hel- lenes.”

On the way to Greece, during the last leg of her flight be- tween Rome and Athens, Jackie suddenly became nauseous and overcome with fatigue. She called for oxygen, and a stewardess quickly brought it to her seat. “Maybe this was a bad idea, after all,” she observed, weakly. Although she used only a small amount of oxygen, the concern for her need was great, and the President was immediately contacted about it. “She’ll be fine,” he said. “She’s strong as a race- horse.”

By the time she landed in Athens and was greeted by Lee,

U.S. Ambassador Labouisse and other officials, Jackie looked pale but eager to begin her adventure. She and Lee

were whisked by automobile to the villa of Greek shipping businessman Markos Nomikos, at Cavouri Bay, a seaside re- sort fifteen miles southeast of Athens. Here Jackie would spend the next couple of days in semiseclusion with her hosts and other guests, including Stelina Mavros, who worked as special assistant to Nomikos.

Mavros, who worked for the Greek mogul for three years, recalls, “We were all amazed at how weak the First Lady was. She had to be helped from a chair, for instance. Imme- diately, Lee began to hover over her, doing this and that for her, until Jackie finally said, ‘Please, I am not an invalid. Let me be.’ She stayed with us for three days until finally, we all boarded Ari’s yacht. She seemed unhappy, dreary, but deter- mined to have a good time, anyway.”

A lifetime of living in the affluent homes of the Bouviers, the Auchinclosses, and the Kennedys had accustomed Jackie to luxury, yet even she was impressed by the opu- lence that awaited her on Onassis’s magnificent yacht. First of all, the
Christina
itself was staggering—more than a lux- ury liner, it was a floating paradise resort, complete with a beauty salon, movie theater, doctor’s office, forty-two tele- phones, and a mosaic swimming pool. There were also nine staterooms, each named for a different Greek island.

Among those aboard the cruise were Lee Radziwill and her husband, Stanislaw; dress designer Princess Irene Gal- itzine and her husband; Mrs. Constantine Garoufalidis; Stelina Mavros; Lee’s friend Accardi Gurney; and several others, including Kennedy’s Undersecretary of Commerce, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr., and his wife, Susan. (Roosevelt was sent to accompany Jackie, as Jack put it, to “add re- spectability to the whole thing.”)

While wandering about, guests would discover the ship to

be lavishly, if gaudily decorated. Bar stools upholstered with scrotums of whales, lapis lazuli fireplaces, and gold-plated bathroom fixtures were a few of the yacht’s more garish embellishments.

Delighted to be entertaining the First Lady of the United States, Onassis outdid his own legendary extravagance. On their first morning at sea he had the entire ship decorated with hordes of red roses and pink gladioli. For passengers’ snacks, he had the ship abundantly stocked with rare delica- cies, vintage wines, eight kinds of caviar, and fruits flown in from Paris especially for the occasion.

To further pamper his guests, the eccentric Greek hired a staff of sixty, including two hairdressers (hired just for Jackie), a Swedish masseur, and a full orchestra to entertain during dinner and for after-dinner dancing. Two chefs, one Greek, one French, were on call to prepare the passengers sumptuous feasts, which included caviar-filled eggs
foie gras,
steamed lobsters, and jumbo shrimp.

For a woman like Jackie, who had a remarkably discrim- inating eye for the finer things in life, the delicious excess of this cruise and the dazzling lifestyle it represented were not to be soon forgotten. Jackie, it was decided, would take the principal stateroom occupied at various times by Greta Garbo, Lady Pamela Churchill, Maria Callas, and Jackie’s own sister, Lee.

“Mrs. Kennedy is in charge here,” the sixty-three-year- old Aristotle proudly told the press, which had assembled to gawk at her while she boarded. “She’s the captain.” It was thought that Jackie would put the ship on course to the Aegean Islands, which she had enjoyed so much on her 1961 cruise. Instead, she said she wanted to go to Istanbul, then Lesbos Island, then Crete.