Jackie's Newport by Raymond Sinibaldi

Author:Raymond Sinibaldi
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9781493036554
Publisher: Globe Pequot Press
Published: 2019-05-08T16:00:00+00:00

Jack and Jackie, hand in hand, leave the crowd in Fort Worth to board Air Force I for Dallas. The rigorous day of campaigning brought them closer. Jackie had commented earlier in the morning, “campaigning is so easy when you’re president…I’ll go anywhere with you this year.”

On the short hop to Dallas, the Texas rift showed signs of being bridged. Senator Ralph Yarborough had agreed to ride with Vice-President Johnson in the motorcade and Kenny O’Donnell informed the president that Governor Connally had capitulated and Yarborough would sit at the head table for the evening’s dinner in Austin. “Terrific,” said the president through a grin. “That makes the whole trip worthwhile.”295

Connally was astonished by the turnouts for Kennedy, and the overall consensus was Jackie’s presence doubled the size of virtually every crowd. It was estimated that one million Texans (10 percent of the population) would lay their eyes on the first couple, all lending credence to the assessment of the Chicago Sun-Times: “Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy may turn the balance and win her husband this state’s electoral votes.”

The vice-president’s plane landed first at Love Field to get the president’s “welcoming party” in place. They stood waiting for the door to open, and Dave Powers looked them over. “You two look like Mr. and Mrs. America,”296 he observed, and the rear door of the plane swung open. Jackie appeared to a tumultuous roar of the crowd. Behind her the president cut the air with a half salute, half wave, as they made their way down the stairs. Applause and whistles accompanied the cheers, and at the foot of the stairs Lyndon Johnson was waiting for Jackie. He shrugged, and they both laughed as he greeted her, again, before introducing her to Dallas mayor Earle Cabell. “Dearie” Cabell presented Jackie with a bouquet of red roses. Greetings complete, Jack and Jackie made their way to the fence to greet and shake hands with Dallas’s common folk. For a full five minutes, they worked the fence before making their way back to the limousine. “The reception at Love Field had astonished everybody,” remembered Sixth Floor Museum curator Gary Mack. “There were no inappropriate signs or gestures or events or anything.” To many, if not most, it seemed that John F. Kennedy was, indeed, “the man who had accompanied Mrs. Kennedy to Texas.” The enthusiasm was palpable.

Governor Connally, replete with his cowboy hat, was standing in the vehicle. He and his wife, Nellie, were waiting to accompany the Kennedys on their second motorcade of the day. Dave Powers reappeared with a couple of reminders for “Mr. and Mrs. America.” “Lunchtime,” he said to the president, “we’re going to hit that captive audience again.” Then he turned to Jackie, “Be sure to look to your left, away from the president, wave to the people on your side. If you both wave to the same voter, it’s a waste.”297 It was 11:55 a.m., Texas time, when the motorcade departed Love Field for the scheduled 12:30 p.m. luncheon at the Dallas Trade Mart.

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