Asia-Pacific
JFK condolence letters published for 1st time
(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-03-09 00:12
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CONCORD, N.H. – Among the 1.5 million condolence letters sent to President John F. Kennedy's widow after his assassination in 1963 were more than two dozen from Jane Dryden, a dogged and dramatic 11-year-old who churned out a letter a week for six months straight.
"I know that you hate the whole state of Texas. I do to," she wrote to Jacqueline Kennedy from Austin in January 1964. "I wish I lived in Washington, D.C. where maybe I could maybe see you standing on your porch. I am determined to move there as soon as I can. I would feel safer there."
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 This Friday, March 5, 2010, photo shows a copy of 'Letters to Jackie: Condolences From A Grieving Nation,' photographed at the home of author Ellen Fitzpatrick, in Newton, Mass. [Agencies] |
Given the overwhelming volume of mail — 800,000 letters in the first seven weeks alone — most of the condolence letters were destroyed. But at least one of Dryden's notes ended up among the 200,000 pages that were sent to the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston, where they sat largely ignored until historian Ellen Fitzpatrick decided to write "Letters to Jackie: Condolences From a Grieving Nation."
The book, released last week by HarperCollins, includes more than 200 never-before published letters divided into three categories: vivid recollections of the day Kennedy was killed; letters that express views on society, politics and the presidency; and personal experiences of grief and loss.
Larry Toomey of Upper Darby, Pa., didn't even wait until Kennedy's death was announced before starting his letter.
"My dear Mrs. Kennedy, Even as I write this letter, my hand, my body is trembling at the terrible incident of this afternoon. I am watching the CBS-TV news report. No official word as yet."
Writing two days later, eighth-grader Mary South described learning that the president had been shot just as she sat down to play the church organ at her Catholic school in Santa Clara, Calif.
"I tried to tell myself he would be all right but somehow I knew he wouldn't. ... the tears wouldn't stop. The slightly damp keys were hard to play but I offered it up that the President might live," she wrote.
In return for her letter, she received a small card printed with the words "Mrs. Kennedy is deeply appreciative of your sympathy and grateful for your thoughtfulness."
