Mrs. Kennedy and Me: An Intimate Memoir by Clint Hil (love letters to the dead TXT) 📗

his own grief, visiting Caroline and John, and dealing with world issues, which didn’t stop for the death of a president’s son.

Clint Hill with President Kennedy and children as they exit Otis AFB Hospital

I had been with Mrs. Kennedy through the births of two sons and the death of one. I couldn’t imagine anything more difficult.

21

Onassis and theChristina

Sue Roosevelt, Mrs. Kennedy, Aristotle Onassis, and Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr. aboard Christina

After the death of Patrick, the other agents and I noticed a distinctly closer relationship, openly expressed, between the president and Mrs. Kennedy. I first observed it in the hospital suite at Otis Air Force Base but it became publicly visible when Mrs. Kennedy was released from the hospital, a week after the birth. With press photographers snapping away, President and Mrs. Kennedy emerged from the hospital suite hand in hand. It was a small gesture, but quite significant to those of us who were around them all the time. Prior to this, they were much more restrained and less willing to express their close, loving relationship while out in public. The loss of Patrick seemed to be the catalyst to change all that.

The president had to return to Washington, but Mrs. Kennedy and the children elected to stay for the rest of the summer—as they had planned—at the Cape. It was the best place for her to recuperate and day by day, her physical strength began to return. Emotionally, however, she was drowning in sorrow. The loss of her son was constantly on her mind, and she seemed to become more and more depressed.

She continued to write notes and request information be passed on to various individuals, but you could tell her heart wasn’t in it. She spent time with the children, but for the most part remained alone and secluded in her room in Brambletyde. There was nothing anybody could say or do to ease her pain. We simply hoped that time would heal this tragic wound.

The president came as often as possible to Hyannis Port, midweek for one night in one case and for an extended stay over Labor Day weekend. Not only was he taking great pains to be supportive to Mrs. Kennedy, but I noticed that he was paying more and more attention to the children than ever before. He started taking John with him to visit Ambassador Kennedy or out to the Allen Farm to watch Caroline ride. He would go swimming with John and Caroline in the ocean—watching with delight as they jumped to him from the decks of the Honey Fitz. Taking Caroline to Sunday church services with him became a regular occurrence. Having Caroline and John ride on the helicopter from the Kennedy compound to Otis Air Force Base with him as he was departing for Washington on Air Force One became more common. This was all new.

One day—it must have been at the end of August or the beginning of September—Mrs. Kennedy called me at the command post to say she wanted to go for a walk. When she came out of the house, she seemed to have a brighter look on her face than I had seen in weeks.

We began walking, and she turned to me, with a glint in her eye.

“How would you like to go back to Greece, Mr. Hill?”

I looked at her with surprise. “I would love to go back to Greece.”

She smiled and said, “Well, I have arranged to join Lee and Stash on a cruise through the Greek islands on a private yacht.”

“That sounds wonderful, Mrs. Kennedy. When will you be leaving?”

“We haven’t decided for sure, but we’re hoping to go in a few weeks.”

A few weeks? I tried to be nonchalant, but I needed to find out as much information as possible. Mrs. Kennedy still didn’t truly understand how much effort it required for us to ensure her security outside the country.

“Do you know the name of the yacht?” I asked.

“Yes, actually I do. It’s called the Christina. It’s Mr. Onassis’s yacht.”

I lost my breath and was unable to speak for a few seconds. President Kennedy’s words—the request he had made before Mrs. Kennedy’s first trip to Greece back in 1961—came rushing into my mind: Whatever you do in Greece, do not let Mrs. Kennedy cross paths with Aristotle Onassis.

I was stunned to think that now, for some reason, it was all right for Mrs. Kennedy to associate with this man.

This trip to Greece had apparently been a topic of conversation between Mrs. Kennedy and her sister, Lee, when Lee came to be with her immediately after Patrick’s death. Lee and her husband, Prince Radziwill, were friends of Onassis and had been on his yacht. It seemed that Lee had contacted Onassis and the invitation had been extended. A trip to the Greek isles, on what was reputed to be the most luxurious private yacht in the world, was too good of an opportunity to turn down.

I knew Mrs. Kennedy would not go on a trip like this without her husband’s concurrence. But why now, after the loss of their son, would the president be willing to let her go on Onassis’s yacht, where, I assumed, the owner himself would be aboard? I could only surmise that it was because she had been so depressed, and perhaps the president thought a trip might give her something to look forward to.

“I don’t want a lot of publicity,” she said, “but I suppose everyone will find out.”

“Yes, I’m sure the word will get out, and,” I added, “there will be a great deal of interest.”

I asked her a few questions about who else would be aboard, any other stops she might make, but it seemed the trip was still in the planning stages.

“Please let me know as soon as possible of any additional details, okay?” I requested.

“Oh, Mr. Hill, you always want to have so much information about these little trips I take.”

Mrs. Kennedy’s “little trip” was going to involve