just for us?”
Mrs. Kennedy wasn’t someone who sought the limelight, but the fact that the French had welcomed her with such enthusiasm clearly meant a lot to her.
Meanwhile, President Kennedy and President de Gaulle rode down the Champs-Elysees in another grand motorcade, to the Arc de Triomphe. The blue skies that had greeted the Kennedys in the morning, suddenly turned gray and in the pouring rain, President Kennedy laid a large wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, in front of the eternal flame.
THIS TRIP TO France was like a homecoming for Mrs. Kennedy. She had studied in Grenoble and at the Sorbonne in Paris, and had lived with a French family, which enabled her to immerse herself not only in the language but the culture as well. I watched in awe as she spoke comfortably in French to President and Madame de Gaulle, as well as everyone else with whom she came in contact. I had known, of course, that she spoke fluent French, but to watch her in action only increased the respect and admiration I had begun to have for her.
In the past, first ladies were seen, but seldom if ever heard. With the exception of Eleanor Roosevelt, most had not contributed a great deal except for their visual appearance at the necessary functions. Mrs. Kennedy seemed to realize on this trip to Paris that perhaps her growing celebrity status could be used for a great deal of good.
She went to an
She would see me standing in a doorway as she entered and even if she were in deep conversation with whomever she happened to be walking with, she would make eye contact with me. I had gotten to the point where I could read her mood by her eyes, and she was clearly having a wonderful time.
The event that captured her most was the spectacular white-tie dinner at Versailles. As is customary for Europeans, the evening event didn’t begin until 8:00 P.M. I was waiting at Versailles—about a thirty minute drive outside of Paris—to be there when the President and Mrs. Kennedy arrived. As she stepped out of the limousine, I thought she looked like a queen. She had on an ivory silk overcoat that she removed as soon as she entered the palace, revealing an exquisite sleeveless floor-length dress that had been hand embroidered with pastel flowers on the bodice. She had arranged for a Parisian hairdresser to style her hair in a bouffant piled on top of her head, accented by a diamond hair clip. President de Gaulle couldn’t take his eyes off of her, and I daresay neither could any of the other guests—men or women. My job was not to watch her, but to watch what was going on around her.
A long rectangular dining table had been set up in the Hall of Mirrors, set with beautiful flower arrangements and huge candelabras that provided a magical ambience as the flickering flames of the candles were multiplied by the mirrors on either side of the room. President de Gaulle sat between President Kennedy and Mrs. Kennedy, but spent the majority of the evening conversing with Mrs. Kennedy. Even from a distance I could see that he was captivated by her. Not only was she fluent in the language, but she was also well educated in French art and history. There was no doubt that Mrs. Kennedy’s intelligence and charm, combined with her ability to converse in French throughout the previous two days, often acting as translator for her husband and the French president, made the notoriously difficult de Gaulle much more receptive to President Kennedy’s ideas. The evening concluded with a ballet performance in the Louis XV Theater, a perfect ending to a night that encapsulated so much of what Mrs. Kennedy loved—history, the arts, intelligent and witty conversation—in an exquisite environment. At the time, I don’t think Mrs. Kennedy realized the tremendous influence she had, but for those of us around her, it was impossible not to recognize. Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy had become a star.
President Kennedy certainly noticed. At a luncheon in which he spoke to four hundred journalists, President Kennedy began his short speech with: “I do not think it altogether inappropriate to introduce myself. I am the man who accompanied Jacqueline Kennedy to Paris. And I have enjoyed it.” The crowd roared with laughter. It was typical of JFK—to point out the obvious, and find the humor in it. He would use that line again, two and a half years later, when Mrs. Kennedy accompanied him to Texas.
ON JUNE 2, as President and Mrs. Kennedy were saying their good-byes at Orly Airport, preparing to board Air Force One for the flight from Paris to Vienna, Mrs. Kennedy reached out her hands to me and said, “Oh, Mr. Hill, it was all just magical. I couldn’t have imagined anything better. Thank you so much for making everything go so smoothly.”
“You’re very welcome, Mrs. Kennedy,” I said. “I’m glad you enjoyed yourself.”
“I guess I’ll see you in Athens, then?” she asked.
“I’m on my way this afternoon,” I replied. “I’ll see you there in a few days.”
What Mrs. Kennedy didn’t know was that the president had made an unusual request of me regarding her trip to Greece.
Shortly before I left for Paris, I got word that President Kennedy wanted to see me in the Oval Office. I couldn’t imagine what this was about. I had never been summoned to the Oval Office before.
When I walked in, President Kennedy was standing there, with his brother Bobby, the attorney general.
“Clint,” the president said, “I understand you will be doing the advance for Mrs. Kennedy in Greece.”
“Yes, Mr. President, that’s what I have been advised.”
The president glanced at the attorney general and looked back at me.
“The attorney general and I want to make one thing clear . . . and that is, whatever you do in Greece, do not let Mrs. Kennedy cross paths with Aristotle Onassis.”
I had heard the name Onassis before, but I honestly didn’t understand the significance, or why the president would be telling me this.
“Yes, sir, Mr. President,” I answered.
“Okay then,” he said. “Have a great trip.” And with that, I walked out of the Oval Office.
The Paris trip really had gone off marvelously, but as I watched the presidential plane take off for Vienna, all I could think about was what President Kennedy had said to me in the Oval Office.
6
It was cold and blustery, with slashing rain, when Air Force One touched down at Schwechat airport, outside Vienna. Despite the dismal weather, thousands of people stood huddled in their rain slickers under umbrellas all along the motorcade route just to see President and Mrs. Kennedy drive by on their way to the Hofburg Palace, where the president would pay his respects to the president of Austria, prior to his meeting with Khrushchev.
Meanwhile, Special Agent Ken Giannoules and I were seated aboard an Olympic Airlines Comet Jet aircraft, headed for Athens. I was dying to talk to Ken about what President Kennedy had said to me regarding Aristotle Onassis, and to find out if Ken might know the reasons behind the president’s instructions, but we had to be careful
