Part 2: Chapters 8-12 Summary and Analysis

Part 2: The Curtain Descends

Chapter 8

The purpose and structure of the Secret Service is detailed.

Jackie has managed to get the Mona Lisa on display in the National Gallery of Art. The correlation between art and politics is examined.

"Jackie has come to think of the Kennedy White House as a mythical place—what she will later describe as an "American Camelot." The First Lady is referring to the Broadway musical starring Richard Burton as the legendary King Arthur, the lovely Julie Andrews as Queen Guinevere, and Robert Goulet as Sir Lancelot. In the play, Camelot represents an oasis of idyllic happiness in a cold, hard world. A growing number of Americans agree with Jackie that the Kennedy White House is a similarly mythical place and a bulwark of idealism in the midst of the cold...