Tapes ‘horrify' granddaughters

Los Angeles: The old-fashioned view of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis on the role of women, claiming they are not "suited" for politics, has "horrified" her granddaughters.

In a series of taped interviews recorded in 1964 and released this week, the widow of President John F Kennedy said the marriage had been "a rather terribly Victorian or Asiatic relationship", and that all her opinions came from her husband.

She added: "I think women should never be in politics. We're just not suited to it." Caroline Kennedy, 53, the couple's only surviving child, has two daughters Rose, 23, and Tatiana, 21.

She said: "It was funny because my daughters listened to it too and they were just absolutely horrified. Did she really think that? "Of course time has moved on. It really is just a snapshot of a world that we barely recognise."

Interviews

The eight hours of taped interviews were recorded by the historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr.

The former First Lady's other controversial comments included calling Indira Gandhi, the future prime minister of India, a "prune — bitter, kind of pushy, horrible woman". She described Martin Luther King Jr as a "tricky person" and "terrible man" and France's Charles de Gaulle, who she once charmed on a visit to Paris, was an "egomaniac" and "that spiteful man".

Caroline Kennedy, who decided to release the tapes unedited, said her mother had been "brave" to give her honest opinions for the good of history.

"This was something where she felt the obligation to be honest and she had always told us that she was going to put it away for 50 years, and so it seemed like this would be a time when people would be able to put it in context," she said.

— The Telegraph Group Limited, London 2011