What Jackie Taught Us (Revised and Expanded)

March 22, 2004
The very interesting life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (1929–1994), married to the 35th president of the U.S., continues to fascinate, which should insure readership for this laudatory life lesson. The author, a corporate executive, once lived in the same New York City apartment building as her subject and, though she never actually met her, describes herself as an admirer. Flaherty contends that Onassis was never given credit for her leadership abilities and focuses on episodes of her life that illuminate the positive influence she had on others. Drawing on secondary sources and secondary interviews that one imagines would have appalled the famously reclusive Mrs. Onassis, Flaherty takes us over the familiar territory of her subject's childhood with a distant, critical mother and adoring but womanizing alcoholic father. She faithfully details Onassis's splendid education, which honed a passion for knowledge that sustained her through John Kennedy's extramarital affairs and his tragic assassination. Although the writing is competent, it too frequently tends to be repetitive and cloying. The areas that Flaherty believes Onassis taught by example include dealing with men (play hard to get), motherhood (loving but strict) and courage (the ability to withstand pain without crumbling). Photos.