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Did Jackie O. Diss Martin Luther King Jr.?

Former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy described the civil rights leader as “phony” and “tricky” in a 1964 interview.

In a 1964 interview published in the new book Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy, the former first lady made her thoughts about Martin Luther King Jr. crystal clear.

 

The New York Daily News writes:

 

Former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy described King as "phony" and "tricky" in a 1964 interview just made public in a new book about White House life with her husband.

 

Kennedy, in one of seven Q&A sessions with former JFK aide Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., said King had mocked her slain husband's funeral Mass and its celebrant, Cardinal Richard Cushing.

 

"He made fun of Cardinal Cushing and said he was drunk at it," Kennedy recounted. "And things about they almost dropped the coffin. I just can't see a picture of Martin Luther King without thinking, you know, 'That man's terrible.'"

 

Kennedy's negative impression of King was forged in part when she heard about FBI tapes that captured the married activist in a hotel room with another woman.

 

In the book, out next week, Kennedy also recalls topics such as the Bay of Pigs invasion and JFK's opposition to Lyndon Johnson as his successor.

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