What's On The Jackie Kennedy Tapes?

The Kennedy family has eight hours of tape made by Jackie just months after JFK’s death. To hear some outlets tell it, the tapes include the former First Lady’s conspiracy theories about the assassination and tales of her own extramarital affairs. Others say they’re not as salacious. We’re about to find out.

The Daily Mail says Caroline Kennedy agreed to hand over the tapes to ABC in order to keep them from airing the miniseries The Kennedys. Predictably, the Mail‘s version of what’s actually on the tapes is the stuff of soap opera:

They are believed to include the suggestion that Mr Kennedy was having an affair with a 19-year-old White House intern, with his wife even claiming that she found knickers in their bedroom.

And they go on to reveal that she too had affairs –- one with Hollywood star William Holden and another with Fiat founder Gianni Agnelli –- as a result of the president’s indiscretions.

Knickers! Given the indiscretions of, um, later presidents, these revelations aren’t all that shocking, although the Holden-Kennedy pairing is sure to yield some prime historical fanfic. This bit is a little more intriguing:

The secret tapes will show that the former first lady felt that her husband’s successor was at the heart of the plot to murder him.

She became convinced that the then vice president, along with businessmen in the South, had orchestrated the Dallas shooting, with gunman Lee Harvey Oswald –- long claimed to have been a lone assassin –- merely part of a much larger conspiracy.

Except ABC says this is all bullshit. The LA Times quotes the network’s statement:

The tabloid reports about the content of the tapes are totally erroneous. ABC News isn’t releasing any content from those tapes until mid-September, at which point it will be clear how off base these reports are.

So no sex, no conspiracy theories. Remind us why we should watch again?

Explosive Jackie O Tapes ‘Reveal How She Believed Lyndon B Johnson Killed JFK And Had Affair With Movie Star’ [Daily Mail]
Secret Jackie Kennedy Tapes Not As Sordid As Reported, ABC Says [LA Times]
ABC Says Jackie Tapes Not So Sordid, But Won’t Spill [Newser]