JFK+50: Volume 6, No. 1859
AMERICA'S SWEETHEART GIVES TV TOUR OF WHITE HOUSE ON VALENTINE'S DAYWashington, D.C. (JFK+50) Fifty-four years ago, Valentine's Day of 1962, First Lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy conducted a televised tour of the White House watched by 56 million viewers.
Mrs. Kennedy took CBS NEWS correspondent Charles Collingwood and the television audience through the newly restored rooms of the Executive Mansion.
According to the JFK Library, the first lady said that the White House "was not only a place for the president to work and live, but also a destination for every American who visited Washington, D.C., a showcase of art and culture, and a place of national pride."
Four years ago, the JFK Library released Mrs. Kennedy's personal handwritten notes for the program. These documents show how intimately involved the first lady was in the two million dollar restoration project.
Presidential historian Barbary Perry says that the program "introduced Jackie Kennedy to the American people in a way they hadn't seen her," and Douglas Brinkley adds..."It made the White House, particularly the Kennedy White House, very in and very chic."
"A Tour of the White House with Mrs. John F. Kennedy," was produced by Perry Wolff and directed by Franklin J. Schaffner. The program premiered on both CBS and NBC on February 14, 1962 and on ABC on February 18, 1962.
Mrs. Kennedy won an honorary Emmy Award from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for her performance.
SOURCES
"Jackie Kennedy's devotion to White House revealed," by Norah O'Donnell, CBS News, February 14, 2012, www.cbsnews.com/
"Jacqueline Kennedy in the White House," John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, www.jfklibrary.org/
Charles Collingwood & Mrs. Kennedy
CBS-TV White House Tour
February 14, 1962
