JACQUELINE KENNEDY CONDOLENCE LETTERS TO BE PUBLISHED IN NEW BOOK

IT WAS REVEALED RECENTLY THAT JACQUELINE KENNEDY RECEIVED OVER 1.5 MILLION CONDOLENCE LETTERS SENT BY ORDINARY AMERICANS AFTER THE ASSASSINATION OF HER HUSBAND PRESIDENT JOHN F KENNEDY. THE EXTRA ORDINARY MOUNTAIN OF MAIL SENT TO THE FIRST LADY INCLUDED TEAR-STAINED LETTERS, PERSONAL WORDS OF COMFORT AND GRIEF AND EMOTIONAL SYMPATHY. A SELECTION OF THE CORRESPONDENCE WILL BE PUBLISHED FOR THE FIRST TIME. ALMOST HALF OF THE LETTERS WERE SENT TO THE WHITE HOUSE IN THE FIRST FEW WEEKS AFTER KENNEDY'S DEATH, WITH 45,000 ARRIVING ON ONE DAY ALONE. THEY INCLUDE MESSAGES FROM A CHURCH ORGANIST WHO CRIED SO MUCH THAT HER TEARS SOAKED THE KEYS, ANOTHER WHO COMPARED THE TRAGIC DEATH TO THE CRUCIFIXION AND AN 11 YEAR OLD WHO WROTE A LETTER EVERY WEEK FOR A MONTH. THE LETTERS AND INTENSE EMOTIONS THEY CONTAIN ILLUSTRATE THE IMPORTANCE ATTACHED TO THE PRESIDENT'S DEATH IN DALLAS IN 1963, WIDELY CONSIDERED ONE OF THE DEFINING MOMENTS IN MODERN AMERICAN HISTORY. MRS KENNEDY ACKNOWLEDGED THE POIGNANT LETTERS A MONTH AFTER HIS DEATH BUT MOST WERE DESTROYED. AT LEAST 200,000 PAGES WERE SAVED AND SENT TO THE JOHN F KENNEDY PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY IN BOSTON WHERE THEY HAVE BEEN FINALLY CATALOGED BY ELLEN FITZPATRICK, A HISTORIAN. FITZPATRICK NEEDED TO GET PERMISSION FROM EACH WRITER BUT WAS ABLE TO INCLUDE 220 OF HER FAVORITES, ONLY FIVE PEOPLE SHE TRACKED DOWN DECLINED. 'I'VE BEEN TEACHING AMERICAN HISTORY FOR 30, AND I'M NOT SURE I'VE EVER SEEN A COLLECTION AS POWERFUL AND THAT REPRESENTED SO MANY ORDINARY PEOPLE SPEAKING FROM THE HEART ABOUT THEIR VIEWS ABOUT AMERICAN SOCIETY AND POLITICS, AND THE PRESIDENT', SAID FITZPATRICK, OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE.