Book Excerpt
Victura: The Kennedys,
a Sailboat, and the Sea
By James W. Graham
Chapter 1: Metaphor for Life
T
he day before he died President John F. Kennedy
and his wife, Jacqueline, arrived at the Rice Hotel in
Houston, Texas, taking a room freshly remodeled
for their short stay. They had three and a half
hours to rest and dine together before heading out
for two evening appearances and the day’s end.
Jack, sitting in a rocking chair, wearing just his
shorts, worked on a speech and doodled on a
sheet of hotel notepaper.
Later, their public obligations satisfied, they retired
to another hotel closer to the next day’s events.
Jacqueline saw Jack, in his pajamas, kneel by his
bed to say a prayer. She told a friend a few weeks
later, “It was just like a little childish mannerism, I
suppose, like brushing your teeth or some- thing.
But I thought that was so sweet. It used to amuse
me so, standing there.” She compared his
religious rituals to “superstition.” She wasn’t sure
he was a true believer, “but if it was that way, he
White House meetings or while on the phone.
wanted to have that on his side.”
Sometimes, he put a gaff rig on the mast, like the
one on the Victura. Somewhere in their minds,
The next morning, with the president and first lady
throughout their lives, Jack and his brothers and
in Dallas for their motorcade’s nightmarish turn
sisters were always at sea. Sailing influenced how
past the book depository, the Rice Hotel
they thought, how they competed, the content of
housecleaning staff found the doodle the president
public speeches, how as a family they celebrated
had left in his room. It was a simple pencil drawing
happy events or managed grief, how they grew
of a little sailboat, beating through the waves.
close to one another.
Jack Kennedy often drew such sailboats during
Of the nine children of Joseph and Rose Kennedy,
LUXE BEAT MAGAZINE • APRIL 2014
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