Mrs Kennedy—For And Against

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31249, 22 December 1966, Page 13

Mrs Kennedy —For And Against

(From FRANK OLIVER, special N.Z.P.A correspondent.)

WASHINGTON, December 21.

If the press is a fair reflection of public feeling the nation’s heart goes out to Mrs Jacqueline Kennedy in her fight to prevent publication of “Death Of A President” but its judgment seems to be that in this effort she is wrong.

The “Washington Post” seems to sum up public opinion v'hen it says it is dif-

ficult not to sympathise with the feelings of Mrs Kennedy, "but impossible to agree with the legal steps she has taken against the publishers.” Mrs Kennedy is probably the best beloved woman in public life in this country today and respect for her has an even wider subscription, but there is condemnation of her actions, mixed with a great deal of sympathy.

Indeed much of the comment is made with obvious reluctance and a measure of sadness, but it is against the stand Mrs Kennedy has taken. One noted commentator says that the towering question is whether the understandable grief of the family at the loss of a gallant husband and brother entitles the family to control the writing of history of an era in which, as a great public man, J.F.K. was the central part.

The “Washington Post,” very sympathetic to the feelings of the President's widow, remarks that the lives of public men, the records of their careers, the thoughts of others about them, “are not the property of their families but the property of posterity. The great public grief, upon his death, belongs to the ages and not to his survivors.”

Mrs Kennedy, having made her original decision, says the

“New York Times,” cannot escape its consequences. “The public interest is best served by the truth,” says the newspaper.

The Schlesinger and Sorensen books have value to this generation and to future historians that far outweigh any transient embarrassment they cause and "the same is likely to be true of Mr Manchester’s book.”

Appeal Rejected.—The State Government today rejected Ronald Ryan's application for legal aid to appeal direct to the Privy Council in London against the decision that he should hang at Pentridge on January 9.—Melbourne, Dec. 21.