The Atlantic

On <em>The Tonight Show</em>, Michelle Obama Cements a Legacy of Empathy

One of the final stops on the first lady’s farewell tour found her cheering, commiserating, and giving many, many hugs.
Source: Andrew Lipovsky / NBC

In late November of 1963, the journalist Teddy White , to meet with a young woman who had just been made a widow. White made the trip to profile Jackie Kennedy, to tell her story of resilience and mourning to a nation in need of hope; what soon became clear, however, was that the woman in question had other ideas about the story White would write. The piece he would publish in magazine would be about Jackie—that’s what the public wanted—but it would be more,” and it established the myth—Jackie saw to it—that her husband would be remembered not just as a fallen hero, but also as, for too brief a time, the leader of Camelot.

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