CBS has not even mentioned a new book spilling unflattering details about former President John F. Kennedy, but they devoted over 8 minutes Tuesday morning to a fawning report on former First Lady Jackie Kennedy's scripted interview with CBS inside the White House.
Liberal presidential historian Douglas Brinkley hailed the day when Kennedy "became America's sweetheart," adding that "50 years later, she still is." [Video below the break.]
On February 14, 1962, CBS aired a scripted tour of the White House with the First Lady, who wrote her own notes for the occasion and pointed out all the family's renovations and elegant furnishings they added in the previous year. 80 million viewers watched the broadcast of what the first family essentially wanted everyone to see, and to this day CBS still acclaims the event.
White House correspondent Norah O'Donnell called the broadcast "historic," adding however that it was scripted and thus "helped drive the perception that the Kennedy White House was different from its predecessors. One of grace and elegance."
CBS kept heaping a generous portion of praise on Kennedy's already voluminous esteem from the media. Brinkley could not stop acclaiming CBS' tour of the White House, saying that it "was just very important in TV history." He furthered that "we've never had the word 'chique' applied to the White House until this particular tour."
