"Cheesy"

Reading through the New York Times last week, President Kennedy came upon a story that demanded action. So the President sent Press Secretary Salinger a memo urging him to look into the possibilities of a high-level Government attempt to remedy a clear evil.

What kind of crisis was this? Cuba? Berlin? Adlai? Taxes? No, it was about Jacqueline Kennedy and her press. As the Times story pointed out, Jackie has been the victim of a noisome tide of gossip stories in movie mags and Confidential-type rags. Month after month, Jackie's picture, and often Caroline's, has been splashed on the covers of such magazines. Teaser cover headlines are calculated to shill breathless readers into thinking that they will learn about the most intimate recesses of Jackie's life. The articles inside never live up to the billing. Samples:

-- HOW LONG CAN THEY HIDE THE TRUTH FROM CAROLINE KENNEDY? Story: the "truth" is that Caroline is a celebrity who must be protected from overexposure to the public.

-- HOW JACKIE KENNEDY KEEPS LOVE ALIVE. Story: "The love that glows between them is a living fire she never leaves untended. And in the countless ways of a woman who puts her man and his happiness above all things, she has learned to keep that love alive . . ."

-- TOLD FOR THE FIRST TIME! THE ILLNESS THAT'S BREAKING JACKIE'S HEART. Story: the illness is Old Joe Kennedy's.

-- IS THE HONEYMOON OVER FOR JACKIE?

Story: the "honeymoon" with the American people is being threatened by those who are jealous of Jackie.

-- HOW JACKIE GETS ALONG WITH THE IN-LAWS. Conclusion: fine.

-- JACKIE TURNS HER BACK ON HOLLYWOOD. Reason: she hates it.

-- THE TRUTH ABOUT JACKIE AND HER SISTER! Story: they like each other.

-- THE HIDDEN LIFE OF JACKIE KENNEDY.

Story: she loves her husband, and "their joy is their solitude together."

All told, those magazines that trade most heavily on "exposes" about Jackie have a combined circulation of more than 6,000,000 copies a month. The President has called their articles "cheesy." They certainly are--and the tastelessness of the publishers is only compounded by the emptiness of the sensations they promise.

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