More than a million people wrote letters to Jackie Kennedy after her husband’s assassination. Some were famous, like Langston Hughes, but most were just normal people, sending their condolences and expressing their sadness and bewilderment. In her new book, “Letters to Jackie: Condolences From a Grieving Nation,” released by HarperCollins, Ellen Fitzpatrick went through these letters, and then went back and found the people who had written them (or their next of kin) to get their permission to republish them. The Times did a feature today which included a slideshow of several letters. Aside from being touched by how much a politician meant to ordinary people, I was struck by how well ordinary people – even those whose spelling and grammar suggests that they’re pretty much uneducated – knew how to write then. It’s hard to imagine letters like this being written today, or what they would look like if they were. For images of some of the letters, click “Read More.” Read More
