Author Shares Kennedy Condolence Letters at Princeton Public Library

Visitors to the Princeton Public Library’s this week were taken back to a time in history when the world mourned the shocking death of an American president.

Author Paul De Angelis on Monday read selections from his 2010 book “Dear Mrs. Kennedy: The World Shares Its Grief, Letters, November 1963.”  The book, co-authored with the late Jay Mulvaney, is a sampling of letters sent to Jacqueline Kennedy in the days and months following the assassination of her husband, U.S. President John F. Kennedy. 

At the Princeton Library on Monday one of the letter writers featured in De Angelis’ book read her own letter aloud.

Sister Elizabeth Michael Boyle’s letter, written while she was teaching at an all-girls Catholic school in Scotch Plains, expressed concern for Jacqueline Kennedy’s well-being.

“During these four days and nights I prayed for you without ceasing,” Boyle read in part.

De Angelis, who lives in Connecticut, also shared other letters from the book, along with a photo slideshow featuring images from the Kennedy era, including photos of Jacqueline Kennedy and her children at the late president’s funeral and standing amidst the many boxes of condolence letters and gifts.

The letters published in the book by De Angelis and Mulvaney express disbelief at the president’s untimely death, sympathy for the young widow’s loss and the letter writers’ own personal feelings of grief.

De Angelis read a sampling from letters written by dignitaries, politicians and celebrities- among them were former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 

There were also letters written by ordinary citizens and children, from the U.S. and across the globe. 

Francesca Calderone-Steichen of Hopewell, grand-niece of poet Carl Sandburg and granddaughter of photographer Edward Steichen, also read a letter from De Angelis’ book. 

The letter, written by Sandburg’s literary agent Lucy Kroll, included a poem that Sandburg wrote to mark the death of U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt years earlier.

Calderone-Steichen said people were more adept at letter writing 50 years ago than they are today.

“I think (this) book should be taught in schools,” she said.