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Camelot, a Broadway musical about the court of King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table, opened in December 1960, just weeks after JFK's election. Starring Richard Burton and Julie Andrews, the popular show was a hit with the country and a favorite with President Kennedy. We had no idea though that the enduring, mythic connection between an idealized King Arthur's Court and the Kennedy White House was spun by a media-savvy Jackie Kennedy shortly after JFK's assassination in November of 1963. Here's how we found "The Story Behind Camelot." We composed a search for web pages containing mentions of both Camelot and the Kennedys by typing "+camelot +Kennedy." We tried this search on four different
engines before we got lucky and located an ABC News article on Northern Light, a search site that indexes web documents as well as fee-based news archives and text collections. In the course of our quest, we also came across the web home of the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum. We found a well-organized and informative site about JFK and his legacy, but no mention of Camelot. So we took a chance and sent an email inquiry. Less than two hours later we had a reply with our answer: On November 29, 1963, Jackie requested an interview with journalist and friend Theodore H. White and memorialized her husband while gilding his reputation with words from his favorite show tune, "Don't
let it be forgot, that once there was a spot, for one brief shining moment that was known as Camelot." Mrs. Kennedy's recollections formed the basis of White's Life Magazine article titled "For President Kennedy: An Epilogue," which appeared on December 6, 1963. Now that's impressive! And the rest is history.
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