Jackie Kennedy was suspicious of Catholics believing many of them had persecution complexes.
She revealed her dislike in interviews she gave soon after her husband was assassinated. Those interviews are part of the book, "Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy". The book was written by former Kennedy aide and historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr right after JFK was assassinated on Nov. 22, 1963.
In the book, Jakie comments in one interview on the suspicious nature of her mother-in-law Rose Kennedy, a devout Catholic, and says she always demanded to know if someone was Catholic.
"There seems to be about all these Irish — they always seem to have a sort of persecution thing about them, don't they?" she asks.
She also revealed a deep dislike for Martin Luther King, the civil rights leader after comments she says he made at JFK’s funeral.
In the interview, she called him "tricky" and a "phony" after she was told about sex tapes of King made by the FBI.
She claimed King had mocked her husband's funeral and Cardinal Richard Cushing, who celebrated Mass at the funeral.
"He made fun of Cardinal Cushing and said that he was drunk at it," she said. "And things about they almost dropped the coffin. I just can't see a picture of Martin Luther King without thinking, you know, that man's terrible."
In a poignant part of the book, Schlesinger asked John John, 3 at the time, what happened to his father.
"He's gone to heaven," the little boy said.
And what did the child remember about dad?
"I don't remember anything," the lad known as John-John replies.
Jackie also disliked another leading Irish American, Texas governor John Connolly, who was in the car and was wounded the day JFK was shot in Dallas.
She reveals she discussed her dislike of Connolly the night before the fatal day.
She told JFK she couldn't stand him and his "soft mouth."
"Jack was so sweet. He sort of rubbed my back ... and said, 'You mustn't say that you mustn't say that,'" she recalled. "If you start to say or think that you hate someone, then the next day you'll act as if you hated him."
* Originally published in 2011.
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