In the December 9th, 1963 issue of Life Magazine, published just a matter of days after President Kennedy's assassination, Theodore H. White wrote one of several articles about the event and all that immediately followed. The final piece in the issue was titled "For President Kennedy, An Epilogue", and in it came the roots of the "Camelot" myth.
Mrs. Kennedy was quoted as saying:
"When Jack quoted something, it was usually classical, but I'm so ashamed of myself, all I keep thinking of is this line from a musical comedy. At night, before we'd go to sleep, Jack liked to play some records; and the song he loved most came at the very end of this record. The lines he loved to hear were: Don't let it be forgot, that once there was a spot, for one brief shining moment, that was known as Camelot."
She went on: "Once, the more I read of history, the more bitter I got. For a while, I thought history was something that bitter old men wrote. But then I realized history made Jack what he was. You must think of him as this little boy, sick so much of the time, reading in bed, reading history, reading the Knights of the Round Table, reading Marlborough. For Jack, history was full of heroes. And if it made him this way -- if it made him see the heroes -- maybe other little boys will see. Men are such a combination of good and bad. Jack had this hero idea of history, the idealistic view."
She returned to quote the musical again: "Don't let it be forgot, that once there was a spot, for one brief shining moment, that was known as Camelot -- and it will never be that way again."
Theodore White continued his epilogue detailing her future, as well as reminding his readers of the Eternal Flame marking President Kennedy's grave in Arlington National Cemetery, before ending his piece with "For one brief shining moment there was Camelot."
To a nation grieving a President assassinated barely a fortnight before, these words struck a chord, partially because the musical in question had been a remarkable hit. The show, written by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, opened less than a month after the 1960 election which elevated Kennedy, and after 873 performances (and two previews), closed on January 5, 1963, less than a year before the assassination. The original cast album, starring Richard Burton and Julie Andrews (fresh off her success in My Fair Lady), was the highest selling LP in the country for over a year, which meant that almost every home with a phonograph would have heard the song Mrs. Kennedy was quoting. In a year which the singles charts were topped by Elvis Presley, Ray Charles, Shirelles, and many others, the Broadway cast album for Camelot reigned on the LP charts.
For Mrs. Kennedy to quote a well-known lyric of such optimism in one of the most widely-read publications, less than two weeks after burying her husband, spoke deeply to a nation that was reeling from the tragedy. She tapped into the zeitgeist of the nation, and responded with Alan Jay Lerner's lyrics in just the right way. Some have considered that interview a well-calculated insurance that her husband would not be posthumously slandered (at least in the public's eye). It has been reported that the editors wanted White to edit that portion out, but Mrs. Kennedy insisted that it remain. There is little evidence otherwise that the musical was well-loved by the first family, but it does book-end John F. Kennedy's presidency fittingly.
Other Kennedy-related articles and features in the issue include:
A Letter From the Publisher by C.D. Jackson
Editor's Note by George P. Hunt
Editorial, without a byline
Photo-essays entitled: "President Kennedy Is Laid To Rest"; "A Sorrowing Family Marches Together"; "On a Hill in Arlington Came the Final Salutes"; "The New Chief Moves Boldly to His Big Tasks"; "Sorrow Rings a World"
"Mrs. Kennedy's Decisions Shaped All the Solemn Pageantry" by Dora Jane Hamblin, which ended with the final sentence: "She plans to leave the White House very soon."
"In Texas a Policeman and an Assassin are Laid to Rest Too" by Thomas Thompson
"End to Nagging Rumors: The Six Critical Seconds" by Paul Mandel
"Russia: 'No, No, This Cannot Be True'" by Robert Brigham