ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

In 2003 I was in the middle of writing The Culture Broker: Franklin Murphy and the Transformation of Los Angeles. Purely by accident, I stumbled on some of the correspondence written by First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy and National Gallery Director John Walker concerning the exhibition of the Mona Lisa. My encounter with these letters launched a five-year hunt to locate all the available primary materials associated with the historic exhibition.

From the start, my visits to the Gallery Archives at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston were riveting experiences. There is endless excitement in the search to reconstruct what went before, as Arthur Schlesinger beautifully described it. Writers pursue history, he said, because of the thrill of the hunt, because exploring the past is such fun and because a nation must know its history.

I would like to express my profound appreciation to Caroline Kennedy for her gracious permission to quote from the correspondence of Jacqueline Kennedy and John Walker. I’m deeply indebted to Maygene F. Daniels, chief of the Gallery Archives at the National Gallery of Art, for her invaluable and gracious assistance through all the stages of research and writing of this book. I greatly appreciate Anne G. Ritchie, senior archivist, for her kind efforts in locating all of the pertinent documents and photographs connected with the exhibition. Many thanks to the fine staff of the Gallery Archives including Jean Henry.

The documents and photographs from the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library are an indispensable record of the Mona Lisa story. I’m extremely grateful to research archivist Stephen Plotkin for his skillful and exceptional expertise. I greatly appreciate the insights and knowledge of audiovisual archivist Maryrose Grossman. Roy Meachum’s vivid memories of Edward Folliard made an important contribution. Very special thanks are owed to French translator Brian Quinn of Quinn Translation Services in Los Angeles and to my researcher based in Paris, Sara Watson. I must extend my deep appreciation to journalist Ellen Beck, who somehow found the missing Mona Lisa photos from all corners.

I gratefully acknowledge Larry Ashmead, Gina De Roma Bowles, Karen Chappelle, Nicholas A. Curry, Catherine Davis, Carol Easton, Joseph Alexander Gallego II, Uri Herscher, Ashley Mendoza, Jack Miles, Dorota Shortell, Victoria Steele, William Strachan, Roger Vincent, Frank and Carla Vincent, and David Wilk.

My deepest thanks to my literary agent, Betsy Amster, for finding this book its perfect home. Most of all, my gratitude must go to my talented editor Wendy Francis for her extraordinary commitment to this project. As I write this, Wendy is about to give birth to her first child, a baby boy. I am grateful to Kate Burke, Alex Camlin, Kevin Hanover, Trent Knoss, Ashley St. Thomas, and Collin Tracy of the Perseus Books Group.

This book is dedicated to the members of my Los Angeles book club, the Women’s Literary Society, including Stacie Hirsch, Jeanne MacDonald, Meena Nainan, Kim Nemoy, Esq., Dr. Deborah Lynn Shyer, and Abigail Walsh, Esq. No group of women has ever delighted or tortured me more.

Lastly, I would like to acknowledge my cherished friend T. Sumner Robinson (1945-2003), maverick journalist, Internet pioneer, and mentor.