Associated with the crime family. That all happens tonight on cspan2 book tv. Now here is Merrill Gordon on the life of bunny mellon. Okay. I think were gonna get started. Thank you everyone for coming. My name is cody and i help with the events here at the culture on columbus and we are so pleased to be hosting mel gordon for this conversation on the life of an american legend, bonnie bunny mellon. We are nestled here on the Upper West Side and weve been here almost three years. Some of you may remember the space. We are so happy to be here and to be able to celebrate this great and important work. Do take note that cspan is here recording the talk. During the q a session, if you will give us a couple seconds to run the microphone to you so shes not talking to no one on the recording. After words if you give us a couple seconds to set up we will have a signing at the front near the register. Eyeing courage you to pick up a copy or two or three so we can continue to be here and celebrate great and important work. She is an awardwinning journalist and a regular contributor to vanity fair. She is considered an expert on elder abuse and whenever there is a highprofile case. We are so pleased to have her. Please join me in welcoming her. [applause] thank you for being here. It is incredibly exciting to see so many people that i love and care about. Im really happy that you can be here and share this incredibly exciting moment. It hasnt even been reviewed yet. It will be reviewed in this sundays New York Times but the following week. I want to thank my husband walter shapiro. He is a great spouse and a great book spouse. He said mace from some truly embarrassing errors. I want to thank my editor gretchen young. She was excited [applause] she was excited about this idea from day one. She was inspired by bunny mellon. She wanted this book to be as pretty as possible. She did all sorts of wonderful things. Thank you for making this so lovely. I want to tell you more about my reporting adventures for this book. This is my third book and each reporting experience has been completely different. Bunny mellon was a hundred and three when she died. What was interesting they had similarities and differences in my books. They were all worth 300 million. Mrs. Astor married her money. Her husband was very rich, she inherited money from her father. Bunny mellon married rich and was born with money. Does despite my bestseller status i doubt i will ever reach her level. That other things in common. They all married and divorced christian men. Given the facts there were many divorces, i always wondered what was going on during that period of time. They also all ended up having some sort of scandal toward the end of their lives which made it more interesting for me to write the book. When youre writing a biography, you try to immerse yourself in the person youre writing about, and the reporting was just very different. With brooke astor i was going to blacktie gala so i could meet her friends and traipsing all over fifth avenue and spending months at the courthouse. As some of you know, she spent the last 20 years of her life in a hospital room even though she was not ill. That was claustrophobic. I felt like i was trapped with him. With bunny mellon, i spent the last few years immersed in beauty. She just lived in exquisite luxury. She had this quirky desire to improve upon nature so that she moved trees and hills, everything had to be particularly lovely and beautiful. She had Amazing Taste in art and even though a lot of her best artwork went off for sale, the Library Still has some extraordinary pieces. Bonnie and her husband owned an enormous estate in cape cod. She sold that a state but she held onto two properties inherited by her two grandsons. One of them is a twobedroom getaway that she built when she wanted to get away. She would sneak over there to paint and daydream. That is the house where they spent an evening with Jackie Kennedy looking at the stars and discussing whether jackie should mary. My husband and i were invited to spend a couple days staying in that cottage. It was almost just like she had left it. I felt like i was getting to breathe her air and live in this surrounding beauty. I want to roll back in time a little bit and tell you how i began writing this book. In the summer of 2011 they asked me to write an article. As you may remember, she had designed the white house rose garden for her good friends the kennedys and she lived in amazing luxury and her president was president of the National Gallery of art. She had given a lot of money to john edwards, the disgraced president ial candidate. He was using his her money to support his pregnant girlfriend. She had been an obscure person for decades and was suddenly in the news. I had written my previous two books, you dont facts, you dont text, you dont email, you write on beautiful monogram stationery and thats what i did. I had this hilarious morning, is a wonderful Farmers Market on the Upper West Side. I went to the Farmers Market, i got out of the cab, the doorman was opening the door, i did the new york thing. I go upstairs and theres is very highpitched voice on the phone. She said to me you wrote me such a nice note that i decided to call you myself that ive decided not to talk too. Shed clearly wanted to talk. We did the interview, she was happy with it. Six months later on thanksgiving, i thought how many 101 yearolds do i know. I called and wished her a happy thanksgiving. In march 2014 when she died, her grandson was kind enough to invite me to attend her funeral. My husband played a major role in this because i had air tickets to florida and he said i parents love you and i went to the funeral and after the reception her grandson came up to me and said we would love you to write the book. I had incredible access without anything to hold me back. I was able to spend time going down to bonnies library and farm. This is a woman who her family kept everything and she kept everything. Their letters from her grandfather when she was two years old. There were five boxes of letters from her friends. One of the things i love were her husbands war letters. I got to read all this material, her diaries and journals and i love to do interviews. As my students know nothing makes me happier than going to talk to other people. I talked to 175 people during this book. Thats what i bring to this. One of the things that interested me when i began working on this, there were so many contradictory stories about bunny that i heard. She could be regal and intimidating or mischievous and witty. She could be capable of great generosity and warmth but cool to her family and friends. She spent decades. [inaudible] she consulted astrologers. One scrap of paper she said i believe in god but i also believe in which is. Wealthy women obsessed with the vision of perfection and the need to get away. She ordered the gardeners to rake up all of the leaves and put the pretty ones back. She decided the shallow and should be where the deep end was and she made them dig it out and start all over again. She was someone who saw beauty and nature everywhere. She asked of her friend could carry a package and she needed the driver to pick her up at the airport in paris and later in the week she can help ask what was in the package. Bonnie had found the perfect stone on the beach. That was it. That was the package. It wasnt anything but valuable but she was thrilled. This was something bonnie thought he would love. She was in a snob. She like to spend time with the creative people rather than she cultivated a mystery. There is so much i want to tell you but i want to leave time for your questions. Let me start with family background. In 1879 her grandfather developed an antiseptic for surgery use. He was in st. Louis. The physician was named doctor Joseph Lister hence listerine was born. Sales were dropping in 1920 and he was trying to figure out what would help. He discovered that one of the scientists at the firm said listerine was also good for bad breath and they realize that the latin word for bad breath was halitosis. He had this brainstorm and picked up a poster of a girl and drop an Advertising Campaign of the girl who had all these advantages in life except she had halitosis and no one would tell her. It went on to be always a bridesmaid, never a bride and he turned listerine into an enormous bestseller and made the family very rich. Now, many started with such a great character that i had to fight to keep her from taking over the book. He did so many interesting things. He was a yachtsman, he sailed around the world for the world cup, he helped with political polling under fdr and he made one brilliant decision in 1928. The stock was doing really well, he thought id like to go sailing so he sailed his company he sold his company so in 1929, the weekend they had the party was the weekend the stock market crashed. So she came in and she was wealthy. She was born in 1910 and she always said, which was very sad, that she felt like the odd one out compared to her younger brother and his beautiful sister lily. She was at her mother adored her brother, that her father adored lily and nobody paid much attention to her. I think that led to tremendous insecurities that lasted all of her life and essentially how she behaved toward other people. She did have her maternal grandfather who was a manufacturer in a small town politician. He owned a New Hampshire farm and woul she would spend six weeks with a ever summer. Her grandfather made her get up and pump the water. He took her on hikes and taught her to look at the stars and encouraged her to start her first garden. She would always talk about how he how important her grandfather was. Her father hired the best gardeners. Bunny traveled around is a key teenager and it gave her Important Information background when she decided to design her own gardens. Her roommate was a woman whose name may eventually run ring a bill. Ring a bell. We would later know her as sister parish, one of the leading designers. I love the idea of these two women who had become the icons of 20th century style sleeping on heated front porches in the middle of nowhere. Half of the students she went to college with went to very good schools. Then her father wanted her to get a mrs. Degree instead and would not let her go to school. That became raging and security for her. It always bothered her that she didnt have a degree. One of the things i found most compelling as i was reporting the book, she spent hundred 50000 on close so there are reams and reams at her state of clothe when she was in her a late 90s she got an Honorary Degree and she wanted to be married and her graduation gown. She wanted to say dad, i made. In 1932 she married a princeton graduate. Bonnie was always attractive but never beautiful. That this was an incredibly looking man and he was president of the iv club and star athlete. Bunny really thought she had run won the lottery. Bonnie would go on to have two children. The first was a son named stacy and she also had a baby born blue because the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck and they named him tough. They also had a daughter named elsie. He was a very autocratic man. After his father died they didnt he didnt know what he wanted to do with his life. He was enjoying the resources. During world war ii, his husband and paul were both in the oss which you probably know was there predecessor to the cia. They room together. Nobody wanted to give him a serious spot because he was so wealthy. He begged to go overseas. They sent him to england to work on victory gardens. These were a lot of fun because reading all this gossip, theres this terrible gold digger and her name was Pamela Churchill and she was also writing home to buddy, so she was very aware that he had another wife. After the war, both men came home. Bunny was convinced her husband had been having an affair overseas, and lets face it he was gone for several years and was a goodlooking man in anythings possible. She was having a hard time with it. She was unclear if the marriage would last. His wife was allergic to horses. Doctors told her she should stop writing but her husband loved horses and she wanted to stay married to him and she thought staying married men trotting along side beside him. She had a horrible asthma attack and she died within an hour. Bunny and her husband were selective of their friends. She was a widower with two Young Children and she looked long and hard in the mirror and her marriage was troubled and this was one of the wealthiest men in the country and she knew when he came out of his funk there would be a lot of opportunity so she made herself indispensable. As you can imagine she divorced her husband and she married paul. As you can imagine there was not smooth sailing ahead for this couple. In the early years, paul and bonnie were parents and happy together. Take traveled constantly leaving the children to be cared by servants. You can imagine what you could do with their life. She could afford anything she wanted and she wanted pretty much everything. They went on in art buying spree. What you will see is paul love sporting pictures. Horses, dogs and then you walk into the next room in your eyes will blossom because she loved impressionists. He always credit her that he changed her taste. They bought millions and millions of dollars worth of art which is now in museums around the country. Thanks to her marriage, she was thrust onto the national stage. Queen elizabeth, she had just been crowned queen came to the u. S. And went to one private home. Some 30 years later when Prince Charles wanted to introduce princess diana, they went to bonnies house. She was operating at the highest level of society. They even made her gardening outfits. Im sure all your gardening outfits arc to tour also. Bunny like to build and decorate homes. She created a series of certain show places. Their home was in virginia which had green houses the size of football fields, stables for pauls resources, homes in antigua, paris, washington, cape cod and nantucket. I know its close to cape cod but they had to have another place but they also had a place on east 70th street in new york. They had more than 200 employees to care to their every whim. They also had a private plane. The advantage of having a lot of these homes is that it didnt have to be together if they werent getting along. They realized how different they were after couple years of marriage. Their marriage was troubled for decades. He carried on an affair for more than 30 years. Everybody knew but nobody said anything. One of the things that really got to me, bonnie wrote an entry into her diary about attending a an event with paul. Bunny wrote, wore a lovely black dress that you design. Felt protected and pretty and able to view other women from inside the fortress. Painful, but bonnie made her decision. Paul asked for divorce. She stayed mrs. Paul mellon and she had her own affairs which i described in the book but she also spent a lot of time with gay men decorators and artists who shared her eye for beauty. She is famous for her best friend, Jackie Kennedy. Dana met in 1958 and were introduced by the famous dancing star, sister of fred astaire. Jackie sister said jackie and bonnie were like sisters. Carolyn kennedy wrote of her mother and bonnie, they are like a pair of twins with their own special language of their own love of mischief and respect for tradition and complete disregard. Thanks to a friendship with bonnie, she had a front row seat at american history. She helped decorate the white house rose garden and she was also there for jackie at every major moment in her life. After president kennedy was assassinated, jackie summoned bunny to the white house and asked her to do the flowers for the capital, the church and also Arlington National cemetery. until the end of their life. When you are writing a book about a woman it is easy to assume the one thing that is left to say. I thought my god, i have three more chapters to write. It is an exception [inaudible] these are the chances that detailed the involvement. She gives 125,000 at a time they try to keep their baby quinn from the world and the campaign contributions. One of the fun parts was to fly down and spend time with a man named chuck who investigated the case and recently retired so we got to spend four hours with him talking about everything. He had gone up to everybody for the fbi investigation and was talking about normally if youre an fbi agent but she thought it was great and announced im here to defend john edwards. Its an interesting part of her life and after the deadlock they declared the prosecution dropped the case reminisced with a friend afterwards whod been involved in the whole process. There are things that stay with you and one is the love of nature. She looked towards nature whenever bad things happened, trees, flowers, birds. Wonderful descriptions to her friends and in spite of this, i began to look at this and i live in an Apartment Building and [inaudible] i checked to see if my students are smiling in the back. I would see the beauty and nature for one particular moment of the day. [inaudible] several hundred Million Dollars i sat with a friend whod given some inexpensive gifts with a 20dollar basket hed gotten and then an iron in the shape of a bunny. The basket went for 4,000 come int 4,000. 200bunny went for 400. I couldnt afford anything in that option but i have one memento i cherish. I found it a little stone and it has been sitting on my desk the last few years helping me write this book. Thank you for coming, and im happy to answer any questions. [applause] there are some seats up front if anybody wants to sneak in before we get to questions. Questions. Yes. Did you interview any of her servant . This trip i took, i was staying in their place and their grandson invited me to step like to be interviewed by me. So i sat there and these are people that have worked for 20 to 30 years and then down in virginia i was able to talk to the gardener for almost half a century. They had Health Insurance and they were good with their employees. People loved her and were heartbroken so i am trying to figure out why and what was that all about. Can i get back the 25 i gave to john edwards . I feel cheated. Was there evidence that paul loved her at any point or was she just convenient . One of the people i got to spend time with she worked for them for close to 20 years and i was working in the library and she was talking about towards the end of pauls life they had a little Anniversary Party and at the end he turned to say im so glad i stayed married to bunny. They cared about each other deeply, but i think they were both from and oppressed world and they have different interesting backgrounds. Paul loved his mistress, very close to her, but there were emotional things they gave him. Can you talk about stacey lloyd after the divorce did they keep the friendship . He married a young woman who was 20 years younger and started a Newspaper Publishing business he continued to run and she is a writer and had a son and came down with polio and became partially paralyzed. They moved down to the islands and d. And bunny stayed friends. I dont want to spoil the book but i think she didnt regret the board game she mad and she e always loved stacy. There was a fabulously funny corner store which is where the place was and malcolm said when they were in their 80s, stacy and bunny used to go out together and it was kind of nice that they were able to stay friendly. Her mother was rachel but the nurse called her bunny and she kept the name. On geography that you talk about, was there ever a role that they played or was that just ancient history for them ask the first year they made the best list they got excited about it in the pittsburgh newspaper they thought that was great. Paul would stay all the time for business and there was a ton of philanthropy but it wasnt their orbit. What was the relationship with the children by the end of the life . So complicated from the start. Her daughter was a cheerful lovely girl with school was hard for her. On the morning of the wedding, her daughter said i dont want to get married. I dont know exactly what she said she said i don that she st to get married. She got married and divorced a couple of times and to it took a while before she was comfortable bringing her girlfriend around her mother. They were close but they didnt speak during periods of time. There was a time they tried to bring their daughter back to her and they finally became very close. Eliza was very involved with her mother and there was a terrible accident. She was crossing a street and a truck didnt see her and hit her, taken to the hospital she had old id with her which didnt have her current address so she was at st. Vincents hospital and nobody knew where she was or who she was. They offered it up on what they thought was a comatose young woman and then it was too late. They brought her back to the farm and get everything, music therapy, every kind of therapy you could have. There was some recognition, so that was the sad story and then more neglected by his mother he had a yearning for a relationship that he just didnt get to have a she also did stuff that was just geared. She fixed up a house for him and there were like 27 different houses and then discovered she wasnt giving him the house. None of this property would go to anyone in his family and once again, kind of giving and taking away at the same time. As an average typical reader, i just want to know more about how the white house rose garden came about and someone that had no formal training got to create such an iconic spot. [inaudible] i was kind of panicked thinking what can i possibly say that hasnt already been said. There were hundreds of pages of scrap paper and something that began with talking about the day her son was born and on cape cod, 1961 the phone rings first thing in the morning its Jackie Kennedy and she said i cant talk long we are going to church. Hes going to ask you to do something big. You have to do it. This time the white house rose garden. Got to go. She sat there and thought i have no formal training. I dont know how im going to do this. I cant imagine this. Then she always thought of her grandfather at important moments and he would say if you are going to do anything to help your country, you have got to do this. And so, the president came that afternoon and there is a photograph she took and she captured the moment and i think catherine probably couldnt have known this but she captured the moment in history when bunny does find was asked to design it and did all sorts of wonderful things. She found a perfect tree she wanted but it happened to be in the basin and one of the scenic spots in washington and wanted to move so it got moved. We were able to look at some of the letters that were written by the landscape gardener is. I dont think we should be digging up these corners of the garden because there could be electronic equipment but youd have to change the entire design so they began digging and cut off the Strategic Air command. Jackie kennedy gave a wonderful scrapbook of all of the experiences we had together and she ended by saying hes famous for creating the places most loved and you will be too. With that book and this one, i am curious to know how you can get close to a family and learn about someones life but you remain very objective and how you view them and you are able to put your personal feelings aside. And i just wonder if that is difficult and how you manage it and if you just go into reporter mode and if that is a very different thing. Im not from the social, not my life and summing these very wealthy families if people believe you are going to be honest out there to hurt them for any particular reason usually at the end of the day people will trust you [inaudible] after she died, who got the money . Its interesting she left most of the money to her libra library. Im sure you will do the same thing if she left the states to cover the cost of the library and the Charitable Organization and reforming some of the areas they can have scholars down there she left her son 20 million. She left her grandsons 2 million each. At the end of the day she also left [inaudible] thank you for coming tonight. Appreciate it. [applause] thank you everybody for coming. [applause] good morning. Here in new york city especially with our