From The Death of a President:Fort Worth collectors had installed painting and sculpture by Eakins, Feininger, Russell, Hartley, Kline, Moore, Picasso in Kennedys’ Hotel Texas suite, 55 years ago: pic.twitter.com/g1p1xJRvVx— Michael Beschloss (@BeschlossDC) November 22, 2018
In the fatigue of last night and the haste of this morning neither Kennedy had noticed that they were surrounded by a priceless art exhibition. On the walls and tables were a Monet, a Picasso, a Van Gogh, a Prendergast, and twelve other celebrated oil paintings, water colors and bronzes. A catalogue, which had also been overlooked, disclosed that the exhibit was in their honor. "Isn't this sweet, Jack?" [Jackie] said as he hung up [his phone call.] "They've just stripped their whole museum of all their treasures to brighten this dingy hotel suite." He knew it had been for her, and taking the catalogue he said "Let's see who did it." There were several names at the end. The first was Mrs. J. Lee Johnson III. "Why don't we call her?" he suggested. "She must be in the phone book." Thus Ruth Carter Johnson, the wife of a Fort Worth newspaper executive, became the surprised recipient of John Kennedy's last telephone call. The Death of a President, Harper & Row, first Perennial Library edition, 1988, pages 120-121.
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