In the fall of 1960, Barbara A. Perry accompanied her mother to hear John F. Kennedy speak at a presidential campaign rally in Louisville, Ky. She doesn't remember much about the future president's speech, but the experience apparently made an impression on the young girl, who went on to an illustrious career as a governmental scholar, author, and Sweet Briar professor of government.

Perry's latest book, "Jacqueline Kennedy: First Lady of the New Frontier" (University Press of Kansas), combines her lifelong interest in the Kennedy mystique with years of well-honed political scholarship and insight. The result is a warm, thoughtful, and vividly detailed portrait of a woman who redefined the role of First Lady in American society and politics.

Perry will discuss "Jacqueline Kennedy: First Lady of the New Frontier" in a forum at the University of Virginia's Miller Center of Public Affairs in Charlottesville on Tuesday, Dec. 14 at 11 a.m. The forum is free and open to the public.

Although Perry spent about four years actually putting the book together, she's been laying the groundwork for as long as she can recall. "It really is a lifelong project of mine," she said. "I amassed a huge personal collection - Kennedy books I've kept."

Once she felt confident in her working knowledge of public information, she set out to explore primary source material at the Kennedy Library in Boston. Rather than analyze Mrs. Kennedy's personal life and marriage to the larger-than-life John F. Kennedy, Perry knew at the outset she wanted to create a portrait of Jackie as an innovative and powerful first lady.

"It's a very rich vein of material," she said of the legendary, star-crossed American family. "But I knew I had to keep my eyes on the prize and zero in on [Mrs. Kennedy's] life at the White House. I wanted to produce the first scholarly treatment of her work as first lady."

If reviews of the work are any indication, Perry succeeded. Jay Strafford of the Richmond Times-Dispatch wrote: "Ms. Perry writes with grace and subtlety perfectly suited to her subject. Much of what is found in her book has been written before, but her detailed synthesis of material suited to her viewpoint is adeptly executed."

Perry emphasized Kennedy's interest in arts and culture, and particularly her passion for historic preservation and promoting the White House and its furnishings as American treasures. But some of the author's most original revelations concern Mrs. Kennedy's role as goodwill ambassador at the height of the Cold War. A suggestion that Perry explore the papers of presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson - and his letters to and from Mrs. Kennedy - proved especially fruitful.

"It was very delightful correspondence," Perry noted. "She had this very coquettish demeanor and used flirtation in a very innocent way. It was very striking … People say she wasn't enamored of power politics, but I think that's how she viewed the political world: arm-twisting men using her feminine charms."

The Miller Center at UVa, founded in 1975, "gathers new knowledge about the American presidency and our government, shares that knowledge with scholars, officials, and the public, and contributes to the contemporary debate about public policy," its web site states. The forums are held at the J. Wilson Newman Pavilion at 2201 Old Ivy Rd., in Charlottesville. For directions to the center and a sample chapter of "Jacqueline Kennedy: First Lady of the New Frontier," please visit millercenter.virginia.edu.