Gaby
Jacqueline Kennedy served as First Lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963, during her husband John F. Kennedy’s presidency. In that short time she left a lasting mark on the White House. One of the youngest presidential wives in American history (she was just over 30 at her inauguration), she became known as the perfect partner in an imperfect marriage. Because of her aristocratic grace and resilience, Jackie was often called the “Queen of America.” The London Evening Standard wrote, “Jacqueline Kennedy gave the American people what they needed most – grandeur.”
As we approach the 95th anniversary of her birth, let’s revisit key facts from the life of Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy Onassis to get a clearer sense of who she was.
The Daughter of a Gambler and a Socialite
On her mother’s side she had Irish roots; her father’s family was French and English. The eldest of two daughters of Janet Norton Lee and stockbroker John Bouvier III, she was born on July 28, 1929, in the Southampton suburb of New York. Her younger sister, Caroline Lee, was four years younger, and the two were close as children and teens. Her father, nicknamed Black Jack, lived the life of a gambler and socialite. When Jackie was 11, her parents divorced. Two years later her mother married millionaire Hugh Auchincloss, and they had two children, Janet and James. After Auchincloss died of cancer, Jackie’s mother later married for a third time.
Jacqueline at age 6
Jackie would marry three times. Accustomed to her father’s infidelities, she learned from her mother not to expect exceptions — and to use men’s opportunities to her advantage, prioritizing material security over marital fidelity. From her father she inherited a taste for gambling. She became an accomplished equestrian at a young age and kept horseback riding throughout her life.
Jackie Kennedy holds the reins of her horse at a horse show in East Hampton, 1941.
She was also drawn to lacrosse from childhood—a stick-and-ball sport played with a rubber ball and a netted stick. Jackie loved reading and drawing, interests that shaped her aesthetic sensibility and later pursuits. After graduating from private school and an elite college, Jacqueline Bouvier studied at the Sorbonne before transferring to George Washington University, where she majored in art and French literature.
21-year-old Jacqueline Bouvier in France
After earning her degree, Jacqueline returned to France and co-wrote an autobiographical book called “One Special Summer” with her sister, illustrating it with her own drawings.
A Harmonious Union
Before she became First Lady, the intelligent and stylish Jackie worked as a journalist for the Washington Times-Herald, earning $56 a week. She made her living by interviewing passersby and photographing them. During that period she became engaged to broker John Hustead, but a more promising match soon appeared: Senator John Kennedy, a war hero and rising politician from Boston. After meeting in June 1952, either at a White House reception or at a dinner hosted by a mutual friend, they started dating and announced their engagement a year later.
Jacqueline Bouvier and John Kennedy after their engagement announcement
Politically, the marriage made sense, and the couple did not delay. They married on September 12, 1953, in Rhode Island. Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. escorted Jacqueline down the aisle; he had approved — and may have encouraged — his son’s choice.
The wedding of John Fitzgerald Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy
The wedding was lavish, with some 2,000 guests. But the dress by New York designer Ann Lowe, said to use over 50 yards of silk, disappointed the bride; she called it a “lamp shade.”
Jacqueline Kennedy in her wedding dress
Starting in 1960, Oleg Cassini became her official designer and helped turn his vibrant protégé into an ambassador of “chic femininity.” Jackie also favored houses like Chanel, Dior, and Hermès. After leaving the White House she traded tailored suits for comfortable turtlenecks and jeans.
Jackie’s Style
John and Jacqueline became one of the most stylish couples in modern history. The First Lady set what became known as “Jackie Style”: matching suits with knee-length skirts, three-quarter sleeves, sleeveless dresses, elbow-length gloves, narrow-toed flats, elegant pastel palettes, pillbox hats, scarves, and chic accessories. Because of her high cheekbones and widely spaced eyes, Jackie favored large dark sunglasses that covered much of her face.
The Kennedys vote at the Boston Public Library on Election Day, November 8, 1960
Marion S. Trikosko/loc.gov
Her European designer looks from Coco Chanel, Hubert de Givenchy, and Elsa Schiaparelli set her apart from other First Ladies—the visual contrast between the sophisticated Jacqueline Kennedy and Nina Khrushchev, the poorly dressed wife of the Soviet leader, was especially striking. Diana Vreeland served as Mrs. Kennedy’s fashion consultant. Under his fashionable wife’s influence, John Kennedy also took an interest in clothing and learned to carry off tuxedos and classic suits with confidence.
Jacqueline Kennedy and Nina Khrushchev, 1961
Jackie picked up public-speaking and media skills from her husband: she gave interviews and posed for photographers with poise. But the ceremonial duties of First Lady weren’t enough for her. Her knowledge of art and eye for beauty pushed her to begin renovating the White House interiors right away. She wanted to restore the building’s original character and bring its history back to life.
The Kennedys with Charles Collingwood from CBS News during a televised tour of the restored White House in 1962.
After the restoration, vintage furniture, antique tableware, and artworks made the White House feel more like a museum. One of Jacqueline’s biggest contributions was a CBS film in which she led a tour of the restored rooms; it won her an Emmy and was shown in 100 countries.
Business and Children
Secret Service agents nicknamed her “Lace,” while her husband sometimes called her simply “Fairy.” Newspapers on a joint trip to Paris even referred to “charming Jacqueline and her boy,” and John did not object. Jackie became the First Lady who traveled abroad the most. Diplomats respected her; she spoke French, Italian, Spanish, and some Polish, and she easily held conversations about art history and literature. With such a smart and attractive partner by his side, John Kennedy felt more assured in public. On one notable visit, Nikita Khrushchev greeted Jacqueline first and later gave her a puppy descended from the space dog Strelka for their daughter Caroline.
The Kennedys during a visit to Canada
Jackie took an active interest in her husband’s work. From early in their relationship she translated political monographs for him and served as his translator on trips. In 1960, even while pregnant, she threw herself into John’s campaign—writing copy for newspaper columns, appearing in political ads and interviews, and responding to voters’ letters. Over their ten years together the couple had four children. Their first daughter, Arabella, was stillborn in August 1956. A year later Caroline Bouvier Kennedy was born; she would go on to a public life as a writer and diplomat and remains the only living direct descendant of John and Jacqueline Kennedy. Their son Patrick, born in 1963, lived only two days. Their son John F. Kennedy Jr., born in 1960, died in a plane crash in July 1999.
An Imperfect Pair
John Kennedy was no model family man, though he spent time with his children. Jacqueline reportedly found motherhood burdensome and hired a nanny. That would not have been scandalous except that her mother tried to keep the nanny hidden from the public: Jackie feared tarnishing the polished image she had cultivated. And that image was not the only facade in her life.
Fidelity was not a high priority for either spouse. Biographers say Jacqueline had an affair with a well-known actor in retaliation for her husband’s infidelities, reportedly even in the same hotel where he had been with Marilyn Monroe. The public knew about John’s affairs; few knew about similar episodes in his wife’s life.
John Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe celebrating his 45th birthday in May 1962
Jackie was not blind to her husband’s other interests. His affairs began soon after their honeymoon in Acapulco. Once a maid found a pair of black women’s panties in John’s bed and, thinking they belonged to Jackie, handed them to her. Jackie returned them to her husband and said coldly, “This isn’t my size; return it to its owner.” She took her revenge in other ways too, indulging herself with lavish spending.
Jacqueline with her family in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, August 4, 1962
John was irritated by her conspicuous spending, but he tolerated it. A few years before the assassination, when Jacqueline considered divorce, Joseph Kennedy persuaded her to stay by offering $1,000,000 to preserve the marriage for his son’s career. She agreed only after he guaranteed that each child from the marriage would receive the same amount.
The Kennedy Curse
On November 22, 1963, John Kennedy was shot in Dallas as he rode in an open-top car with his wife and a crowd that had gathered along Elm Street. At the moment of the fatal shot, Jackie sat beside him and did not immediately understand what had happened. A bullet struck the president in the head. In shock she recoiled and crawled across the trunk toward the follow-up car; the Secret Service later explained she was trying to gather pieces of her husband’s skull.
The President and First Lady at Dallas Love Field Airport on November 22, 1963, just hours before John Kennedy’s assassination
Photos of Jacqueline in her blood-stained pink tweed suit ran on tabloids around the world. She refused to change out of the suit for several hours after the assassination. The outfit, a custom version of a Chanel model made at the Chez Ninon atelier, became a stark symbol of the violence done to the president. Jackie stood in that bloodied suit on Air Force One beside Lyndon Johnson as he was sworn in as president, her appearance speaking for her: “Let everyone see what they’ve done to John.”
The President and First Lady in the back seat of the presidential limousine just minutes before the assassination
That day Jackie refused sedatives and insisted on seeing her husband in the operating room. John Kennedy, 46, became the fourth U.S. president assassinated in office, after Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, and William McKinley. Jacqueline helped organize his farewell ceremony and lit the Eternal Flame at his grave; the 35th president is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
The Kennedy family leaves the Capitol after the farewell ceremony for the president on November 24, 1963.
Abbie Rowe – Abbie Rowe White House Photographs/Wikipedia.org
The widow, wearing a black veil, held her two children’s hands and appeared almost Madonna-like at the funeral. At the casket she placed her wedding ring in John’s hand (Secret Service returned it to her before the burial) and quietly said, “Now I have nothing.” Two weeks later she left the White House and asked the driver never to take her past it again. After Robert Kennedy was assassinated in June 1968, Jackie told close friends she wanted to leave the country: “There’s a curse over this family; if they’re killing Kennedys, my children could be targets too. I want to leave this country.”
Rich People Cry Too
Seeking protection and a sense of security, the status-conscious widow found refuge on a private island owned by shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis. Jackie had befriended Onassis while still married to Kennedy. During a cruise on his yacht she vacationed with her sister Caroline and Caroline’s fiancé; Onassis fell in love with Jackie, and the affair led to the cancellation of her sister’s wedding. Five years after John Kennedy’s death, Jackie accepted Onassis’s proposal and married one of the richest men in the world.
Jacqueline and Aristotle Onassis
The wedding Onassis’s former lover Maria Callas had dreamed of took place on his private island of Skorpios in the Ionian Sea. The press began calling the bride “Jackie O.” After the marriage, the former First Lady lost Secret Service protection, and many Americans accused her of moving on too quickly.
The wedding of Jacqueline Kennedy and Aristotle Onassis
Many Americans saw her marriage to a wealthy foreigner as a betrayal of the Kennedy clan; Onassis hoped to strengthen ties to the U.S. political and financial elite. Both partners were soon disappointed. Onassis resumed visits to a former lover, and the situation reflected the limits of the marriage.
Meanwhile, Jackie continued to spend lavishly. She never found solitude on Skorpios and became an even bigger target for paparazzi. A photographer who sneaked onto the property disguised as a gardener captured a topless photo of the former First Lady; the image later appeared in Hustler and earned photographer Ron Galella an unprecedented $1.2 million fee.
Once Again a Widow
The year 1973 began tragically for Onassis: his only son Alexander died in a plane crash. The loss affected his health, and on March 15, 1975, Aristotle Onassis died in Paris. The press called Jackie “once again a widow.” For the 46-year-old widow, the next two years were dominated by an inheritance dispute complicated by Greek law, which limited spousal rights for noncitizens. Ultimately she accepted a $26 million settlement from Onassis’s daughter Christina and dropped further claims, while agreeing to Christina’s condition that Jackie never appear again on the yacht Christina, on Skorpios, or in Onassis’s Paris apartment on Avenue Foch.
Jackie with the Reagans, 1985
Like her mother, Jacqueline remarried a third time. Her final husband was diamond dealer Maurice Tempelsman. In later years she returned to work in publishing, not for money but out of interest, and the stress of the job took a toll on her health.
Jacqueline with her third husband, Maurice Tempelsman
Jackie smoked three packs of cigarettes a day and quit smoking and her job as a junior editor at her daughter Caroline’s request after she was diagnosed with lymphoma. When doctors found inoperable metastases she was sent home and died in her sleep on May 19, 1994—the anniversary of her father’s death. She was 64. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis was buried at Arlington National Cemetery beside John Kennedy and their children Arabella and Patrick, who died in childhood and never had a chance to carry on their parents’ legacy.
