Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis - the most admired firdt lady of the US
Jacqueline Lee Bouvier was born in 1929 in Southampton, New York. Her father, John Vernou Bouvier III, was an affluent Wall Street stockbroker whose ancestors had arrived from France in the early 1800s. Her mother, Janet Lee Bouvier, an accomplished equestrian, was of Irish and English parentage. Jackie spent her childhood in New York City and Long Island and later, following her mother's divorce in 1940 and remarriage to Hugh D. Auchincloss II in 1942, in McLean, Virginia and Newport, Rhode Island. Her favorite pastimes were reading, sketching, writing poems and riding horses.
Jackie attended Miss Porter's School for Girls in Connecticut and Vassar College, where she excelled in history, literature, art and French. After studying at the Sorbonne in Paris for her junior year, she returned to the United States to earn a degree in French literature from George Washington University.
Her first job was as the "Inquiring Camera Girl" for the Washington Times-Herald, roving the city with her camera to capture citizens' reactions to issues of the day. During this time Jackie met the young senator from Massachusetts, John F. Kennedy. They were married on September 12, 1953 at St. Mary's Church in Newport. A crowd of 3,000 on-lookers waited outside the church for a glimpse of the newlyweds. Afterwards, 1,200 guests attended the wedding reception at Hammersmith Farm, the nearby Auchincloss estate, a place filled with happy memories for Jacqueline of the summers she had spent there with her mother and stepfather, brothers and sisters.
Following their wedding, the Kennedy's lived in the Georgetown section of Washington. During her husband's convalescence from major back surgery in 1955, she encouraged his interest in writing Profiles in Courage, a study of principled political decision making which he dedicated to her. The book won the Pulitzer Prize for 1957, a momentous year for the Kennedy's as their first child, Caroline Bouvier Kennedy, was born that November.
In January, 1960 JFK announced his candidacy for the Presidency of the United States, launching 11 months of cross-country campaigning. A few weeks into the campaign Jacqueline became pregnant and her doctors instructed her to remain at home. There she answered campaign mail, taped TV commercials, gave interviews and wrote "Campaign Wife," a syndicated column carried across the nation. Celebration of a Kennedy election victory was followed just weeks later by celebration of the birth of the Kennedy's second child, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Jr.
At age 31 Jacqueline Kennedy had become the third youngest First Lady in our history and the first to be the mother of an infant since the turn of the century. As she told an interviewer "If you bungle raising your children nothing else much matters in life," so she determined from the start to shelter Caroline and John from the limelight associated with their father's position.
Jacqueline Kennedy quickly stepped into her new role. Her first major project was the historical restoration of the White House. She created a White House Fine Arts Committee to guide and authenticate the work, created the post of White House curator, oversaw publication of a guidebook for visitors, established the White House Library and the Rose Garden, and promoted legislation to raise the presidential mansion to museum status. Sale of the guidebook provided funds for the project; within six months of publication, 350,000 copies were sold. The book, The White House: An Historic Guide, continues to support the work of the White House Historical Association which she founded.
When the restoration was complete, CBS asked Mrs. Kennedy to present a televised tour of the White House, showing 50 million Americans their newly-polished national treasure. Her tour was immensely popular, and she was honored with an Emmy Award for the broadcast.
Other undertakings supported by Mrs. Kennedy were the renewal of Pennsylvania Avenue, the preservation of Lafayette Square, across from the White House, and plans for a national cultural complex, which eventually became the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC. Her interest in preservation extended beyond the United States and included her involvement in the rescue of the ancient Egyptian temples at Abu Simbel, threatened by the flood waters created by the Aswan Dam. Her enthusiasm for the historical preservation movement contributed to its growing influence throughout the nation and enhanced Americans' understanding and appreciation of their heritage.
As First Lady, Jacqueline Kennedy planned state occasions notable for their elegance, transforming the White House into a showcase for cultural and intellectual achievement. Authors, scientists, artists, musicians and actors mingled with politicians, diplomats and statesmen. In the East Room she had a portable stage built for memorable musical and dramatic performances, including a series of concerts for young people. Through her activities Mrs. Kennedy instilled a new public regard for the arts. In the world of fashion, Mrs. Kennedy became a trend-setter. Designers, magazines, newspapers and the public were influenced by her taste.
Mrs. Kennedy accompanied her husband on trips to France, Austria, the United Kingdom, Venezuela, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Columbia and also traveled as First Lady to Pakistan and India. Her interest in the cultures of the countries she visited and her fluency in languages made her a popular ambassador around the world.
On November 22, 1963 John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas and Jacqueline Kennedy became a widow at age 34. She planned the President's State Funeral, which was watched by millions around the world who shared her grief and admired her courage and dignity.
Soon after President Kennedy's death she began working to organize the John F. Kennedy Library which would commemorate her husband's life. She chose then-unknown architect I.M. Pei to design the Library and decided upon a striking location overlooking Boston Harbor.
Jacqueline Kennedy married Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis in 1968 on his private island of Skorpios. Following his death in 1975, she embarked on a successful career in publishing.
On May 19, 1994 Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis died in her New York City home. She was laid to rest beside President Kennedy in Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington, DC.
Source: JFK Library Web Site.