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Ava Alaeddini
Professor Clark
ENGW 1111
October 3rd, 2020

Profile on Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

President Kennedy and First Lady Jackie Kennedy on November 22nd, 1963

(Photo originally taken by Art Rickerby, Getty Images) Halleman, Caroline. “Why you won’t see Jackie Kennedy’s iconic

pink suit on display in a museum.” Town and Country Magazine. 2016. October 11. Web.

https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/tradition/news/a8174/jackie-kennedy-pink-suit/

Dressed in the iconic pink suit, not yet splattered with President Kennedy’s blood,

Jacqueline Kennedy smiles and waves to the excited people who are craning their necks to catch

a glimpse of her. It is November 22nd, 1963. She is easily recognizable. No one is wearing as

bright a shade of pink as she is. Less than an hour later, the strawberry pink Chanel suit would be

ruined forever, covered in blood and gore. Her famous pillbox hat has been missing since the day

of the assassination. The world watching as she climbed on the back of the motorcade, a bundle

of pink, desperately trying to gather the fragments of her husband’s injuries while Secret Service

pushes her back into the vehicle where President Kennedy lies dead. She was, from then on, a
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world icon in the public’s eyes. Jackie had lost her husband and become a widow at the young

age of thirty-four, but Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’ life story extended way beyond the events

that led up to November 22nd.

Jackie’s life is mainly revolved around her tenure as First Lady from 1961-1963

(“Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy” para. 1). At the age of thirty-one, she was the opposite of

her predecessors. Jackie was young, fashionable and adored by the public. Her most recognized

achievement during the Kennedy administration was the complete restoration of The White

House (“Life of Jacqueline B. Kennedy” para.11). When the Kennedys moved in, The White

House had not been renovated since the early 1900s and it certainly would not hold up to be a

living space for a family with small children. With her power as First Lady, she won over

Congress’ support to pass a law establishing donations of historical art and furniture for the

project. Along with the donations, she created societies in the White House as well as filmed a

documentary showcasing the new and improved renovations. The televised tour aired in 1962

and earned Jackie an Emmy award for her work (“Life of Jacqueline B. Kennedy” para. 12). The

new Kennedy administration was based on the promise of a glamourous and modern era, or as

JFK put it “a new frontier”. No one could look away from the images of the vibrant family that

seemed to be the closest thing to a royal family America would get.

While today, there is little criticism of Jackie’s status as a style icon, she did not start out

with an immediate fashion pass in the magazines. In the beginning, she was criticized for being

too expensive with her taste or too informal. Jackie adored everything French, this transcended to

her fashion taste, she would also be a little less uptight with her outfits when she was not on her

First Lady duties, it would be the first time that a President’s wife would be photographed going
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swimming or horseback riding with her children (Perry 8). This posed a question of her

patriotism to America, and her willingness to adhere to the 1960s norms of propriety. This at the

time was considered to be highly offensive to the American public. The Kennedys did a quick

turn around by hiring fashion designer Oleg Cassini, who helped create “the Jackie look”,

Jacqueline would in turn dub him the “Secretary of Style” (Vernose para. 9). The First Lady

helped popularize headscarves, pillbox hats and bouffant hair for the 1960s, which later would be

defining features of the decade’s fashion (Tramz para. 1-2, 4).

Jackie’s fashion in 1960, 1961, 1969, and 1971

Algoo, Jennifer. Pieri, Kerry. “A Look Back on Jackie Kennedy Onassis’ Iconic Style.” Harper’s Bazaar. 23 July 2019.

Web. https://www.harpersbazaar.com/fashion/trends/g1370/jackie-kennedy-onassis-style-0111/?slide=26 (Photos

owned by Getty Images)

However, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis did not enter into the limelight as a First Lady.

Born into a privileged upbringing, splitting her time between houses in New York, Virginia and

Rhode Island, Jackie attended school at the prestigious Miss Porter’s School graduating in 1947.

Afterwards, she attended Vassar College, later taking a year to travel abroad to France, before

finishing up her degree at George Washington University in 1951 (Caroli para. 2-3). Before

meeting John F. Kennedy a few years later, she spent her time writing for newspapers and

traveling the world (“Life of Jacqueline B. Kennedy” para. 8). She married John Kennedy in
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September of 1953 in Newport, Rhode Island and was crowned as a Senator’s wife. In

November of 1957, the Kennedys welcomed a baby girl named Caroline Bouvier Kennedy and

later in November of 1960 welcome a boy named John F. Kennedy Jr (Caroli para. 4). Jackie

took great pride in being a mother and was quoted saying, “If you bungle raising your children, I

don’t think whatever else you do matters very much.” (“Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy” para.

5). One can clearly see that she is embodying the typical 1960s housewife, she is forgoing any

feminist ideologies of time, the main thing in her life is raising her children first and Jackie is

clearly content with simply being a wife and mother. She went to great lengths to avoid the press

invading her family life, refusing interviews and intrusive photographs.

Perhaps one of the defining characteristics in Jacqueline Kennedy’s life was the constant

streak of tragedy. In August of 1963, Jackie gave birth prematurely to a son named Patrick

Bouvier Kennedy, who ended up dying two days later (“Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy” para.

4). By November 22nd, she also watched her husband die sitting right next to her, the trauma

apparently never left her, and she did not mention his death in her eight-hour interview with

Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. in 1964 (Scott para. 3). The tragedy for Jackie and her family did not

stop there, in June of 1968, in the midst of political unrest in the United States, Jackie’s closest

confidante and her brother-in-law Robert Kennedy was assassinated. It was from that moment on

that she decided to marry Aristotle Onassis, a Greek millionaire who was much older than she

was, Onassis offered her safety with his private islands and several estates across the world, the

media would dub her “Jackie O”. However, Jackie’s inner circle saw it as a betrayal, journalist

Peter Evans stated, “Not a single friend thought Jackie should marry Onassis, but now that

Bobby was gone, there was no one that could stop her.” (Contrera para. 10). The security blanket
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was pulled when Onassis died from poor health in 1975, and Jackie was left alone again (“Life of

Jacqueline B. Kennedy” para. 20).

While tragedy seemed to be a major defining point in her life, what is fascinating about

Jackie’s life is her witnesses to some of the most prolific moments in history. Being First Lady,

she had a front row seat to moments like the 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion and the 1962 Cuban

Missile Crisis which she told Arthur Schlesinger Jr. that she pleaded with President Kennedy to

not send her and their children away during those terrifying days when it seemed like the world

was on the branch of nuclear war. In the recordings, Jackie remembers that she stated, “I just

want to be with you, and I want to die with you, and the children do, too – than live without

you.” (Scott para. 2). Her impact on the Kennedy legacy created the “Camelot” stereotype that is

associated with JFK’s administration, having stated to Theodore H. White for Life Magazine

shortly after her husband’s death, “Jack liked to play some records; and the song he loved most

came at the very end of this record. The lines that he loved to hear were: Don’t let it be forgot,

that once there was a spot, for one brief shining moment that was known as Camelot.” (White

para. 9). The nostalgic association stuck ever since, all because of Jackie’s efforts to preserve

her husband’s legacy.

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis is known today as an icon in American politics and history.

While many people know her through her tragedies, Jackie’s life has brought many other aspects

into the 21st century. Anytime you see big oversized sunglasses or visit the John F. Kennedy

Presidential Museum in Boston, thank Jackie Kennedy because without her certain things like

that would not exist. Towards the end of her life, it seemed that Jackie had taken a more liberal

view of things for a woman of her time. She was working as an editor at Doubleday, many
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socialites and former First Ladies would have shaken their heads at the prospect of a job, and

lived with her partner Maurice Templesman for the last fourteen years of her life (Caroli para.

10). It had been a complete turnaround from the housewife image she portrayed in the 50s and

60s, and one that was clearly forced upon her after JFK’s assassination. One woman had been

widowed and made a single parent of young children in the span of a few hours, in a time where

most women relied on their husbands for financial and social support. However, Jacqueline

Kennedy managed to prevail and adapt to the new changes life has thrown at her and has

managed to create a legacy for herself and her family so enthralling that even in 2016, there were

movies being made about her life starring icons like Natalie Portman. The world does not seem

like it will forget the Kennedy legacy anytime soon, whether it be for fashion, politics or her

family, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis is a woven part of American history.

Work Cited

Algoo, Jennifer. Pieri, Kerry. “A Look Back on Jackie Kennedy Onassis’ Iconic Style.” Harper’s

Bazaar. 23 July 2019. Web. https://www.harpersbazaar.com/fashion/trends/g1370/jackie-

kennedy-onassis-style-0111/?slide=26

Caroli, Betty Boyd. “Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis: American First Lady.” Britannica.

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jacqueline-Kennedy-Onassis#ref338380

Contrera, Jessica. “’How could you?’ The Day Jackie Kennedy became Jackie Onassis.” The

Washington Post. 20 October 2018. Web.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2018/10/20/how-could-you-day-jackie-

kennedy-became-jackie-onassis/

Halleman, Caroline. “Why you won’t see Jackie Kennedy’s iconic pink suit on display in a

museum.” Town and Country Magazine. 2016 October 11. Web.

https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/tradition/news/a8174/jackie-kennedy-

pink-suit/

JFK Library. “Life of Jacqueline B. Kennedy”. John F Kennedy Presidential Library.

https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/life-of-jacqueline-b-kennedy

Perry, Barbara A. “Jacqueline Kennedy: First Lady of the New Frontier.” Lawrence: University

Press of Kansas. 2004. Print.

Scott, Janny. “In Tapes, Candid Talk by Young Kennedy Widow.” The New York Times.

11 September 2011. Web. https://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/12/us/12jackie.html

The White House. “Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy.” The White House.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/first-ladies/jacqueline-lee-bouvier-

kennedy/

Tramz, Mia. “Decoding Jackie O’s Signature Style.” Time Magazine. 19 May 2014.

https://time.com/104581/jackie-onassis-style-icon/

Vernose, Vienna. “Who was Oleg Cassini.” CR Fashion Book. 11 April 2020. Web.

https://www.crfashionbook.com/fashion/a32065560/oleg-cassini-jackie-kennedy-fashion-

designer/

White, Theodore H. “For President Kennedy: An Epilogue.” Life Magazine. 6 December 1963.

Web. https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/THWPP/059/THWPP-059-009