People we love: Jackie Kennedy Onassis

Jacqueline “Jackie” Lee Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, July 28, 1929 – May 19, 1994


Born on this day in 1929.

Grace. Style. Elegance. All of that described Jackie Kennedy Onassis. She stood bravely by as her husband, the 35th President of the United States was assasinated, refusing to change out of her blood stained pink Chanel suit because, as she told Lady Bird Johnson “Oh, no … I want them to see what they have done to Jack.”

She was, at the age of 31, one of the nation’s youngest First Ladies. While First Lady she undertook the restoration of the White House, restoring much of the historic significance. In February of 1962, she took American viewers on a tour of the White House wiht Charles Collingwood of CBS News. She also oversaw the restoration of the White House Rose Garden, whichw as after her husband’s assasination, renamed the “Jacqueline Kennedy Garden.”

She married Greek shipping magnate Aristole Onassis in 1968 and remained married to him until his death in 1975. She spent her later years as a book editor.

Jackie Onassis died on May 19, 1994 after suffering from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. She was 65.



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