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Quick Facts
- NAME: Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
- OCCUPATION: U.S. First Lady, Publisher
- BIRTH DATE: July 28, 1929
- DEATH DATE: May 19, 1994
- EDUCATION: Vassar College, Paris-Sorbonne University, George Washington University
- PLACE OF BIRTH: Southampton, New York
- PLACE OF DEATH: New York, New York
- Full Name: Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy Onassis
- Maiden Name: Jacqueline Lee Bouvier
- AKA: Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
- AKA: Jacqueline Kennedy
- AKA: Jackie Onassis
- AKA: Jackie Kennedy
Best Known For
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, noted for her style and elegance, was the wife of President John F. Kennedy and a U.S. first lady. She later married Aristotle Onassis.
Videos see all videos
Jackie Kennedy - Marrying JFK
A wealthy, educated Catholic girl, Jacqueline Bouvier's beauty and likability suited his political aspirations and made her the perfect bride for John F. Kennedy. The couple married on September 12, 1953 in Newport, Rhoda Island.
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis - Mini Biography
A short biography of Jackie Kennedy who married JFK in 1953. She saw establishing the White House as a symbol of style and culture as her chief role as First Lady.
John F. Kennedy, Jr - Full Biography
John F. Kennedy, Jr. was only three years old when his father, JFK, was assassinated. At the age of 38, he died after the plane he was piloting crashed near Martha's Vineyard.
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Play NowJacqueline Kennedy Onassis. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 03:35, May 19, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/jacqueline-kennedy-onassis-9428644.
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/jacqueline-kennedy-onassis-9428644 [Accessed 19 May 2013].
"Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 19 2013, 03:35 http://www.biography.com/people/jacqueline-kennedy-onassis-9428644.
"Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/jacqueline-kennedy-onassis-9428644 [accessed May 19, 2013].
"Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/jacqueline-kennedy-onassis-9428644 (accessed May 19, 2013).
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 19] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/jacqueline-kennedy-onassis-9428644.
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, http://www.biography.com/people/jacqueline-kennedy-onassis-9428644 (last visited May 19, 2013).
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/jacqueline-kennedy-onassis-9428644. Accessed May 19, 2013.
Her job was to photograph and interview various Washington residents, and then weave their pictures and responses together in her column. Among her most notable stories were an interview with Richard Nixon, coverage of President Dwight D. Eisenhower's inauguration and a report on the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.
U.S. First Lady
It was at a dinner party in 1952 that Onassis met a dashing young congressman and senator-elect from Massachusetts named John F. Kennedy; he "leaned across the asparagus and asked her for a date." They were married a year later, on September 12, 1953. Onassis gave birth to her first child, Caroline Kennedy, in 1957. That same year, she encouraged Kennedy to write and, subsequently, helped him edit Profiles in Courage, his famous book about U.S. senators who had risked their careers to stand for causes they believed in.
In January 1960, John F. Kennedy announced his candidacy for the U.S. presidency. Although Onassis was pregnant at the time and thus unable to join him on the campaign trail, she campaigned tirelessly from home. She answered letters, gave interviews, taped commercials and wrote a weekly syndicated newspaper column called "Campaign Wife."
On November 8, 1960, Kennedy defeated Richard Nixon by a razor-thin margin to become the 35th president of the United States; less three weeks later, Onassis gave birth to their second child, John Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr.
Onassis's first mission as first lady was to transform the White House into a museum of American history and culture that would inspire patriotism and public service in those who visited. "Every boy who comes here should see things that develop his sense of history," she once said. Onassis went to extraordinary lengths to procure art and furniture owned by past presidents—including artifacts owned by George Washington, James Madison and Abraham Lincoln—as well as pieces she considered representative of various periods of American culture. "Everything in the White House must have a reason for being there," she insisted. "It would be sacrilege merely to 'redecorate' it—a word I hate. It must be restored—and that has nothing to do with decoration. That is a question of scholarship."
As the culmination of her project, Onassis gave a tour of the restored White House on national television on February 14, 1962. A record 56 million viewers watched her televised special, and Onassis won an honorary Emmy Award for her performance.
As first lady, Onassis was also a great patron of the arts. In addition to the officials, diplomats and statesman who typically populated state dinners, Onassis also invited the nation's leading writers, artists, musicians and scientists to mingle with its top politicians. The great violinist Isaac Stern wrote to Onassis after one such dinner, "It would be difficult to tell you how refreshing, how heartening it is to find such serious attention and respect for the arts in the White House. To many of us it is one of the most exciting developments on the present American cultural scene."
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The Kennedy Family
View groupThere's no such thing as royalty in the United States, but if anyone has ever come close to that level, it's the Kennedy family. For 64 years, Washington had at least one Kennedy in public office. Descended from Irish Catholics who fled the potato famine, the family has a strong tradition in the Democratic party, the most prominent member being President John F. Kennedy. In addition to fame and political power, the Kennedy clan has had more than its fair share of tragedy—several members of the family have died in accidents and assassinations, in what's been called the "Kennedy curse."
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Beatty's Babes
View groupActor Warren Beatty's romantic exploits were legendary before he took on the real-life role of family man opposite wife Annette Bening. His list of conquests reads like a Hollywood who's who, from Jane Fonda and Natalie Wood to Brigitte Bardot and Madonna. Although a full count of Warren's women would probably be impossible, here's a few of his most famous lovers.
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Influential Women of Washington
View groupWhen the 19th Amendment was ratified, women were finally given the right to vote, and over the years many courageous women have stepped onto the national political stage as well. In 1916, Jeannette Rankin became the first woman elected to Congress and almost a century later Sonia Sotomayor became the first Latina woman to serve on the Supreme Court. And within the last two decades, the esteemable Hillary Clinton has served as First Lady, a New York senator and Secretary of State. These women, and many more, are setting the stage for the future of female leaders in Washington.
Visit Biography.com's Women's History group to explore more biographies, photos and videos of some the world's most fascinating women."
Influential Women of Washington 73 people in this group
