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Monday, July 28, 2014

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACKIE

JACQUELINE BOUVIER BORN 85 YEARS AGO 

Southampton, New York (JFK+50) Mr. and Mrs. John Vernou Bouvier III announced the birth of their daughter Jacqueline Lee Bouvier*, eighty-five years ago today, July 28, 1929.

John Bouvier, who was known as "Black Jack", was a Wall Street stockbroker and was of both French and English descent.

Jacqueline's mother, Janet Norton Lee Bouvier was of Irish descent.

The Bouviers divorced in 1940 and Jackie's mother was remarried two years later to Hugh D. Auchincloss, Jr., heir to the Standard Oil Company fortune.



                     Jackie at 6 years old
            Photo by David Berne (1935)
                            JFK Library

*Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy Onassis (1929-1994) was raised in New York City and East Hampton, NY.  She attended Chapin School, Holton-Arms School in Bethesda, MD., Miss Porter's School in Farmington, CT and made debutante of the year in 1947.

Jackie was an accomplished equestrienne and loved riding horses her entire life.  She continued her studies at the University of Grenoble and the Sorbonne in Paris.


Jacqueline Bouvier became the "inquiring photographer" for the Washington Times-Herald and married Senator John F. Kennedy on Sept. 12, 1953. 


The couple had two children, Caroline and John Jr.  At age 31, Jackie became one of the youngest 1st Ladies in history and would prove to be one of the most popular.  



Jacqueline and JFK 
with Andre Malraux of France
White House Photo

After her husbands death, Mrs. Kennedy worked to preserve the memory of the 35th President and helped establish the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston.

On Oct. 20, 1968, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy married Aristotle OnassisThe former First Lady died on May 19, 1994.   She is buried beside President Kennedy in Arlington National Cemetery.


Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy
Official White House Portrait


WORLD WAR I BEGAN A CENTURY AGO TODAY

Vienna, Austria (JFK+50) On this day 100 years ago, July 28, 1914, the government of Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia.  The war declaration came just one month after Archduke Francis Ferdinand and his wife, Sophia, were gunned down in an open car on the streets of Sarajevo.*

After receiving the backing of Germany, Austria-Hungary presented Serbia with an ultimatum less than a week earlier days demanding the right to investigate of the murders.

Austria-Hungary had broken diplomatic relations with Serbia on July 25.

*JFK+50 NOTE

I just finished reading Tim Butcher's new book "The Trigger" which is about the assassin of Archduke Ferdinand.  The subtitle of the book is "Hunting the Assassin Who Brought the World War."

At the end of the book, Mr. Butcher points out something most intriguing that I had never read before.  It seems the Archduke's car sported a front license plate with the the letter/numbers A 111 118.

The significance of this number is this.  World War I ended on November 11, 1918 or 11-11-18.  


Archduke's Limo Replica

Photo Credit, Amel Emric