"THERE WILL BE GREAT PRESIDENTS AGAIN, BUT THERE WILL NEVER BE ANOTHER CAMELOT"

JACQUELINE BOUVIER BORN IN SOUTHAMPTON NY

Southampton, New York (JFK+50) Ninety years ago, July 28, 1929, Mr. and Mrs. John Vernou Bouvier III announced the birth of a baby girl named Jacqueline Bouvier*.

Mr. Bouvier, who was known as "Black Jack", was a Wall Street stockbroker and of both French and English descent.  Mrs. Janet Norton Lee Bouvier was of Irish descent.*

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

Jackie attended Vassar, the Sorbonne in France and graduated from George Washington University in 1951 with a BA in French literature.  She married JFK two years later & as First Lady promoted American arts and restored the White House.

After John F. Kennedy's death, the former First Lady said...

"There will be great presidents again, but there will never be another Camelot."

*Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis (1929-1994) grew up in Manhattan & on the Bouvier country estate on Long Island.  She married JFK in 1953 & they had two children, Caroline (1957) & John Jr. (1960).  JBKO served as 1st Lady 1961-1963 & after JFK's death was married to Aristotle Onassis.  

Jackie at 6 years old

Photo by David Berne (1935)

JFK Library

JACKIE'S DECISIONS WERE SWIFT & INCISIVE

JFK+50:  Volume 7, No. 2384

MRS. KENNEDY SELECTED EVERYTHING FOR THE WHITE HOUSE EXCEPT...

Southampton, New York (JFK+50) Eighty-eight years ago today, July 28, 1929, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis* was born here in Southampton.  Jackie attended Vassar, the Sorbonne in France and graduated from George Washington University in 1951 with a BA in French literature.  Miss Bouvier married Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts in 1953.

As First Lady from January 20, 1961 to November 22, 1963, Mrs. Kennedy brought "grace, wit, vitality, cosmopolitan glamour and savoir faire" to the White House.

Mary Van Rensselaer Thayer writes that after JFK's election to the presidency, Jackie worked with her New York decorator, Mrs. Henry Parish**,to select "fabrics for draperies, under curtains, upholstery and strips of carpeting correlated for each room" of the Executive Mansion.

Ms. Thayer adds...

"In less than two hours, Mrs. Kennedy, whose decisions were swift and incisive, had selected everything except for the materials for her husband's bedroom.  This she left to the President."

*Jacqueline Lee Kennedy Onassis (1929-1994) competed in horse riding and was a successful student of many languages. Jackie was one of the youngest and most popular First Ladies in American history.

Jackie married Aristotle Onassis in 1968 & after his death she worked for Viking Press & Doubleday.

**Dorothy May Kinnicutt Parish (1910-1994) was born in Morristown, NJ & founded an interior decorating business in Far Hills, NJ in 1933.  It became Parish-Hadley Associates of Manhattan.

Vogue Magazine once described Mrs. Parish as "the most famous of all living women interior designers whose ideas have influenced lifestyles all over America."

SOURCES

"Jacqueline Kennedy:  The White House Years," by Mary Van Rensselaer Thayer, Little, Brown and Company, Boston, 1967.

"Sister Parish, Grande Dame of American Interior Decorating, Is Dead at 84," by Eric Pace, September 10, 1994, The New York Times.

The Red Room

The White House

Photo by John White (2017)

JACKIE HAD A SIGNIFICANT INFLUENCE ON THE KENNEDY PRESIDENCY

JFK+50:  Volume 6, No. 2023

JACQUELINE BOUVIER KENNEDY BORN 87 YEARS AGO

Southampton, New York (JFK+50) Eighty-seven years ago today, July 28, 1929, a baby girl was born to Mr. and Mrs. John Vernou Bouvier III.  The future First Lady of the United States, wife of President John F. Kennedy, was named Jacqueline*.

Mr. Bouvier, who was known as "Black Jack", was a Wall Street stockbroker and of both French and English descent.  Mrs. Janet Norton Lee Bouvier was of Irish descent.*

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

Jackie attended Vassar, the Sorbonne in France and graduated from George Washington University in 1951 with a BA in French literature.

As First Lady from 1961 to 1963, Mrs. Kennedy redecorated the White House and took an avid interest in the arts, but Michael Beschloss says that the idea that Jackie took little interest in JFK's political life is not true.  He writes...

"when viewed in history, she (was) a significant influence in that presidency."

Mrs. Kennedy shared her opinions on "virtually every major figure" of the administration and, again according to Mr. Beschloss, those she favored usually were promoted or had more influence than those she did not.

*Jacqueline Lee Kennedy Onassis (1929-1994) competed in horse riding and was a successful student of many languages.  She lived in McLean,  VA & Newport, R.I.  JLKO attended Holton-Arms School in Bethesda, MD & Miss Porter's School in Farmington, CT.

During her college years, she studied in France for a year.  She married Senator John F. Kennedy in 1953.  Jackie was one of the youngest and most popular First Ladies in American history.

SOURCE

"Five myths about Jackie Kennedy," by Michael Beschloss, The Washington Post, October 24, 2013.

Jackie at 6 years old

Photo by David Berne (1935)

JFK Library