On November 22, 1963, Jackie Kennedy began to get dressed to accompany her husband on his presidential campaign to Dallas, Texas. Jackie Kennedy was an introvert who carried herself with sophistication and intelligence. The First Lady never accompanied her husband on political endeavors, but made this one exception: to support her husband on his presidential tour around the state of Texas. Jackie Kennedy was a fashion icon, who inspired the nation with her chic, effortless wardrobe. The First Lady dressed in a two-piece pink Chanel suit that was paired with a matching pillbox hat. This ensemble later become a daunting symbol of tragedy. John F. Kennedy set out on a two-day, five-city tour of Texas in November of 1963.1 This was to seek support for his New Frontier policies while also campaigning for the 1964 presidential elections. President Kennedy anticipated trouble and potential protests on his trip to Texas. Before his visit, there were five-thousand fliers distributed around Dallas stating that President Kennedy was wanted for treason. This was triggered by his support for the ongoing civil rights movement. The two of them flew to Dallas, accompanied by Vice President Johnson and his wife Lady Bird. Kennedy was scheduled to give a speech in Trademark at noon.
Jackie had just lost a child, but agreed to take on the role of “Campaign Wife” once again. This role is what helped her husband get elected in 1960. And now, he would need to demonstrate a strong hand on his tour of Texas.2 This tour would be a chance to remain close to her husband amidst the grief of losing her child. Jackie was in a vulnerable state and wanted to be with her husband. So, Jackie agreed to accompany him, which was a decision that would haunt her for thirty years after the passing of her husband. Jacqueline Bouvier, a 22-year-old socialite, had caught the eye of John Kennedy in May, 1952. The pair was introduced to each other by the journalist Charles L. Bartlett, who was a mutual friend of both Jackie and John. They were destined to meet since they both ran in the same social circles. The pair married in September of 1953.
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During Jackie’s first year of being Mrs. Kennedy, she found herself pregnant with her first child. Her husband decided to run for President against Richard Nixon in 1960. Jackie refused to be useless to her husband during this time. Even though Jackie was ordered to remain home during her pregnancy by her doctor, she did not stay silent. Jackie wrote in the nationwide newspaper every week in the column titled, “Campaign Wife.” This gave readers an insight into the daily life of Jackie Kennedy, who was the wife of a presidential candidate.3 This column gave Jackie a voice, which she used to educate voters on current policies and initiatives. JFK won the election against Nixon in 1960. However, Jackie did not relish the role of First Lady. When she was asked what roles she would like to take on, she replied: “As little as possible. I’m a mother. I’m a wife. I’m not a public official.”4 But whatever womanizing tendencies John F. Kennedy had prior to entering the White House, those tendencies became clear in the years of his presidency. The president’s hitlist of women ranged from journalists to nineteen-year-old interns, from call girls to Marlene Dietrich, and allegedly to Marilyn Monroe. No one was off limits for the President. President Kennedy even confided in the British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan that he needed a woman every three days, otherwise he would have a dreadful headache.5 However, this never stopped Jackie Kennedy’s love or support for her husband.
On November 12, 1963, Kennedy recognized the importance of winning Florida and Texas, and planned to visit both states.6 And Jackie decided to accompany him on the presidential tour through Texas. The public loved and admired the all-American power couple that was John and Jackie Kennedy. Men were dispatched from Washington to prepare for the President and First Lady. Jackie and John then boarded a plane heading for San Antonio, TX on November 21, 1963. Jackie and John arrived at San Antonio airport. Jackie Kennedy put on her crème Chanel ensemble that matched her husband. Jackie encountered excited fans screaming for her and the president. From here, First Lady Kennedy zipped through the Alamo city for a two-hour and twenty-five minute tour, before heading to Houston. In Houston, Jackie did a wardrobe change to attend the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) at the Rice Hotel. Jackie was accompanied by the vice president and his wife, along with her husband, who was on stage giving a speech on the Alliance for Progress.7 Jackie then was called on by her husband to give a speech, and being fluent in Spanish, she delivered the speech in Spanish. Jackie stated how she was so happy and honored to be with the people of Texas. She also stated how happy she was to be there with her loving husband at the LULAC meeting. From here, Jackie and the President flew to Fort Worth, TX. The two landed in Dallas’ Love Field airport. While driving to their next destination, they were to pass the Texas School Book Depository at Dealey plaza with crowds lining the street. Meanwhile, Lee Harvey Oswald, who recently became a new employee at the Book Depository, was setting up his rifle on the sixth-floor window.
At 12:30pm, President Kennedy was shot at twice, once near the back of the neck and the other on the right side of the head.8 As Mrs. Kennedy was grappling with what was happening, she grabbed her husband and laid over his body. Parts of his brain had landed on her pink Chanel two-piece suit, which seeped and left red patches of blood on her suit. The driver of the Lincoln limousine then raced to the nearby hospital Parkland Memorial, where Dr. Malcolm Perry and Dr. Charles Crenshaw attempted to save the president from his wounds9 Jackie Kennedy during this time was urged to change, because she was covered in the president’s blood. The First Lady refused and remained in her suit, stating that she wanted the public to see what they had done to her and to her husband. The president succumbed to his wounds and was pronounced dead at 1 pm. Her last words to her husband were, “I love you, Jack. I love you.”
At 2:38 pm, Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as the 36th president of the United States while aboard the airplane prior to take-off. This airplane would take the newly widowed Kennedy, the 36th president, and the newly appointed first lady back to Washington, DC. Jackie displayed multiple emotions, from fear to shock to immense grief on the ride back to Washington. Jackie Kennedy was still in her pink Chanel two-piece suit covered in her late husband’s blood. When the newly widowed Kennedy landed in Washington, she was escorted to the White House by her brother-in-law Robert Kennedy, and was greeted by swarms of paparazzi. All Jackie had on her mind was to get home to see her children to tell them the news.
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Jackie Kennedy then planned her husband’s funeral. She wanted the world to see what they had done to her family and what they had taken away from the nation. So, the funeral would be broadcast live on CBS. Jackie became the first public widow. Jackie held herself with poise to model how the public should mourn. The funeral took place three days after the death of her late husband, on November 25, 1963 in Arlington Virginia.10
The day of the funeral, a horse-drawn caisson carried the casket down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House.10 Jackie Kennedy was waiting there with her two children Caroline Bouvier Kennedy and John F. Kennedy Jr., and other grievers, including Robert Kennedy. Jackie modeled the funeral to follow that of Abraham Lincoln’s funeral. Jackie placed John F. Kennedy’s casket where President’s Lincoln had laid in the east room of the White house. Once her husband’s casket arrived at the White House, Jackie began to march with her two children, following the casket to St. Matthews Cathedral, which was an eight block walk from the White House.10 John Jr. was seen saluting his father’s casket as he stood next to his mother and sister. Jackie marched with courage and refined dignity to show a brave face to the nation. She walked hand and hand with her two children, displaying a unified front that moved the nation. Jackie wore a black veil covering her face to symbolize a widowed bride, along with a black two-piece suit.
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Ten days following the assassination of President Kennedy, the newly widowed Jackie departed from her home where she had the last memories with her husband. On the eve of her departure from the White House, Jackie received a call from President Johnson, who told her that she still had a valuable role to play in American society and that she was loved by so many including himself.13 President Johnson went on to say, “My mother and my wife and my sisters and you females got a lot of courage that we men don’t have. And so we have to rely on you and depend on you, and you’ve got something to do. You’ve got the President relying on you. And this is not the first one you’ve had! So there are not many women, you know, running around with a good many Presidents.”14 Jackie laughed, then said, “‘She ran around with two Presidents.’ That’s what they’ll say about me.”15 Jackie entered a deep depression following this.
After the death of her husband, Jackie Kennedy faced the “winter of her despair,” which entailed endless grief and post-traumatic stress disorder.16 Jackie Kennedy relived her husband’s death repeatedly. She rehearsed the same sequence, thinking if only she had looked to her right, she could have saved her husband. This would become a vicious cycle that led to endless drinking and insomnia. Jackie then found the strength to overcome and go on with her life after the year 1964. She wanted to protect her husband’s image at all costs, and she began creating the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum as a memorial to her husband. Even in death, she still protected his image. Afterwards, she went on to preserve and protect America’s cultural heritage by halting destruction of historic buildings, such as Renwick Building, Grand Central Station, and Lafayette Square. In May 1994, Jackie Kennedy Onassis passed away in her sleep from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Jackie Kennedy captivated the nation with her intelligence, beauty, strength, and grace.
- Jeb Byrne, “The Hours before Dallas,” National Archives, August 15, 2016, https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2000/summer/jfk-last-day-1. ↵
- I.M. Pei & Partners, “November 22, 1963: Death of the President,” John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/november-22-1963-death-of-the-president. ↵
- I.M. Pei & Partners, “Jacqueline Kennedy in the White House,” John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, 2016, https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/jacqueline-kennedy-in-the-white-house. ↵
- “In Her Voice: Jacqueline Kennedy, The White House Years,” JFK Library, accessed February 15, 2023, https://www.jfklibrary.org/visit-museum/exhibits/past-exhibits/in-her-voice-jacqueline-kennedy-the-white-house-years. ↵
- Larry Sabato, “John F. Kennedy’s Final Days Reveal A Man Who Craved Excitement,” Forbes, accessed April 6, 2023, https://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2013/10/16/john-f-kennedys-final-days-reveal-a-man-who-craved-excitement/. ↵
- I.M. Pei & Partners, “November 22, 1963: Death of the President,” JFK Library, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, n.d., https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/november-22-1963-death-of-the-president. ↵
- “Video: November 21, 1963 – Jacqueline Kennedy’s Speech in Spanish at the Rice Hotel, Houston, Texas | | Ivpressonline.Com,” Imperial Valley Press, accessed April 2, 2023, https://www.ivpressonline.com/video-november-21-1963—jacqueline-kennedys-speech-in-spanish-at-the-rice-hotel/youtube_42292208-5332-11e3-9284-0019bb30f31a.html. ↵
- I.M. Pei & Partners, “November 22, 1963: Death of the President | JFK Library,” John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, n.d., https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/november-22-1963-death-of-the-president. ↵
- “John F. Kennedy Autopsy,” Spartacus Educational, accessed April 3, 2023, https://spartacus-educational.com/JFKSautopsy.htm. ↵
- The White House Historical Association, “John F. Kennedy Funeral,” WHHA (en-US), 2012, https://www.whitehousehistory.org/john-f-kennedy-funeral. ↵
- The White House Historical Association, “John F. Kennedy Funeral,” WHHA (en-US), 2012, https://www.whitehousehistory.org/john-f-kennedy-funeral. ↵
- The White House Historical Association, “John F. Kennedy Funeral,” WHHA (en-US), 2012, https://www.whitehousehistory.org/john-f-kennedy-funeral. ↵
- American Public Media, “Lyndon Johnson Calls Jackie Kennedy | The President Calling,” American Radio Works, 2018, http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/prestapes/jklbj.html. ↵
- American Public Media, “Lyndon Johnson Calls Jackie Kennedy | The President Calling,” American Radio Works, 2018, http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/prestapes/jklbj.html. ↵
- American Public Media, “Lyndon Johnson Calls Jackie Kennedy |The President Calling,” American Radio Works, 2018, http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/prestapes/jklbj.html. ↵
- Barbara Leaming, Mrs. Kennedy: The Missing History of the Kennedy Years, 1st Touchstone ed (New York: Touchstone, 2002), 372. ↵
33 comments
Barbara Ortiz
Congratulations on your nomination for such a great article. Jackie was a fashion icon of her day, and the pink Chanel suit is definitely one we associate with that tragic day. I remember reading before about how at first she really did not want to go on this trip because they had just lost their son Patrick. But she finally agreed to it, and her speech at the LULAC lunch at Rice University in Houston was also another tremendous vision since she gave it in Spanish
Peter Alva
I love this article because this is someone I would’ve never thought of personally as someone important. As you said in the article is that she was introverted so I think me not knowing much about Jackie goes to show what kind of person she was. She definitely was a person who moved in silence. The article definitely was interesting based on the fact that I didn’t know there were that many pictures of both her and Kenndy together. Congrats on the nomination!
Alanna Hernandez
Jackie Kennedy has not been treated well by our generation and our memes. With plenty describing her as simple minded and ready to munch on sheet metal.. which made this read so sad as you detailed her mourning of the death of John f. Kennedy. Congratulations on your nomination and getting those comments in lolz. Good use of pictures in this
Isabel Soto
Congratulation on your nomination on your article. I really enjoyed readin your article and the information i was able to get out of your article I’ve always heard about Jackie but never truly knew all the things she went through. You did a great job of acknowledging her as much more than just the First Lady. one thing i found interested was that Jackie Kennedy was fluent in Spanish.
Nnamdi Onwuzurike
Congratulations on your nomination! Jackie Kennedy was a cultural icon and one of the most influential First Ladies in American history. She was known for her style, grace, and poise, as well as her dedication to her family and her husband’s presidency. Despite facing personal tragedies and public scrutiny, Jackie remained a symbol of strength and resilience. Her legacy as a fashion icon and a cultural figure continues to inspire and captivate people around the world.
Jared Sherer
A wonderful tribute to a remarkable lady. I did not know Jackie Kennedy was fluent in Spanish, or that she refused to take off the iconic pink suit after her husband’s assassination. I also did not know she was a bit of an introvert, which is surprising given her very high public profile. This article was well written and very respectful of its subject. There are many details about Jackie, but also historical context as well. For example, her husband’s womanizing is well known, but not Jackie’s reaction to it. Also, the assassination and funeral are historical events, but were very personal for Jackie and her family. The images used are well known, but also provide a good visual effect for the article.
Carina Martinez
Wow, what an interesting article! I’ve always heard about Jackie but never truly knew all the things she went through. You did a great job of acknowledging her as much more than just the First Lady. Congratulations on your nomination!
Marissa Rendon
You used such great images, and told this story in such a unique way. I hope you are proud of your work! I love how well you presented your topic. I did not know poor Kennedy wife fell into alcoholism.
Guiliana Devora
This was an amazing story about Jackie Kennedy and the author did an amazing job of telling it! Congratulations on the nominations as well. I have always thought of Jackie Kennedy as a beautiful first lady and wife, with all that was going on at the time, I think she carried herself very well. Not many people could do what she did after going through what she had to go through.
Hunter Stiles
Congrats on the nomination! Learning about the Kennedy family, especially John and Jackie Kennedy, is quite interesting. As a woman, I find it difficult to see her continuing to remain with her husband despite such blatant adultery, but times were different back then, and she could have been “pressured” to do so for the benefit of the family. She was referred to as the “Campaign Wife” throughout his re-election campaign, something I was unaware of. I discovered this intriguing truth when reading this article. Well done!