Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

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Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis : biography

May 18, 1994 – November 12, 2012

Kennedy marriage and family

Jacqueline Bouvier and then-U.S. Representative John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy belonged to the same social circle and often attended the same functions. They were formally introduced by a mutual friend, journalist Charles L. Bartlett, at a dinner party in May 1952. Kennedy was then busy running for the US Senate but after his election in November, the relationship grew more serious and led to their engagement, officially announced on June 25, 1953.

They were married on September 12, 1953, at St. Mary’s Church in Newport, Rhode Island, in a Mass celebrated by Boston’s Archbishop Richard Cushing. The wedding was considered the social event of the season with an estimated 700 guests at the ceremony and 1,200 at the reception that followed at Hammersmith Farm., Special Exhibit Celebrates 50th Anniversary of the Wedding of Jacqueline Bouvier and John F. Kennedy.

The wedding cake was created by Plourde’s Bakery in Fall River, Massachusetts. The wedding dress, now housed in the Kennedy Library in Boston, Massachusetts, and the dresses of her attendants were created by designer Ann Lowe of New York City.

The newlyweds honeymooned in Acapulco, Mexico, before settling in their new home, Hickory Hill in McLean, Virginia. Behind the glamour, however, the couple faced several personal setbacks. Jack had some serious health issues then unknown to the public: he suffered from Addison’s Disease and from chronic and at times debilitating back pain due to a war injury. During the fall and winter of 1954, he underwent two delicate spinal operations which almost proved fatal.Dallek, Robert. An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917 – 1963. Back Bay Books (2004) Additionally, Jackie suffered a miscarriage in 1955 and gave birth to a stillborn daughter named Arabella in 1956.

The couple ended up selling their Hickory Hill estate to Jack’s brother Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy, his wife Ethel Skakel, and their growing family, and bought a townhouse on N Street in Georgetown. Jackie subsequently gave birth to a second daughter, Caroline, in 1957, and a son, John-John, in 1960, both via Caesarian section. A second son, Patrick, was born prematurely in an emergency caesarean section on August 7, 1963, and died two days later.

Name Birth Death Notes
Arabella Kennedy August 23, 1956 August 23, 1956 Stillborn daughter.
Caroline Bouvier Kennedy November 27, 1957 Married to Edwin Schlossberg; has two daughters and a son. She is the last surviving child of Jacqueline and John F. Kennedy.
John Fitzgerald "John-John" Kennedy, Jr. November 25, 1960 July 16, 1999 Magazine publisher and lawyer. Married to Carolyn Jeanne Bessette. They perished in a plane crash, as did Lauren Bessette, Carolyn’s sister, on July 16, 1999, off Martha’s Vineyard in a Piper Saratoga II HP piloted by Kennedy.
Patrick Bouvier Kennedy August 7, 1963 August 9, 1963 Died from hyaline membrane disease, today more commonly called infant respiratory distress syndrome.

Death and funeral

Kennedy-Onassis’ funeral was held on May 23, 1994 at Saint Ignatius Loyola Church in Manhattan — the church where she was baptized in 1929 and confirmed as a teenager. At her funeral, her son John described three of her attributes as the love of words, the bonds of home and family, and the spirit of adventure. She was buried alongside President Kennedy, their son Patrick, and their stillborn daughter Arabella at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.

In her will, Kennedy-Onassis left her children Caroline and John an estate valued at $43.7 million by its executors.

Cultural depictions

First Lady of the United States

Campaign for Presidency