Facts about Jacqueline Onassis
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Biography
The wife and then widow of U.S. president John F. Kennedy, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis remains an American icon of high style and grace.
Jackie Bouvier was just 24 when she married John Kennedy, then a U.S. senator from Massachusetts, in 1953. Kennedy was elected president in 1960 and “Jackie” became a popular First Lady, known for her elegant sophistication and her historical interest in the White House. She was made a widow when Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald in 1963.
Five years later, in 1968, Jackie Kennedy married wealthy Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis and became Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. The marriage made her a favorite of the tabloid press, which gave her the nickname “Jackie O.” Aristotle Onassis died in 1975; Jacqueline settled in Manhattan and began working as an editor for the publisher Doubleday, a job she continued until her death in 1994. She was buried next to Kennedy in Arlington National Cemetery.
Extra credit
Jackie Kennedy was only 31 years old when she became First Lady… She attended Vassar and the Sorbonne but received her degree from George Washington University… She and John Kennedy had two children, Caroline Kennedy (b. 1957) and John Kennedy Jr. (b. 1960); a third child, Patrick Kennedy, was born on 7 August 1963, but died two days later. Patrick remains the most recent child to be born to a First Lady while her husband was president. John, Jr. died in a private plane crash in 1999… Jackie Kennedy was played by actress Minka Kelly in the 2013 film The Butler, and by Natalie Portman in the 2016 biopic Jackie.