RUSK LIBRARY STUDY CLUB

Boots Burfoot presented a program on Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy at a recent meeting of the Rusk Library Study Club at the First Presbyterian Church.

Mrs. Burford said, “Jacqueline Bouvier was born July 28, 1929. She spent her early childhood years in a New York city apartment or on her mom and dad's Long Island estate. It was a life of the well-to-do. Her father, John Bouvier was a stockbroker. He lost a lot of money in the 1930's crash. Her parents fought over money and then divorced.”

Jackie's mother remarried. Her new husband was Hugh Auchincloss, a stockbroker and heir to Standard Oil. Jackie and her sister Lee enjoyed their new step-father's apartment in Washington and summer estate in Rhode Island.

She attended Vassar College, studied in Paris for a year and graduated from George Washington University. After graduation, Jackie got a job as a photographer/writer for the Washington Times-Herald. She met John F. Kennedy at a party in May 1952 and then interviewed him for her paper. They were engaged for four months and married Sept. 12, 1953.

“It was a gala social event with more than 1,000 people there to wish the beautiful couple the best of luck from such distinguished families,” Mrs. Burfoot said.

John F. Kennedy was president from Jan 10, 1961- Nov. 22,1963. “Jackie was shy, but did well accompanying him to events.

She wanted to be a good wife and she helped her husband when she could. Jackie was a vivacious young mother who showed little interest in the nuances of politics, she was busy transforming her new home into a place of elegance and culture,” Mrs. Burfoot continued.

She wanted to restore the rooms with furnishings from the eras of past presidents and make the White House a showcase of American art and history. Jackie enlisted the help of artists, museum curators, and historians. When her project was completed, she prepared a guide book and conducted a televised tour of the White House.

“Jacqueline Kennedy intrigued the nation. She was shy and private and charming and chic, and she had the glamour of a Hollywood actress. The president was proud of his wife, but he wasn't always pleased with her interests.

“Sometimes she refused to attend events insisting on her privacy, saying the children needed her time. Jackie was making a rare public appearance when she accompanied her husband to Dallas in 1963. She was at his side when he was assassinated, and, still wearing her blood-stained suit, witnessed the swearing-in of Lyndon Johnson,” Mrs. Burfoot said.

Jackie made the arrangements for John Kennedy's funeral. Millions of people witnessed the solemn event on television.

Five years after leaving the White House. She married Greek shipping magnate, Aristotle Onassis. After he died, Jackie returned to New York City to be with friends and family. She lived in a Fifth Avenue apartment and worked as a book editor for Doubleday. .

She died from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma cancer in 1994 at her New York apartment.

She was 64 years old. She was buried next to John F. Kennedy and their two infant children in Arlington National Cemetery.