Jacqueline Lee Bouvier was born in Southampton, New York, in a world of wealth and privilege, she was the daughter of Wall Street Stockbroker, John Vernou Bouvier III and his wife Janet Norton Lee.
She had a younger sister, Caroline Lee, born in 1933, and later known as Lee Radziwill.
The name "Jacqueline Lee" commemorated both sides of her family — "Jacqueline" celebrating three generations of "Jacks" on her father's side and "Lee" celebrating the surname of her maternal grandparents.
In attempts to get on the social register both sides of her family were to make exaggerations about their heritage, with Bouviers making claims they descended from the royal Fontaines in France and the Lees declaring they were part of the "Virginia Lees".
She was of mostly Irish, Scottish, and English descent; her French paternal ancestry is distant, with her last French ancestor being Michel Bouvier, a Philadelphia-based cabinetmaker who was her great–grandfather.
Jacqueline spent her early years between New York City and Easthampton, New York at the Bouvier Family estate "Lasata", where she became at a very early age an accomplished equestrienne, a sport that would remain a lifelong passion. As a child, she also enjoyed drawing, reading, and writing poems.
This idyllic childhood came to an end with her parents divorce in 1940. While her father never remarried, her mother married her second husband, Standard Oil heir Hugh D. Auchincloss, Jr. in 1942, and had two children with him, Janet and James Auchincloss.
Jacqueline and her sister Lee then settled with their mother's new family, dividing their time between their stepfather's two vast estates, "Merrywood" in Mclean, Virginia, and "Hammersmith Farm", in Newport, Rhode Island, with occasional visits to their father in New York City.
Jacqueline entered Chapin in New York City in 1935 for kindergarten and the early years of grammar school. From 1942 to 1944 she attended the Holton-Arms School in Washington, DC through her first year of high school; she transferred to Miss Porter's School in Farmington, Connecticut for the remainder of high school, graduating in 1947.
She spent her first two years of college at Vassar in Poughkeepsie, New York, and spent her junior year (1949-1950) in France at the University of Grenoble and The Sorbonne in a program through Smith College. She returned to The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., graduating in 1951 with a B.A in French Literature.
Jacqueline was named "Debutante of the Year" for the 1947–48 season.
In 1951, she took her first job as the "Inquiring Camera Girl" for The Washington Times-Herald. Her job was to ask witty questions of people she met in Washington, D.C. The questions and amusing responses would then appear alongside the interviewee's photograph in the newspaper.
During that period she was briefly engaged to a young stockbroker, John Husted, but the engagement was called off after three months.
Jacqueline Bouvier and then Congressman John Kennedy were in the same social circle and attended the same functions several times but were formally introduced by a mutual friend, journalist Charles Bartlett, at a dinner party on May 8, 1952, Kennedy was at the time busy running for a seat at the Senate. The romance progressed slowly but eventually led to a proposal.
They were married on September 12, 1953, at Newport, Rhode Island. The wedding was considered the social event of the season with an estimated 700 guests at the ceremony and 900 at the lavish reception that followed at Hammersmith Farm.
Her wedding dress was created by the African-American designer, Ann Lowe of New York City. The dress is now housed in the Kennedy Library in Boston, Massachusetts.
After a brief honeymoon, they returned to Washington, DC. Behind all the glamour, however, Jacqueline found it hard to adjust to the demands of political life and the pressure put on her by the Kennedy family.
Her husband was a notorious womanizer and marriage did not change his ways. He also had serious health issues, suffering from Addison's Disease, and from chronic and debilitating back pain from a wartime injury.
He underwent two spinal surgeries which proved almost fatal due to complications. While he was recovering from the surgeries, Jacqueline encouraged him to write a book, Profiles in Courage, which is about several U.S. senators who had risked their careers to fight for the things in which they believed. The book was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for biography in 1957.
Jacqueline herself suffered a miscarriage in 1955, and gave birth to a stillborn baby girl in 1956. All of this put considerable strain on the marriage and led to a brief separation, but the couple reconciled and moved in a townhouse on N Street in Georgetown. Jacqueline successfully gave birth to a second daughter, Caroline, in 1957, and to a son, John, both via Ceasarean section.
The former US First Lady,Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy Onassis (July 28, 1929 – May 19, 1994) was the wife of the 35th president of the United States John F. Kennedy and served as First Lady during his presidency from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. To the role of First Lady, Jacqueline Kennedy brought beauty, intelligence, and cultivated taste.
She was later married to Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis from 1968 until his death in 1975. In later years she had a successful career as a book editor. She preferred her first name to be pronounced in the French manner (IPA: /ʒækˈliːn/)
After her marriage to Kennedy she was known as Jacqueline Kennedy or Jackie Kennedy; upon her marriage to Onassis and thereafter she was known as Jacqueline Onassis, Jackie Onassis, or more informally as Jackie O.
Born -July 28, 1929(1929-07-28)
Southampton, New York, U.S.
Died -May 19, 1994 (aged 64) (cancer)
New York, New York, U.S.
Spouse -John F. Kennedy (1953–63), Aristotle Onassis (1968–75)
Relations -John Vernou Bouvier III and Janet Norton Lee
Children -Arabella, Caroline, John and Patrick Kennedy
Occupation -First Lady of the United States, Doubleday editor
Religion - Roman Catholic
