Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy

Jacqueline Bouvier was born on Long Island, New York, in 1929. Her parents divorced and her mother remarried to Hugh Auchincloss, a very wealthy man. Jacqueline graduated from George Washington University with a degree in French literature.

She went to work for a newspaper, taking pictures and asking people questions. During this time, she met John F. Kennedy, a young senator from Massachusetts. They were married September 12, 1953, in Rhode Island. A crowd of 3,000 people waited outside the church to see the newlyweds.

In 1957, the Kennedys had a daughter, Caroline. In 1960, John Kennedy announced he would run for President. Their son, John, was born in 1960 soon after the election. Mrs. Kennedy thought that raising her children was the most important job she had and she was careful to keep them out of the limelight.

She began the White House Historical Association and was responsible for making the White House into a living museum, with fine art. She also became famous for her sense of fashion. She traveled with the President to other countries and became popular worldwide.

On November 22, 1963, John F. Kennedy was killed and "Jackie" became a widow at 34 years of age. She worked on the John Kennedy Library.

In 1968, she married Aristotle Onassis, a Greek shipping magnate. After he died in 1975, she began to work for a publisher in New York as a book editor. No other first lady had ever taken a full-time job after leaving the White House.

In 1994, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis died at her home in New York City, with her family, friends and the things she loved around her. She died of lymphoma, a type of cancer. She was buried beside John F. Kennedy at Arlington National Cemetery.

At her funeral, her son, John Kennedy Jr. said he and his sister had decided on three things that shaped their mother's life: love of words, love of family and love of adventure. She was, and still is, one of the most famous First Ladies in our history.