Jackie Kennedy holds son John F. Kennedy, Jr., born November 25, 1960, 16 days after his father, John F. Kennedy won the presidential election. He was nicknamed "John-John." Three years later on his own birthday, John F. Kennedy, Jr. would salute his father's coffin at his funeral.
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (1929-1994) is remembered for many things, her fashion statements, her redecoration of the White House, her brave young face at the 1963 funeral of her slain husband President John F. Kennedy. There were many things she cared about. But what mattered to her most in life was raising her two children, John F. Kennedy, Jr., and Caroline Kennedy (Schlossberg), to be good people. She said:
“If you bungle raising your children, I don’t think whatever else you do matters very much.”
She wanted so much for her children to lead normal lives. But, in the aftermath of JFK‘s assassination, it proved to be an impossible dream. She tried to continue living in their Georgetown home but tour buses added it to their route and reporters mobbed them on their doorstep. The crowds were too much to bear.
“The world is pouring terrible adoration at the feet of my children,” she’d once confided to her decorator Billy Baldwin, “and I fear for them, for this awful exposure. How can I bring them up normally?” (1)
Jackie ended up moving them all to New York where, to her dismay, she discovered her children weren’t being invited for playdates and parties by their school friends. It turned out that their parents were intimated by the Kennedy children’s fame.
Jackie Kennedy, wife of then-Senator John F. Kennedy, reads a bedtime story to daughter, Caroline, at the family home in Hyannisport, Massachusetts. Jackie Kennedy loved books and passed this joy on to her children. September 13, 1960
In the post-JFK years, Jackie wasn’t just mobbed by tourists and reporters. The beautiful and charming young widow was besieged by male suitors, among them author Philip Roth, Frank Sinatra, Marlon Brando, and director Mike Nichols. Jackie’s friend and White House advisor Letitia Baldrige said that, even in the pre-JFK years, “she [Jackie] had more men per square inch than any woman I’ve ever known.”
Jackie Kennedy Onassis with husband Ari Onassis on June 5, 1969, at New York's Kennedy Airport
By 1968, Jackie’s most serious – and unlikely – suitor was Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis, “Ari,” for short. Whereas Jackie was cultured, sleek, and classy, Onassis was short, paunchy, and often rumpled and vulgar. Plus, he was 23 years Jackie’s senior. The Kennedy clan despised him. JFK’s younger brother, Robert “Bobby” Kennedy, who was running for president that year, urged Jackie to break off her relationship with Onassis. She promised him that she would put off talk of marriage until after the presidential election.
Then, on June 5, 1968, just moments after winning the California primary, Bobby Kennedy was assassinated. Jackie was devastated – and terrified.
I despise America,” a distraught Jackie told a friend. “If they are killing Kennedys, my children are the No. 1 targets. I want to get out of this country.”
She did, on October 20, when, in a small private ceremony, she wed Ari Onassis on the Greek isle of Skorpios. She was 39; he was 62. (1)
Readers, I’ve written several posts on the Kennedy family. Scroll down the sidebar to the right: Categories – Kennedys. Among them are:
“How to Be Jackie O”
“Did Jackie Love Bobby Best?”
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Interesting post.
Please come back to Lisa’s History Room. I appreciate your comment. My blog has been down for 2 weeks and I have been unable to post replies. I apologize for the delay.
[...] October 20, when, in a small private ceremony, she wed Ari Onassis on the Greek isle of Skorpios. http://lisawallerrogers.wordpress.com/2009/08/29/why-jackie-kennedy-married-ari-onassis/ __________________ The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral [...]
if jackie hadnt married him i would have lol poor maria callas .maria didnt know her worth.
Hi, tt: Explain your last comment about Maria Callas.
Ari was a brute. I think Jackie Kennedy knew it. She needed a quickie marriage. She needed money so she could extricate herself from the will of the Kennedy’s if she needed to do so – and frankly it gave her sense of independence. Uncle “Hugh D” and mother Janet weren’t going to support her expensive habits and frankly Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis – though she could be FRUGAL – had very expensive taste. And she had those children to think think about. But Ari Onassis was a brute – he made Maria feel as if she was fat and old – and that caused her to want to lose weight – which in turn impacted her voice and caused a further decline.
ok, so why she married him? just to leave the country? couldnt she do that with the money she had? didnt she have better suitors? or was it for protection? i think a lot of mystery surrounds her. she has never let herself seen as a human being, more like an icon, a personality.. american royalty… but so much drama and tragedy cant be covered with a single hand
Yes, Jackie had an air of mystery about her.
He bought her like you buy cheap ground beef. Chump change for him. She was a run around anyway, nothing special, just a key for him to show the US that anything, anyone can be bought.
Because she loved him..gosh so many mean people here
Jackie had been quoted as saying your first marriage is for love, your second marriage is for money and your third marriage is for companionship.
Did she say it or is it something often said?
Apparently she said it. Makes sense. Married John for love, married Ari for money and then Maurice for companionship.
i have a new paper cilp that i found in a book.. black and white picture that reads , happy birthday to john jr… Mrs john f kennedy cuddles baby john f,. kennedy jr. who celebrates his first brithday on nov. 25. john chewing on toy. photo by mark shaw are the first official pictures of the baby since his christening . what new paper pubished this picture do any one know???
Did she marry Maurice? I thought they were just companions. AND I thought the Onassis thing was a “blanc mariage”, or arrangement, not a sexual thing. He probably couldn’t do anything at that age anyway. At least I like to think that.
No she never married Maurice apparently he wouldn’t divorce his wife.