JACQUELINE LEE BOUVIER KENNEDY ONASSIS
Birth: Place: Southampton Hospital, Southampton, New York
Date: 1929, July 28
Marriage:
First: 1953, September 12, to John F. Kennedy, born 1917, May 29, in Brookline, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States Senator (D-Massachusetts), former U.S. Congressman (D-Massachusetts), at St. Mary's Church, Newport, Rhode Island. John F. Kennedy died 1963, November 22, Dallas, Texas.
Second:
1968, October 20, to Aristotle Socrates Onassis, born 1906, June 15, in Smyrna, Turkey, international shipping magnate, airline owner, at Skorpios Island, Greece. He died 1975, March 15, The American Hospital, Paris, France. His first marriage was to Athina Tina Livanos (1926- 1973), in 1946 in New York City, New York.
First: 1953, September 12, to John F. Kennedy, born 1917, May 29, in Brookline, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States Senator (D-Massachusetts), former U.S. Congressman (D-Massachusetts), at St. Mary's Church, Newport, Rhode Island. John F. Kennedy died 1963, November 22, Dallas, Texas.
Second:
1968, October 20, to Aristotle Socrates Onassis, born 1906, June 15, in Smyrna, Turkey, international shipping magnate, airline owner, at Skorpios Island, Greece. He died 1975, March 15, The American Hospital, Paris, France. His first marriage was to Athina Tina Livanos (1926- 1973), in 1946 in New York City, New York.
Presidential Campaign and Inauguration:Since she was
pregnant for most of the 1960 presidential campaign, Jacqueline Kennedy
played a limited public role in it; she wrote a column "Campaign Wife,"
mixing personal stories with Democratic Party policy views on the aged
and education that was distributed by the national party; she
participated in television and newspaper interviews; she taped campaign
radio commercials in foreign languages. Privately, she supplied her
husband with numerous literary and historical examples and quotations
that he used in his speeches. Jacqueline Kennedy influenced her husband
to invite numerous artists in all disciplines to his 1961 inaugural
ceremony as a symbol of the new Administration's intended support of the
arts. Her appearance in a large pillbox hat for the swearing-in
ceremony, however, eclipsed this news and began a popular millinery
style.
First Lady:
1961, January 20 - 1963, November 22
31 years old
Jacqueline Kennedy entered the role of First Lady by declaring that her priorities were her young children and maintaining her family's privacy. Nevertheless, during the weeks before the inauguration, she began her plans to not only redecorate the family quarters of the White House but to historically restore the public rooms. She created a committee of advisors led by Americana expert Henry Dupont, with sub-committees led by experts on painting, furniture and books. By March 1961, Jacqueline Kennedy was scouring government warehouses in search of displaced White House furnishings, and soliciting the nation to donate important historical and artistic items. As part of this effort, she successfully pressed Senator Clint Anderson and the 87th Congress to pass what became Public Law 87286 that would make such donated items the inalienable property of the White House. Since the restoration project was privately funded, she helped to create a White House Historical Association, an entity which was able to raise funds through the sale to the public of a book she conceived, The White House: An Historic Guide. She also successfully pressed for the creation of the federal position of White House Curator to permanently continue the effort of protecting the historical integrity of the mansion. Her legacy of fostering an national interest in historic preservation extended to her own "neighborhood," when she reversed a previous federal plan to destroy the historic Lafayette Square across from the White House and helped to negotiate not only a restoration of old buildings there, but a reasonable construction of new buildings with modern use.
Jacqueline Kennedy also sought to use the White House to "showcase" the arts. She became the most prominent proponent for the establishment of the National Cultural Center in the nation's capital, eventually to be named for her husband. At the White House she hosted performances of opera, ballet, Shakespeare and modern jazz, all performed by American companies. After her meeting with French Minister of Culture Andre Malraux in May of 1961, he made a loan to the U.S. from France of the Louvre Museum's famous Mona Lisa painting, and Jacqueline Kennedy presided over the unveiling. From Malraux, she developed ideas on the eventual creation of a U.S. Department of the Arts and Humanities, an undertaking she discussed with Rhode Island Senator Claiborne Pell and one that she anticipated would emerge with the creation of a presidential arts advisor and advisory board in 1961. The eventual creation of the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Arts achieved her goal, she later reflected.
Birth:
22 December, 1912
**Karnack, Texas
*Despite her legal name of "Claudia," Mrs. Johnson has been known as "Lady Bird" since childhood, when her nursemaid Alice Tittle commented that she was "as purty as a lady bird." It is unclear what kind of reference this may have been.
**The two-story brick southern plantation mansion, with traditional balcony where she was born is still standing and a registered national landmark.
Marriage:
21 years old, on 17 November, 1934 to Lyndon Baines "LBJ" Johnson (born 27 August, 1908, near Stonewall, Texas, died, "LBJ Ranch" Stonewall, Texas, 22 January, 1973), former teacher, congressional aide, National Youth Administration Director, at Saint Mark's Episcopal Church, San Antonio, Texas. LBJ gave Lady Bird Taylor a $2.50 wedding ring bought at Sears. The couple honeymooned in Mexico and then made their home in Washington, D.C. during most of the year, with visits home to Texas.
Campaign and Inauguration:
Lady Bird Johnson was involved in numerous aspects of her husband's run for president in 1964 for a full term of his own. Before he had committed to running, she drafted a nine-page memo outlining what she saw as the reasons why he must run. She did not want to be a "scapegoat" for the frustration she saw him having if he did not run, and feared "[y]ou may drink too much - for lack of a higher calling." She added that, "I can't carry any of the burdens," but believed he would find "achievement amidst all the pain."
In the midst of the race, LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act. Mrs. Johnson's support of this was so strong that she sat in the front row as he took pen to paper, the only woman present. Despite being First Lady for only several months, she had already established a record as being supportive of civil rights. Even the small symbolic act of touring with an African-American congressional wife arm-in-arm through the White House living quarters earned her praise in the national black daily newspaper Chicago Defender. The traditionally pro-segregationist Democratic South was wary of the direction the Johnsons were taking the party and it was again the First Lady who expressed her understanding of the resistance. Without denigrating their traditions, she emphasized how racial integration would benefit southerners of all races in a "new South." The issue arose sharply at the Democratic Convention in Atlantic City when Mississippi African-Americans, declaring they had been purposely barred from their state's all-white delegation, formed the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and demanded that LBJ recognize, and permit them to be seated in the hall. LBJ asked his wife to draft his potential response to this. The First Lady penned a statement, affirming that the legal delegation should be seated but that the "steady progress" on racial equality that LBJ had initiated would stand and continue under him as president "within the framework of justice." Ultimately, a compromise was achieved.
Civil rights remained the primary campaign focus of Lady Bird Johnson as she undertook an unprecedented role, a schedule of speeches and appearances independent of her husband, targeted to a specific demographic. On a train the "Lady Bird Special," she led women supporters and press through eight southern states for four days, delivering stump speeches from the caboose. The endeavor was well-organized, with "hostesses" in uniform clothing as aides. Buttons, badges and ribbons were produced to mark the occasion. Before the trip, the First Lady telephoned political leaders of the states she was visiting. Many were pro-segregation but nevertheless felt it would be rude not to greet her at a depot in their districts. She and her close friend and press secretary, Liz Carpenter drew on their experiences of the 1960 campaign. While there were threats made against the First Lady's life and some picket signs protested the message of her speeches, Mrs. Johnson remained politely steadfast in her message: "It would be a bottomless tragedy for our country to be racially divided…" An effort by segregationists to suggest that she was an indifferent landlord who provided no utilities to African-Americans on her inherited property proved false and had none of the intended impact.
First Lady:
51 years old
22 November, 1963 - 20 January, 1969
Moving into the White House on 8 December, 1963, Lady Bird Johnson's first months as First Lady were overshadowed by the mourning for President Kennedy and a groundswell of sympathy and interest in Jacqueline Kennedy. In consideration of this, Mrs. Johnson did not undertake a fully-blown public role. She did identify those projects and programs that her predecessor had begun which also interested her, and continued them, most especially efforts on behalf of White House history. She corresponded with Mrs. Kennedy, welcoming her advice on matters such as the placement of portraits or the purchase of china. President Johnson, by executive order, permanently established the Committee for the Preservation of the White House begun as an informal organization by the widow.
What marked Lady Bird Johnson as unique among her predecessors was her own interest and study of the First Ladies. She had become familiar with many of their biographies through her numerous visits since the 1930's to the Smithsonian Institution exhibit of their gowns. She also would visit several presidential homes during her tenure and show as much interest in the objects associated with First Ladies as she did with those of Presidents. This had the effect of making her perhaps one of the few women to assume the position with a highly conscious sense of the public expectations, the limitations and the opportunities that came with it. "She's not elected," she reflected in 1987, "he is elected, and they are there as a team. And it's much more appropriate for her to work on projects that are a part of his Administration, a part of his aims and hopes for America."
First Lady:
1961, January 20 - 1963, November 22
31 years old
Jacqueline Kennedy entered the role of First Lady by declaring that her priorities were her young children and maintaining her family's privacy. Nevertheless, during the weeks before the inauguration, she began her plans to not only redecorate the family quarters of the White House but to historically restore the public rooms. She created a committee of advisors led by Americana expert Henry Dupont, with sub-committees led by experts on painting, furniture and books. By March 1961, Jacqueline Kennedy was scouring government warehouses in search of displaced White House furnishings, and soliciting the nation to donate important historical and artistic items. As part of this effort, she successfully pressed Senator Clint Anderson and the 87th Congress to pass what became Public Law 87286 that would make such donated items the inalienable property of the White House. Since the restoration project was privately funded, she helped to create a White House Historical Association, an entity which was able to raise funds through the sale to the public of a book she conceived, The White House: An Historic Guide. She also successfully pressed for the creation of the federal position of White House Curator to permanently continue the effort of protecting the historical integrity of the mansion. Her legacy of fostering an national interest in historic preservation extended to her own "neighborhood," when she reversed a previous federal plan to destroy the historic Lafayette Square across from the White House and helped to negotiate not only a restoration of old buildings there, but a reasonable construction of new buildings with modern use.
Jacqueline Kennedy also sought to use the White House to "showcase" the arts. She became the most prominent proponent for the establishment of the National Cultural Center in the nation's capital, eventually to be named for her husband. At the White House she hosted performances of opera, ballet, Shakespeare and modern jazz, all performed by American companies. After her meeting with French Minister of Culture Andre Malraux in May of 1961, he made a loan to the U.S. from France of the Louvre Museum's famous Mona Lisa painting, and Jacqueline Kennedy presided over the unveiling. From Malraux, she developed ideas on the eventual creation of a U.S. Department of the Arts and Humanities, an undertaking she discussed with Rhode Island Senator Claiborne Pell and one that she anticipated would emerge with the creation of a presidential arts advisor and advisory board in 1961. The eventual creation of the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Arts achieved her goal, she later reflected.
LADY BIRD [CLAUDIA ALTA] TAYLOR JOHNSON
22 December, 1912
**Karnack, Texas
*Despite her legal name of "Claudia," Mrs. Johnson has been known as "Lady Bird" since childhood, when her nursemaid Alice Tittle commented that she was "as purty as a lady bird." It is unclear what kind of reference this may have been.
**The two-story brick southern plantation mansion, with traditional balcony where she was born is still standing and a registered national landmark.
Marriage:
21 years old, on 17 November, 1934 to Lyndon Baines "LBJ" Johnson (born 27 August, 1908, near Stonewall, Texas, died, "LBJ Ranch" Stonewall, Texas, 22 January, 1973), former teacher, congressional aide, National Youth Administration Director, at Saint Mark's Episcopal Church, San Antonio, Texas. LBJ gave Lady Bird Taylor a $2.50 wedding ring bought at Sears. The couple honeymooned in Mexico and then made their home in Washington, D.C. during most of the year, with visits home to Texas.
Campaign and Inauguration:
Lady Bird Johnson was involved in numerous aspects of her husband's run for president in 1964 for a full term of his own. Before he had committed to running, she drafted a nine-page memo outlining what she saw as the reasons why he must run. She did not want to be a "scapegoat" for the frustration she saw him having if he did not run, and feared "[y]ou may drink too much - for lack of a higher calling." She added that, "I can't carry any of the burdens," but believed he would find "achievement amidst all the pain."
In the midst of the race, LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act. Mrs. Johnson's support of this was so strong that she sat in the front row as he took pen to paper, the only woman present. Despite being First Lady for only several months, she had already established a record as being supportive of civil rights. Even the small symbolic act of touring with an African-American congressional wife arm-in-arm through the White House living quarters earned her praise in the national black daily newspaper Chicago Defender. The traditionally pro-segregationist Democratic South was wary of the direction the Johnsons were taking the party and it was again the First Lady who expressed her understanding of the resistance. Without denigrating their traditions, she emphasized how racial integration would benefit southerners of all races in a "new South." The issue arose sharply at the Democratic Convention in Atlantic City when Mississippi African-Americans, declaring they had been purposely barred from their state's all-white delegation, formed the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and demanded that LBJ recognize, and permit them to be seated in the hall. LBJ asked his wife to draft his potential response to this. The First Lady penned a statement, affirming that the legal delegation should be seated but that the "steady progress" on racial equality that LBJ had initiated would stand and continue under him as president "within the framework of justice." Ultimately, a compromise was achieved.
Civil rights remained the primary campaign focus of Lady Bird Johnson as she undertook an unprecedented role, a schedule of speeches and appearances independent of her husband, targeted to a specific demographic. On a train the "Lady Bird Special," she led women supporters and press through eight southern states for four days, delivering stump speeches from the caboose. The endeavor was well-organized, with "hostesses" in uniform clothing as aides. Buttons, badges and ribbons were produced to mark the occasion. Before the trip, the First Lady telephoned political leaders of the states she was visiting. Many were pro-segregation but nevertheless felt it would be rude not to greet her at a depot in their districts. She and her close friend and press secretary, Liz Carpenter drew on their experiences of the 1960 campaign. While there were threats made against the First Lady's life and some picket signs protested the message of her speeches, Mrs. Johnson remained politely steadfast in her message: "It would be a bottomless tragedy for our country to be racially divided…" An effort by segregationists to suggest that she was an indifferent landlord who provided no utilities to African-Americans on her inherited property proved false and had none of the intended impact.
First Lady:
51 years old
22 November, 1963 - 20 January, 1969
Moving into the White House on 8 December, 1963, Lady Bird Johnson's first months as First Lady were overshadowed by the mourning for President Kennedy and a groundswell of sympathy and interest in Jacqueline Kennedy. In consideration of this, Mrs. Johnson did not undertake a fully-blown public role. She did identify those projects and programs that her predecessor had begun which also interested her, and continued them, most especially efforts on behalf of White House history. She corresponded with Mrs. Kennedy, welcoming her advice on matters such as the placement of portraits or the purchase of china. President Johnson, by executive order, permanently established the Committee for the Preservation of the White House begun as an informal organization by the widow.
What marked Lady Bird Johnson as unique among her predecessors was her own interest and study of the First Ladies. She had become familiar with many of their biographies through her numerous visits since the 1930's to the Smithsonian Institution exhibit of their gowns. She also would visit several presidential homes during her tenure and show as much interest in the objects associated with First Ladies as she did with those of Presidents. This had the effect of making her perhaps one of the few women to assume the position with a highly conscious sense of the public expectations, the limitations and the opportunities that came with it. "She's not elected," she reflected in 1987, "he is elected, and they are there as a team. And it's much more appropriate for her to work on projects that are a part of his Administration, a part of his aims and hopes for America."
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