When Jacqueline Lee Bouvier was born on this day 85 years ago in Southampton, New York, no-one could have known the extraordinary life that was to come.
A universally adored first lady and style icon, she endured unimaginable trauma and grief with the assasination of her husband, President John F. Kennedy.
Eight years after JFK’s death, the widowed First Lady found love again and forged a new life for herself as Jackie Onassis on her new husband Aristotle Onassis’ private island of Skorpios.
“Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis was a model of courage and dignity for all Americans and all the world,” said President Clinton upon her death. “More than any other woman of her time, she captivated our nation and the world with her intelligence, elegance and grace.”
She died at the age of 64 from Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. But on this day, which would have been her 85th birthday, we thought it worth remembering a woman who was a true American treasure.
The world has not forgotten Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis.
Jacqueline Bouvier leading her pony, ‘Buddy,’ at the Southampton Riding and Hunt Club for the annual horse show, Long Island, New York in 1934.
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Jacqueline Bouvier with her dog, Tammy, at the dog show at East Hampton Fair, Long Island, New York in 1939. It was her tenth birthday.
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Jacqueline Bouvier, age 10, daughter of Mr and Mrs John V Bouvier III, in her prize-winning American Indian costume at a horse show at the East Hampton Riding Club, Long Island, New York. Young Jacqueline, who is seen here riding her piebald pony, ‘Dance Step,’ spent the 1939 summer season at the home of her parents.
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American future first lady Jacqueline Bouvier jumps a fence on her horse Danseuse during the East Hampton Horse Show at the Riding Club of East Hampton, East Hampton, New York, August 23, 1941.
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Jackie standing on a lawn with her father, John V Bouvier III in East Hampton, Long Island, New York in 1947.
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12th September 1953: John Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier pose with their ushers and maids of honor on their wedding day, Newport, Rhode Island.
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Jacqueline Bouvier on the day of her wedding to John F. Kennedy in Newport, Rhode Island, 12 September 1953.
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U.S. senator John F. Kennedy and Jackie on the grass in front of their home, Hyannis, Massachusetts, 1953.
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John F Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy enjoy a day of the water at Hyannis Port, Massachusetts in 1955.
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Baby Caroline Kennedy kissing her father JFK at the Kennedy’s residence in Washington DC.
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Already becoming a style icon, Jackie Kennedy relaxes at a picnic.
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Jackie by the seaside in the early 60s.
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First Lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy attends dinner with the Prime Minister of Japan at the Japanese Embassy June 21, 1961 in Washington.
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John F Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy had good looks and charismatic personalities which made them popular newspaper and magazine subjects.
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American First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy in a red dress, stands in before a dining room table in the White House during the filming of a CBS News Special program called ‘A Tour of the White House with Mrs. John F. Kennedy,’ Washington DC, January 15, 1962.
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John F. Kennedy, Jr. playing with his mother’s necklace at the White House in 1962. The simulated Pearl Necklace worn by Jacqueline Kennedy while in residence at the White House sold for USD 190,000 during the Sotheby’s auction of the estate of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis 25 April 1996 in New York.
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John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, with his wife Jacqueline and their children Caroline and John Jnr on Easter Sunday at Palm Beach, Miami, Florida, 14th April 1963.
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Jacqueline Kennedy attends the inauguration of a memorial to her husband John F. Kennedy in Runnymede, Surrey, nearly eighteen months after his assassination. Holding her hand is her young son, John F. Kennedy Jr in 15th May 1965.
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Jackie Onassis with sister Lee Radziwill departing for Aristotle Onassis’ private island, Scorpios.
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Jackie Onassis and her husband Aristotle Onassis leave an Athens nightclub at 7am after celebrating Jackie’s 40th birthday in 1969.
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Jackie Onassis, always epitomized laid back yet flawless style, shopping in Soho in September 1970.
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Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis walks through a busy street with the Gaines girls in Capri, Italy, one of her favourite places, in the early 1970s.
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Jackie Onassis at the Metropolitan Opera House, May 13, 1975, in New York City just months after her second husband Aristotle Onassis passed away.
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Jackie Onassis and her son John Kennedy Jr. land in the US on April 3, 1976.
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Jackie looks on at the 5th Annual RFK Pro-Celebrity Tennis Tournament in August 1976.
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A look many have channeled, Jackie O leaving an exhibit with Carl Katz in October 1977.
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Still turning heads at 50, Jackie Onassis at the Costume Institute Gala Presents “Fashions of The Hapsburg Era” 3 Dec 1979.
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Jackie Onassis and Caroline Kennedy at the wedding of Courtney Kennedy and Jeff Ruhe, 14 June 1980.
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Jackie Onassis at the Hollywood Twin Cinema after seeing Death In Venice , 21 July 1981.
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