Jackie Kennedy wears the famous pink suit in this 1962 photo. She is looking at plans for Lafayette Square.
President John F. Kennedy looked out the window of his Fort Worth, Texas, hotel suite. The November sky was dark and threatening. It looked like rain. Forecasters predicted cool weather. The president advised his wife Jackie to dress warmly for the long and demanding day and personally selected her oufit. He chose a pink wool suit with three-quarter-length sleeves and a blue underblouse. To it, Jackie added a pink pillbox hat and white gloves.
Jackie, 34, had worn the suit before – she called its color “raspberry” – and it was one of the president’s favorites. He had told mutual friend Susan Mary Alsop that Jackie, his wife of ten years, looked “ravishing in it.” (1)
President and Mrs. Kennedy at the White House, October 1962. Jackie Kennedy is wearing the pink wool Chez Ninon she wore in Dallas, November 22, 1963
Jacqueline Kennedy‘s pink suit was made in 1961 by the New York dress salon, Chez Ninon. It was a copy of a Chanel pink boucle wool suit trimmed with a navy blue collar. (1)
Jackie Kennedy was a style icon. People noticed what she wore. Kennedy critics were quick to pounce when Jackie wore Paris fashions. Jack urged his wife to buy American and she did. Such a move was both financially and politically savvy. The Chez Ninon knockoff cost between $800 and $1,000 compared to over $10,000 for a custom-made Chanel suit. Plus, he and Jackie were in Texas with Vice President Lyndon Johnson and wife Lady Bird to officially kick off their 1964 presidential campaign. They had to minimize the fallout from Jackie’s expensive French taste.
Jackie’s pink suit was a hit at the Fort Worth breakfast that morning. The president beamed at the attention she drew, noting that “nobody notices what Lyndon and I wear.” A short plane ride later, they were disembarking at Dallas Love Field to a promising reception. Jackie was presented red roses.
President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jackie Kennedy arrive at Love Field in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963.
The sun had come out and the day had become unseasonably warm. The Kennedys climbed into the back seat of the presidential limousine to begin the winding 11-mile route through downtown Dallas where the president was to speak at a Trade Mart luncheon. Texas Governor John Connally and wife Nellie got into the jumpseat in front of the Kennedys and behind the driver and two Secret Service agents.
The presidential limo was a midnight blue 1961 Lincoln that had been flown in from Washington, D.C. Because the weather was so nice, the plastic bubble top had been removed and the bullet-proof side windows were rolled down. This is how President Kennedy preferred to ride. At 11:50 a.m., the 12-car motorcade with its motorcycle escort and Secret Service attendants left the airport “on its rendevous with fate.” It was November 22, 1963. (2)
The crowds lined the parade route so thickly that the motorcade moved at a crawl of only 6-7 miles an hour. The president clearly loved the warm Texas welcome, smiling and waving at all the friendly faces.
JFK and Jackie ride in the presidential limo through the streets of Dallas, November 22, 1963. Texas Governor John Connally sits up front.
The temperature was 76 degrees. The sun was blindingly hot. Jackie was wearing wool. She shielded her eyes from the big Texas sun with her trademark sunglasses.
The people shouted, “Jack, Jackie!” recalled Nellie Connally. “They seemed to want her as much as they wanted him.” She could hear Jack say to Jackie,” Take your glasses off….When you’re riding in a car like this, in a parade, if you have your dark glasses on, you might as well have stayed at home.”
November 22, 1963: Up front, Texas Governor John Connally and wife Nellie ride with the President and Mrs. Kennedy through downtown Dallas.
Nellie Connally smiled to know that Texans were treating their president with such courtesy. She turned to him and said,
Mr. President, you can’t say that Dallas doesn’t love you.” (3)
Thirty seconds later, at 12:30 p.m., three shots rang out. The 35th President of the United States was shot. As the car sped toward Parkland Hospital, Kennedy slumped in his wife’s lap, his blood and brain fragments staining her pink wool suit, gloves, stockings. Jackie crawled out the back of the limo for help from the Secret Service riding in the car behind them.
In an image from the Zapruder film, a fatally-wounded President Kennedy slumps over as Secret Service agent Clint Hill leaps onto the president’s car and pushes Jacqueline Kennedy back.
At the hospital, the doctors worked feverishly to save the president but it was futile. President Kennedy was declared dead, his once vital body loaded limply into a coffin. Jackie accompanied his body to Dallas Love Field where it was loaded onto Air Force One to be flown to Washington.
In her bedroom on board the plane, Jackie’s personal assistant had laid out a fresh outfit for the First Lady. Despite urging from staffers and handlers to “clean up her appearance,” Jackie refused to get out of her bloodied clothes. She shook her head hard:
No, let them see what they’ve done.”
Just hours after her husband's assassination, widow Jackie Kennedy stands next to Lyndon Johnson on Air Force One as he is sworn in as the 36th President of the United States. Although her personal assistant laid out a fresh change of clothes on her bed aboard the plane, Jackie refused to change out of her blood-spattered clothing. Also aboard Air Force One was the casket carrying the body of President John F. Kennedy, age 46.
Somehow, that was one of the most poignant sights,” Mrs. Johnson later wrote, “that immaculate woman exquisitely dressed, and caked in blood.”
At Andrews Air Force Base in Washington, D.C., JFK's brother Attorney General Bobby Kennedy meets Jackie Kennedy when she arrives on Air Force One with the coffin carrying her slain husband's body. Note Jackie's bloodstained suit. Her left leg is caked in blood.
It was not until 5 a.m. the next morning at the White House that Jackie took off the bloodied suit, bathed, and changed outfits. Her mother put the suit in a plastic bag and stored it in her house for many years.
The suit was never cleaned and never will be. It sits today, unfolded and shielded from light, in an acid-free container in a windowless room somewhere inside the National Archives and Records Administration’s complex in Maryland; the precise location is kept secret. The temperature hovers between 65 and 68 degrees; the humidity is 40 percent; the air is changed six times an hour. (4)
Meanwhile, the whereabouts of the pink pillbox hat remain a mystery. It has never been found. Somewhere inside Parkland Hospital, the hat came off. Jackie’s personal secretary, Mary Gallagher recalls:
While standing there I was handed Jackie’s pillbox hat and couldn’t help noticing the strands of her hair beneath the hat pin. I could almost visualize her yanking it from her head.”
What happened to the hat after that is unknown. Mary Gallagher lost track of it.
(1) Source
(2) Source
(3) Source
(4) Source: The Los Angeles Times, Jan. 30, 2011.
Readers: For more on Jackie Kennedy, click here.
Lisa's History Room 
Reading this sent a shiver up my spine… Still, after all these years.
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That’s why I left out the details of JFK’s death. Just the facts open the door of memory….
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I just saw a documentary on tv and wondered what happened to the pink suit. Then I found your site. It’s interesting reading what people say about Jackie. I was 12 at the time and remember everything as though it happened yesterday. At the time, there was an enormous outpouring of sympathy and respect for her – for her dignity in extremis. It was almost unreal. I understand completely why Jackie didn’t want to take off the suit. I lost my boyfriend in a car accident when I was 18 and one way to stay close was to hold onto things with his mark on them.
I was in Jr high and we got the same announcement as millions of others – everything was cancelled and we all felt weird and lost – except one girl who actually said to me “I am glad he’s dead. My father is a republican” or some such words – I think she said more than that. I just looked at her. I am glad I dont’ remember who she was.
I lived in Bethesda, and my sister and mother and I walked up Wisconsin Avenue on Friday night hoping to see the hearse (this isnt morbid – it was history and we knew it). It flew past us as we were walking on the grass or sidewalk (can’t remember) in front of Navy Med. We were the only people on the street. It must have been late evening – I cannot remember the time.
On Sunday, we went downtown to see the funeral cortege go from the White House to the Capitol. As we waited many people had transistor radios on and suddenly someone screamed “Oswald’s been shot!!”. It was like the world was coming apart. Then those drums could be heard in the distance getting closer. We were on Pennsylvania Avenue somewhere near a tree on the north side of the street as I remember someone trying to climb for a better view. I don’t remember seeing people but if Jackie and Bobby walked with the casket then we saw them. I only remember the horse as far as “who” was in the” parade”. The drum beat is still in my head. Anyone there would remember it – it was so ominous and sad – overwhelming. The casket went by and then that horse. It was black and very restive and spirited and I asked my mother why the boots were on backwards. I will never forget the sound of those drums and watching that horse. It was enormous. Then we walked to the Capitol and realized that there was a line to see the casket lying in state. We walked 16 blocks (why on earth do I remember it was that number – surely that may not be right) back down the mall and got into the line just before it turned back the other way. We waited for 6 hours in frigid temperatures (it was in the teens with a breeze blowing – I have never been so cold in my life because we did not anticipate having to wait in line). We finally got into the Capitol around 10 pm – they split the line into two halves with two people going up each side so that the casket was viewed from both sides at once to accommodate more people. I remember as we mounted the steps that we could see THE END OF THE LINE GOING THE OTHER WAY. Those poor people had yet to go the 16 blocks away from the Capitol before turning the corner and coming back.
It was deathly silent inside the rotunda. I remember the honor guard and the flags and the casket.
Now almost 50 years later, I feel privileged to have been a witness to history – to have been there.
Frances
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Wow! Frances, what a personal experience. Thanks for sharing. I hope to hear from you again at Lisa’s History Room.
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Frances, Thank you for sharing your memory of those fateful days. I was born in 1977 so I wasn’t a part of any of this. I read and watch anything and everything having to do with the Kennedy’s – so sometimes I feel like I was around back then. The thing that really stands out to me everytime I see footage of the day the president was assassinated is how brave and classy Jackie was. She absolutely amazes me. What a classy lady.
I tear up every time I read about President Kennedy as if I knew him. It is so unfortunate what happened to the Kennedys. I’m just thankful there are people that share their memories with those of us that weren’t around just yet.
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AMEN
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I’ve got the chills. So that’s why Jackie didn’t take off the dress. Brave lady.
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Her suit had the last of her husband on it.
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The photo of her in that pink suit will be forever embedded in the memories of those who lived through that tragic event. After all these years, they still have that mystic affect on us.
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And that brave face of hers.
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Yes. So sad.
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I well remember that horrible time in our nation’s history. It is as if it all happened yesterday. I can remember exactly where I was (last period class in junior high school) when our teacher came into the room to inform us that the president had been shot. To us, it could have been the same as if we had been attacked by some unknown entity. There was no class that day and we were dismissed to return to homeroom. By the time we got there, we were told that the president had died. In my 13 year-old mind, I still refused to accept that President Kennedy was gone; I purposed in my heart that I would not accept it until I got home and turned on the TV, and hear what the journalists had to say. Needless to say that on the way home from school that day, that’s all one could hear. I rushed to the TV the minute I got home, my worst fears were confirmed, our beloved president was no more. In my opinion, we will never have another first lady like Jackie Kennedy when it comes to class and the culture that she reintroduced to the White House, and, before anyone says Michele, there is absolutely no comparison.
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Thanks for your heartfelt comments, Geri.
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I didn´t know the story behind Jackie´s hat. In the films of the assassination she had the hat on all the time but I had noticed that when she left the hospital she didn´t have it anymore.
Excelent Lisa.
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Glad you liked it, isa.
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my gosh, she was so brave… i would have broken down, had a panic attack.
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I was in the first grade and I remember that day very well. I remember my teacher crying and saying Children our president has been shot and he has died. My parents were big JFK fans so of course when I got home, they were very upset. I remember setting in my fathers lap and watching the funeral and Oswald being shot. I remember my father telling me watch this you may be young but you will remember this, this is sad, but it is history. I will never, never forget that weekend as long as I live.
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Very good site.
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Lisa,
Thanks so much for caring. I have always been a John and Jackie Kennedy lover. I was in the 5 the grade when the assassination took place, and have never gotten over it. I think that is when America started going downhill. To me, John and Jackie were as close to aristocrats as we will ever see here in America. There will never be another Camelot for us here in the U. S.
President Kennedy was a very smart and wise President. Jackie was the best First Lady that has ever lived. She was very regal, and very smart indeed and could hold her own with the best of them. She made great impressions on leaders of other countries. That alone is something she helped the President do, to keep feeling and alliances good between the different countries. How she ever made it through all that she had to live through, I will never know – and with two small children to deal with. She is my HERO. An example for all to learn from.
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I believe most of the intelligence and the reforms stemmed from Bobby.
As for Jackie and her class, acceptance on the world stage was already present before she met Jack, she grew up in the highest levels of society, was educated and well travelled-it was she people admired not her position as First Lady.
Camelot was smoke and mirrors, a myth-how many times did she cry over Jack’s affairs? Propaganda at it’s finest. The Obama administration is supposed to be a return to Camelot-a new family and a First Lady who clothes herself as the modern Jackie. Their dog is even a Kennedy.
As for Jackie after the White House, she was extremely resourceful and married one of the worlds richest men who happened to own a private island. Jackie knew her children would be safe on that island.
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Oddly, Jackie was back in New York less than 6 months after she married Ari Onassis. She may have said she married Ari to secure her children but she married him for the money.
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Money was a huge factor; people forget Jack never worked so he never had any real money of his own, Jackie liked her lifestyle-which money could provide. Island life was unsuited to Jackie, she was a social butterfly and a woman who liked to be admired, both missing on a private island.
You could do an amazing piece there is a web of connections and dual circumstance between the Kennedys and members of the Russian royal family, it’s quite interesting.
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that is not true, Jackie Kennedy had money as a result of her husbands death
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No really true. Marrying Onassis was her key to millions and millions that she really didn’t have from the Kennedy’s. Yes she had a small fortune from marrying into the Kennedy family but nothing that would come close to the deal Ari and she made pre-nuptial. It’s true.
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Thanks for the great history story. Necessary to know about and hear. I was just a little over a year old when Kennedy was assassinated. But as a late-era Baby Boomer, I grew up in the late 1960s and the ’70s with the Kennedy Administration’s happenings, dreams, and image overshadowing my adolescent years, as it did my same-aged peers. When I first heard about the suit existing still and it remaining not viewed for another 100 years or so–if at all–at first I felt indignant as an American feeling entitled to be able to view it as a sobering American history recollection. But after reading the article and previous posts, I realize that this artifact also carries the bloodstains–and, in a way, an extension of the remains–of the slain President. And in a way, that might be disrespectful to display and parade it. In a way, I wish it could be interred in the grave of President Kennedy and Mrs. Onassis–it belongs to us in memory, but a lot more to them, in a way, in eternity.
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I wasn’t born during this time, nor was I even though of, but I have a major interest in the Kennedy family. I learned about JFK through U.S. History classes I’ve taken over the past couple of years. My class had to watch the assasination on a documentary one day, and I was very affected by it. I had never seen anything like it before; growing up in my generation, there hasn’t been anything like that. The sad thing is as I looked around at the other people in my class, no one else seemed to be affected by what they were watching on TV and realizing that this actually happened. It was as if everyone in my class thought it was nothing more than a movie. As my teacher paused after we had watched Jacqueline Kennedy crawl out of the car, looking as if she was grabbing for something, he explained what she was doing. I felt as if I was going to burst into tears right there; not only for the fact that everyone else seemed desensitized to it, but also because I felt extremely bad for her. I thought of all the thoughts that were probably racing through her head at that time, and how she probably wished more than anything that it would just be a nightmare she could wake up from. Then I read online later that night that she had planned her husband’s funeral. My respect and admiration of her grew even more. How this women could plan her own husband’s funeral, I don’t know. I don’t think that I could do it. I came to the conclusion after reading more and more about her and her struggles throughout her life, that she was a very strong woman that seemed to know a lot about life. I kept finding myself looking up more and more online about her and all the other Kennedys. I started watching this miniseries called The Kennedys that just came out pretty recently. I know some of the stuff in the show probably isn’t accurate, but it definitely kept my interest. I also wanted to know more about Jackie’s relationship with her sister-in-laws, so I started reading this book called Jackie, Ethel, Joan: Women of Camelot. I don’t know if any of you have read it, but I strongly recommend reading it if you have an interest in the Kennedys. It covers a lot of topics, and was a very interesting book. I have great admiration for not only Jackie, but the stuff that Ethel and Joan had to go through as well. I guess what I’m trying to say is, even though I never grew up in this generation, I can see what John F. Kennedy and Jackie Kennedy did for this country. Also, not only them, but all of the Kennedys, they may have had some ups and downs throughout history (who doesn’t?), but overall, they did great things for our country. They will forever live in our hearts, and we will be reminded of them in history, so generations after me can learn about them as well. I hope someday way later I will get the chance to meet them.
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Kristy, your letter is so heartfelt. Thank you. Jackie Ethel Joan is a fantastic read. There are many other great books on Jackie Kennedy, particularly Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis by Donald Spoto. Thanks for visiting Lisa’s History Room. I’ve posted many articles on the Kennedy so check them out.
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Thank you for sharing Kristy. I, like you, wasn’t around then but have been greatly affected by President Kennedy’s assassination. I read and watch everything I can about the president and his family. I loved watching the miniseries The Kennedy’s even if it wasnt’ accurate. It still gives us a view inside the Kennedy families lives. And thank you for letting us know about the book Jackie, Ethel, Joan: Women of Camelot. I will definitely be ordering it.
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My parents were just in elementary school, when President Kennedy was assassinated, so I wasn’t even thought of. My interest in the Kennedy’s started when I was in 8th grade, we were learning about the assassination and I was chosen to portray Jackie, as we acted out the assassination. During this class period, we argued, and tried to decide was it the “magic” bullet or another bullet that killed him. From, there my interest grew, I would watch anything and everything that had to do with Kennedy family. Thank you so much for this blog, this just helps add to my Kennedy addiction.
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The Power and the Glory and then the unbelievable happened. I was eighteen
at the time of President Kennedy’s assassination shock, horror, deep sadness
all the gamut of emotions took over. The classy Duo and their beautiful children will forever be in my thoughts and prayers.
The Kennedy Detail and the Hero Clinton Hill the Secret Service Agent he is a maverick. I watched the Kennedy Detail on Foxtel and as the Secret Service Agents cried I cried dear God I wish it had never happened.
The saying goes. It is better to have loved and lost than nevr to have loved at all. I love the Kennedy family.
Joan Marshall
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Thanks, Joan. It’s no less tragic even though so much time has passed.
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i havent been able to find one colour photograph of jackie in blood stained suit and i suspect i never will…………………………
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color photo of Mrs. Kennedy still wearing her blood stained attire- i am still searching for another color photo which i have previously viewed-
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color photo of Mrs. Kennedy still wearing her blood stained attire- i am still searching for another color photo which i have previously viewed-
Mrs. Gallagher is photographed holding Mrs. Kennedy’s purse and pillbox hat as they board Air Force One for the flight to Washington on the afternoon of Friday, November 22, 1963- (the hat is difficult to see in this particular photo)
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Judd, these are great photos but I can’t see Mrs. G clutching a hat. Do you have a better photo? (Thank you.)
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Handbag yes, hat no.
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This event took the innocence away from our world, and I know will be accounted for in full eventually. I am a Christian, and have no doubt at all that every person involved in this man’s horrific murder will answer for it in full, as well as the unbelievable coverup that has occurred ever since to conceal the truth. Oswald was certainly a ‘patsy’ – there would have been no need to shut him up if he wasn’t – and Kennedy was a target from the day he decided to return to the gold standard and get rid of the CIA. This poor woman’s tragically ruined life and the obviously detrimentally affected lives of her children will be answered for as well. The truth will out – however long it takes. God knows it all.
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Even, I enjoyed reading your comments. I look forward to heaven and knowing what now we know only in part.
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Whoever found that hat would never be forgotten.
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I was 6 years old and in 1st grade. It was announced over the school PA that we should go home; just go home. I had never seen adults cry openly before and all the Sisters were crying. The bus drivers were crying. I got home and my parents sat in the living room watching tv like zombies for hours. The phone kept ringing and they’d talk on it, hang up and go back to the TV. Everyone was crying. Our street was a kids-street and always noisy, but that day was deathly silent, and was subdued & silent for over a week.
I knew enough to understand the president had been shot. I didn’t understand really what that meant but I saw every single adult person around me coming apart & it was terrifying.
What brought it home to me was John-John [JFK Jr] & Caroline, who I understood as kids. John-john’s saluting. The sad sad horse-pulled caisson & the drums. Burned forever in my memory.
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I had just graduated from college and had a job in downtown Dallas. A co-worker and I took our lunch hour to go see the President. Neither of us were JFK supporters but we wanted to see the President and not the least Jackie. We saw them probably a few minutes before he was shot. JFK seemed to be enjoying himself but Jackie was Jackie and not so relational with the crowd. When we returned to the office the news was on the radio that shots had been fired at the President’s car. The rest of the afternoon we all in that office area huddled around a radio. When a reporter said that a man had been apprehended in the Texas Theater and that police had gone there because of a call from the manager of the shoe store next door about a suspicious man entering the theater in a hurry without paying. The shoe store manager was the husband of one of the women around the radio. You can imagine her excitement when his name was revealed. I don’t remember exactly when but a week or so later she came to the office with a letter from LBJ thanking her husband.
It was a surreal time in America but more so in Dallas that weekend. I went to church Sunday and when i came home my husband told me about Oswald being shot.
Nice website. This is my first time to visit but I’ve bookmarked it.
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Mary, what a great story to recount for my readers. Keep coming back!
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Who started the myth that Mrs. Kennedy was crawling out of the limo to grab the president’s brains? The media pushed that story forever, now it has been shifted to “Jackie crawled out the back of the limo for help from the Secret Service riding in the car behind them.”
The truth would have been good enough, believable enough and understandable enough.
She was frightened out of her wits and trying to get the hell out of there. So why not just tell the truth?
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Stephen King wrote a brilliant book about the Kennedy assassination – really accurate, stunningly empathetic and interesting. Stories about it are so moving – it was a really tragic event, something that will stay within America’s history forever.
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I want to buy the Clint Hill book and I did see the book by Steven King in the bookstore but wondered if it was fiction and not true details of the tragic event.
Is this the same Steven King that writes horror novels? Just curious because I collect everything on the Kennedys. JFK, RFK and of course the most elegant First Lady, Jackie. Which Obamas cannot compare too.
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It’s the same guy, but he sometimes writes on subjects he’s personally interested in. It’s partly fiction – it tells the story of a guy who goes back in time to prevent the Kennedy assassination, so the stuff about him is fiction, but most of the things about Harvey Lee Oswald are true (as far as we’re aware, of course). Like, all of his background in Russia, the planning for the assassination etc.
I found a lot of it really interesting from a historical point of view, and really moving from a fictional stance as well. It’s a really good book, he did a lot of research for it.
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Clint Hill, the secret Service agent who leaped to the aid of Jacqueline Kennedy ,stated;”She was trying to reach that head, the piece of his head. that fell onto the trunk of the car.” This is in his book,”Mrs. Kennedy and Me.”, which has just been released in bookstores as of April 5th.
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[…] presidentseden, och på den yngre ser ni henne med JFK’s bror Robert F Kennedy. Läs mer här och […]
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Thank you for this, such an interesting article. Like some here, I wasn’t even alive when the assasination happened (I was born in 1988; my parents were both were only 3yrs old when it happened), but for some reason, I’ve developed a curiosity and an interest in the Kennedys. FYI, I am not even an American (born, raised, and still living in Philippines) Haha. Anyway, I was mostly taken by the courage and grace Jackie Kennedy showed during and after the assassination. I teared up watching the Zapruder film. Such composure is admirable. I would probably be in a state of frenzied panic if it happened to me.
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Excellent description, Lisa. However, I always thought that SS-100X (Kennedy’s limo) was actually “gunmetal blue” versus “midnight blue”. Not positive, but for some reason the color name always stuck in my mind.
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I just finished reading Clint Hill’s book, “Mrs. Kennedy and Me”, a firsthand account of everything Jackie during her time as our First Lady. It is amazing…I was 13 years old walking home with my boyfriend from school when my Mom pulls up in her 1959 white Chevy station wagon and tells us to get in. I was angry that she interrupted my walk home. She could barely get the words out that President Kennedy was shot dead. Needless to say we watched our small screen black and white tv for the rest of the entire week including seeing Oswald get shot on live tv. My Mom had just bought me the most beautiful aqua blue a-line coat with stand up collar and gigantic “Oleg Cassini” buttons, which was Jackie’s famous style. Everyone copied her style for years to come. She was so brave and classy throughout that time. It can be argued why she married Onassis, but it was clearly to protect her children away from all our prying eyes. One last note, Clint Hill became an alcoholic recluse when he retired from the Secret Service in the 70’s. It was the co-author of his book that helped get him out of his funk to write this incredible account of his time with her. He says he’s recovered now, I hope so. To go from the life he lived during Camelot and being in that kind of position to a normal so called life must have been incredibly difficult. Thank you for keeping our First Lady safe…..too bad she died so young in the end…….
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Greetings from Ankara, Turkey. Kennedy was loved here. We have “Kennedy Streets” both in Ankara and Istanbul in some prominent places in these two biggest cities of us. How amazing it is to learn that Kennedy went after gangs and scrapped their tax priviliges for the future of his people, wanted to undermine the CIA and thus received enmity. It’s really touching and upsetting to read all the comments above how people cried for their slain president. How agonizing it must have been for a nation to have their acting president assasinated. We felt something similar to that when our legendary acting president at the time, Turgut Özal died in 1993. Agony for Kennedy must have been bigger, because his death was not for natural reasons, but he was murdered. How hideous is that it’s been told that he had been killed by a cooperation of the CIA, Johnson, Bush and Nixon, all of whom were also presidents of the same nation like Kennedy and how the cover up have continued till today. I did not know that the deep state is so strong in the US like some third world nations. Is this still the same story today in the country? How do you feel about Johnson whom America chose again for office after his first term there who is told to have had leaned down in the car in the motorcade anxious of the shots he knew in advance that were going to come and rubbing his hands that he was finally going to get rid of Kennedy and become the next president?
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[…] My look was inspired by Jackie Kennedy when wearing her pink slick suit. It reflected her kind personality as well as a women of substance. (visit this link to view images of JK https://lisawallerrogers.wordpress.com/2011/02/12/jackie-kennedys-pink-suit/). […]
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Money was never an issue for the woman, she was born in it and had plenty without remarrying for more. how shallow for someone to try to make an image of her as a gold digger when she lived a life full of such dignity, class, and poise. Conspiracy theory guy, get real.
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True- may not have been the happiest -but I truly think she remarried for emotional security – not financial – and I think she and Ari did care for each other .
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There is an interesting footnote story to Chez Ninon, involving partner Nona McAdoo(whose father was Secy of the Treasury under Wilson and whose first husband was the de Mohrenschildt, who died early and was an uncle of the one involved in the JFK assassination[and perhaps something about the Duke of Windsor and the Sir Harry Oakes murder in the Bahamas]); Mrs. (Sen.) John Sherman Cooper; and the mystery of the so-called soi-dites, “Mellon honeymoon cottage” in Morristown NJ which was solved because of a boy who went to my country day school nearby. There may even be a connection to the family home of the grandmother of Superman(C.Reeves) who brother married Mrs. Kennedy’s aunt Winifred.
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I think Mrs . Kennedys dress suit must be the most famous pieces of clothing in history -at least one of the most famous – and certainly saddest . The picture where shes standing with Mr and Mrs Johnson when hes being sworn in as president has always amazed me . For all that the poor woman had endured that day – she still had the simple humanity to want to be with people at this very important moment .
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I was in the 5th grade at a Parochial School in Indiana on that day in 1963. It was a normal Friday early afternoon for us, just a few more hours and the weekend loomed ahead. Our Teacher had left the room halfway throughout the period, as he occasionally did, for a few minutes. When he returned, he took two steps into the room and dramatically pointed his index finger it the air, saying, “The President Has Been Shot !”
Immediately, we were stunned into silence at his announcement. How could that be ? We all knew of course, of the famous Lincoln Assassination…But President Kennedy ? Here and now ?
We were told that we would be taken right away upstairs to the 8th grade room, which had the only television in the school. We were in a small school, about 150 or so kids for the 8 grades. As far as I recall, only grades 4-7 were taken up to the 8th grade room, which had been the Library in years past, so it was a larger-sized room. Even so, by the time we got up there, it was ‘standing room only’, so we lined up against the walls. We were there the rest of the school day, were not dismissed early, but at the normal 3 PM time. Right before I went down the front steps outside, the word spread that the President was dead.
It had snowed some the day before, and there were still patches of it on the ground and slush in the streets. I walked the 2 miles to my Grandmother’s shop that she ran, and found her crying in front of her small TV….Later, as I went home, I was allowed to stay up late (midnight) to watch the coverage.
A word about broadcasting coverage here….There was no ‘Night TV’ in those days. Every TV station, and most radio stations, ‘Signed Off’ around 12 or 1 AM. But for the first time in history, TV stations stayed on the air for 4 days running, day and night, clear up to late Monday night the 25th. There were no commercials at all ran during that time either.
So, that weekend, instead of being time off, became time spent nearly glued to the TV coverage. On Sunday, I decided to go out for a bike ride. I was just zipping up my jacket to leave when the Oswald shooting came across on live TV. Needless to say, I didn’t get my bike ride. I was old enough to know that I was seeing history in the making during that time. The Funeral Dirge, the pounding of the drums, the pride and disgrace, have stayed with me always.
Jackie Kennedy was indeed one classy lady. I remember watching her ‘Tour of the White House’ the year before. I marvel today at how, at just age 34, she was able to hold up under such a crushing blow as that had to be, and how she exhibited such grace and dignity during the days that followed, Truly the likes of which we will never see again.
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Jacqueline Kennedy remains one of my icons (warts and all – do we not all have them?) I was studying for senior HS exams in Canada, when my mother called up that President Kennedy had been shot. (As Canadians, living on the doorstep of the Elephant, we were well-informed of U.S news) And that was it for studying. It was-B/W TV)for four days. We must have got up at times to feed and water the two younger siblings. At least, they didn’t starve. Our father was in Paris that week, at conferences. He reported on return, the agitations in the streets, as he walked from a conference to his hotel, and his French was sufficient to translate kiosk newspaper headlines, “le president Kennedy est assaassine”. It was a weekend which has remained indelible in memory. And I applaud Mrs. Kennedy for courage, for her survivor instinct, for her child-rearing instincts, She was a product of her time and upbringing and class. And class and strength of mind, she had.
Nov 22 1963 is more imprinted photographically and historically in my mind, than even having been stranded at Logan airport on 9/ii, following earlier morning seeing the Twin Towers collapse on tv in the hotel room. ?Because the murder of JFK was the first of my generation’s fear that we North Americans, were vulnerable? We had not experienced Pearl Harbour, and we were not American, either. Jacqueline Kennedy was exceptional in her demeanour and organisation that weekend. . .
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[…] https://lisawallerrogers.wordpress.com/2011/02/12/jackie-kennedys-pink-suit/ […]
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[…] https://lisawallerrogers.wordpress.com/2011/02/12/jackie-kennedys-pink-suit/ […]
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The boots on the riderless horse are turned around backwards to indicate the rider died in battle……I read one time that the horse was Mrs. Kennedys personal horse, given to her by a Sheik from Saudi Arabia…….The Pink Suit will not be shown again to the year 2103….as per Caroline Kennedy…….Mary Ann
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[…] Photo Credit: Lisa’s History Room […]
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Thank you for the memory refreshing and new information. I was nine years old when this happened,we were sent home from school early that day.. I remember watching the TV and everything that had to do this, even at nine years old it made an impression on me, that’s never went away. It’s like 9/11, as my husband and I watched in shock and horror of the events that day also. These things leave a mark on us and we carry them for the rest of our lives, we never forget them. In my case I’ve been able to share these memories with my grandchildren when they studied these events in school, just as I did with my kids about Pres. Kennedy’s assassination, before 9/11.
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What a highly informative post. I’ve been browsing through your blog & am enjoying all of the thorough information, especially tons of photos I’ve never seen. Viewing the photos in this post are eerie & terribly sad, knowing what we know about that fateful day…one looks at the photos of the Kennedys from that morning (& moments before) & the sadness is unavoidable…one thinks “Oh, they had no earthly idea how their day would end, what would happen to them that day”.
Great job with your blog! It is feeding my recurring “obsessions” with famous people, such as Jackie O, Princess Di & Marilyn (of course!) & I thank you for all of the time, effort, quality writing & outstanding outstanding photos you’ve put together!
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[…] inside scoop on that Kennedy family and that horrible day.” I recently read a blog post from Lisa’s History Room about the suit Jackie was wearing that fateful November day and how she refused to take it off until the following day. I […]
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For anyone who attended the show some while ago at the Met in NYC of Mrs. Kennedy’s clothing, it was surprising (but not unexpected) that at least one (cream-colored) suit had oxidized to a dull light tan(and that the sleeves had been pinned up, perhaps to fit the mannequin. Of course I bought the book based on the show (as I had of the book she edited “In the Russian style” which was shown and sold at the much earlier Russian Costume exhibit also at the Met’s Costume Institute). A real disappointment was to find the photo in the book of JBK’s faux-painted dressing table(which I would have sketched but I thought it would be in the book) was photo-shopped to plain white, no charming trompe l’oeil efforts shown; perhaps too personal. We stood two hours on the balcony waiting to get into the crowded display area and then it was two more hours shuffling along with the crowds to see the mannequins. Well worth it.
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Adrienne, I would loved to have see the exhibit. Thanks for sharing! Lisa
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I am new to your site and would like to register a personal reaction before commenting further: it bespeaks class, excellent taste, and if organizational expertise lends itself in any way to subjective feeling, disarmingly smooth. A very inviting website.
As a History professor, I have taught as an adjunct at Broward Community College (1984-1999), and full time Social Studies Instructor in the Broward County public school system at Cooper City High School since 1984. I will be directing my students to your history room in the future because I know it will engage them. Thanks for putting into cyber space such an appealing public history destination.
In 1998, under the rubric, “Future Studies,” the SBBC offered a secondary
social studies elective course I created, “The Warren Commission Report and the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy.” It was designed as a research seminar in order to teach research skills (National Archives and Library of Congress contacts) to students so that they could independently access information about the events that took place 11-22-63 to 11-25-63, and make final judgments about critical questions based upon empirical data. Consequently, your site’s unquestioned acceptance of LHO as the president’s murderer would be a matter of dispute.
In closing, do you do any public speaking ? If so, I would like to invite you
to my US History honors class at a convenient date and time.
Sincerely,
Mr. Dennis Maugere
CCHS History Instructor
Member, American Historical Association
Leadership Council Member, Southern Poverty Law Center
Marquis Who’s Who in America, 2005–present
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Hi, Dennis, thank you for visiting Lisa’s History Room. I hope your students find something here that engages them. I pride myself on thorough research and provide reference sources for my posts.
By the way, your statement of my “site’s unquestioned acceptance of LHO as the president’s murder” is patently false. Review the post, “Jackie’s Pink Suit” and nowhere is Lee Harvey Oswald’s name mentioned.
I appreciate the invitation. I do not speak to groups. I concentrate on writing my blog so that larger groups have access to biographical sketches that draw them into a love of history.
All my best, Lisa Waller Rogers
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I purposed in my heart that i’d not settle for it till I got home and turned on the TV, and listen to what the journalists had to mention. unneeded to mention that on the manner home from college that day, that’s all one may hear. I rush to the TV the minute I got home, my worst fears were confirmed, our beloved president was no a lot of I bear in mind my teacher crying and language youngsters our president has been shot and he has died. My oldsters were huge JFK fans thus in fact after I got home, they were terribly upset.
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