Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

:Alternate meanings: Jackie O is also an Australian radio host, while Jacqueline Bouvier also refers to a character from "The Simpsons."

Life following the assassination

A week after the assassination, she was interviewed by Theodore H. White of Life magazine. In that interview, she called the Kennedy years the years of "Camelot."

Related Topics:
Theodore H. White - Life

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She made no public appearances for one year because she observed a year of mourning. Afterwards, she was forced to live her life in quiet isolation because of concerns about her privacy, lost as a result of the assassination and funeral. For many Americans, she is most remembered for her courage those four days in November.

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Onassis marriage

On October 20, 1968, she married Aristotle Onassis, a Greek-shipping tycoon, in Skorpios, Greece, thus losing her Secret Service protection. When her former brother-in-law Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated three months earlier, Kennedy Onassis decided the Kennedys were being "targeted," and that she and her children had to leave the U.S. So marriage to Onassis appeared to make sense: he had the money and power to give her the protection she wanted, while she had the social cachet he craved. He ended his affair with opera diva Maria Callas to marry her.

Related Topics:
October 20 - 1968 - Aristotle Onassis - Skorpios - Greece - Robert F. Kennedy - Opera - Maria Callas

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The marriage allegedly was not a love match. The couple rarely spent time together. Though Onassis got along with Caroline and John, Jr. (his son Alexander introduced John to flying; both would die in plane crashes), Kennedy Onassis did not get along with her step-daughter Christina Onassis. She spent most of her time traveling and shopping (a hobby that had exasperated President Kennedy, who once asked a friend "Is there a 'Shoppers Anonymous'?"). Though he was in the early stages of filing for divorce, Onassis died on March 15, 1975, leaving his wife a large inheritance.

Related Topics:
Christina Onassis - March 15 - 1975

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"Jackie O"

When a paparazzo photographed Kennedy Onassis nude on a Greek island, Hustler publisher Larry Flynt bought the photos and published them in the August 1975 issue, much to her and the Kennedy family's embarrassment. The pictures taken with powerful telephoto lenses were somewhat fuzzy. But the pictures clearly show Jackie's breasts, her buttocks and pubic hair. During this period, the media informally rechristened her as Jackie O.

Related Topics:
Paparazzo - Hustler - Larry Flynt - Kennedy family

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In the Rage Against The Machine song "Tire me" Jackie O. is meantioned along with an allusion to the death of JFK. The Quote is:

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"I wanna be Jackie Onassis

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I wanna wear a pair of dark sunglasses

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I wanna be Jackie O

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Oh oh oh oh please don't die!"

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Jackie is also mentioned in the Tori Amos song,

Related Topics:
Tori Amos - "Jackie's Strength" - Assassination - John F. Kennedy - USA - Jackie's

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Final Years

She spent her latter years as an editor at Doubleday, living in New York City and Martha's Vineyard with Maurice Tempelsman, a Belgian-born married industrialist and diamond merchant. In the '60s she helped lead preservation campaigns to save New York's beloved Grand Central Terminal from demolition, and in the '80s she was a major figure in protests against a planned skyscraper at Columbus Circle which would have cast large shadows on Central Park.

Related Topics:
Doubleday - New York City - Martha's Vineyard - Maurice Tempelsman - Belgian - Diamond - Grand Central Terminal - Columbus Circle - Central Park

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In 1994, she was diagnosed with lymphoma, a form of cancer, and died from it at her Fifth Avenue apartment in her sleep at 10:15 pm on May 19 of that year at the age of 64.

Related Topics:
1994 - Lymphoma - Cancer - May 19

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Her funeral on May 23 was televised around the nation, even though it was private, the way she wanted it to be. She was buried beside her assassinated husband at Arlington, in a service which too, was private, although it included remarks from President Bill Clinton. During the service, the two Kennedy children laid flowers on her flower-covered mahogany casket, bidding goodbye to a remarkable era in American history.

Related Topics:
May 23 - Bill Clinton

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