Janet Norton Lee Bouvier Auchincloss Morris

Janet Norton Lee Bouvier Auchincloss Morris (December 3, 1907–July 22, 1989) was the mother of United States First Lady Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy Onassis; she often stood in for her daughter as hostess for official White House functions.

Related Topics:
December 3 - 1907 - July 22 - 1989 - United States - First Lady - Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy Onassis - White House

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She was born Janet Norton Lee, the daughter of James Thomas Lee and Margaret A. Merritt, and she studied at Sweet Briar College, and later at Vassar, but did not graduate from either institution. Her paternal grandfather, a potato-famine Irish immigrant, was a superintendent of New York City public schools, though Janet Lee Bouvier preferred to tell people that he was a Maryland-born veteran of the United States Civil War. She was of Catholic, Protestant and Jewish extraction.

Related Topics:
Sweet Briar College - Vassar

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She married three times. Her first husband, John Vernou Bouvier III, also known as John Vernou "Black Jack" Bouvier III, was Jackie's father. They were married on July 7, 1928 and had two daughters -- Jackie and her younger sister Lee Radziwill (born on March 3, 1933). John's womanizing and drinking led to a separation in 1936 and divorce in 1940.

Related Topics:
John Vernou Bouvier III - July 7 - 1928 - Lee Radziwill - March 3 - 1933

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Janet's second husband was wealthy Hugh D. Auchincloss, Jr., who provided a secure financial future. They were married on June 21, 1942 and had two children together: Janet Jennings Auchincloss Rutherfurd (1945-1985), who briefly dated John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic Presidential candidate, while she was a student at Miss Porter's; and James L. Auchincloss, born in 1947.

Related Topics:
June 21 - 1942 - John Kerry - Miss Porter's

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Her third marriage, after Auchincloss' death, was to Bingham "Booch" Morris on October 25, 1979 and lasted until her death in 1989.

Related Topics:
October 25 - 1979 - 1989

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She died at 81 from Alzheimer's disease in 1989.

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NOTE: A social climber, she felt that her daughter Jackie married beneath herself (e.g. into the Kennedy family).

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