In 1951, a young woman named Jacqueline Bouvier won the Prix de Paris. The contest was an essay competition put on by Vogue Magazine and the grand prize was a junior editor position at their office in Paris. As a French Literature major with a love for the arts, Bouvier's winning piece was aptly entitled, "People I Wish I Had Known" and focused on three artistically influential men: Charles Baudelaire, Oscar Wilde, and Serge Diaghilev. Sixty five years have passed since this essay was penned. I doubt 21-year-old Bouvier, more iconically remembered with her surnames, Jackie Kennedy Onassis, would have ever assumed a 22-year-old from Missouri would attempt an homage to this essay and focus solely on her.
Our country remembers Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis as a poised wife, mother, and widow -- a pretty face that emulated strength during the untimely death of her husband, and our country's 35th president, John F. Kennedy. In reality, she was the woman we remember her as and so much more. She is a female icon that transcends the historical constraints we have placed on her in our history books. She is a woman that all females in the fields of journalism, public relations, and publishing should look to for inspiration and she is someone all career-driven women should admire with the utmost respect.
My fascination with the 35th First Lady started in fifth or sixth grade when I read a few selections from the Childhood of Famous Americans series. I was enthralled by stories about real people and had taken an interest in biographies. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis' became my favorite almost instantly. I saw a lot of myself in her passion for the arts and her career choices. As someone who has used the written world as an outlet for most of her life, it only makes sense that Jackie O. became one of my idols at a young age.
First and foremost, Jackie was a journalist. As I mentioned earlier, she earned a junior editor position with Vogue at the age of 21-- then promptly quit on her first day. She moved back to the United States and started a column, "Inquiring Camera Girl," for the Washington Times-Herald. She even covered Queen Elizabeth II's coronation, a historic occasion any journalist would have killed to cover at the time. This particular tidbit of information has always resonated with me more than the fact that her position with the Times-Herald can also be accredited with her introduction to first husband, JFK.
While JFK was in office, Jackie essentially became a Public Relations rep for the White House. While First Ladies before her had decorated the house's interior with their own style preferences, Jackie took it upon herself to fill the building with artifacts from around the world. She turned the White House into a museum of historic significance and helped make it the landmark we know it as today by televising the renovations. She was also the first person to refer to her husband's time in office as the Camelot era during an interview after his assassination.
After the death of her second husband, Aristotle Onassis, Jackie delved back into the wonderful world of publishing. She became a consulting editor for Viking Press and then a senior editor for Doubleday. From the start, Jackie was on a mission to tell stories and help the world see the captivating power of the arts.
Jackie O. will always be commemorated as a fashion icon that helped define femininity for her era. She is also often recognized as a woman who strove to be the best wife and mother she could be, following the standards set out for her and women all over America before and during her lifetime. I think we would be doing Mrs. Kennedy Onassis a disservice if we continued to simply remember her as the stylish widow of our 35th president. Jackie Kennedy Onassis was a woman filled to the brim with elegance, intellect and tact. As I sit here trying to figure out my own life, I know I will always strive to be more like her. She was, and will always remain, the true embodiment of a career-driven woman.
