Hi history lovers and welcome or welcome back to the channel, where I bring you new videos
every week on all aspects of the past.
Today on History Calling, we’re travelling back to 1963 and to one of the most infamous
episodes in American history, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas.
Specifically, we’ll be looking at his wife and asking what happened to Jacqueline Kennedy’s
pink suit, which has become synonymous with that fateful day and which quickly became
one of the most famous historical fashion moments of the 20th century?
This will include the mystery of her matching pill box hat, which seemingly disappeared
shortly after President Kennedy’s death and the location of which is now unknown.
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There’s a link for that in the description box below, along with links to some biographies
of President and Mrs Kennedy, the 2016 movie Jackie, which covers the events of the assassination
and the TV shows about the Kennedys which starred Katie Holmes.
On 22 November 1963, President John Fitzgerald Kennedy and his wife Jacqueline (commonly
known as Jackie) begin the day in Fort Worth, Texas.
They are campaigning in preparation for the 1964 Presidential election and the first engagement
of the day for Kennedy is to address and shake hands with the crowds outside their hotel
that morning.
In so doing he comments that Jackie is still inside getting ready, joking that she always
looks much better than he and the rest of the crowd do, when they get ready.
He then goes inside to give a breakfast speech to the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, which
Jackie attends.
It is then that everyone gets a look at the outfit she has chosen for the day; a pink
suit with navy trim, a matching pill box hat and white gloves.
Although often referred to as a Chanel suit, in fact, Jackie is wearing a line-for-line
copy by Chez Ninon, as she has previously found herself in trouble with the press and
the people of the United States, for wearing clothes neither designed, nor made in the
US.
This is similar to the modern British royals wearing almost exclusively British designers
for their formal engagements within the UK.
Little does Jackie know of course, that she has just put on the most famous outfit she
will ever wear and the last one her husband of 10 years will see her in.
After the breakfast, the Kennedys board the Presidential plane, Air Force One, for the
short flight to Dallas, where the President is scheduled to give a lunchtime speech.
It was with this speech in mind in fact, that he had requested that Jackie bring and wear
the pink suit, telling her before their trip that, ‘There are going to be all these rich
Republican women at that lunch, wearing mink coats and diamond bracelets … Show these
Texans what good taste really is’.
They land at Love Field at 11.37am and are greeted by crowds there, before getting into
an open-topped limousine for a drive through Dallas to get to the luncheon.
At about 12.30pm, as they are driving down Dealey Plaza in the city, shots ring out.
Kennedy is hit twice, including a catastrophic wound to the right side of his head.
Governor Connally of Texas, who is travelling with them, is also hit, though he will survive.
The President slumps over into his wife’s lap and she cradles his head as they are rushed
to the nearby Parkland Hospital.
There is nothing that can be done for JFK though and he is declared dead at 1pm.
Jackie is of course at the hospital too, still wearing her suit, now stained with her husband’s
blood and brain matter.
It is suggested to her that she change, but she refuses, saying ‘Let them see what they’ve
done’.
One female staff member with the Presidential group recalled later that she:
‘looked at the gloves and they looked polka-dotted, and I remember thinking, She wouldn't wear
polkadot white gloves with a pink suit – you do think ridiculous things at a time like
that – and suddenly I realised that the polka dots and the spots on her suit were
his brains … and she wouldn’t let anybody touch her and she wouldn’t let anybody clean
her up … She wouldn’t take her gloves off’.
After she was allowed in to see her husband’s body, Jackie did briefly renege on this decision
about the gloves, taking one of them off so that she could remove her wedding band and
place it on his finger.
She then put the glove back on and the ring was returned to her later that day.
Mrs Kennedy was certainly in severe shock, but her comment that she wanted people to
be able to see what ‘they’ had done (she didn’t know who the assassin was at this
point, so she couldn’t be specific), shows an incredible awareness, even through her
trauma and shock, of the power of image and especially her image.
She knew pictures would be taken of her and that they would endure forever and she didn’t
want the violence of that day to be sanitised.
Her successor as First Lady, Lady Bird Johnson, was also there and later wrote that ‘Somehow,
that was one of the most poignant sights, that immaculate woman exquisitely dressed,
and caked in blood.’
Once it was official that the President was dead, his body was removed from Parkland hospital
and taken back to Air Force One to be flown to Bethesda Naval Hospital for autopsy.
It was upon leaving the hospital and boarding the plane that the condition of Jackie’s
suit became apparent to onlookers and photographers, as you can see in these images.
There was blood all over her skirt and legs and spots on the rest of her clothing, including
the gloves which you can still see her wearing here.
Something was missing though and it’s become one of the many mysteries of that day.
As you can see, Jackie’s hat had been removed while she was in the hospital and its fate
is unknown.
Mary Gallagher, Jackie’s personal secretary, later recalled that whilst at the hospital:
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.
Author William Manchester says that the hat made it back to the White House and was mistakenly
given to Robert Foster, the agent who guarded Jackie’s children, though other sources
I’ve read treat Mary Gallagher as being the last known guardian of this object.
The simple fact of the matter is, we don’t know what happened to it.
It may be that it was mislaid during the chaos of that day and the days following, as Jackie
had to move out of the White House a fortnight later.
Alternatively, someone may have deliberately taken it as a gruesome souvenir.
Perhaps it’s even still with the Kennedy family and they simply haven’t announced
the fact.
The gloves have also disappeared from the historical record, though we can trace them
in photographs for a little longer.
One of the most famous pictures of Jackie from that day was taken shortly after she
boarded Air Force One with her husband’s coffin and just before take-off.
It shows her standing in shock next to the new President, Lyndon B. Johnson, as he was
sworn into office at 2.38pm.
The image is in black and white and Jackie had washed her face and removed her gloves
before it was taken, but spots of blood can still be seen on her jacket.
Upon landing at Andrew’s Air Force Base in Maryland, Jackie was joined by her brother-in-law,
Robert Kennedy and they accompanied President Kennedy’s body to Bethesda for the post-mortem.
Then, finally, in the early hours of 23 November, it was time to return to the White House.
It was only after seeing her husband’s remains safely placed in the East Room to lie in repose,
that Jackie finally went and changed out of her pink suit.
I’ve mentioned already that the now former First Lady understood the power of image very
well and she obviously knew too that her outfit that day would continue to be of great interest
for many years to come.
No one is quite sure exactly when, but eventually the suit made its way to the US National Archives,
no doubt with Jackie’s permission.
According to an article in the Washington Post in November 2013, the paper was told
by the Archives that:
“The only clue as to the date of transfer is the fact that the address on the letterhead
that accompanied the suit contains a single-digit postal code,” the Archives said.
The Postal Service switched to five-digit Zip codes in 1963, but they were not widely
used for several years.
The National Archives didn’t own the items though and it was only in 2003, nine years
after Jackie’s death, that her sole surviving heir, her daughter Caroline, signed a Deed
of Gift, giving the clothing to this institution.
One of its stipulations is that:
the Materials never be subject to public display, research, or any other use that would in any
way dishonor the memory of Mrs. Kennedy or President Kennedy, or cause any grief or suffering
to members of their family.
It then goes further, saying that:
Access to the Materials … shall be restricted in accordance with this paragraph for one
hundred (100) years from the date of the execution of this deed of gift [which means the earliest
the outfit can be seen by anyone other than a tiny number of archivists and people listed
below, is 2103], after which time the Archivist of the United States (hereinafter refered
to as the Archivist) shall exercise his or her discretion in the handling of the Materials
in a manner that takes into account the concerns of the Kennedy family …. These restrictions
also apply to any photographs of the Materials.
a.
None of the Materials shall be placed on public display for any reason whatsoever.
b.
There shall be no access to the Materials for research or scholarly purposes.
c.
Access may be provided only to persons authorized to act for a Committee of Congress, for a
Presidential committee or commission, or for any other official agency of the United States
Government, having authority to investigate matters relating to the death of President
John F. Kennedy, for purposes within the investigative jurisdiction of such committee, commission,
or agency.
One of the few who has seen it is archivist Steven Tilley, who has said that “It looks
like it’s brand-new, except for the blood”.
The Deed of Gift document concludes with the following list of the items in the Archives’
possession (and you’ll note again that there’s no sign of the hat or gloves):
Clothing and personal effects of Jacqueline B. Kennedy worn on November 22, 1963:
1.
Pink Chanel Suit- Jacket [this is incorrect though, as you’ll recall the suit wasn’t
actually Chanel] 2.
Pink Chanel Suit- Skirt 3.
Blue Blouse 4.
Pair of Stockings, wrapped in a white towel 5.
Pair of Blue Shoes 6.
Blue Purse [and that means a handbag for anyone who’s from the UK like me]
7.
Portion of Cardboard Box in which materials were delivered to the National Archives; shows
address to Mrs. John F. Kennedy, The White House
8.
Stationery of “Mrs. Hugh D. Auchincloss [that was Jackie’s mother], 3044 O Street,
N.W., Washington 7, D.C.,” with handwritten note: “Jackie’s suit and bag- worn November
22nd, 1963”.
And that is the story of what happened to Jackie Kennedy’s pink suit, from the time
she decided to bring it on the trip to Texas, to its current location within a temperature
controlled vault in the National Archives in College Park, Maryland.
She went on to remarry in 1968 to Greek shipping tycoon, Aristotle Onassis and had something
of a second life as Jackie O, but that marriage was already on the rocks by the time Onassis
died in 1975 and it is in Arlington Cemetery, with President Kennedy and two of their children
who died at birth or shortly afterwards, that Jackie is buried.
That brings us to the end of this week’s video.
Let me know in the comments below what you think happened to the First Lady’s hat and
gloves and until next time, keep learning.