10 Shocking Things You Didn’t Know About Jackie Kennedy

Fifty years ago, on December 6, 1963, Jacqueline Kennedy first compared her husband’s fateful presidency to the “Camelot” myth. These 10 things about the former First Lady are from “WHEN LIONS ROAR: The Churchills and the Kennedys by Thomas Maier.”

1. Jackie crushed hard on Winston Churchill as a college student in the late 1940s.

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She shook Churchill’s hand—twice. Like a schoolgirl, she ran back to the end of the reception line after her first handshake so she could shake his hand again.

2. When they married in 1953, Jackie filled the hole in JFK’s heart left by the death of his beloved sister.

JFK doted on his sister, Kathleen “Kick” Kennedy. After her death in a 1948 air crash, Jackie became “a substitute for Kick,” said one friend who once roomed with Jackie in Washington, DC.

3. Jacqueline Kennedy’s two famous husbands shared the same hero: Winston Churchill.

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Both President John F. Kennedy and Greek tycoon Aristotle Onassis deeply admired British statesman Winston Churchill. Neither was impressed with the other, however.

4. In 1958, JFK met with Winston Churchill—and Jackie first met Onassis.

Onassis was a Churchill friend, and hosted everyone aboard his giant yacht. “They tell me he is presidential timber,” Churchill explained to his host, Onassis, about JFK. “I’d like to meet this presidential timber.”

5. As First Lady, Jackie got some great advice from socialite Kay Halle.

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Jackie relied upon advice from Churchill family friend, socialite Kay Halle, about inviting artists to the White House and not “treating them like freaks.” But Halle’s biggest coup was to convince Jackie and the president to award honorary U.S. citizenship to Churchill at a 1963 Rose Garden ceremony.

6. Jackie enjoyed relaxing with her sister on Ari’s giant yacht in September 1963.

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“The ship will go wherever Mrs. Kennedy wants it to go,” Onassis insisted. “She is the captain.”

7. Jackie’s “guilt feelings” over her Onassis cruise was partly why she agreed to go with JFK on his fatal November 22, 1963 trip to Dallas.

Via NewYorkSocialDiary.com

8. After JFK’s assassination, Onassis stayed as a White House guest with the Kennedys during the funeral.

Via businessinsider.com

Jackie’s sister Lee urged that Onassis be among the few non-family members who paid respects to the widowed First Lady in her private suite.

9. Jackie socialized with several eligible bachelors after JFK’s death.

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Her suitors included Winston Churchill’s son, Randolph, and Lord Harlech, JFK’s old London friend. The world was shocked when Onassis became Jackie’s second husband in 1968.

10. It was important to Jackie that John F. Kennedy Jr. read the books that shaped his father.

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After receiving a collection of Churchill books from Winston’s son Randolph, she encouraged her son to read them. “Winston Churchill and Randolph outlived Jack—but maybe Randolph will be the one to draw John to the books that shaped John’s father,” Jackie said.