Jackie Reconsidered, again: Jacqueline Kennedy and 1960s-era American womanhood

Abstract

Despite her well-documented fame, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy is largely absent from the historiography of modern American womanhood. When addressed, she is often regarded as a figure of style rather than substance. This article reconsiders the potential influence of JBK through investigation of her 1962 White House Restoration and responses of American citizens, popular American media, and international audiences to the televised display of her labor as First Lady. Rather than purely domestic helpmate or decorative adornment to her husband, as was and is often supposed, Kennedy, in her White House restoration, navigated the choppy waters of sometimes competing cultural, historical, and political interests, as an individual in her own right, rather than as a mere extension of President John Kennedy. Blending her public life and her private interests, Kennedy made the historic restoration of her temporary home a project of national import, and in so doing confounded notions that women’s focus should be confined to the private realms of home and family. Evaluation of public response to this presentation contributes to historians’ efforts to challenge notions of the postwar period as one merely of heightened and restrictive domesticity for American women. Appreciation for Kennedy's efforts and celebration of her cultural and historical expertise reveal the widespread acceptance of the model of womanhood she presented. Reconsideration of the influence and appeal of JBK complements recent historiographical contributions regarding the significance of individual women’s actions as part of the bridge between the 1950s and early 1960s and the feminist challenges that emerged as the 1960s concluded.