Portrait of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

Birthday profile

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, American journalist and socialite, 37th First Lady of the United States (died 1994)

Born
July 28, 1929
Died
May 19, 1994
Zodiac sign
Leo
Birth year
1929

About Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

Jacqueline Lee Kennedy Onassis (née Bouvier; July 28, 1929 – May 19, 1994) was the first lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963, as the wife of John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States. She redefined the previously mostly ceremonial role into a platform for arts and culture by hosting multiple high-profile events at the White House and leading its restoration into being a historical site. Through her fashion and cultural literacy, she improved the global standing of the United States during the politically volatile Cold War. Her personal style became known as the "Jackie Look", which inspired worldwide fashion trends during the 1960s. Born into the upper-class Bouvier family in Southampton, New York, Bouvier studied history and art at Vassar College before graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in French literature from George Washington University in 1951. She then began working for the Washington Times-Herald as an inquiring photographer. The following year, she met then-congressman John Fitzgerald Kennedy of Massachusetts at a dinner party in Washington. He was elected to the Senate that same year, and the couple married on September 12, 1953, in Newport, Rhode Island. They had four children, two of whom died in infancy. Following her husband's election to the presidency in 1960, Kennedy was known for her highly publicized restoration of the White House and emphasis on arts and culture as well as for her style. She also traveled to many countries where her fluency in foreign languages and history made her very popular. At age 33, she was named Time magazine's Woman of the Year in 1962. After her husband's assassination and funeral in 1963, Kennedy and her children largely withdrew from public view. In 1968, she married Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, which caused controversy. Following Onassis's death in 1975, she had a career as a book editor in New York City, first at Viking Press and then at Doubleday, and worked to restore her public image. Even after her death, she ranks as one of the most popular and recognizable first ladies in American history, and in 1999, she was placed on the list of Gallup's Most-Admired Men and Women of the 20th century. She died in 1994 and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery alongside President Kennedy and two of their children, one stillborn and one who died shortly after birth. Surveys of historians conducted periodically by the Siena Research Institute since 1982 have also consistently found Kennedy Onassis to rank among the most highly regarded first ladies. Jacqueline Lee Kennedy Onassis (née Bouvier; July 28, 1929 – May 19, 1994), nicknamed Jackie Kennedy or Jackie O following her second marriage, was the first lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963 as the wife of John F.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis timeline

  1. Jacqueline Lee Kennedy Onassis (née Bouvier; July 28, 1929 – May 19, 1994), nicknamed Jackie Kennedy or Jackie O following her second marriage, was the first lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963 as the wife of John F.
  2. Following her husband's election to the presidency in 1960, Kennedy was known for her highly publicized restoration of the White House and emphasis on arts and culture as well as for her style.
  3. Following Onassis's death in 1975, she had a career as a book editor in New York City, first at Viking Press and then at Doubleday, and worked to restore her public image.

The world when Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis was born

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis was born in 1929. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1929

  • #1 song"Singin' in the Rain"
  • Top movieThe Broadway Melody (first Best Picture winner)
  • Best-selling bookA Farewell to Arms – Ernest Hemingway

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentFirst baseball All-Star Game proposed
  • Top headlineStock market crashes on Black Tuesday
  • Technology milestoneFirst Academy Awards ceremony held
  • Defining fadYo-yos
  • Notable inventionCar radio
  • World population2.10 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderHerbert Hoover
  • Sports championPhiladelphia Athletics (World Series)
  • U.S. population121.8M

1929 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19292026
Gas$0.21$3.45/gal
Average home$6,300$435,000
Average income$3,850$67,500
Movie ticket$0.25$11.95
Postage stamp$0.02$0.73
Population121.8M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Library of Congress, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.