# Did Jacqueline Kennedy do anything for you? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 24, 2013, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jacqueline-kennedy-do-anything-for-you/674653 "2013-11-24T01:55:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2013, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jacqueline-kennedy-do-anything-for-you/674653/21 "2013-11-24T15:49:09Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > Her eyes were set too far apart. But JFK’s eyes were too close together, so between the two of them, John-John and Caroline turned out okay, in the eye department anyway. Exactly. She’s not an unpleasant looking woman, but I always thought that was an odd feature. All of the Bouvier genes went to John. The Kennedy “look” works for the men, but not for the women, at all. Look at Caroline Schlossberg. [shudder] ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2013, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jacqueline-kennedy-do-anything-for-you/674653/22 "2013-11-24T15:52:53Z")
Man, looking at the First Ladies… that is a tough, tough set of marms. Wow. Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Jackie O win in a landslide, mainly due to the absence of helmet hair. I’ll say this - credit to our former presidents, they were not shallow men. What would be more interesting is a list of First Mistresses… ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2013, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jacqueline-kennedy-do-anything-for-you/674653/23 "2013-11-24T15:57:37Z")
> [@Hippy\_Hollow](#): > > What would be more interesting is a list of First Mistresses… Marilyn Monroe and Jackie Kennedy. I guess it’s good to be king. ---
**Author:** ![DJ\_Motorbike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90ced4/32.png) [@DJ\_Motorbike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DJ_Motorbike)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2013, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jacqueline-kennedy-do-anything-for-you/674653/24 "2013-11-24T16:56:20Z")
> [@Hippy\_Hollow](#): > > Man, looking at the First Ladies… that is a tough, tough set of marms. Wow. Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Jackie O win in a landslide, mainly due to the absence of helmet hair. > > I’ll say this - credit to our former presidents, they were not shallow men. > > What would be more interesting is a list of First Mistresses… If you were to make a ranking of all the first ladies ranking them in order of attractiveness Hillary Clinton would be somewhere halfway up if you considered what she looked like during the time she served as first lady. Michelle perhaps in or near the top ten. Jackie would sit comfortably at number two or possibly three depending on whether you think she’s more attractive than [Edith Roosevelt](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Edith_Roosevelt.jpg). [Emily Donelson](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Emily_Donelson.jpg) who was Andrew Jackson’s niece and served as his first lady was elegant and by far the most beautiful of all. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2013, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jacqueline-kennedy-do-anything-for-you/674653/25 "2013-11-24T17:45:33Z")
I think Rosalyn Carter was attractive, in a down home kind of way. Not a head-turner, but pleasing to look at, with a genuine smile. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2013, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jacqueline-kennedy-do-anything-for-you/674653/26 "2013-11-24T18:25:24Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > At the time, this was certainly a big part of it. All we had seen in the White House previously were the likes of Mamie Eisenhower, Bess Truman and (shudder) Eleanor, who despite her excellent works, was a mutt. Jackie was much younger, slimmer, more intelligent and far prettier than any of those women. For a public that had been exposed to the beasts of the southern wild for the preceding decades, she was welcome relief. The same could be said about Princess Diana. Not a perfect beauty (big head, big nose), but so much younger and more with it than the Queen, Princess Margaret, and Princess Anne. People couldn’t help being dazzled by her golden hair. And another plus for Jackie is that she looked equally good in casual wear, like jeans or shorts and a Ship’n’Shore blouse. I can’t imagine what “casual wear” would have been for Mamie Eisenhower, if she ever even did dress casually. Jackie’s attractiveness was not dependent on being all trussed up. ---
**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2013, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jacqueline-kennedy-do-anything-for-you/674653/27 "2013-11-24T18:43:07Z")
I look back and realize that she was barely out of adolescence! In my teens I had little appreciation for her and I was mortified when she married Onassis. But in later life, widowed again, she seemed to grow into her own and that’s the Jackie I admire. You know that she had to be one tough cookie to survive being a Kennedy wife and to do it with such grace. I also appreciate that she spilled the beans before she left us. Heh. ETA: She also managed to do a good job of raising her children in a difficult environment, I think. ---
**Author:** ![rhubarbarin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eb9ed0/32.png) [@rhubarbarin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhubarbarin)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2013, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jacqueline-kennedy-do-anything-for-you/674653/28 "2013-11-24T19:21:43Z")
I think she’s rather plain facially, though she had the kind of figure that makes most clothes look great. But she had flawless and iconic personal style and was perfectly posed and composed at all times. Maybe that comes off as stiff and fake to some people. But I admire her composure and attention to image and can totally understand why the nation admired her so, and why she is still lauded to this day. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2013, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jacqueline-kennedy-do-anything-for-you/674653/29 "2013-11-24T19:52:30Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > Her eyes were set too far apart. Yes! Even as a kid (13 in '63) I thought she was homely. Her field of vision must have been 286 degrees. > [@Shagnasty](#): > > The thing that really turns me off is her voice. She sounds exactly like a high priced Northeastern escort would sound like circa 1960. That isn’t a good thing in my view. She was a complete airhead based on every interview I have ever heard. Yep. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2013, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jacqueline-kennedy-do-anything-for-you/674653/30 "2013-11-24T20:10:31Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > Yes! Even as a kid (13 in '63) I thought she was homely. Her field of vision must have been 286 degrees. > Yep. If it had been over 300, she could have told us who was on the grassy knoll. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2013, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jacqueline-kennedy-do-anything-for-you/674653/31 "2013-11-24T21:10:15Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > The same could be said about Princess Diana. Not a perfect beauty (big head, big nose), but so much younger and more with it than the Queen, Princess Margaret, and Princess Anne. People couldn’t help being dazzled by her golden hair. Yeah, I never got the adoration for Diana. But as you say, compared to the chinless horse-faced wonders of the aristocracy, she was a goddess. ---
**Author:** ![Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/4bbf92/32.png) [@Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heart_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2013, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jacqueline-kennedy-do-anything-for-you/674653/32 "2013-11-24T21:38:30Z")
> [@DJ\_Motorbike](#): > > Jackie would sit comfortably at number two or possibly three depending on whether you think she’s more attractive than [Edith Roosevelt](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Edith_Roosevelt.jpg). > > [Emily Donelson](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Emily_Donelson.jpg) who was Andrew Jackson’s niece and served as his first lady was elegant and by far the most beautiful of all. I agree that Emily Donelson is beautiful, but what about [Angelica Singleton Van Buren](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Henry_Inman_-_Angelica_Singleton_Van_Buren_%28Mrs._Abraham_Van_Buren%29_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg)? She’s a knockout, and very stylish. [Priscilla Cooper Tyler](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Elizabeth_Priscilla_Cooper_Tyler.jpg), Tyler’s daughter-in-law, is also pretty cute. I’d put both of them in the running for number one. And what about [Frances Cleveland](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Folsom_Cleveland_Preston)? She’s got a really sweet face, if a little plain, and in [this portrait](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Anders_Zorn_-_Mrs_Frances_Cleveland.jpg), she’s almost got a little sexy sum’n-sum’n going on. In my opinion, all of them beat Jackie looks-wise, and Edith Roosevelt, while she has a pleasant face, is not even in the question. I do think Jackie was lovely in her way, though. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2013, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jacqueline-kennedy-do-anything-for-you/674653/33 "2013-11-24T22:22:17Z")
I think Jackie _could_ be beautiful and from the new things I’ve learned about her from all the stories I’ve heard on this 50th anniversary, I have to say, I may have misjudged her. I always thought she was a bit of an airhead, but I think there was more there than met the eye. She refused to change from her blood stained clothes for hours because she wanted “them” to see what they had done. She was really pretty amazing during that whole horrible tragedy. She absolutely epitomized class and grace. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2013, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jacqueline-kennedy-do-anything-for-you/674653/34 "2013-11-24T22:22:20Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > … have you _seen_ pictures of previous [First Ladies](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_First_Ladies_of_the_United_States)? Previous? None of the ones that have followed, up to and including the current one, are very good looking. The best among them could be described as grandmotherly at most generous. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2013, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jacqueline-kennedy-do-anything-for-you/674653/35 "2013-11-24T22:57:06Z")
There are paparazzi shots of her au natural. Easily found with a search. She was well into her forties and looked very nice. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2013, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jacqueline-kennedy-do-anything-for-you/674653/36 "2013-11-24T23:11:49Z")
I read the beginning of this thread, but not every post. This is in response to the OP. When Jackie came on the national scene, the previous first ladies in living memory were grandmotherly types: Mamie Eisenhower, Bess Truman, Eleanor Roosevelt. The first two stayed in the background, the third had a huge impact on the world because of her personality and intelligence. But none of them was beautiful, stylish, or frankly, sexy. Jackie was younger than any of them, slim, stylish in her clothes, hair, and makeup, spoke several languages, came from a society background. She was a complete sea change. Looking back on her impact on fashion and style from today’s vantage point, it’s impossible to convey what that was like (in a short space). Just like it’s impossible to convey the impact of the assassination _on that world at that time_. She charmed one world leader after another from Nehru to De Gaulle to Khrushchev, all powerful, worldly men. To look back and say “she didn’t do a thing for **me** ” when you never saw her in action (as it were) and have no first knowledge of what that world was like is pretty meaningless. The contrast between Jackie and other prominent women is like the contrast between Princess Diana and Queen Elizabeth. But then some of you are too young to remember the impact of Princess Diana on the world of style either. \ ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2013, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jacqueline-kennedy-do-anything-for-you/674653/37 "2013-11-24T23:14:17Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > \ Nice. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2013, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jacqueline-kennedy-do-anything-for-you/674653/38 "2013-11-24T23:44:49Z")
She was a surrogate queen. Because the USA has no royalty, she was the next best thing. she (from accounts) fulfilled that role. Hillary Clinton, not so much.:eek: ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2013, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jacqueline-kennedy-do-anything-for-you/674653/39 "2013-11-25T00:18:58Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > Nice. I agree with this. I was answering the question as asked, not from a stand point of how influential she was. I understand all the concepts listed even if I was too young to appreciate her impact at the time, but regardless, she still never did anything for me _as a beauty_. Regardless, I completely grasp how that works. My main man, Alice, was huge before I was old enough to be a fan, so I’ve only come to see how much the world loathed (and loved) him almost thirty years later, and can’t fault the younger generation for thinking that Marilyn (or whoever) created shock rock. If you weren’t around then, you do the best you can with the information you have now. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2013, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jacqueline-kennedy-do-anything-for-you/674653/40 "2013-11-25T00:27:11Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > …the likes of Mamie Eisenhower Uh, intheir [wedding photo](http://www.history.com/images/media/slideshow/dwight-d-eisenhower/dwight-d-eisenhower-wedding.jpg) she comes off as cute and fun. The young Ike with hair was, even to this jaded straight guy’s eyes, magnificent. > [@Hippy\_Hollow](#): > > What would be more interesting is a list of First Mistresses… Martha Custis was loaded, and probably [cleaned up _real_ good](http://everyfirstlady.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/marthawashington.jpg) in her day, but Sally Fairfax was hot. And married to Geo. Washington’s BFF. And merely rich. Martha won and there wasn’t a breath of scandal _after_ the wedding, much to the disappointment of historians. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jacqueline-kennedy-do-anything-for-you/674653.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jacqueline-kennedy-do-anything-for-you/674653.md?page=3)