All language subtitles for Hollywood.Icons.S01E04.Jackie.O.Style.And.Scandal.1080p.MY5.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-BTN_track3_[eng]

NARRATOR:
On the 22nd of November, 1963,

Jacqueline Kennedy stepped off
Air Force One in Washington,

wearing a dress soaked
in her husband's blood.

About 10 or 15 minutes ago,

a tragic thing has happened
in the city of Dallas.

Four and a half hours earlier,

President John F Kennedy
had been assassinated.

- REPORTER:
- President Kennedy
has been assassinated.

The President is dead.

And as the bullets hit him,

his bleeding head fell into her lap.

The First Lady flew with her
husband's body back to Washington,

but she refused to change
out of her suit.

She appeared
with JFK's brother Bobby,

and the world looked on in horror.

From that moment,
Mrs Kennedy is cemented

in American minds
and American history

as the tragic figure.

How did she find the strength
to face the world?

And why did she insist on wearing

that blood-spattered outfit
for the cameras?

In this film,
we reveal two sides to her life -

heartbreaking tragedy

and a powerful determination
to survive.

With never-before-seen letters
and brand-new insight,

we uncover the private pain
of America's most famous First Lady.

Her elegance, her beauty,
her style really captivated people.

Beneath the gloss of her public life
lay a world of unbearable grief.

It was incredibly lonely
and heartbreaking.

And in the goldfish bowl
of the White House...

..she hid her husband's
relentless adultery,

using medication to help her cope.

- JACKIE:
- She had two pills,
green one and an orange one,

and she told me to take
the orange one.

It is speed, it's an amphetamine.

She learned to bury her pain
beneath a beautiful veneer...

She was made of steel.

..and emerged
as the ultimate image-maker,

becoming a powerful asset
to the presidency.

She had become a star
equal to his own star power.

An international icon
in her own right,

this is the story
of America's First Lady of tragedy

and queen of survival.

On the 12th of September, 1953,

all of New England high society
gathered in Rhode Island

for the event of the season -

the wedding
of picture-perfect couple

Jacqueline Bouvier
and John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

- REPORTER:
- The wedding
of Senator John F Kennedy

recalls Newport's
one-time social grandeur.

The occasion had caused a stir,

with 3,000 onlookers gathered
to see the newlyweds.

- REPORTER:
- Speaker of the House Martin,

screen celebrity Marion Davies...

and former ambassador
and Mrs Joseph Kennedy,

parents of the groom,
are among the personalities on hand

to make this
the top society wedding of the year.

The entire state was in a tizzy
over this,

as was really the whole country.

So this was an epic wedding.

The sun shining.

The festivities went on
for several days before

as people came in from all over.

The Kennedys - a large
and wealthy political dynasty

from Massachusetts -

were fast becoming
America's most celebrated family.

JFK, known as Jack,

a senator for only ten months,

had ambitions to climb to the
very top of the political ladder.

Their wedding
was a highly orchestrated bid

to boost his career prospects.

It was effectively planned
by their parents,

particularly Joe Kennedy,

who's insistent that this is going
to be a huge, massive social event,

that he's going to wring
every drop of publicity out of it

for his son that he can.

The wedding was more a show wedding
for the Kennedy family

and for Senator Kennedy's
future political ambitions

than it was for the bride and groom.

- REPORTER:
- For the spectators
outside the church,

it's a real storybook wedding.

A radiant bride,
the former Jacqueline Bouvier,

and a handsome groom.

With a pretty wife
and a politically rising star,

the future seems bright for the
junior senator from Massachusetts.

It was a photo opportunity
for a political candidate.

Getting married had not been
on Jack's personal agenda.

He was happy being single
and playing the field,

which is probably an understatement.

He's a bachelor.

At some point, that's going to
become a liability, politically.

He needs to be seen to be
settling down, to be a family man,

if he's going to go further
in politics.

Find a partner, a young woman,
a fellow Catholic,

someone from high society who had
a fine intellect and marry her.

In Jacqueline Bouvier,

it seemed he had found
the perfect match.

She was young, she was beautiful,

she was educated.

She was also very smart and engaging

and could hold a conversation
with anyone.

She comported herself well,

so certainly,
she did tick all of those boxes.

Behind Jackie's smiles,

the wedding turned out to be far
from the happiest day of her life.

She really lost control
of her entire wedding.

She hated the wedding dress
her mother picked for her.

She said it looked like a lampshade,
and it did.

And it wasn't her style at all.

It's this huge sort of confection

of sort of taffeta and chiffon,

and Jackie clearly looked
very uncomfortable in it.

Jackie wanted her
much-loved father by her side.

She thought, "Well, maybe the
one thing I will have control over

"is which person can walk me down
the aisle."

And she wanted her much-beloved
father to have that honour.

But he was not invited
to the reception.

This caused huge tension
between her parents.

He's so upset about it.

He gets terribly drunk

and is physically incapable
of walking her down the aisle.

And Jackie, you know,
has to present herself

as the happy, blushing bride,
even though, you know,

internally, she was devastated
that her father wasn't there.

To understand
how she found herself here,

we need to go back
to Jackie's childhood.

Like the Kennedys,
her own family were affluent.

Her mother, Janet,
was from a very wealthy family.

Her father,
who was known as Black Jack Bouvier,

was a stockbroker.

And they lived, you know,

a very, um...
high-class, highbrow lifestyle.

Jackie's early years
were very much privileged years.

And, you know, with big homes
and staff, and so forth,

access to riding horses.

She was quite a bookish young girl.

She went to the finest schools
for her earliest education.

So in that sense,
she was living an idyllic childhood.

Jackie loved her charismatic father.

So, her father is this
larger-than-life character,

and he's besotted with
his daughters, with Jackie and Lee,

and they adore him.

He looked like a movie star.

He always had a perpetual tan.

He had a Clark Gable moustache,

and Jackie just thought
he hung the moon in the stars.

Jackie's family life
was very perfect on the surface,

but underneath that,
there was unhappiness.

- REPORTER:
- It happened on Wall Street in 1929,

and before it was done,
the whole world was to feel

the impact of the suffering
and privation

brought on by the blind and futile
panic of the stock market crash

that shattered the economy
of the world.

Unlike the Kennedys,

her family's fortunes plummeted
after the Wall Street crash,

leaving Jackie with
a lifelong anxiety about money.

She did see
her family's fortune evaporate,

and her father, you know,
sort of attempting to come back

from financial ruin.

It left an indelible mark on her.

Her parents' marriage
began to collapse.

Jack Bouvier cheated
on Janet constantly.

He was kind of a man-about-town,
a philanderer.

The stock market crash
had made him a much poorer man.

He drank quite a bit.
He was an alcoholic.

All of these things combined
made Janet very unhappy.

At the time, there were plenty of
unhappy marriages, I have no doubt.

But to actually go
for a divorce is very bold.

Their very public split
made the headlines,

leaving Jackie humiliated.

It had to be quite embarrassing
not only to know that,

in her eyes, her heroic father
had these terrible flaws

of alcoholism and being a womaniser.

But then, knowing that her mother
did have to divorce him.

It was a real social scandal.

It impacted her deeply,
impacted her emotionally.

Something at such a vulnerable age
is fundamental as that

shatters the entire worldview.

Suddenly, you realise
the world was not as it seemed.

There are snakes in the grass.

Jackie acquired survival skills
that she would rely on

for the rest of her life.

It changed her personality,

and now she became an introvert

as a coping mechanism.

It was very painful, very difficult.

She developed that kind
of glacial exterior.

She can be in a crowd,

but she's also slightly apart
from it.

She learned ways to protect herself
emotionally from public attention,

even at that early age.

This came in useful
at her own wedding.

In the newsreels,

it all looks a bit stilted
for Jackie.

She does smile on occasion
for the camera,

but it looks a bit forced,

and she just looks like
this is someone who is not the bride

at her own wedding.

It gave Jackie a foretaste
of what lay ahead -

a life of putting on a brave public
face to hide private pain.

Perhaps it's kind of dawning
on her at this point,

of what she's marrying into -

this huge family
with very clear agenda.

Like the British royal family,

the Kennedys, as American royalty,

are like a family business
or a firm.

What she's thinking is,
"I haven't just married a man.

"I've married a machine."

The Kennedys were a machine.

Huge, ruthless, rich machine

for the achievement
and sustenance of power.

And she must have felt
terribly vulnerable

that she joined a clan,

and she probably felt her
individuality was draining away.

Jackie had married
her Prince Charming

and been thrust onto the stage.

She was going to have
to play the role

that they were creating for her

in that family business,
which was politics,

and which was pointing towards
the White House.

She was going to need
all her strength to survive.

And as shocking revelations
will uncover,

this marriage would be far
from happy ever after.

If it was syphilis,
it affects your fertility.

And if he had passed it
on to Jackie,

it would affect
her fertility as well.

NARRATOR: At the age of 24,

Jacqueline Bouvier had married
Senator Jack Kennedy,

joining a powerful dynasty.

She was now a political wife.

Her role -
to support her high-profile husband.

This wasn't the life
she had dreamed of.

In 1947, she graduated
at the top of her class.

In her yearbook, there's a glimpse
of the future she wanted,

and her ambition, she writes,
"not to be a housewife".

It's such a telling quote
from her yearbook.

Jackie was very smart,
and she was independent.

I think that's very radical
for the 1940s.

And, of course, what is the
alternative to being a housewife?

It's having a career.

To achieve this aim,
Jackie went to college

and spent a year in France
before graduating.

Her first job was as a journalist.

She's working as a kind
of a Lois Lane-type girl reporter

for Washington newspapers,

so she's really enjoying herself.

She's part of Washington's society.

It's all going great, and you think,
"That's it! Go, Jackie."

She loved it.

I think she saw that there could
be a future for her as a journalist.

It allowed her to both be
creative and inquisitive.

Jackie Kennedy never wrote a memoir,

and her private letters
remain under lock and key.

But a private collector
has given us exclusive access

to a previously unseen letter
written by Jackie

in the early '50s to a friend.

"I run around all day
taking pictures

"and asking people questions,

"and am in love
with the newspaper world.

"It has opened up
so many new sides of Washington."

In it, Jackie revealed her ambition
and her passion for her career,

but pressure was mounting on her
to follow a more conventional path.

There's still always that sense

that, ultimately,
what she should do is,

is marry and have a family.

In 1952, Jackie got engaged

to a young stockbroker
called John Husted,

who seemed to fit the bill.

And I think that it was in part
due to social pressure.

I think she quickly realised
that Husted was boring,

and she envisioned a rather sad
and quiet life with him.

As she explained
in the same letter,

three months later,
Jackie called it off.

"Things have been
rather confused here.

"I was engaged to John Huston,

"and now I'm not any more.

"It wasn't a very happy time
for a while,

"but now I know
it was the right thing to break it.

"If it hadn't affected
another person,

"I'd say it was good
that it had to happen.

"It made me grow up,
and I needed to do that."

In May 1952,
she went to a dinner party

that would change her life.

She met Jack Kennedy.

John F Kennedy, he's a war hero.

He's got these dashing good looks.

His father is,
by today's standards, a billionaire,

and he's also a celebrated author.

So this is a very appealing prospect
for any young woman.

Jack bore striking similarities
to Jackie's major male influence

and offered the possibility
of a life less ordinary.

Just like her own father,
he was charming,

knew how to have a good time,

a massive philanderer.

She looks at him
and sees ambition and drive,

but also a kind of exit route.

She wanted an interesting life.

She wanted more.

And that's what she found
in John F Kennedy.

They began dating,

and in May 1953,

Jack proposed to Jackie.

She accepted,
but there was a price to pay.

Once she did get engaged,
she had to quit her job

the very next day at the paper.

And, you know, I think
that was a sign of the times.

You know, you can't really be
engaged and about to be married

and hold down a job.

A year later, the couple,

now married
and just back from their honeymoon,

were interviewed on the TV programme
Person To Person.

You used to be a reporter,
didn't you?

Yes, I did.

And, uh, you first met the senator
when you interviewed him?

Well, I met... I interviewed him
shortly after I met him.

Well, now, which requires
the most diplomacy -

to interview senators
or to be married to one?

Um...

- Well, I think...
- Being married to one, I guess.

Jackie's cautious manner revealed

how unused she was
to being in the public eye.

She had other,
more painful lessons to learn.

Jack wasn't ready to give up
his bachelor lifestyle.

I don't think Jack Kennedy
ever wanted to settle down,

and in many ways,
I don't think he did.

He went through the formalities
of settling down,

but I don't think he ever ended
his Playboy streak.

She had seen her mom put up
with so much.

Women of that class, at that time,
were expected to put up with

a certain amount of cheating
and infidelity.

As the wife of political royalty,

Jackie was under pressure
to produce a Kennedy baby.

Jack always wanted
to have a big family.

His brother Bobby
and his wife, Ethel,

already had many children
by that point.

I think they were on
their seventh or eighth child.

I mean,
a huge Irish Catholic family.

That's what you did
as a Kennedy wife.

You had lots of children.

It was a way of creating
more Kennedys,

more people to carry on the torch.

The Kennedys saw themselves
in a royal light.

And, of course, the woman,
the queen, Jackie,

has to produce the son and heir.

The path
to meeting those expectations

would be filled with tragedy.

In 1956, a pregnant Jackie
accompanied her husband

to the Democratic Convention
in Chicago.

There's concern on her part

that because
she has already lost one child

to a miscarriage, the year before,

that she does need to be careful.

So she would be, you know,
risking her health

and very hot conditions with lots
of crowds of people around her.

After the convention,
Jack went on holiday with friends.

He takes off for a cruise
around the Mediterranean.

Jackie goes back to Rhode Island
to be with her mother and stepfather

as she awaits the arrival
of her baby.

In Jack's absence,
she suffered a tragic loss.

She goes into a premature labour,
and she's rushed to the hospital.

The baby, a girl, is born,
but it's a stillbirth.

Jack didn't come home.

There is Jack sailing
around the Mediterranean

with some of his Senate cronies,

presumably calling on women
in every port,

until reportedly
one of his Senate colleagues says,

"Jack, if you want to preserve
your political career,

"you need to get back to the States
and be with Jackie."

I think even at that time,

what man would refuse
to get the first plane he could

out of Europe
to get back to Rhode Island,

to be with his wife?

It was an act of betrayal that
must have been hard to forgive.

I think it was
a very lonely period in her life.

I mean, she was expected to always
take a back seat to her husband,

and her needs were always secondary.

Jackie had problems conceiving
and carrying pregnancies to term.

Analysis of her husband's
medical records reveal clues

to a disturbing possible cause.

There's a lot of speculation

that this is because of JFK's
own sexual behaviour,

that he had either herpes,
or syphilis, or gonorrhoea.

If it was syphilis,
it affects your fertility.

And if he had passed it on
to Jackie,

it would affect her fertility
as well.

If indeed that theory is accurate,

that that could have led to her
difficulty in becoming pregnant

and getting through pregnancy
successfully,

that is all
the more heartbreaking,

because that is something that he
could have stopped, but he didn't.

In June 1956, having survived
baby loss and betrayal,

Jackie was interviewed
on television again,

seemingly every inch
the happy, dutiful wife.

Where did you go on your honeymoon?

We went to Acapulco, Mexico.

Do any fishing?

Yes. My husband caught
a ten-foot sailfish,

which he has in his office.

But in these startling outtakes,
her true feelings are revealed.

Someone asks her, you know,
if she's very much in love with him.

Pretty much in love with him,
aren't you?

Oh, no, I said no, didn't I?

Yes, you did.
Do you want to do it again?

She kind of pauses and doesn't
really answer the question,

and it's at the height
of how difficult their marriage was.

I think that there were times
in the marriage

that she did love her husband,

and I think...
maybe I'm just romantic,

but I think he loved her
and was proud of her.

But he had a lifestyle

that followed his father's
of womanising,

and he just couldn't break himself
of that habit.

The following year,
after two years of heartbreak,

a healthy baby arrived.

- REPORTER:
- In November, 1957,

a daughter, Caroline,
was born to the John F Kennedys.

Bobby and his wife, Ethel,
were the godparents.

They were both just over the moon.

And so, one-year-old Caroline

made her debut on television
with her mother,

on television campaign spots.

- REPORTER:
- The Kennedys basked
in the warmth of new parenthood.

Two years later, JFK was picked as
the Democratic nominee for president

and the election campaigning began.

# Kennedy, Kennedy, Kennedy, Kennedy

- # Kennedy, Kennedy, Kennedy
- Kennedy! #

As the campaign gathered momentum,

Jackie would soon
have to take a back seat.

She becomes pregnant
with John Kennedy Jr,

in the midst of that campaign,

and has to stop
most of her appearances.

In a TV interview from 1960,

Jackie was challenged about
her decision to stop campaigning.

Did it seem strange not
to be campaigning with her husband?

Oh, yes.

I missed very much campaigning
with my husband

in this major endeavour of his life.

I would be
if I wasn't expecting a baby.

Her husband's aides
had doubts about Jackie,

fearing her shyness would damage
his presidential chances.

Unlike a lot of political wives
who really kind of threw themselves

into that side of their husbands
political career,

she was a bit more reticent.

On camera, she played the part
of the devoted political wife.

All politicians wives
say they love campaigning.

Does Mrs Kennedy really love it?

Will I tell you why you do love it?

Granted the exhaustion is there,

but you're with your husband
in the major endeavour you share.

But I've campaigned with him
ever since we were married in 1953.

I counted.
I've been in 46 states with him.

In this revealing 1960 interview,

days after the nomination,

Jackie shows her true feelings
about life in the spotlight.

I understand that, at one time,

you were a roving photographer
in Washington, is that right?

That's right.

Do you, uh, do you, uh...
Does all of this bother you at all?

I'd rather be on that end of it
than this, I think.

Do you expect to meet the Senator
at the airport Sunday night?

I'd like to.

Depends how many of you
will be there.

LAUGHTER

Her shy charm won over the press,
but JFK's team were not convinced.

Kennedy's political advisers
did at times feel

that she was been a liability.

She wasn't seen
as particularly accessible

to the average American woman.

You know, she has this fancy hairdo.

She wears
these very couture clothes.

She speaks all these languages.

She wasn't seen
as entirely relatable.

Jackie revealed
how she was perceived

and how ashamed it made her feel

in a 1964 interview
with historian Arthur Schlesinger.

The advisors were wrong.

She was anything but a dud.

Despite her critics,
Jackie summoned the strength

to continue making
public appearances with Jack,

and the crowds were captivated.

She had impeccable manners,

and she could really speak
to anyone.

And so, she had this innate charm
that won everyone over.

The campaign team realised that
Jackie was this huge asset to them.

Whenever she appears,
the crowds are twice as big.

She didn't have to say
or do anything.

She was the model
of the political wife

that we now absolutely take
for granted:

stylish, intelligent, diplomatic,

an asset to the husband.

Far from a liability,

it was now clear Jackie
was Jack's trump card.

Just before
the presidential election,

she agreed to a final pitch
for the campaign.

Very visibly pregnant,
Jacqueline Kennedy took the risk

of riding through the canyons
of Manhattan,

with the big buildings
on either side,

and lots of confetti coming down
on them in an open convertible,

with crowds pressing around,

and that was the final push
towards election day.

Jackie's popularity was set to soar,

far outstripping
even the Kennedys expectations.

In the goldfish bowl
of the White House, however,

she would find herself
taking drastic measures to survive.

It is speed, it's an amphetamine,

and Jackie took it.

NARRATOR: January 19th, 1961,

the Kennedys are on their way
to a star-studded gala

to celebrate
Jack's election victory.

The following day,
he will become the 35th president

of the United States.

Snow is falling heavily,

but it gives it
this aethereal effect.

They're making their way
through the snow-clogged streets.

All eyes are on Jackie.

On the way to the gala,
he actually said to the driver,

"Turn on the lights
so they can see Jackie."

People who are braving the cold
and the snow,

Jack Kennedy wants them to see
Jackie Kennedy in all of her beauty.

The Kennedys ushered in a new era
of American politics,

defined by youth, glamour
and a sense of hope.

- REPORTER:
- After a brief rest,
President Kennedy and the First Lady

venture from the White House

to attend a round of no less
than five gala inaugural balls.

You have this youthful couple
entering the White House.

He's incredibly handsome
and dashing,

and she's beautiful and elegant.

They were like a breath
of fresh air in the White House.

- REPORTER:
- A new era begins

under the leadership
of President John F Kennedy.

He had a vision about the future

where racial barriers
would be overcome,

which had haunted America
from the very beginning.

I think for my family,
an African-American family,

the Kennedys were a possibility
of doing something different

and being something different.

Behind the glitz
of the inaugural celebrations,

Jackie was struggling to cope.

Jackie Kennedy had had a baby
less than two months previously.

She'd had a Caesarean.

You don't recover quickly from that.

And yet, less than two months later,

she was expected to participate
in this just whirlwind of events.

The following night,

Jackie was due to attend
another ball

but found herself exhausted.

She recalls how she asked for help.

The White House doctor
offered Jackie something

to help her get through
the evening's event.

She felt that she had to do
whatever was necessary

to kind of smile by his side.

It is speed, it's an amphetamine,
and Jackie took it.

She said she'd never taken
that kind of medication before,

but it did its work.

Just like in a fairy tale,
the magic didn't last forever.

He went on to multiple parties
that night

where he engaged with lots of women.

But by that time,
Mrs Kennedy was back

and presumably sound asleep
in the White House, her new home.

Jackie wasn't alone
in relying on medication to cope.

There was a kind
of prescription-drug culture,

and particularly around
uppers and downers.

Celebrities, politicians

were being prescribed medications,

quite often to enable them to...

you know, do their jobs better
as they... as they saw it.

She did take them to some extent
to get through her duties,

I think, especially in those
earliest months in the White House.

In a 1964 interview,

Jackie described the strain
of her early months as First Lady.

Jack would often send Jackie
on breaks away from the White House,

which gave him the freedom
to continue his favourite pastime.

President Kennedy apparently could
not stop himself from womanising.

It appears to have been
some kind of obsession.

President Kennedy once told
Prime Minister Harold Macmillan

that he had to engage in
sexual relations every three days,

or he would have a headache.

But it was such a widespread,
well-known thing

that staff who work in the residence

knew not to go up
to the second floor,

which is where their bedrooms were,
when Jackie was out of town.

Much of her energy was spent on
covering up her husband's adultery,

a subject
she never spoke about publicly.

But one devastating aside
reveals she was fully aware.

At one point, when
a visiting dignitary from France

comes to the White House,
and she's showing her around,

and there are these two perky young
secretaries in Kennedy's office,

she turns to this dignitary
and says in French,

"Oh, and that woman over there,
she's sleeping with my husband."

He supposedly had an affair
with an intern,

a college intern who was working
in the press office.

He apparently had
a long-standing affair

with Mrs Kennedy's press secretary.

Jack's conquests were not limited
to White House staff.

Most humiliating for Jackie

were the rumours of his affair
with Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe.

It seemed Jackie was powerless
to stop her husband's philandering.

Jackie had to think that...

how unfair this was,

that she was offering him
everything,

and he could not do her the honour
of obeying the marriage vows.

So what she did was exert control
over the areas where she could.

Determined to keep
her head held high.

within days of the election victory,

Jackie started an ambitious project

that she had imagined
many years earlier.

So, Jackie Kennedy had
a really keen interest in the arts,

and she decides that
her main project as First Lady,

that she's going to try
to restore the White House

in a sympathetic way that actually
brings American history to the fore.

As a young girl, Jackie Bouvier
had visited her future home.

Years later, she recalled
her impressions in a TV interview.

Well, if I may say so,
without disrespect,

every time I've been
in the White House,

it's always seemed to be
a rather cold and austere place.

I remember the first time
I came here as a child feeling that.

I was 11 years old,

and my mother brought me here
on Easter vacation,

and I felt very much what you say.

So I do try to make it warmer now,

when I think
of all the schoolchildren

who come through here.

She was really struck by how
sort of dark and dingy it felt.

It didn't feel like
a welcoming place.

It didn't feel like somewhere
really befitting of the presidency.

It made her, in other words,
probably think of a few ideas

about how she could run that place.

This was not about changing
the colours of the drapes

or redecorating.

It was really about instilling
pride in the White House

and making America understand
that this was their home, too.

Jackie renovated the private
quarters to accommodate her family.

However, her restoration
of the White House furniture

was way ahead of its time.

This whole business of preservation,
this was brand-new.

No-one preserved anything
in America.

What Jackie had discovered is that,
you know,

presidents would sell the furniture
of the previous administration.

So what was left in the White House

was this kind of hodgepodge
of styles and eras.

One of the first treasures
that Jackie restored

was a gift from Queen Victoria
to the US - the Resolute Desk,

placed in the Oval Office,
where it remains today.

In February 1962,
after two years of work,

the public were invited in
by Jackie herself...

- REPORTER:
- This is the White House
as seen from its South Lawn.

For the next hour,
Mrs John F Kennedy invites you

to visit the President's house

and see some of the restorations
she's made in its interior.

..presenting pieces of furniture
and works of art,

offering a rare glimpse
inside the famous building.

Jackie opened up the White House
for the first time to everyone

in the world, really.

And she was putting on
a performance.

Mrs Kennedy, I want to thank you

for letting us visit
your official home.

What's your basic plan?

Well, I really don't have one,

because I think this house
will always grow and should.

It just seemed to me such a shame
when we came here

to find hardly anything of the past
in the house.

For the introverted First Lady,
this didn't come naturally.

Could we see a completed room?

Yes. The Diplomatic Reception Room
is right here,

if you'd like to see that.

She was quite nervous,
as anyone would be,

marching through the White House
without a teleprompter.

When she would go off camera,

she would go back
to her habit of smoking,

which is what kept her calm.

Despite her nerves,
Jackie's tour was an enormous hit.

It was one of the first
prime-time specials

that was really aimed
at a female audience,

and that audience tuned in.

It was hugely successful.

It was completely revolutionary
at the time.

56 million people
tuned in to watch it.

That's how significant it was.

The TV tour had shown the nation
that Jackie was a trailblazer,

but despite her success,

the opinion she cared most about
was Jack's.

In a 1964 interview,

Jackie described his reaction
to the broadcast.

I think that's like an incredibly
sad statement to make, right?

The fact
that she would have to perform

to get her husband
to be proud of her.

This says quite a bit,

but he saw the footage
and was just blown away by it.

I think in some ways,
it was about him understanding

and appreciating the fact
that she was so smart.

He realised that she had become
a star equal to his own star power.

And Jackie had another skill
that she would use to make her mark.

She would become queen of style,

an international icon of good taste.

The crowds in France
are chanting her name.

The French newspapers are obsessing
over what outfit she's wearing.

I think that they all knew
that she was a secret weapon.

NARRATOR: Despite the pressures
of life in the White House,

tragic baby losses,
and an adulterous husband,

Jackie Kennedy had held her own
and become hugely popular.

And before she knew it, she was
America's number one fashion icon.

There was no place you could go
in America

where you wouldn't see somebody
with Jackie Kennedy's style.

She had been brought up to dress
perfectly for every occasion.

Their mother, in particular, was
quite strict about their appearance

and strict about their behaviour.

Aged 21, she had travelled
to Europe with her sister Lee.

They wrote a tongue-in-cheek diary
for their parents,

promising that they'll stick
to the rules.

"We do sew on all our buttons
and wear gloves,

"and never go out in big cities

"except in what we would wear
to church in Newport on Sundays."

Next to the text, Jackie and Lee
have stuck a photo of themselves

in clothes that would have raised
more than a few eyebrows back home.

In the photo,
Lee's actually wearing shorts

and Jackie's wearing
cigarette pants.

We can see from an early age,

Jackie has an interest
in sort of pushing the boundaries

of what's acceptable
through what she's wearing.

Now that she was First Lady,
Jackie continued to break the rules,

using fashion to express
an image of modernity.

Jackie's First Lady style
can really be summarised, I think,

as elegant, chic simplicity.

There was a broad, wealthy middle
class in the States at that point,

so people would respond really well
to somebody bringing fashion

to the White House
and something fresh and exciting

and something
that you could do to aspire to.

Her unique way
of dressing was revolutionary,

and she became a much-copied
style icon the world over.

There was something to do with
the youth of the Kennedy family,

and it became incredibly desirable
to dress like her.

Her pillbox hat,
her hair and her suits,

she just had a vast, vast influence
on the world.

Jackie's style appealed
to every generation.

Little girls could buy paper dolls.

They could cut out
sleeveless shift dresses

and put them on to Jackie dolls.

I had those,

and you put on the clothes,
which was with French couture.

You cut them out,
you put on the different dresses

and little things
that she had on in her hats.

I wasn't fortunate enough
to have the Jackie Paper Doll set,

but one of my girlfriends did it,
and I was quite jealous.

I bet you adult women
were playing with those, too.

I'm sure my mother
would have liked to have it.

Jackie's global appeal became clear

on the couple's first official trip
to France in 1961.

- REPORTER:
- Jackie, educated at the Sorbonne

and fluent in French,

accompanied her husband
on this important venture

into international diplomacy.

During the three-day state visit,

Jackie charmed all levels
of French society

from the public that turned out to
greet her to the President himself.

The crowds in France
are chanting her name,

the French newspapers are obsessing
over what outfit she's wearing.

Meeting the French,
speaking fluently in French,

which clasped her to the bosom
of France,

there was
a deep anti-American prejudice.

Jackie kind of melted all of that.

She speaks to de Gaulle in French,
and she knows French history.

Not only does she know
French history,

she's worshipped de Gaulle
since she was a little girl,

because she thought
he was so wonderful in the,

you know,
leading the French Resistance.

Over lunch, de Gaulle made clear
that the admiration was mutual.

Jackie was using her clothing
as a powerful political tool.

Jackie really shows
how fashion literate she is.

She wears this incredible white gown

with these embroidered flowers
by the French designer Givenchy.

So she's really sort of giving
this gesture to the host nation:

"I appreciate your culture."

That's the message
that she's sending all.

- REPORTER:
- All Paris, by the way,
was talking about

the charm and elegance
of Mr Kennedy's wife, Jackie.

Jack basked in her success.

You can see in footage,
he has fun with it.

I think that he truly enjoyed
watching her

really blossom in this role.

Jackie went on to charm
dozens of leaders across the globe,

strengthening
international relations

and winning admirers
wherever she went.

En la mente humana vive Mexico.

She represented a different kind
of American power.

She represented the essence
of what today we call soft power.

She was able to connect with
audiences in different countries

in ways that maybe other
First Ladies hadn't done previously,

and in ways that John F Kennedy
wasn't necessarily able to do.

Jackie Kennedy was a huge asset.

The last stop
on the European tour was London,

where the couple were invited
to a dinner at Buckingham Palace.

This visit was dramatised
in television series The Crown.

Jane Petrie is the costume designer
who created Jackie's clothes.

The opportunity to kind of bring
a wardrobe to life

that you've liked
all of your own life is...

it was just too exciting.
It's going to be fantastic.

In the story,
the Kennedy visit coincides

with the Queen feeling insecure.

The most glamorous
and intelligent woman on Earth, hm.

DOOR CLOSES

So they say.

And now she's coming to London.

So the Kennedys, in our story,

represent the forward propulsion
of the outside world.

The Palace was stuck.

And, you know,
Elizabeth's trapped inside,

and things aren't going very well,
you know, politically.

But the Kennedys came in
as this breath of fresh air,

bringing Paris fashion, bringing
the sort of modernity of America,

you know, it was, you know,
incredible.

The Crown is a fictionalised account
of the event,

so Jane is given
some creative freedom.

Queen Elizabeth's dress
was based very closely

on the real outfit
she wore to meet the Kennedys.

Jackie's dress involved researching
her story and her style.

So, I really got to know
Jackie's wardrobe really well.

I wanted to see that she was braver
and she was more modern,

and she... and she was exciting.

Your Majesty.

- No curtsy.
- No curtsy.

Mrs Kennedy.

The final outfit was based
on the real dress Jackie wore,

but with a few creative tweaks.

'We changed the neckline.
We made it strapless.'

And I thought that taking the straps

and having her strapless

made a better contrast
for our story.

'This is dowdy and old-fashioned
and a bit stuck.'

And this is really fresh,
and she was the future.

Less than two years
into her role as First Lady,

Jackie was now
an international star.

But tragedy was never far away.

In 1963, Jackie was eight months
pregnant when she went into labour.

The baby boy they named Patrick
died two days later.

The death had a devastating impact

on both the President
and the First Lady.

They bonded
over that common tragedy.

When they emerge from the hospital,
they're holding hands,

which they rarely did in public.

Despite Jack's support,
Jackie was overcome with grief,

finding the public interest
in her loss unbearable.

To help her recuperate
and to escape the press,

her sister Lee invited her
on a cruise

with Greek shipping tycoon
Aristotle Onassis.

He had the yacht, he had the power.

You had the protection
from prying eyes.

With her husband's agreement,

Jackie flew to Greece.

The trip did not go down well
back home.

Kennedy clan were very hostile.

Congress were hostile.

They criticised her because,
you know, "You just had a child die.

"What are you doing going
on a cruise in the Mediterranean?"

Jackie's holiday with Onassis
had caused a storm

of negative publicity
for the President.

To make amends, she agreed to
give the public what they wanted

and appear with him in Texas

as he kicked off
his re-election campaign.

Jack had a clear view on what Jackie
should wear for the Texas trip.

The night before, he had told her,

you know,
"They've come to see you, not me."

She had asked him, "Should I wear
this suit or this dress?"

And he said, "Wear the suit.

"I want you to teach

"those Texas millionaire housewives
how to dress."

In Fort Worth, they were guests
at a breakfast event

where Jackie, not Jack,
was the centre of attention.

- REPORTER:
- Now is an event
that I know all of you

have been waiting for.

Everybody wanted to see her,
so in she walks

in her stunning
raspberry-coloured suit

and her raspberry pillbox hat...

- REPORTER:
- As you can tell
from the reaction,

that's Mrs Kennedy coming in.

..and marches up to the dais,

and the President is standing
and applauding her,

and there's just great pride
in his face.

And it's very poignant,
the suit that Jackie was wearing

would come to be so tragically
symbolic and iconic of that day.

Two years ago, I said that...
introduced myself in Paris

by saying that I was the man who had
accompanied Mrs Kennedy to Paris.

I'm getting that, somewhat,
that same sensation

as I travel around Texas.

And then, typical of his sharp wit,
he added...

Nobody wonders
what Lyndon and I wear.

LAUGHTER

Jackie's outfit had done the job.

The Texans were impressed,
but by the end of the day,

that pink suit would become seared
on the world's consciousness

in an image of shocking tragedy.

- REPORTER:
- And here is the President
of the United States,

and the crowd
is absolutely going wild.

GUNSHOT

NARRATOR: November 22nd, 1963,

President John F Kennedy
and his wife, Jackie,

America's first couple,

are making a public appearance
in Texas.

- REPORTER:
- Friday Morning, 11:37,

the President's jet lands
at the Dallas Airport.

Several enthusiastic Texans
are on hand

to give the President
and Mrs Kennedy a warm welcome.

In Dallas, they set off
in an open-topped motorcade.

- REPORTER:
- And here is the President
of the United States,

and the crowd
is absolutely going wild.

Jackie never spoke in public about
her experience of that day in Texas.

However,
these words are the testimony

she gave to the congressional
investigation in 1964.

- MAN:
- The President's car
is now turning onto Elm Street,

and it will be only a matter
of minutes

before he arrives at the Trade Mart.

To shield her eyes,
Jackie put on her sunglasses,

prompting Jack to speak what
would be his last words to his wife.

The President asked her
to take them off

because he wanted people
not only to see her face,

but to look into her eyes.

GUNSHOT

Moments later, shots were fired.

GUNSHOTS

- REPORTER:
- It appears
as though something has happened

in the motorcade route.

Something, I repeat,
has happened in the motorcade route.

The President
was hit in the upper back,

and then in the head.

Several police officers are rushing
up the hill at this time.

Stand by. Just a moment, please.

One moment, you're talking
and enjoying the experience,

and the next minute, shots rang out.

GUNSHOT

People have said that, you know,

she was trying to collect
bits of his brain, you know,

that it was...
I mean, it's very, very gory.

I was at school
and was called out of school

and told... and told to go home.

Here is a bulletin from CBS News.

There has been an attempt,
as perhaps you know now,

on the life of President Kennedy.

I just remember sitting
in front of the TV just shocked.

And it was Walter Cronkite.

From Dallas, Texas,
the flash apparently official.

President Kennedy died at 1pm

Central Standard Time.

Took his glasses off,
and he looked at the clock,

big wall clock behind him,

I guess to note the time
that he said that.

And my mother was crying,
and we just didn't know what to say.

I mean, it was just so...

It wasn't anything
that was graspable.

I couldn't make any sense out of it.

- REPORTER:
- There's only one word
to describe the picture here,

and that's grief.

So, we get this fairy-tale president
and his fairy-tale wife,

and his little blonde
little girl and this little baby,

and it's all part of the package.

That's America. It's wonderful.

And then his head is blown off.

Jackie's all covered in blood,

and you're like,
"Oh, it's all over."

I mean, literally, it's all over.

The President's body was carried
back to Washington on Air Force One.

On board, Jackie,
still soaked in blood,

was offered a clean outfit.

Her face and her hair are covered
in blood and brain tissue.

And so, Mrs Johnson,
now the new First Lady,

uh, very sweetly asks if Mrs Kennedy
would like to change her clothing

because the skirt
is covered in blood.

And what she does is, obviously,
clean her face and her hair

to present herself.

But she refused
to change her clothes.

Showing unwavering strength,
she stood by the new president,

Lyndon B Johnson,
as he was sworn in.

The shock of the horrible situation,
the horror,

the trauma is visible on her face.

On arrival in Washington,

Jackie stepped off the plane
with JFK's brother Bobby,

to face a silent crowd
of 3,000 onlookers,

and an indelible image
of tragedy was created.

And I can remember
as a seven-year-old that night,

watching that scene live on the
family's black-and-white television,

and the fact that we gasped
when we saw her for the first time

in that blood-stained suit.

She wanted the American people

to see what had happened
to her husband.

She wanted that that visual image
to be seared into people's minds.

The fact that she continued
to wear the dress

shows a really steely resolve

and an understanding
of the power of images.

It's really quite apt for Jackie,

someone who knew
the power of clothes,

that the clothing itself should be
the bearer of this physical trauma.

In the immediate aftermath
of this unimaginable tragedy,

Jackie's mind was already turning

to how her husband
should be remembered,

inspired by another American icon,
Abraham Lincoln.

I talked to a curator
who was at the White House,

and she had called him
from the plane

and she said, "I want his funeral
to be exactly like Lincoln's."

Specifically, because, you know,
this is a great American president

who was felled
by an assassin's bullet.

Three days
after JFK's assassination,

200 foreign dignitaries

and over a million members
of the public

came to pay their respects

at a funeral choreographed
down to the last detail by Jackie.

She already was familiar
with the Lincoln funeral

and how the White House
had been decorated for it,

with big swags of black cloth
over the doorways,

through the chandeliers.

Her skill as an image-maker
had reached new heights.

It is absolutely another example of
her stage-crafting the presidency,

and she was focussed on details.

She wanted to make sure that this
was an important historic moment.

With crowds lining the route,

the carriage brought
the flag-draped coffin

to the White House,
led by a military band,

and followed
by a symbolic, riderless horse

and projecting the ultimate image
of survival in their midst,

walked Jackie.

And it was extremely risky,
because, of course,

the Secret Service don't want her

and every major head of state
walking down the street,

but she put her foot down
and she absolutely demanded it.

- REPORTER:
- Mrs Kennedy
comes forward with Caroline

in a tableau that calls
for no words.

Its poignancy calls only for tears.

She's taking ownership
of the entire event.

She's saying,
"You have not destroyed me."

In the months after the funeral,
Jackie retreated from public life.

However,
she made one final statement.

I want to take this opportunity
to express my appreciation

for the hundreds of thousands
of messages,

nearly 800,000 in all,

which my children and I have
received over the past few weeks.

So many letters of condolence,
and regret, and love

were sent to the White House to her,

and she tried to answer them.

And I think she finally realised
that there was no way

she could answer all those letters.

The knowledge of the affection

in which my husband was held
by all of you has sustained me,

and the warmth of these tributes
is something I shall never forget.

She doesn't have tears run
down her face,

but you can see the tears
coming into her eyes

as she looks to the camera

to speak to the American people
and thank them.

Deep in grief, Jackie moved back
to New York City with her children.

She turned to JFK's brother
Bobby Kennedy for support.

They're very, very close.

He looks after her.

He guides her.

He becomes a surrogate father
to her children.

He is the great link
with the Kennedy clan.

Unbeknown to Jackie,
another terrifying tragedy

was about to shatter her world
again.

- GUNSHOT
MAN:
- Ladies and gentlemen,

we have a doctor now.
Will you please clear the room?

NARRATOR: In the months
following her husband's murder,

Jackie Kennedy
was consumed by grief.

She really did break down.

I mean, she drank a lot.

She was incredibly depressed.

She was counselled by a priest.

She talked about killing herself.

She was clearly exhibiting the signs
of what we would now call PTSD,

post-traumatic stress disorder.

Jackie's newly single status
drew some attention.

There are many men
who wanted to marry Jackie Kennedy

when she was a widow.

She certainly had offers,

and I think she enjoyed her freedom
as a single mother

without the huge responsibilities
of public life.

She was alleged to have had
a short-lived flirtation

with Hollywood star Marlon Brando.

But it was JFK's brother Bobby
that Jackie grew closest to.

It was even rumoured that
they had a physical relationship.

Following
in his brother's footsteps,

in 1968, Bobby ran for president.

But five years
after JFK's assassination,

the unthinkable happened.

GUNSHOT

- MAN:
- Ladies and gentlemen,
we have a doctor now.

Will you please clear the room?

She was called in the middle
of the night to be told

that he had been shot.

One unimaginable tragedy followed
by another in quick succession.

And understandably,
Jackie Kennedy is... is, you know,

plunged into despair once again.

Jackie feared
for her children's safety.

She was terribly frightened
in this country,

and said, "If they're killing
Kennedys, my children are next."

Looking for a way out of the US,

she turned to a powerful
and wealthy man

to provide her with what she needed.

She had this flirtation
and bit of a relationship going

with Aristotle Onassis.

There were few people in the world
who had the money that Onassis did,

and what that money
could buy her was privacy.

You know, he owned an island, right?

I mean, he was able
to kind of keep her safe.

Only four months
after Bobby's death,

she married Onassis in Greece.

He was a man
with many familiar attributes.

The testosterone-ridden,

madly ambitious, womanising,

drinking, all of these things,

that's what she'd grown up with.

That's what she'd known
all her life.

Her decision to marry Onassis

shocked the nation
she'd left behind.

She has this status
as a kind of perfect widow.

She's elevated
onto stratospheric platform,

and marrying Aristotle Onassis
is kind of this fall to Earth.

A lot of people saw it
as a huge betrayal,

betraying the legacy,
marrying this foreigner.

He was no John F Kennedy.

Running from her childhood fears
of poverty, as Jackie Onassis,

she had secured a lifestyle
of wealth and safety.

Her time was spent jetting between
homes in New York and Greece.

Yet once again,
her marriage was dogged by rumours

of her husband's infidelity.

He was not a great husband.

He did not treat women well,
generally.

She was just his wife.

She was certainly an ornament
for him.

The couple lived
increasingly separate lives.

Then in 1975, after an illness,
Aristotle Onassis died in Greece.

Jackie inherited a sizeable sum.

She got 25 million
in the settlement.

After Onassis' death, she could have
led a life of comfort and seclusion.

She chose not to do so.

Instead, Jackie decided to start
a new chapter in New York.

And despite the tragedies
she had endured,

her ambition was undimmed.

She is standing on her own two feet,
not as someone's wife,

and she's looking around New York
thinking, like,

"This is my moment
to be who I want to be,

"finally, unattached to a man."

And it's fascinating
what she accomplishes.

Despite her wealth,
Jackie chose to enter the workforce

and took a job in publishing,

a role that reconnected her
to her love of literature.

She really did blossom.

She loved working as an editor.

She was very,
by all accounts, hands on.

It's badly paid,

and you have to do
a lot of humdrum tasks yourself.

You certainly make your own coffee
and fetch the biscuits.

Still as passionate
about conserving historic buildings

as she had been in the White House,

in 1975, she became concerned
by plans to demolish

New York's historic
Grand Central Station.

Jackie got wind of it
and was pretty horrified.

She basically said, you know,
"What can I do to help?"

Jackie hadn't spoken in public
for over a decade,

but she was inspired
to break her silence

to save this historic building.

I think if we don't care
about our past,

we can't have very much hope
for our future.

And we've all heard
that it's too late

or that it has to happen,
or that it's inevitable,

but I don't think that's true.

Because I think
if there is a great effort,

even if it's at the 11th hour,
you can succeed.

And I think and I know
that that's what we'll do.

Certainly, her star power

really changed the city's attitudes
then about historic preservation.

In the 1980s,

she started a relationship with
diamond merchant Maurice Templeman.

Emotionally supportive, he enabled
her to live life on her own terms.

They never married, and I think
that that is also important to note.

You know, Jackie reached,
I think, a point in her life

where she felt like she did not need
a man in order to be herself,

in order to complete
who she was intended to be.

Finally able to be her true self,

Jackie regained her place
in American hearts.

She represented a new era
in American society,

the idea that anything is possible,

all kinds of hope for the future.

She projected an image
of elegance and stature

that had been missing from the
American story in the 20th century.

You know, this idea that Americans
are kind of rich but brash,

maybe even slightly uncouth.

Jackie Kennedy changes all that.

Ever resilient,
Jackie survived and thrived,

despite the many tragedies
that had scarred her life.

Jackie Kennedy was
an incredibly strong woman.

If you look at the totality of
her life and the trauma she endured,

she was made of steel.

But in 1994,
tragedy struck for the final time.

She was out hunting foxes
on a horse and fell,

and then they found
she had lymphoma.

At age 64,
to discover that she had cancer

was a true blow
to her and her family.

Four months after her diagnosis,

Jackie Kennedy Onassis
lost her final battle.

Last night at around 10.15,
my mother passed on.

She did it in her own way
and on her own terms.

And we all feel lucky for that.

The fact that she had control
of her life, especially at the end,

meant so much to her
and to her family.

Jackie was buried in Arlington
National Cemetery in Washington

alongside JFK
and the two babies they lost.

Frank Sinatra sent
two dozen red roses

with the message:
"You are America's Queen".

Certainly,
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

was the closest America had
to royalty.

The outpouring of affection
and love for her was like that

that a grateful country
might have for their queen.

America's First Lady of tragedy
was a survivor until the very end,

her steely resilience unparalleled,

and her impact is still felt today.

I think Jackie Kennedy
still presents this iconic image

of elegance,
and grace and intelligence

that continues to fascinate
and inspire us.