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Re: Jackie Kennedy's Pink Dress



Mrs. John F. Kennedy was wearing a pink boucle double-breasted suit (two
pieces), navy blouse, handbag when her husband was killed in Dallas on
November 22, 1963.  Actually it was a raspberry colour with a navy blue or
blueberry color wide lapel.  I was a White House intern that summer and had
seen her wear it just weeks earlier at the White House when she hid with her
son John, Jr. behind some bushes to let him watch an official event.

There was a matching pillbox hat (with a small band of blueberry) that was
lost from her head when she crawled out onto the back of the presidential
limousine to reach for Clint Hill, her Secret Service agent.  The whereabouts
of the pillbox hat are not known.

Mrs. Kennedy refused to change from her bloodied suit prior to the swearing
in of Lyndon Johnson, appearing at his side (reluctantly) in the "pink" suit.
 She told those who kept urging her to change that she "wanted them to see
what they've done."  Indeed she wore the suit all that long night until they
left Bethesda Navy Hospital and returned to the White House.  Her instincts,
as always, had been right; the powerful image of the "pink" suit stained with
the President's brain and blood will last forever in the memory of those who
remember those tragic days.

Please do not be apologetic for asking your question.  It is part of our
"iconographic" history.  Those of us then alive automatically know without
having to ask because the memory is embedded in our live, just as I am sure
there are similar moments frozen in time in your country.

All best,

Margaret Shannon
WASHINGTON HISTORICAL RESEARCH
ShannonRBL@aol.com

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