Hail to the Chief's Wife #10: Jacqueline Kennedy Multiple Choice Quiz | World

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy was well known for her French heritage, yet she was actually only 1/8 French. What has received little to no press is that she was also descended from four great-grandparents who immigrated to the US from the same country. Of which nationality did Jackie Bouvier claim 1/2 of her lineage?

Answer: Irish

Her mother, Janet Lee Bouvier Auchincloss, was the granddaughter of four immigrants from County Cork making her a full blooded Irish lass, a fact she was loathe to acknowledge. Jackie's father, John Bouvier, was 3/4 English and 1/4 French.

2. What did Jacqueline Bouvier state in the 1947 Miss Porter's School yearbook was her ambition?

Answer: Not to be a housewife

In a review of one of the numerous biographies written about her, Publisher's Weekly noted the dichotomy of Jackie's personality: "fierce intellectual and a compulsive shopper, a craver of solitude who nevertheless shone in the spotlight, a snob with a strong social conscience, a would-be career woman who also sought out the security of marriage to wealthy, prominent husbands... Jackie is indeed a study in contradictions... her personality is a consequence of her upbringing as the child of unhappily wed, social-climbing parents, of a cultural climate that at once encouraged women to nurture their talents and expected them to view themselves primarily as wives and mothers".

3. In 1951 Jacqueline Bouvier won 'Vogue' magazine's "Prix de Paris" essay contest. Her subject was "People I Wish I Had Known." Those she cited were Irish playwright Oscar Wilde, 19th century French poet Charles Baudelaire and which Russian-born founder of the Ballet Russes?

Answer: Sergei Diaghilev

The requirements for the essay were rigorous. According to her biography on the National First Ladies Library, in addition to the essay the submission required "an original theme for an entire issue, illustrations, articles, layout and design, an advertising campaign that could be tied into the issue's content". As the winner, young Jackie was entitled to spend half the year in Paris as an assistant editor for 'Vogue,' but turned the prize down at the insistence of her mother, who feared she would stay in France.

Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) was a Russian pianist and composer; George Balanchine (1904-1983) was also Russian-born ballet choreographer but well known to Jackie and very much alive when she wrote the essay for Vogue; Mikhail Barishnikov (born 1948) was three years old at the time of the Prix de Paris competition.

4. As First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy chose Oleg Cassini as her official designer in 1961. It is sometimes misreported that Cassini also designed her famous pillbox hats. He did not. Who did?

Answer: Halston

Roy Halston Frowick was born in Des Moines, Iowa in 1932. He became the chief milliner at Bergdorf Goodman in New York after serving as the co-designer for famed hat maker Lilly Dach�. In Halston's New York Times obituary from 1990 he is quoted as having said he designed the pillbox specifically to fit Mrs. Kennedy's "large head."

5. According to her White House social secretary Letitia Baldridge, Jacqueline Kennedy imitated the accents and mannerisms of heads of state after they had left White House dinners.

Answer: True

Baldridge's full quote (from the Arlington National Cemetery website) is: "She had such a wit. She would have been terrible if she hadn't been so funny. She imitated people, heads of state, after everyone had left a White House dinner. Their accents, the way they talked. She was a cutup. Behind the closed doors, she'd dance a jig."

6. One of Mrs. Kennedy's accomplishments as First Lady was the 1962 exhibit at the National Gallery of one of the world's most famous paintings. Using her charm, knowledge of history and political connections, which artwork did she arrange to have on display for the first time outside of Europe?

Answer: Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci

An excellent article on the exhibit and how Mrs. Kennedy used her wit and wiles on French Minister of Cultural Andre Malroux is "The Two First Ladies" from the November 2008 edition of Vanity Fair magazine. (http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/11/monalisa_excerpt200811)

7. Perhaps Mrs. Kennedy's biggest contribution as First Lady was the famous 1962 White House restoration. After receiving some early criticism for "re-decorating" she replied "I don't 'do up' old houses. These things aren't just furniture. They're _________ ."

Answer: History

On February 14, 1962 the now famous White House Tour led by Mrs. Kennedy was watched by more than 80 million viewers. She created the first guide book to accompany White House tours, which helped finance the acquisition of the many period pieces her committee had found.

Her love of American history and commitment to using only authentic pieces was widely hailed as fueling an increased interest in American history, furniture, literature and other fine arts.

8. The lives of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis' aunt, Edith Bouvier Beale, and cousin, "Little Edie", who lived in squalor in their crumbling Hamptons mansion, were made public in a famous 1975 documentary. This film also spawned a 2006 Broadway musical and a 2009 HBO docudrama, all with the same title which was the name of their dilapidated estate. What was it?

Answer: Grey Gardens

Christine Ebersole and Mary Louise Wilson won Tony Awards for their Broadway portrayals of Jackie's aunt and cousin, respectively in the musical "Grey Gardens". The same roles were played by Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore in the HBO movie of the same name.

The Grey Gardens estate was purchased following Little Edie's death by author Sally Quinn and her husband, former 'Washington Post' editor Ben Bradlee.

9. In 1978 Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis became an editor at Doubleday Books. Which reluctant subject did she convince to write an autobiography that became a 1988 bestseller?

Answer: Michael Jackson

A July 4, 2009 article from Reuters states that though the book "Moon Walk" quickly sold out its initial 500,000 copies, Jackson, who had total control in the matter, rejected plans for both additional printings and a paperback version. Mrs. Onassis, who broke her long-time policy of not writing a forward for any book by doing so for Jackson, wasn't pleased.

10. On May 23, 1994 Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis was buried at Arlington National Cemetery next to her first husband, John F. Kennedy, and who else?

Answer: Their two infant children who preceded them in death

Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis was buried with the former president and their daughter Arabella, who was stillborn in 1956 and son Patrick, who was born in 1963 with hyaline membrane disease, now called infant respiratory distress syndrome.

Source: Author brewster76

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor ladymacb29 before going online.
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Hail to the Chief's Wife #10: Jacqueline Kennedy Quiz

Much has been written about America's most famous First Lady, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis. This quiz will focus on less commonly known aspects of her life and may be challenging unless you are an American history buff like me!

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