Retropolis

“How could you?” The day Jackie Kennedy became Jackie Onassis

On Oct. 20, 1968, the widowed first lady stunned the world when she remarried.

By Jessica Contrera October 20 at 7:16 AM

She was the world’s most beloved widow. And then that widow was gone. Fifty years ago, the world mourned the end of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy.

“The reaction here is anger, shock and dismay,” declared the New York Times. ... “The gods are weeping,” read a quote in The Washington Post. ... A German newspaper announced: “America has lost a saint.” ... But Mrs. Kennedy hadn’t died. She had only become Mrs. Onassis.

On Oct. 20, 1968, the former first lady stunned her adoring public by remarrying. Five years after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, she donned a wedding dress, entered a candlelit chapel and pronounced “I do” to Aristotle Onassis, a wealthy Greek shipping tycoon. From that moment on, she would forever be “Jackie O.”


Jacqueline Kennedy and Aristotle Onassis are shown following their wedding on the Greek island of Skorpios on Oct. 20, 1968. Caroline Kennedy can be seen at far left. (AP Photo)

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Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis with her daughter Caroline on her lap is driven by her new husband, Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, after their wedding in the tiny chapel on the Greek Island of Scorpios, Oct. 20, 1968. (AP Photo/Jim Pringle)

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Jessica Contrera is a reporter on The Washington Post's local enterprise team. She has written about Generation Z, workplace sexual harassment and people from across the country whose lives are being shaped by issues in the news. Follow https://twitter.com/mjcontrera