Celebrating Jackie Kennedy

As many in the Middleburg area already know John F. Kennedy and Jackie Kennedy owned Wexford, a 166-acre estate outside Middleburg, Virginia. “I think she loved to come here because she was a very private lady,” McGowan said of Jackie Kennedy. “She could live … comfortably.” said Mary Ann McGowan, sales director for Thomas and Talbot Real Estate (Source: WTOPNews)

“The Kennedy children enjoyed riding ponies and horses there, and the family mingled with other nearby residents and attended church in town, where the locals generally didn’t intrude on the family’s privacy.” McGowan said.

To celebrate First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy’s birthday this week, the White House Historical Association (WHHA) will host a trio of events honoring her life, leadership and legacy. 

Jackie Kennedy envisioned a restored White House that conveyed history through its decorative and fine arts — and established WHHA in 1961 to support her vision of preserving and sharing the White House’s legacy. She was firm in her belief that “The White House belongs to the American People,” and for the past 59 years, WHHA has celebrated the birthday of this groundbreaking First Lady whose vision inspired the world.  

AP Photos/John Rous

Virtual events include:

• Tuesday, July 28, 2020: A First Lady’s Leadership and Legacy
  (Philanthropist David M. Rubenstein and historian Douglas Brinkley discuss First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy’s leadership and legacy through historic preservation during and since her historic 1,036 days in the White House. This discussion will detail Mrs. Kennedy’s role in the establishment of the White House Historical Association, preservation of historic Lafayette Square, and other preservation efforts.)

• Wednesday, July 29, 2020: First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy—Clotheshorse or Cold Warrior?
  (Noted for her style and grace in the soaring triumphs and the crushing tragedies of JFK’s presidency, Jaqueline Kennedy not only created a model for modern First Ladies through her fashion and projects in the White House but mastered the production of political symbols that resonated at home and abroad in the midst of the Cold War. In this presentation, Barbara A. Perry will explore how Camelot endures in public memory and what it owes to Mrs. Kennedy’s imagination.
  
  Dr. Colleen Shogan, Senior Vice President and Director of the David M. Rubenstein Center, will moderate the Q&A Discussion.)

• Thursday, July 30, 2020: History Happy Hour: Mona Lisa in Camelot
  (In December 1962, Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa set sail from Paris to New York for what many knew would be the riskiest art exhibition ever mounted. The fragile painting, sealed in a temperature-controlled, bulletproof box, traveled like a head of state accompanied by armed guards and constant surveillance.
  
  The driving force behind the famous painting’s high profile visit was First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, who convinced French Cultural Minister Andre Malraux and National Gallery Director John Walker to share the masterpiece with the American people. She overcame the fierce objections of art officials who feared the journey would ruin the world’s most celebrated smile, and “Lisa Fever” soon swept the nation as nearly two million Americans attended exhibits in Washington, D.C. and New York City. It was the greatest outpouring of appreciation for a single work of art in American history. And as only Jacqueline Kennedy could do, she infused America’s first museum blockbuster show with a unique sense of pageantry that ignited a national love affair with the arts.)

• Stewart McLaurin, WHHA president, will post a #WhiteHouseHistoryWeekly video on his Twitter, showcasing Jackie Kennedy in her own words.