She Did It All For Her Daughters
One of the greatest sibling feuds in American history was between Jackie Kennedy and her sister, Lee Radziwill. But to understand this decades-long, intense sister rivalry, you have to understand their mother, Janet Lee Bouvier. The media portrayed this social climber as cold and heartless, but the truth was much more complex. This was a woman who did everything for her daughters and then reaped her rewards: one daughter a First Lady, and the other a Princess.
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1. She Lied About Her Past
Janet Norton Lee was born in Manhattan, New York City, on December 3, 1907. Her parents were real estate developer James T Lee and Margaret A Merritt. Later in her life, Janet claimed to be a member of the prominent Lee family of Maryland. However, this was not true, as her parents both had Irish Catholic histories.
Regardless of the lies she told as she grew older, as a child, she had every privilege she could imagine.
2. She Didn’t Finish
Janet Lee Bouvier was a student at Miss Spence’s School and also went to both Sweet Briar and Barnard College. After all this education, there was one thing missing. According to the records, Bouvier actually never graduated with a college degree. The place where Bouvier shone was on the back of a horse. Bouvier won the prestigious National Horse Show three times.
All that said, horses were great, but she still had real work to attend to.
3. She Didn't Shy Away
Despite her lack of a degree, Bouvier spent much of her time serving in academic spaces. She joined the board at Redwoods Library and at the Newport Historical Society. Then, maybe to align her family name more closely with the other Lee family, Bouvier became “the honorary director of the Robert E. Lee Memorial Association in Stratford, Virginia”.
While she seemed to fill these roles rather faithfully, there was one other major thing she had in her sights—a husband.
4. She Met A Handsome Man
In 1928, Janet Lee met John Vernou Bouvier III and plans for a marriage were quickly put into motion. One obvious attraction was his looks. He had dark, handsome features and piercing eyes. In fact, his nickname was “the Black Orchid”. The other attraction for Janet was his lineage. There was talk that his family came from French royalty.
On the outside, it looked like Janet was getting everything she wanted. But there was a secret.
Library of Congress, Getty Images
5. He Wasn’t Quite What She Expected
Janet thought she was marrying into an almost royal family. But the truth was that the Bouviers often exaggerated their background. They were actually third generation French immigrants who had no connection to royalty whatsoever. But remember, Janet was also misrepresenting herself as from the Lee family in Maryland.
In other words, their marriage was a sham from the start.
6. They Got Down To Work
Once married, Janet and John quickly got down to the work of having children. Bouvier gave birth to Jacqueline Lee in 1929 and four years later to Caroline Lee, who went by Lee. Bouvier now had two daughters and she was ready to teach them all they needed to know to survive in the world.
Little did she know that one of these daughters would become a world icon.
7. She Spoiled Them
From the outside, it looked as though Janet Lee Bouvier was providing her daughters, Jacqueline and Lee, with an enchanted upbringing. Their childhoods oscillated between the family’s apartment on Manhattan’s Park Avenue and their home in the Hamptons. But Bouvier was not just giving her daughters everything they wanted.
She had a rigorous agenda.
8. She Wanted Them To Be Like Her
Bouvier had given a lot of thought to how she would raise her two daughters. She wanted them, like her, to love riding horses. She also wanted them to love art and other luxurious things. You see, Bouvier wanted her daughters to see luxury as something different. She wanted them to see it as a necessity. Of course, to live that kind of lifestyle, her daughters would need money.
So she also taught them how to stay rich...without "traditional" jobs.
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9. She Taught Them How To Flirt
One thing Janet Lee Bouvier taught her daughters was how to land a husband. She taught them to be charming and flirtatious. But there were other things she insisted on. She taught them about manners, about being reserved and even patriotic. She wanted the best for her daughters.
Sadly, in the background, Bouvier’s own life was a mess.
William Lovelace, Getty Images
10. Her Marriage Was Suffering
While Bouvier wanted her daughter to have husbands who provided for them, her own husband wasn’t providing much at all. He drank too much, gambled, and womanized, and after the Wall Street Crash of 1929, he could no longer maintain a comfortable lifestyle.
Bouvier had to make a decision.
11. She Saw Her Future
Janet Lee Bouvier saw that her marriage was quickly unravelling. Her husband remained completely unfaithful. Heavy drinking was fairly common back then, but soon something happened that gave Bouvier a glimpse into her possible future. Her husband’s younger brother passed due to his addiction to the bottle. Bouvier needed a brighter future.
So in 1936, she asked for a separation from her husband.
12. She Gave Him One More Chance
Bouvier gave her marriage one more chance a year after her separation and then ended it permanently in 1940. Because they were socialites, the press had a heyday printing all the sordid details of their split. But Bouvier had done what was necessary to keep her daughters from a man she thought not worthy to be a husband or a father.
But there would be repercussions from this family drama.
13. She Retreated Into Her Own World
Bouvier’s older daughter, Jackie, suffered after this divorce. Her cousin, John H Davis, later said that this divorce had a strong effect on her. It made her retreat into her own private world. Of course, this would not do for a daughter of Janet Bouvier. Jackie would have to find her way out of this melancholy.
But Bouvier had more practical concerns.
14. She Had To Get A Job
After her divorce, Janet Lee Bouvier was collecting only $1000 a month in alimony, which was not even enough to keep Jackie in riding lessons. Bouvier needed to make money, so she found work as a department store model. With this meagre living, she still somehow managed to keep a maid and a governess for the kids.
As she did, she seemingly settled on the one thing that would solve her financial woes: a second husband.
15. She Married Into Money
In 1942, Bouvier met Hugh Dudley Auchincloss. Not only was he an attorney he was also the heir to a very rich family. This was the family who owned Standard Oil. If she married Auchincloss, all her financial problems would disappear. But could she marry solely for money?
16. She Had To Do What She Had To Do
Janet Lee Bouvier did marry Auchincloss, and she did it in a hurry. In fact, her daughters weren’t even able to attend because WWII was making travel difficult. Many saw this marriage as a union of opportunity and not of love. Bouvier needed a rich husband, so she could continue to provide a lifestyle for her daughters that aligned with her values.
But some saw this differently.
17. She Was Setting An Example
Some would say that Bouvier selflessly married Auchincloss for her daughter’s well-being. Or you could see it a different way. In their book, The Fabulous Bouvier Sisters, Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger say that Bouvier was “setting the example for her daughters to marry well, bringing them up like geishas, to get money out of men”.
Only time would tell what these young women would do with Bouvier’s brand of life lessons...
18. She Chose Carefully
While it may look like Janet Lee Bouvier only married for money, their marriage worked for a very particular reason. You see, Auchincloss wasn’t exactly a member of American high society, but that worked for Bouvier. If she’d married into high society, her supposed social climbing ways would have been glaringly obvious. With Auchicloss she was safe.
Still, there was one jaw-dropping problem with Auchincloss.
19. He Made A Shocking Announcement
According to the book Jackie, Janet & Lee, by J Randy Taraborrelli, Bouvier’s new husband soon declared that he was “chronically impotent”. Bouvier was sure she wanted more children, so she tried out a new procedure called artificial insemination. It worked, and she soon had two more children, Jamie and Janet Jr.
Still, she never removed her laser focus on Jackie and Lee and finding them husbands.
20. She Had High Expectations
In the years when Jane was raising her children, mothers could not hope for their daughters to be President. Sadly, there was still no chance of that. So, they dreamed of their daughters becoming the First Lady. It was the ultimate goal. To make this happen for her oldest daughter, Jackie, Janet Lee Bouvier had a plan.
Robert LeRoy Knudsen, Wikimedia Commons
21. She Trained Her Well
Bouvier insisted that her daughter learn to speak French fluently. At dinner, the family spoke only French to ensure that both girls knew the language well. Bouvier also pushed Jackie into horse riding. From this endeavor, Jackie learned about strength and discipline. Bouvier also saw the benefits of writing, drawing and reading.
In other words, Bouvier knew exactly who she needed to impress, and how to do it.
22. She Knew How To Get Her There
Janet Lee Bouvier knew what kind of person she needed her daughter to impress if she wanted to marry a president. Catching the eye of a presidential hopeful was just half the battle. Bouvier knew that the real decision makers in these things were the man’s parents. They had the power to vet potential mates, and with all Jackie’s accomplishments, Bouvier knew she could be a contender.
Bouvier was getting Jackie ready to be a First Lady, but then daughter number two did something surprising.
23. He Had a Mysterious Lineage
Bouvier’s younger daughter, Lee, disrupted the order by marrying before her older sister. In 1953, she married Michael Temple Canfield, who worked in publishing. Canfield had a mysterious past. He had been an orphan who was lucky enough to find an adoptive family as well-to-do as the Temples. But Canfield's true lineage was something of a shocker.
24. He Had A Notorious Mother
If Bouvier had known the story of Canfield’s background, she might have been both proud and horrified. You see, one story out there was that Canfield was the son of the UK’s Prince George, the Duke of Kent. The horrifying part of the story was that many believe he was the product of Prince George’s affair with the notorious and substance-addicted Kiki Preston.
Either way, with one daughter married, Bouvier could focus on the other.
Studio of Aimé Dupont, Wikimedia Commons
25. She Was One Step Closer
Bouvier’s plan was in motion when her daughter Jackie attended a dinner where John F Kennedy was in attendance. Everyone knew Kennedy, who was a senator at the time, had hopes of being the president one day. If all went well, Bouvier’s plan would be one step closer to success.
All Bouvier could do was wait and see if Jackie managed to catch Kennedy’s eye.
Unknown US federal employee, Wikimedia Commons
26. Jackie Had Her Chance
At the dinner, Jackie could easily see that Kennedy was not suffering in the looks department. When they had a chance to talk, she realised that they had a lot in common. They both enjoyed reading and writing. These were two of the things that Janet Lee Bouvier had insisted her daughter take an interest in. Clearly, she’d had the right idea.
But, remember, it wasn’t really Kennedy’s own decision who he would marry.
Marion S. Trikosko, Wikimedia Commons
27. Her Hard Work Would Pay Off
At this point all of Bouvier's work just had to pay off. The French lessons, horse riding and all the time spent reading and writing? She’d done it all for a reason, and it was to make her daughter as attractive a wife as possible.
Jackie simply had to pass this test.
28. She Watched Nervously
When the relationship between Jackie and Kennedy progressed, Janet Lee Bouvier knew her daughter had passed the test. Now Bouvier had to hope that her daughter would not err in some horrifying way. She watched as who she hoped was her future son-in-law ran for a US Senate seat in Massachusetts. Everything was going according to her plan.
With any luck, the next step would be an engagement.
29. She Had To Wait
Kennedy did eventually propose, and we can only assume that Bouvier could barely contain herself with glee. It was all paying off. And then Jackie did something that was not according to the plan. She hesitated. At the time, Jackie was working for The Washington Times-Herald, and she had an assignment to be in London for the coronation of Elizabeth II. She was going to make Kennedy wait for an answer.
But she was also making her anxious mother wait.
30. She Got What She Wanted
Jackie spent a full month in Europe, knowing that Kennedy and her mother were anxiously waiting for her return and her reply to the proposal. But when she finally got back to the States, she quit her job and said yes to Kennedy. They announced the engagement on June 25, 1953. Now maybe Bouvier could finally relax.
Yeah, right, there was still a wedding to worry about.
Cecil W. Stoughton, Wikimedia Commons
31. He Was A Loose Cannon
One of Bouvier’s concerns about the wedding was her ex-husband. He’d walked Lee down the aisle, and Bouvier didn’t trust him with this much more newsworthy celebration. After all, this wedding was turning into the social event of the season. There would be 700 guests at the ceremony, and 1200 at the reception.
There was no way Bouvier was going to trust her wild ex-husband with that much attention.
32. He Was Too Much Of A Mess
Somehow, Janet Lee Bouvier convinced her ex-husband to let her current husband walk Jackie down the aisle. But there’s another story. Apparently, on the day of the wedding, John Vernou Bouvier III was so far from sober that he couldn’t have walked Jackie down the aisle even if Bouvier had wanted him to.
But there was still some benefit to reap from her ex-husband.
33. His Lie Became Truth
When the media was writing about Jackie’s background, they heard that her father was from French royalty. Of course, this was a fabrication that John Bouvier’s family had put out there. Without doing any fact checking, the media reported this as fact. It made this fairy tale wedding seem even more like a fairy tale.
And though Bouvier got exactly what she wanted, after the wedding, Jackie would needed her even more.
Toni Frissell, Wikimedia Commons
34. She’d Done Her Job Well
Now that Jackie was Mrs John Kennedy, it was time for a well-deserved rest. But soon her husband was running for President, and Jackie would have to use all the skills given to her by her mother to help. Because Bouvier had raised her daughter so precisely, the media were picking up on something.
Jackie was a really good news story.
Robert LeRoy Knudsen, Wikimedia Commons
35. She’d Raised Her To Get Noticed
Right from the beginning, Jackie Kennedy was attracting loads of media attention and also attracting bigger crowds than her husband. Bouvier could take pride in the fact that it was all because of her. When Jackie did a radio spot in Spanish, she brought thousands of people to vote for her husband.
It’s facts like these that led to an unexpected general consensus.
Aaron Shikler, Wikimedia Commons
36. She Made Him President
Some believe that if it weren't for Jackie Kennedy, with her style and her intelligence and grace, Kennedy would never have become President. Of course, you could then argue that if Bouvier hadn’t raised Jackie to be the woman that she was, again, Kennedy would have lost the election.
With Jackie safely in the White House, Bouvier could attend to her other daughter’s dilemma.
Bachrach Studios, Wikimedia Commons
37. She Had Her Eye On A Prince
Remember, Bouvier's other daughter, Lee, had married Michael Temple Canfield. But in 1958, they got a divorce. A year later, Lee had her eye on a Polish aristocrat by the name of Prince Stanislaw Albrecht Radziwill. What was better than being a First Lady? Well, a Princess of course.
But there was a problem.
ullstein bild Dtl., Getty Images
38. She Got A Princess
Lee had already married the Prince in a civil service, but because of her divorce, they could not tie the knot in a Catholic ceremony. For Bouvier to have a daughter who was a Princess, Lee would have to get an annulment. In a surprising turn of events, Lee magically got her annulment. Rumor had it that Bouvier, Jackie or both had pushed their weight around to make it happen.
Bouvier got her Princess daughter, but there was something off here.
39. She Didn’t Fall Far From The Tree
Remember, Bouvier had pretended to be of the Maryland Lees. Also, her husband made out like he was from French nobility. As it turned out, Lee was just as duplicitous as her parents. She called herself “Her Serene Highness Princess Caroline”, but the truth was that the Second Polish Republic had put an end to these titles way back in 1921. Like her parents, Lee was a fake.
Fake or not, Bouvier ended up with First Lady and a Princess for daughters. Unfortunately for her, it proved no end to their struggles.
40. She Helped Her Cope
Remember, Bouvier’s daughter Jackie retreated into a private world when her parents divorced. Now she had the whole country looking at her as the First Lady. A bewildered Jackie had to turn to her mother when she needed help navigating this difficult situation. In a few short years, Bouvier helped transform her daughter into America’s “most celebrated First Lady”.
She was also there when times were tough.
41. She Needed A Hand
Being at the center of a media frenzy was tough on Jackie. There was so much focus on the way that Jackie looked, and Bouvier was there to help. There seemed to always be letters arriving asking about why Jackie wore that, or why her hair looked like that. Bouvier was always there to fix things for her daughter.
But there were more serious troubles than a hairstyle.
42. Jackie Always Came To Her For Comfort
While the world looked on at Jackie Kennedy’s perfect marriage, the reality was something altogether different. As Jackie faced the woes of living in the White House with a man who, much like her own father, had multiple affairs, Jackie turned to her mother for support.
Somehow, despite all the kind support Bouvier gave to her daughter, she was still seen as a cold woman.
Photograph in the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston., Wikimedia Commons
43. The Press Was Not Kind
The stories about Bouvier in the media mostly portrayed her as a “wicked fairy godmother”. They called her “cold” and a “social climber”. But the truth may have been something different. Letitia Baldrige, Jackie's White House social secretary, called those portrayals inaccurate. Even people who didn't particularly like Bouvier referred to her as a delight to be around,
When the media wasn’t putting forward a negative portrayal of Bouvier, they were making her disappear.
44. She Became A Kennedy
Bouvier had to watch as the media celebrated her daughter, and yet none or few of them acknowledged her role in shaping Jackie. They even tried to make her disappear. There’s a photo of Bouvier, her two daughters and Joan Kennedy watching Kennedy’s State of the Union Address. The photo received this caption: “Kennedy Women in Full Force”. Only half of the women in the photo were Kennedys.
But that wasn't the worst of it.
45. She Disappeared
In another photo, the media went even further. This was at Lee's graduation from Concord Academy. The photo was of Jackie, Lee, and John and Ted Kennedy. When the photo hit the newspapers, they’d cropped Bouvier’s image right out of the photo. They were making her disappear.
Next, Bouvier’s support of her daughter would face the ultimate test.
46. She Got the Horrible News
On November 22, 1963, Bouvier was in Washington playing golf. When she got home, the telephone rang. It was a call with the terrible news of what had happened in Dallas. Bouvier and her husband rushed to Bethesda Hospital in Maryland and met up with Jackie there. Jackie was distraught and didn’t want to be alone. She asked her mother to stay with her at the White House.
It would be a long road to recovery.
Universal History Archive, Getty Images
47. She Had To Face The Kids
The night of the horrible events that led to Kennedy’s passing, Bouvier and her husband spent the night in the White House, actually in JFK’s room. In the morning, Jackie’s children, Caroline and John Jr came in, and Bouvier had to face two children who’d lost their father in the most horrible and brutal way.
Even in the face of that huge loss, Bouvier still had more tragedy on the horizon.
Smith Collection/Gado, Getty Images
48. She Found Number Three
In November 1976, Bouvier’s husband of 30 years passed in his home in Georgetown. Bouvier was not one to enjoy being single, so she married her childhood friend, Bingham Willing “Booch” Morris, who was an investment banker. It seemed that Bouvier had finally married a man for a real connection and not just for money.
But this was no happily ever after.
49. He Was The Worst
Bouvier already knew her new husband pretty well...or so she thought. She’d even been a bridesmaid at his first wedding. As it turned out, she didn't know him well at all. Jackie started to suspect that Morris was not being kind to Bouvier at all. In fact, she suspected that there was physical harm happening in the household. Jackie was right and Bouvier separated from Morris in 1981.
It would take time, but Morris would pay for his sins against Bouvier.
50. Her Daughter Got Revenge
In 1989, Bouvier passed due to Alzheimer's disease. At the funeral, Jackie decided to take revenge on Morris. She told him that he had to return all of her mother’s belongings. And, since Morris was still living on the grounds of Bouvier’s Hammersmith farm, she wanted him out. Not in a month, but “by the time the sun sets tonight”.
Bouvier had taught her well.
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