The Kennedys: After Camelot, Ep. 8 -- Jackie O.

2 days ago
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"What a shame," Jacqueline Kennedy would later say of the horror in Dallas, "to spend so much time tormented by a thing I could never change."

Indeed, what First Lady Jackie Kennedy witnessed and experienced on November 22, 1963 traumatized her deeply, causing nightmares and flashbacks for the next five years. Just when she thought she had finally turned a corner past the JFK assassination, allowed herself to love again and began to seriously consider remarrying, tragedy struck again.

This time, it was the president's younger brother Bobby. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy was gunned down by a Palestinian terrorist on the night RFK had claimed victory in the California presidential primary.

It was Jackie who made the terrible decision to take Bobby off life support in the hospital once it became painfully clear that he would never awake from his coma. Bobby's wife Ethel simply couldn't bring herself to do it. Once again, Jackie was the strong one when inside, she felt as if she was coming apart at the seams.

Only six weeks after RFK's assassination, Jackie celebrated her 39th birthday at Hyannis Port, and announced to her shocked Kennedy relatives that she would soon marry Aristotle Onassis -- a man whom both her husband and Bobby had both distrusted and detested.

Jackie's fateful decision to become Mrs. Onassis shocked not only her Kennedy in-laws, but the world. News of their wedding that October was met with universal global outrage. Newspaper headlines screamed: "Jackie...how COULD you?" It seemed that no one wished her well.

So, why did she choose to trade her status as the beloved widow of a national martyr for the unenviable position of second wife to a Greek tycoon? Was it just for money? Was it for the physical security of her children, as she had said after Bobby's murder? Or was it for love?

The world has wondered for more than 50 years.

Many books have attempted to unravel that mystery, but no author was able to tap the sources closest to both Jackie and Onassis until prolific Kennedy chronicler J. Randy Tarraborrelli managed to loosen their lips and get their stories on the record.

What was their marriage really like? Join me for another fascinating chapter of J. Randy Tarraborrelli’s book “The Kennedys: After Camelot," and learn why Jackie K. became Jackie O.

Listen to ALL EPISODES of this history book club series, "The Kennedys: After Camelot" in this playlist.
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