Speeches

Research by Steven L. Brawley

Remarks/Statements Attributed to Jackie

  • Miss Porter's school events (1940s)
  • Presidential campaign rallies (1960)
  • TV commercial in Spanish during Presidential campaign (1960): "My dear friends, I am the wife of Senator John F. Kennedy, candidate to the Presidency of the United States. In these times of danger when world peace is threatened by communism, it is necessary to have in the White House a leader who is capable of guiding our destiny with a firm hand. My husband will always watch over the interests of all sectors of our society who are in need of the protection of a humanitarian government. For the future of our children, and to achieve a world where true peace exists, vote for the Democratic Party on November 8. Long Live Kennedy!"
  • Anniversary party for National Gallery of Art (March 16, 1961)
  • White House luncheon for press women (April 11, 1961)
  • Opening of annual Washington, DC flower market (May 5, 1961)
  • International Horse Show (October 27, 1961)
  • State visit to Venezuela (December 16, 1961)
  • State visit to Columbia (December 17, 1961)
  • Visit to India/Pakistan (March 1962): "I must say I am profoundly impressed by the reverence which you in Pakistan have for your art, and your culture and for the use which you make of it now. My own countrymen, too have a pride in their traditions. So I think, as I stand in these gardens, which were built long before my country was born, that that's one more thing that binds us together and always will."
  • Christening of USS Lafayette (May 8, 1962)
  • Opening of the refurbished White House Library (June 21, 1962)
  • Opening of the refurbished White House Treaty Room (June 28, 1962)
  • State visit to Mexico (June 30, 1962)
  • Broadcast of sympathy after earthquake in Italy (August 23, 1962)
  • Broadcast of event for the National Cultural Center (November 29, 1962): "Tonight seems to be at long last the beginning of what for so long has really been just a hope or a dream. I know there still is an enormous amount of work to be done before Mr. Stone's beautiful building rises beside the Potomac, but I hope that by this spring ground will be broken and they will start to build a wall of the center, for that will be a reward to all who have worked so hard for tonight, and it will be an encouragement to all of us who must keep on working until the center truly exists..."
  • Cuban freedom fighters event (December 29, 1962): "It is an honor for me to be today with a group of the bravest men in the world, and to share in the joy that is felt by their families who, for so long, lived, hoping, praying, and waiting. I feel proud that my son has known the officers. He is still too young to realize what has happened here, but I will make it my business to tell him the story of your courage as he grows up. It is my wish and my hope that some day he may be a man at least half as brave as the members of Brigade 2506. Good luck."
  • League of United Latin American Citizens event (November 21, 1963): “I’m happy to be in the great state of Texas and I’m especially pleased to be with you, who are part of the great Spanish tradition, which has contributed so much to Texas. This tradition began a hundred years before my husband’s state, Massachusetts, was settled, but it is a tradition that is today alive and vigorous. You are working for Texas and the United States. Thank you and viva las Lucas!”
  • Thank you broadcast to nation (January 14, 1964): "I want to take this opportunity to express my appreciation for the hundreds of thousands of messages, nearly eight hundred thousand in all, which my children and I have received over the past few weeks. The knowledge of the affection in which my husband was held by all of you has sustained me and the warmth of these tributes is something I shall never forget. Whenever I can bear to, I read them. All his bright light’s gone from the world. All of you who have written to me know how much we all loved him and that he returned that love in full measure. It is my greatest wish that all of these letters be acknowledged. They will be, but it will take a long time to do so. But I know you will understand. Each and every message is to be treasured not only for my children, but so that future generations will know how much our country and people in other nations thought of him. Your letters will be placed with his papers in the library to be erected in his memory along the Charles River in Boston, Massachusetts. I hope that in years to come many of you and your children will be able to visit the Kennedy Library. It will be, we hope, not only a memorial to President Kennedy, but a living center of study of the times in which he lived and a center for young people and for scholars from all over the world. May I thank you again on behalf of my children and of the President’s family for the comfort that your letters have brought to us all. Thank you."
  • Broadcast commemorating JFK's birthday (May 29, 1964)
  • Fundraising video for JFK Library (Spring 1964)
  • Comments regarding Kennedy Library site problems at Harvard (1966): "Well, I don't think that we should forget President Kennedy. And for all this effort that we've made for two and a half years. You know, is it just going to be forgotten? Or ended?  Or is some way going to be found to make it keep going, and sew the seeds he planted. You know, maybe it will be taken by a young boy who will be like he was at Harvard, in his day. After all, that's where he wrote 'While England Slept', after his research started. And maybe he'll plant a seed somewhere else. Then someone else like President Kennedy will come along. And those are the kind of men who are going to save the world."
  • Press statement upon marriage to Aristotle Onassis (1968): "We know you understand that even though people may be well known they still hold in their hearts the emotions of a simple person for the moments that are the most important of those we know on earth — birth, marriage, death. We wish our wedding to be a private moment in the little chapel among the cypresses of Skorpios."
  • Press statement upon death of Aristotle Onassis (1975): "Aristotle Onassis rescued me at a moment when my life was engulfed with shadows. He brought me into a world where one could find both happiness and love. We lived through many beautiful experiences together which cannot be forgotten, and for which I will be eternally grateful."
  • Grand Central Terminal press conference (1975): "If we don’t care about our past we can’t have very much hope for our future. We’ve all heard that it's too late, or that it has to happen, that it's inevitable. But I don’t think that's true. Because I think if there is a great effort, even if it’s the eleventh hour, then you can succeed and I know that’s what we'll do."
  • St. Bartholomew's Church rally (1984): "The future of New York City is bleak if the landmarks that mean so much to us and our children are stripped of their landmark status. If you cut people off from what nourishes them spiritually and historically, something within them dies.'' 

Copyright Steven L. Brawley, 2002-2015. All Rights Reserved.