We are nearing ever closer to the 50th anniversary of one of the most famous/infamous-however way you look at it- man that ever presided over the people of the USA. As an Irish person, its admirable to see such a man- with a very distant link to Ireland itself- reach such heights where many failed to do. But I am not going to pour out compliments about the man nor am I going to  attack the man on account of his dealings with the mafia and his sketchy political dealings. As a feminist I am going to point out the the fact that this man was an egotistical womaniser who treated his own wife like nothing more than a housemaid.

I became intrigued by this exceptional woman from a young age as my interest in the subject of history peaked. This young almost shy unexceptional woman was -like many women who have married into such aristocratic and infamous families- ripped of her innocence and privacy when she met Jack.

But she wasn't unexceptional ,on the contrary,  I cannot to this day quite believe or understand why Jackie put up with such an open extrovert flirt as Jack. On a few of the rare occasions when Jackie was seen as sad and stoic- like as she supported her husband it was clear she became nothing more than a collection item to Jack.The smile never quite seemed genuine or reached her eyes such as in the picture below. But like all porcelain she became more fragile and eventually cracked over time. According to author David C. Heymann,  her vice became alcohol as she tried to silently tried to deal with the many affairs Jack had especially a lengthy affair started with Marilyn Monroe.

But was this reserved attitude a practiced act from growing up with a womanising father or was the truth that she put up with this behavior because she really believed she could change him some day,someday he would stop?. I think she did it for her children's sakes and bringing up David C. Heymann's novel again which details a possible love affair between Jackie and Bobby Kennedy I find myself hoping she did find love with someone else who respected her, loved her and gave her what she so desperately needed, a quiet peaceful life. But please don't think this is a rant about how awful a man Kennedy was, he was an amazing father as seen in countless photographs and articles and his participation in Civil Rights of the 60's in favour of the African Americans make him an admirable man at his work. 

Finally don't believe I am so naiive to think that Jackie Kennedy was an angel, no one is faultless. In interviews made after Jack's 1963 assassination she referred to Indira Ghandi as a 'prune and kind of pushy woman'. As well as this she gave the distinct impression of a housebound woman without a voice on her own thoughts and ideas which hits home for me personally with feminist ideals. However I will never think it is alright to treat women like this or for a woman to live this way!