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Why Jackie did not take off her pink tag after Kennedy’s assassination

Although she was the first lady of the USA, the Fireplace Kennedy she usually kept her distance from politics. However, in November 1963, while still recovering from the death of her prematurely born son Patrick Bouvier Kennedy in August of that year, she agreed to accompany her husband John F. Kennedy on a trip to Texas. During that time, unfortunately, President Kennedy was assassinated while sitting next to Jackie and the pink tag she was wearing was covered in her husband’s blood.

After murder of the president, Jackie refused to change her clothes for the rest of the day, which created a strong and destructive image for the public, while reflecting her personal trauma.

On November 22, 1963, Jackie was sitting next to her husband in an open limousine during a motorcade on the streets of Dallas. She looked stunning with her pink tag (although often described as Chanel, it was actually an approved copy created in New York, so Jackie would not be accused of shopping from abroad).

Shots were fired then. One hit the back of the US president and came out of his throat, while another pierced his head. As Jackie struggled to realize what had just happened, her husband’s blood had seeped into her suit.

Jackie was holding her husband on the way to Parkland Memorial Hospital, trying to keep his head upright. His vice president KennedyLyndon Johnson was in a separate vehicle in the same procession, and both he and his wife headed to the hospital.

Although they broke up as doctors tried to save the president, Jackie quickly returned to her husband and knelt on the bloody floor to pray. However, given the severity of JFK’s injuries, the doctors soon stopped any effort, announcing at 1.00 p.m. at the time of his death.

Vice President Johnson was sworn in as the 36th President of the United States in Air Force One, which also carried Kennedy’s body. On the plane, Jackie found a change of clothes waiting for her. She wiped her face, but would later reveal to Life magazine her reasoning: “A second later, I thought, why wash the blood? “I should have left it there, so they could see what they have done.”

With that in mind, Jackie chose not to change her clothes, even when she agreed to be present at swearing of Johnson. The former first lady knew very well the power of the image and the messages it can convey.

Appearing in her blood-stained pink tag, she reminded everyone, and everyone who would later see the photos from that particular tragic day, of what exactly had happened. When, in fact, she was offered the option to get off the plane arriving in Washington without being photographed, she insisted again “we will get off the plane normally. “I want them to see what they have done.”

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