The pink strawberry pink and navy trim collared Chanel wool suit Jackie Kennedy wore in Dallas on November 22, 1963 has become a part of history–it’s what she was wearing the day her husband, President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated.
After President Kennedy was assassinated, Jacqueline Kennedy insisted on wearing the suit, stained with his blood, during the swearing-in of Lyndon B. Johnson and for the flight back to Washington, D.C. with the President’s body.
Mrs. Kennedy refused to take the suit off after it was stained with her slain husband’s blood, saying “Let them see what they’ve done.”
According to Lady Bird Johnson, who was also present there
“Her hair [was] falling in her face but [she was] very composed … I looked at her. Mrs. Kennedy’s dress was stained with blood. One leg was almost entirely covered with it and her right glove was caked, it was caked with blood – her husband’s blood. Somehow that was one of the most poignant sights – that immaculate woman, exquisitely dressed, and caked in blood.”
The suit is now stored out of public view in the National Archives “perfectly preserved in a vault in Maryland…banned from public display for 100 years.”
It will not be seen by the public until at least 2103. At that time, when the 100-year deed expires, the Kennedy family descendants will renegotiate the matter.
Dawn to Dusk 