WELCOME TO DALLAS, JACKIE
Jacqueline Kennedy understood the newspaper business.
In 1951, the Washington Times-Herald hired the 22-year-old Bouvier for her Inquiring Camera Girl column — where she profiled average citizens, senators and socialites.
Her name first appeared in The Dallas Morning News on Sept. 4, 1953, announcing that she and Sen. Kennedy applied for a marriage license.
On the morning of Nov. 22, 1963, Mrs. Kennedy was in Fort Worth at her Hotel Texas suite putting the finishing touches on her outfit. The navy-blue blouse and rose-pink suit with matching pillbox hat was actually a Chanel knockoff created by a New York dress shop.
She was so looking forward to her Dallas visit that the first lady almost forgot about joining her husband for a breakfast hosted by the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce.
After breakfast, the Kennedys waited for their flight to Big D. That’s when an aide showed the president Page 14 of the Morning News’ early edition.
A full-page ad outlined with a black border began with a sneering greeting, “Welcome Mr. Kennedy to Dallas.” What followed were 12 complaints posed as questions — about imprisoning Cubans; selling food to the Communist party; and permitting brother Bobby, the attorney general, to persecute critics of JFK’s administration.
The president and first lady scrutinized the ad, and both reacted as if they’d been physically struck. Then Kennedy turned to Jackie and said, “We’re really in nut country now.”
The ad was placed by The American Fact-Finding Committee, a group led by Nelson Bunker Hunt, a scion of the oil-rich Dallas family.
The Morning News’ 1949 limestone-and-granite building on Young Street was designed by George Dahl, who also drafted the 1937 beautification of Dealey Plaza.
At the time of the assassination, Jack Ruby was inside the Morning News building where he had just placed ads for the Carousel Club.
Almost always impeccably groomed and smiling, Mrs. Kennedy’s worst moment was in Dallas: bloodstained, climbing atop the Lincoln convertible’s trunk, undergoing intimate agony in public.
After Dallas, the widow had every reason to be afraid. But fear never showed on her face — her sublime mask of beauty.
The woman who launched a million headlines returned to the print world. One of the most fulfilling chapters of her life was becoming a book editor for Viking Press and Doubleday.
‘JACQUELINE KENNEDY:’ AARON BALLINGER
WARDROBE: BRIAN ALDEN | MAKEUP: RICHARD D. CURTIN | HAIR: CHARLES YUSKO | PROPS: JUAN FACIO
LOCATION: THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS BUILDING, 508 YOUNG ST.
PRODUCTION DATE: APR. 1, 2012 | PHOTO: BRYAN AMANN | DIRECTION: DANIEL KUSNER
In 1951, the Washington Times-Herald hired the 22-year-old Bouvier for her Inquiring Camera Girl column — where she profiled average citizens, senators and socialites.
Her name first appeared in The Dallas Morning News on Sept. 4, 1953, announcing that she and Sen. Kennedy applied for a marriage license.
On the morning of Nov. 22, 1963, Mrs. Kennedy was in Fort Worth at her Hotel Texas suite putting the finishing touches on her outfit. The navy-blue blouse and rose-pink suit with matching pillbox hat was actually a Chanel knockoff created by a New York dress shop.
She was so looking forward to her Dallas visit that the first lady almost forgot about joining her husband for a breakfast hosted by the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce.
After breakfast, the Kennedys waited for their flight to Big D. That’s when an aide showed the president Page 14 of the Morning News’ early edition.
A full-page ad outlined with a black border began with a sneering greeting, “Welcome Mr. Kennedy to Dallas.” What followed were 12 complaints posed as questions — about imprisoning Cubans; selling food to the Communist party; and permitting brother Bobby, the attorney general, to persecute critics of JFK’s administration.
The president and first lady scrutinized the ad, and both reacted as if they’d been physically struck. Then Kennedy turned to Jackie and said, “We’re really in nut country now.”
The ad was placed by The American Fact-Finding Committee, a group led by Nelson Bunker Hunt, a scion of the oil-rich Dallas family.
The Morning News’ 1949 limestone-and-granite building on Young Street was designed by George Dahl, who also drafted the 1937 beautification of Dealey Plaza.
At the time of the assassination, Jack Ruby was inside the Morning News building where he had just placed ads for the Carousel Club.
Almost always impeccably groomed and smiling, Mrs. Kennedy’s worst moment was in Dallas: bloodstained, climbing atop the Lincoln convertible’s trunk, undergoing intimate agony in public.
After Dallas, the widow had every reason to be afraid. But fear never showed on her face — her sublime mask of beauty.
The woman who launched a million headlines returned to the print world. One of the most fulfilling chapters of her life was becoming a book editor for Viking Press and Doubleday.
‘JACQUELINE KENNEDY:’ AARON BALLINGER
WARDROBE: BRIAN ALDEN | MAKEUP: RICHARD D. CURTIN | HAIR: CHARLES YUSKO | PROPS: JUAN FACIO
LOCATION: THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS BUILDING, 508 YOUNG ST.
PRODUCTION DATE: APR. 1, 2012 | PHOTO: BRYAN AMANN | DIRECTION: DANIEL KUSNER
