Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years

This beautifully illustrated book celebrates the fortieth anniversary of Jacqueline Kennedy's emergence as America's first lady and explores her enduring global influence on style and fashion.

An in-depth look at the clothes and the era demonstrates how Jacqueline Kennedy became the beacon of style, whose legacy is still with us today. This book presents a selection of gowns, suits, dresses, ad accessories from the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum against a backdrop of personal notes, artifacts, and anecdotes provided by such White House insiders as historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. and horticulturist and friend of the first lady, Rachel Lambert Mellon.

Combining original and new photography, the volume presents images of the first lady that have rarely been seen, as well as photographs that have become part of the national consciousness. This unique perspective on the Kennedy White House years reveals the impact Jacqueline Kennedy had on the world, on America's vision of itself, and on the world, on America's vision of itself, and on the role played by the first lady in the life of the nation.

This book accompanies a major exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, from May through July 2001. The show will travel to the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum in Boston as well as the Corcoran gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.