A Very Brief Story Of Jackie's Childhood

Jackie showed strength and courage when facing the ups and downs of her childhood and young adult years. When she was eleven years old her parents got a divorce. Jackie was left struggling to have independence as her parents fought over the custody of her and her sister (Heymann 50). Jackie’s father was an extravagant man and showed great love to his daughters, particularly Jackie who was his favorite. He feared however, that the girls’ stepfather’s much larger wealth would steal away his daughters (Leaming 7). Two years after the divorce, Jackie’s mother had remarried to Hugh Auchinloss Jr. (3.) As the oldest child, Jackie was given a lot of responsibilities on her step-father’s farm. She had reacted badly to the divorce and was highly upset when her mother
Throughout her school years, Jackie did very well and was known as the “model Farmington girl” (5). She was incredibly bright, finishing lessons before the other kids, and then rushing off to do one of her many activities (Heymann 25). At a young age, Jackie became interested in worldly affairs and watched and noted Marshal Pétain’s trial (Leaming 18) She “made it clear that she had higher ideas for herself than housekeeping” (12). After her eighteenth birthday, Jackie was presented as a Debutante. Not long after, she was named “Queen Deb” by Igor Cassini, a columnist for Hearst newspapers (14). His reasoning for choosing her over any of the other girls was she had “a knack of compelling attention” (14). With the debutantes, Jackie was given the chance to travel to Europe where she met Winston Churchill (15). In 1949, at the end of her debutante years, Jackie traveled back to Europe and lived in France for a year (Heymann 79). Living in a different country would be plenty different; much less a country where one doesn’t speak the language or know anybody at