Take a look back at the fascinating true story of the blood-soaked pink suit that former First Lady Jackie Kennedy was wearing when her husband, John F. Kennedy, was assassinated – which has still never been washed, despite being covered in gore, and now sits in a temperature-controlled windowless room in a secret location.
Jackie wore the two-piece set on the fateful day in November 1963 when her husband was brutally killed a mere inches from her while they were riding in the back of an open-topped limo in Dallas, Texas, together.
During the horrific shooting and its aftermath, JFK’s blood splattered across the outfit, but his mourning widow refused to take it off afterwards – and it’s been said that she insisted on continuing to wear it because she wanted his killers to ‘see what they had done.’
The entire world was devastated by JFK’s shock passing and quickly became engulfed in the events that transpired on that devastating day, so it comes as no surprise that the ensemble is now a major part of history.
Take a look back at the fascinating true story of the blood-soaked pink suit that former First Lady Jackie Kennedy was wearing when her husband, John F. Kennedy, was assassinated
Jackie wore the two-piece set on the fateful day in November 1963 when her husband was brutally killed a mere inches from her while they were riding in a limo in Dallas, Texas, together
During the horrific shooting, JFK’s blood splattered across the outfit, but his mourning widow refused to take it off afterwards because she wanted his killers to ‘see what they had done’
But what happened to the suit after Jackie finally took it off – which reportedly wasn’t until the morning after the shooting – is actually just as compelling.
Almost no one has laid their eyes on the now-infamous set since the murder, and it’s been said even now, decades on, it has never been cleaned and still has the late President’s remains on it.
It’s reportedly being stored in a climate-controlled vault outside of Washington, D.C. under strict Kennedy family restrictions that it not be seen by the public until at least 2103.
The story of what came of the outfit recently became a hot topic of conversation on social media, after videos about it went viral on TikTok.
According to Lady Bird Johnson, then-Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson’s wife, a grief-stricken Jackie ‘laid over the President’s body’ after the shooting, which resulted in it becoming ‘almost entirely covered’ in his blood.
She wrote in her diary that she asked someone to help Jackie get changed while in the hospital afterwards, but the First Lady refused.
‘With almost an element of fierceness – if a person that gentle, that dignified, can be said to have such a quality – she said, “I want them to see what they have done to Jack,”‘ recalled Lady Bird.
Jackie was spotted wearing the bloody outfit hours later, when Lyndon was sworn in as President.
The garment has still never been washed, despite being covered in gore, and now sits in a temperature-controlled windowless room in a secret location
Jackie was spotted wearing the bloody outfit hours later – when Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as President (seen)
‘Somehow, that was one of the most poignant sights – that immaculate woman, exquisitely dressed and caked in blood,’ Lady Bird continued.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Jackie finally changed out of the suit the next morning after arriving back in D.C.
Her maid then put it in a bag and mailed it to her mother, Janet Lee Bouvier. Around six months later, it was reportedly sent to the National Archives’ headquarters with an unsigned note that simply said, ‘Jackie’s suit and bag worn November 22, 1963.’
The LA Times reported that the outfit ‘was never cleaned,’ and is currently being stored ‘in an acid-free container in a windowless room somewhere inside the National Archives and Records Administration’s complex in Maryland.’
‘The precise location is kept secret. The temperature hovers between 65 and 68 degrees, the humidity is 40 per cent, the air is changed six times an hour,’ it added.
It was an approved copy of a Chanel suit that she had purchased from the New York-based shop Chez Ninon, which made many of Jackie’s clothes
The outfit seemed to be one of the First Lady’s favorites, as she had worn it at least six times before the tragic day. She’s seen wearing it at an event in 1962
‘It looks like it’s brand-new, except for the blood,’ senior archivist Steven Tilley, one of a handful of people to see the suit, told the publication.
The outfit seemed to be one of the First Lady’s favorites, as she had worn it at least six times before the tragic day.
It was an approved copy of a Chanel suit that she had purchased from the New York-based shop Chez Ninon, which made many of Jackie’s clothes.
Biographer Justine Picardie wrote in her book of the ensemble, ‘The garments were not fake or pirated, but made to order using materials supplied by Chanel in Paris.’
The outfit’s matching pillbox hat and white kid gloves, lost in the day’s chaos, are still missing.
The items legally belonged to daughter Caroline Kennedy following Jackie’s death in 1994, until a deed of gift was made in 2003 to the national Archives with the stipulation that the suit would not be seen for a least a century.
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