{"id":4779,"date":"2026-04-08T01:34:54","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T01:34:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-282pinsker\/?p=4779"},"modified":"2026-09-06T17:45:07","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T17:45:07","slug":"jacqueline-kennedy-onassis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-282pinsker\/2026\/04\/08\/jacqueline-kennedy-onassis\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis"},"content":{"rendered":"

From “Jacqueline” to “Jackie”: Improving My Approach to Secondary Source Research<\/strong><\/p>\n

Throughout Diplomatic History of the United States, topics related to culture and soft power interested me. As I read further about these themes and as they were discussed in class, I remembered a book I read in elementary school: <\/span>Who Was Jacqueline Kennedy?<\/span><\/i>, by Bonnie Bader. This children\u2019s book discussed Kennedy\u2019s life, but I specifically remembered learning about her charming personality and multilingual abilities, skills I would later see associated with cultural and soft power. While this early interest shaped my topic, the process of researching Jacqueline Kennedy quickly revealed that historical research depends less on prior knowledge and more on strategy. <\/span>Who Was Jacqueline Kennedy?<\/span><\/i> isn\u2019t the type of source you\u2019d cite for a college assignment. Thus, I began my research process by visiting my favorite History major in the Writing Center, Parker Lengle, who taught me that effective research can be a collaborative process, but it still requires precision and adaptability. <\/span><\/p>\n

We started the appointment by searching for biographies of Jacqueline Kennedy in <\/span>American National Biographies<\/span><\/a>, a database Professor Pinsker recommended that provides tertiary sources. This built a foundational starting point for my research. Next, Parker helped me navigate various databases, such as America: History and Life<\/a>, through JumpStart on the Dickinson College Library<\/a> website. Although I have prior research experience, I quickly realized I had forgotten many of the more technical strategies necessary for efficient database searching. For instance, I used targeted search terms such as \u201cJacqueline Kennedy\u201d AND \u201cForeign Policy,\u201d relearning to use quotation marks and Boolean operators to narrow results. This was especially important, considering Jacqueline Kennedy was known by various names \u2013 Jacqueline Kennedy, Jackie Kennedy, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, etc. \u2013 which allowed me to discover different sources.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy attend a dinner (May 11, 1962) in honor of Andre Malraux, Minister of State for Cultural Affairs of France. [JSTOR Daily<\/span><\/a>]<\/p><\/div>We then moved to JSTOR<\/a>, where I applied similar strategies, but also began engaging more critically with the results. Instead of relying solely on keyword searches, I examined the bibliographies of promising articles, which led me to additional sources that I might not have found otherwise. One example of a source I found in a bibliography is Barbara Pascarell Brown\u2019s master\u2019s thesis, \u201cPretty in Pink: Jacqueline Kennedy and the Politics of Fashion,\u201d which discusses how Kennedy purposefully dressed during foreign visits and the impact of her cultural knowledge. <\/span><\/p>\n

By searching through JSTOR, I encountered a variety of secondary sources. Some sources immediately jumped out as relevant to my probable focus on US-French relations due to their titles: \u201cJacqueline Kennedy, Frenchness, and French-American Relations in the 1950s and Early 1960s,\u201d by Whitney Walton, and \u201cWives in the White House: The Political Influence of First Ladies,\u201d by Karen O\u2019Connor, Bernadette Nye, and Laura Van Assendelft. This demonstrated how refining my keywords led me to sources that directly addressed my specific research focus.<\/span> I also found related sources, such as \u201cTreatment of First Ladies in American Government and Presidency Textbooks: Overlooked, Yet Influential, Voices,\u201d by Anthony J. Eksterowicz and Robert P. Watson. This source could be interesting to include in my essay because our class textbook, <\/span>From Colony to Superpower: U.S. Foreign Relations since 1776<\/span><\/i>, by George C. Herring, mentions Jacqueline Kennedy once, calling her \u201cstylish,\u201d and implying her use of celebrity.<\/span><\/p>\n

After my Writing Center appointment, I continued researching, utilizing the methods Parker taught and reminded me of. Eventually, I took a break from databases and instead did simple Google searches, just to see what different types of sources might appear. One source I found using this method was <\/span>Jacqueline Kennedy and the Architecture of First Lady Diplomacy<\/span><\/i> by Elizabeth J. Natalie. I found the book\u2019s abstract on ResearchGate<\/a>, but the full text was behind a paywall. Rather than abandoning the source, I explored alternatives: searching JumpStart for the book, checking the Internet Archive<\/a>, and even searching Reddit for a free PDF. My current solution is to attempt an interlibrary loan, but I have not yet completed the process. However, the book\u2019s abstract alone demonstrates its relevance and potential to advance my research.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Portrait of First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, photographed by Mark Shaw. [Real Art Press<\/span><\/a>]<\/p><\/div>Through this process, I began to refine not only my topic, but also my research approach. Initially, I assumed that finding sources would be a straightforward task: search for a name and select relevant results. However, I learned that effective research requires a more strategic approach, especially when analyzing a historical figure from an atypical angle. Broad searches often yielded overwhelming or irrelevant results, whereas more precise keywords and combinations yielded specific, tailored sources. I would take these lessons with me outside the appointment, applying them even to my image search. While searching for images of Jacqueline Kennedy, I discovered Mark Shaw, a photographer who developed a close relationship with her family. When it comes time to examine primary sources, he is a name I plan to research to see if he published any writings or made any relevant statements. <\/span><\/p>\n

However, after sending a draft to Professor Pinsker, I learned I still had more to learn about the research process. He pointed out ways to improve my narrative writing (e.g., that I had to search through databases using Kennedy\u2019s various monikers), but more importantly, he noted that some of my sources didn\u2019t seem particularly relevant and that I had missed a source Herring cited while discussing the Kennedy family\u2019s use of celebrity. Herring cites a book by Robert Dallek, which I later found on the Internet Archive. Given the context of the quote, some chapters should prove useful in researching Jacqueline Kennedy\u2019s political and cultural influence.<\/span><\/p>\n

For me, the beginning of my research reinforced the importance of seeking guidance early in the research process. My appointment at the Writing Center provided me with tools and strategies that I continued to use afterward, streamlining my subsequent research, and Professor Pinsker\u2019s feedback allowed me to sharpen my focus and examine new sources. My experience demonstrates that successful research is not about immediately finding the \u2018right\u2019 sources, but about developing effective methods \u2013 such as refining search terms, following bibliographies, and navigating access barriers \u2013 to locate, evaluate, and connect information. Moving forward, I plan to approach research with greater intentionality, using targeted search strategies and actively engaging with the scholarly conversations.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bibliography\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bradley, Richard.<\/span> Onassis, Jacqueline Kennedy<\/span><\/i>. American National Biography, 2000. [<\/span>WEB<\/span><\/a>]\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Brown, Barbara Pascarell. \u201cPretty in Pink: Jacqueline Kennedy and the Politics of Fashion.\u201d Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2012): 605. [<\/span>WEB<\/span><\/a>]\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Cull, Nicholas J. \u201cAuteurs of Ideology: USIA Documentary Film Propaganda in the Kennedy Era as Seen in Bruce Herschensohn\u2019s \u2018The Five Cities of June\u2019 (1963) and James Blue\u2019s \u2018The March\u2019 (1964).\u201d <\/span>Film History<\/span><\/i> 10, no. 3 (1998): 295\u2013310. [<\/span>WEB<\/span><\/a>]\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Dallek, Robert. <\/span>John F. Kennedy: An Unfinished Life, 1917-1963<\/span><\/i>. London: Allen Lane, 2003. [<\/span>INTERNET ARCHIVE<\/span><\/a>]\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Eksterowicz, Anthony J., and Robert P. Watson. \u201cTreatment of First Ladies in American Government and Presidency Textbooks: Overlooked, Yet Influential, Voices.\u201d <\/span>PS: Political Science and Politics<\/span><\/i> 33, no. 3 (2000): 589\u201395. [<\/span>WEB<\/span><\/a>]\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Herring, George C. <\/span>From Colony to Superpower: U.S. Foreign Relations Since 1776<\/span><\/i>. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008. [PRINT]\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Natalie, Elizabeth J. <\/span>Jacqueline Kennedy and the Architecture of First Lady Diplomacy<\/span><\/i>. Peter Lang, 2018. [<\/span>RESEARCH GATE<\/span><\/a>]\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

O\u2019Connor, Karen, Bernadette Nye, and Laura Van Assendelft. \u201cWives in the White House: The Political Influence of First Ladies.\u201d<\/span> Presidential Studies Quarterly<\/span><\/i> 26, no. 3 (1996): 835\u201353. [<\/span>WEB<\/span><\/a>]<\/span><\/p>\n

Walton, Whitney. \u201cJacqueline Kennedy, Frenchness, and French-American Relations in the 1950s and Early 1960s.\u201d <\/span>French Politics, Culture & Society<\/span><\/i> 31, no. 2 (2013): 34\u201357. [<\/span>WEB<\/span><\/a>].\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From “Jacqueline” to “Jackie”: Improving My Approach to Secondary Source Research Throughout Diplomatic History of the United States, topics related to culture and soft power interested me. As I read further about these themes and as they were discussed in class, I remembered a book I read in elementary school: Who Was Jacqueline Kennedy?, by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5814,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-282pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-282pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-282pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-282pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5814"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-282pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4779"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-282pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4779\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4934,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-282pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4779\/revisions\/4934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-282pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-282pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-282pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}