Janet Norton Lee Auchincloss (formerly Bouvier), (December 3, 1907 – July 22, 1989) was an American socialite. She was the mother of the former First Lady

Jacqueline Kennedy Jacqueline Lee Kennedy Onassis ( ; July 28, 1929 – May 19, 1994) was an American writer, book editor, and socialite who served as the first lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963, as the wife of President John F. Kennedy. A popular f ...

and

Lee Radziwill Caroline Lee Radziwill (; March 3, 1933 – February 15, 2019), previously known as Lee Canfield and Lee Ross, was an American socialite, public relations executive, and interior designer. She was the younger sister of former First Lady of the ...

, and the mother-in-law of

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...

Early life and education

Janet Norton Lee was born on December 3, 1907, in Manhattan, New York City. She was the middle daughter of James T. Lee (1877–1968), a lawyer and real estate developer, and Margaret A. Merritt (1880–1943). Although she made differing claims about her genealogy, including that she was “from the Maryland Lees,” both her parents were of

Irish Catholic Irish Catholics () are an ethnoreligious group native to Ireland, defined by their adherence to Catholic Christianity and their shared Irish ethnic, linguistic, and cultural heritage.The term distinguishes Catholics of Irish descent, particul ...

descent. She had two sisters: Marion Merritt Lee (1904–1947), who married John J. Ryan Jr. and was subsequently the mother of Mary Cecil, wife of William Amherst Vanderbilt Cecil, and Margaret Winifred Lee (1910–1991), who married Franklin D'Olier. Janet graduated from Miss Spence's School and attended Sweet Briar and

Barnard College Barnard College is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college affiliated with Columbia University in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a grou ...

s. She was a member of the

class of 1929 but records show that she did not graduate. She was a three-time winner of the hunter championship at the National Horse Show.

Career

Bouvier served as a board member of the Newport Historical Society and the Redwood Library. She was also the honorary director of the Robert E. Lee Memorial Association in Stratford, Virginia.

Personal life

Bouvier was married three times. In 1928, she married her first husband, John Vernou Bouvier III (1891–1957). He was the son of Major John Vernou Bouvier Jr. (1866–1948), a successful attorney, and Maude Frances Sergeant (1870–1940). He was also the brother of Edith Bouvier Beale (1895–1977), later known as the subject of the documentary film, '' Grey Gardens''. Together, they were the parents of two daughters: * Jacqueline Lee Bouvier (1929–1994), who married

in 1953. After his assassination in 1963, she later married

Aristotle Onassis Aristotle Socrates Onassis (, ; , ; 20 January 1906 – 15 March 1975) was a Greek and Argentine business magnate. He amassed the world's largest privately-owned shipping fleet and was one of the world's richest and most famous men. He was marri ...

in 1968 and remained married to Onassis until his death in 1975. * Caroline Lee Bouvier (1933–2019), who married Michael Temple Canfield in 1953. Their marriage was annulled in 1962, and later that same year she married Prince Stanisław Albrecht Radziwiłł. They divorced in 1974. In 1988 she married the director

Herbert Ross Herbert David Ross (May 13, 1927 – October 9, 2001) was an American actor, choreographer, director and producer who worked predominantly in theater and film. He was nominated for two Academy Awards and a Tony Award. He is known for directing ...

. They also divorced in 2001. Mr. Bouvier's

womanizing Promiscuity is the practice of engaging in sexual activity frequently with different partners or being indiscriminate in the choice of sexual partners. The term can carry a moral judgment. A common example of behavior viewed as promiscuous by man ...

and

drinking Drinking is the act of ingesting water or other liquids into the body through the mouth, proboscis, or elsewhere. Humans drink by swallowing, completed by peristalsis in the esophagus. The physiological processes of drinking vary widely among ...

led to a separation in 1936, a brief reconciliation for a few months in 1937, and then a divorce in 1940. In 1942, she married her second husband, Hugh Dudley Auchincloss Jr., an attorney and

Standard Oil Standard Oil Company was a Trust (business), corporate trust in the petroleum industry that existed from 1882 to 1911. The origins of the trust lay in the operations of the Standard Oil of Ohio, Standard Oil Company (Ohio), which had been founde ...

heir; becoming his third wife. Together, they had two children: * Janet Jennings Auchincloss (1945–1985), who was married to Lewis Polk Rutherfurd in 1966. *James Lee Auchincloss (born 1947) Hugh Auchincloss died in 1976. In 1979, she married for a third time, to her childhood friend Bingham Willing "Booch" Morris (1906–1996). Jacqueline served as her witness. Morris, a widower, was a retired investment banker who lived in

Southampton, New York Southampton, officially the Town of Southampton, is a town in southeastern Suffolk County, New York, partly on the South Fork of Long Island. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the town had a population of 69,036. Southampton is included in the stre ...

, a graduate of St. George's School and

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

, where he was a member of the

Iroquois The Iroquois ( ), also known as the Five Nations, and later as the Six Nations from 1722 onwards; alternatively referred to by the Endonym and exonym, endonym Haudenosaunee ( ; ) are an Iroquoian languages, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Ind ...

and Hasty Pudding Clubs, and was the son of Violet Lee (née Willing) Morris and John Boucher Morris of Baltimore. His late wife, Mary (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Rawlins) Morris, was a bridesmaid at Janet's first wedding. They separated in 1981, but remained married until her death from complications arising from

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...

in 1989.

Early life and education

Career

Personal life

References

Further reading