The Two Jackies - A Photo Essay

Fashion Diplomacy: The Two Jackies

This Jackie you know. She used fashion as a tool of public diplomacy. Through the power of her appearance as First Lady she communicated a positive image of the United States to the world, particularly on her Goodwill Tour to India and Pakistan in 1962. As a woman she used the value of a visual image in a way that increased U.S. soft power like no man ever could.

Initially admired for her superb fashion sense, she maintained her platform as a representative of U.S. foreign policy indirectly through attraction. The legacy of her husband’s foreign policy of graciousness, flexibility, and diplomacy lived on in her unwavering image. Her timeless style is still widely admired today and she is often cited as the standard for classic fashion. She proved that women can have both style and substance.

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