Historical artifacts from John F. Kennedy’s assassination day and the events that followed have been displayed in museums; however, Jackie Kennedy ’s iconic pink pillbox hat and pink suit with navy blue lapels, which was stained with her husband’s blood, hasn’t been seen anymore.
According to Town & Country, the iconic piece of history is stored in a “custom-made acid-free box” in the National Archives building in College Park, Maryland, along with Lee Harvey Oswald’s rifle, bullets, and bullet fragments from the shooting. The climate-controlled box also possesses the original windshield of the limousine and more than five million pages of assassination-related records.
Reportedly, the look was one of President Kennedy’s favorites. Therefore, the former first lady wore it several times before that tragic day in November and refused to take it off after he was assassinated in Dallas. Reports assured that despite she was covered in blood, she kept in on while at the hospital and on her flight back to Washington. “Let them see what they’ve done,” she said.
While at the White House, she reportedly asked her personal maid, Providencia Paredes, to put the bloody garments inside a bag; however, her hat and gloves were misplaced.
The entire outfit, including accessories and stockings, was sent to the National Archives with a handwritten note from Kennedy’s mother: “Jackie’s suit and bag — worn November 22, 1963.”
In 2011, senior archivist Steven Tilley mentioned to the Washington Post that the suit seemed to be in a new condition, except for the bloodstains on it. The deed of gift was signed by Caroline Kennedy in 2003, which states that the suit must be preserved but not exhibited publicly until 2103 at the earliest to avoid “in any way dishonor the memory of the late President or cause unnecessary grief or suffering to members of his family.”
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