NJVVMF Holds Public Lecture on Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

On Saturday, April 14, 2018 from 11:00 am – noon, the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans’ Foundation will hold a public lecture – Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis: Preservation, Grace, and American Legacy, at 1 Memorial Lane Holmdel, NJ, 07733. This program is free and funded by the New Jersey Council for the Humanities.

During this lecture, attendees will learn about the great American icon who wore many hats, not just her pillbox. As a young mother she was catapulted onto the world stage when her husband John F. Kennedy became the 35th President of the United States. She quickly observed that America’s rich cultural and architectural past was being destroyed in the name of progress. Realizing that future generations would need the insights of the past for guidance, Jacqueline embarked upon a series of preservation efforts: first the White House, then Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C, and eventually Grand Central Station in NYC. Such preservation efforts galvanized the rest of the country to protect its historic monuments. Aided by her public profile, her work helped bring about the Historic Preservation Act of 1966: the most far-reaching preservation legislation ever enacted in the United States.

Jill Lawrence brings the woman we now know as Jackie O' to life by interpreting her tireless efforts for the public good. By conveying Jacqueline's personal and professional struggles and victories, a poignant portrait of the First Lady, wife, mother, and activist vividly comes alive. By bringing historic preservation center stage, Jacqueline's gift for the future was to preserve the past.

Lawrence has performed with the Ziggaraut Theater in Los Angeles, The Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire, American Family Theaters and The Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival, just to name a few. For many years she welcomed visitors from all over the world as Betsy Ross at the Betsy Ross house. Jill has been an adjunct professor at Camden County College, a writer and tour guide for Once Upon A Nation and a guest storyteller at the National Archives in Washington.

Tours led by volunteer guide and Vietnam Veteran Jim McGinnis will be available immediately afterwards.

RVSPs are not required, but much appreciated. Please email the NJVVMF Educator, Keri A. Giannotti, at kgiannotti@njvvmf.org.