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History!... Everybody kept saying to me to put a cold towel around my head and wipe the blood off... later, I saw myself in the mirror; my whole face spattered with blood and hair... I wiped it off with Kleenex... History! ... I thought, no one really wants me there. Then one second later I thought, why did I wash the blood off? I should have left it there, let them see what they've done... If I'd just had the blood and caked hair when they took the picture ... Then later I said to Bobby- what's the line between history and drama? I should have kept the blood on.

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis#33

HistoryMemoryDramaImageTruth

About this quote

What does it mean?
Onassis reflects on washing blood off during JFK's death, questioning if preserving the moment served history better.
In plain terms
She wonders if keeping the blood visible would have been more honest for history.
What can you take from it?
Moments of crisis reveal tensions between dignity and historical truth.

Where it applies

  • navigating public media
  • deciding how to remember
  • handling grief publicly

Putting it to work

  • archive raw footage
  • document authentic moments
  • balance privacy and history

Questions to consider

  • What should history keep?
  • How do we balance dignity with truth?

Another view

Personal healing might require cleansing wounds, not preserving them for viewers.

More from Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

  1. Do you know what I think of history? ... For a while I thought history was something that bitter old men wrote. But Jack loved history so... No one'll ever kno…

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  2. Being away from home gave me the chance to look at myself with a jaundiced eye. I learned not to be ashamed of a real hunger for knowledge, something I had alw…

    Permalink to quote #34
  3. But there's this one thing I wanted to say... I'm so ashamed of myself... When Jack quoted something, it was usually classical... no, don't protect me now... I…

    Permalink to quote #31

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