Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis - Education, Debutante and Young Adulthood

Education, Debutante and Young Adulthood

Bouvier attended the Holton-Arms School, located in Bethesda, Maryland, from 1942 to 1944 and Miss Porter's School, located in Farmington, Connecticut, from 1944 to 1947.

When she made her society debut in 1947, Hearst columnist Igor Cassini dubbed her "debutante of the year."

Beginning in 1947, Bouvier spent her first two years of college at Vassar College, located in Poughkeepsie, New York, and then spent her junior year (1949-1950) in France – at the University of Grenoble, located in Grenoble, and at the Sorbonne, located in Paris – in a study-abroad program through Smith College, located in Northampton, Massachusetts. Upon returning home to the U.S., she transferred to The George Washington University, located in Washington, D.C., graduating in 1951 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in French literature. Bouvier's college graduation coincided with her sister's high school graduation, and the two spent the summer of 1951 on a trip through Europe. This trip was the subject of her only autobiographical book, One Special Summer, – co-authored with her sister, which is also the only one of her publications to feature her drawings.

Following her graduation, Bouvier was hired as "Inquiring Photographer" for The Washington Times-Herald. The position required her to pose witty questions to individuals chosen at random on the street and take their pictures to be published in the newspaper alongside selected quotations from their responses. During this time, she was engaged to a young stock broker, John Husted, for three months. Later on in life, Bouvier took continuing education classes in American History at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.