The Real Reason Jackie Kennedy's Famous Pink Suit Is Still Hidden From The Public

When someone's spouse is shot in the head right next to them, it's natural that a random member of the public with no forensic training would want to gawk at the brain stains on the recently bereaved spouse's outfit up close. Wait no, that sounds borderline depraved ... unless the deceased was really famous. Thankfully, Jackie Kennedy's pink suit was an especially famous/infamous case. 

When President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, Jackie wanted people to see the bitter fruit of his killer's labor. As recounted by People, she refused to change out of the now blood-spattered pink suit she wore the afternoon JFK was shot. She remained wrapped in that tragedy until early the next day, declaring, "Let them see what they've done." In the decades since JFK's death, what was done morphed into a whodunit for armchair detectives and conspiracy theorists. Every thread of evidence has caught the eye of the would-be seamstresses of history who seem hellbent on stitching together their own version of events. But the threads Jackie insisted on bearing in 1963 won't be catching the public's eye for a very long time.

To the shock and horror of many a historical voyeur, Jackie Kennedy's pink suit will be under lock and key until 2103, according to People. So unless you're one of the lucky few who expects to get cryogenically frozen and regenerated, you'll be too busy eyeing the inside of a coffin to worry about seeing a suit. Well, really, you won't have eyes because your body will likely have already decomposed or been burned to ashes in a crematorium, but you get the point.

So whom do you have to thank or resent for burying that suit from public view? Jackie and John Kennedy's daughter, Caroline (above), who donated the garment to the National Archives in 2003 under the stipulation that the public couldn't access it. Caroline didn't want to "dishonor [her parents'] memory" or "cause any grief or suffering to members of their family" by turning a tragic artifact into an attraction.