Rice Undergraduate Research Papers

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In a Man’s World: Jacqueline Kennedy, Cultural Diplomacy, and Gender in the Kennedy Administration, 1961-1963
(Rice University, 2025-04-16) McKenzie, Annie; Citino, Nathan; Mogen, Philip
During the Kennedy administration (1961-1963), Jacqueline Kennedy functioned as a cultural diplomat, helping convey the administration’s political messaging. Specifically, she aided in the presentation of the US as the new Western, modern superpower, whose material and cultural prosperity was a result of its democratic and capitalist system. To communicate this effectively, Mrs. Kennedy played into the expectations of Cold War American femininity, presenting herself as the ideal American woman whose life revolved around the domestic sphere. In her diplomatic endeavors, she underscored the image of the United States as a leader on scale with its European peers, yet one who was sympathetic to developing countries. Although often thought of as mostly apolitical, examining her work on the White House Tour and Restoration, state dinners and official international trips reveals Jacqueline’s role as an essential part of the Kennedy administration’s diplomacy during the escalating Cold War.