Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis is probably most well-known for being the wife of President John F. Kennedy. However, some of her greatest contributions were her efforts toward historic preservation.
One of Onassis’s first actions when the President took office was to give prominence to the White House, America’s most famous historic home. She proposed not to merely redecorate the aging mansion but to historically restore it, recognizing the many past residents throughout the home’s history. Through her efforts, a September 1961 law declared the White House a museum with a permanent curator and protected the rooms from being radically altered.