5. Little Edie Was Considered Even More Beautiful Than Jackie
Little Edie’s cousin, John H. Davis, in his biography of the family The Bouviers: Portrait of an American Family, claimed that the family regarded Little Edie as more beautiful than Jacqueline Bouvier, later Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. While it would be difficult to compare the two differently beautiful women, Little Edie did successfully land modeling work in addition to being a socialite.
About her cousin Jacqueline’s husband, President John F. Kennedy, Little Edie stated, “Jack never liked society girls, he only dated showgirls… I tried to show him I’d broken with society. I was a dancer. But Jack never gave me a tumble.” Despite the more magnificent beauty, Little Edie had to watch her social capital dwindle due to her father’s adamant status that his daughter should be hidden from the world. After modeling for Bachrach, her father reportedly marched down to Madison Avenue and broke Bachrach’s store window.
It appeared Little Edie held more than a little jealousy towards her famous and beloved cousin, telling Joe Kennedy Jr.’s father that if he hadn’t died in World War II “[she] probably would have married him, and he would have become President instead of Jack and [she] would have become First Lady instead of Jackie.”