Posted on 06/16/2015 5:42:59 AM PDT by Borges
Hugh D. Yusha Auchincloss III, the step-brother of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, has died.
Auchincloss lived at Hammersmith Farm in Newport, a summer cottage property that the Auchincloss family owned for generations and was the backdrop for John F. Kennedy and Jackies storied wedding reception.
Auchincloss was the son of Hugh Dudley Auchincloss Jr., a stockbroker and lawyer who married Nina Gore, the mother of Gore Vidal; and Janet Lee Bouvier, the mother of Jacqueline Bouvier, who later married the President.
A source close to the family confirmed that Auchincloss died over the weekend.
He was 87.
Auchincloss was 14 when his father married Bouvier and he and 12-year-old Jackie became close friends as they spent summers together at Hammersmith Farm.
The two corresponded throughout their lives up until Jackies death in 1994.
Auchincloss attended Groton School in Groton, Mass., before he joined the United States Marine Corps when he graduated in 1945.
In 1947, he entered Yale University and in the 1950s, completed two tours of duty in Korea and studied at the American University of Beirut.
Later, Auchincloss served with the U.S. delegation to the United Nations and published a book on his early life growing up alongside Jackie, Growing up with Jackie: My Memories, 1941-1953.
Hammersmith was purchased by John W. Auchincloss in 1887. It was the backdrop for as royal-seeming as any moment in American history when Jackie and JFK held their wedding reception there and it was promptly featured on the front page of the New York Times the following day.
The Summer White House is a 28-room mansion on the nearly 100-acre property, but Hammersmith is known as much for its outbuildings as the famous families that have lived there.
After Auchincloss father died, the mansion was sold to Fruit of the Loom owner William F. Farly, who turned it into a museum. In 2000, a philanthropist and Goldman Sachs executive bought it and converted it into into his private residence.
The Auchincloss family continued to own the outbuildings, known as The Palace, the The Windmill and The Castle.
The windmill was actually designed by Jackie. Auchincloss, in 2002, told Washington Life that his father asked all the children to make a sketch, and Jackies was the best.
Providence architect Tillinghast built the windmill based on her design. The four-story, 100-foot structure has an elevator, quarters for six people and offers jaw-dropping views of Narragansett Bay.
In 2013, Auchincloss told the Providence Journals G. Wayne Miller that during his toast at the reception, he told JFK that if it werent for Jackie, he wouldnt be President.
First, Mr. President, I want to congratulate you, he said. Youve been a very good President. Im glad you had your wedding here in Newport. Im glad youre celebrating your wedding anniversary here with Jackie.
But I have to remind you: if you hadnt gotten engaged to Jackie, my stepsister, neither one of you would have been in the White House. And I wouldnt have had a chance to stay in the White House. So I have to thank you for that!
Services will be announced at a later date.
Auchincloss married Alice Lyon in 1958 and they had two children, twins Cecil and Maya Auchincloss, in 1959. Their marriage ended in divorce. Lyon died in 2003.
Interesting history. Thanks for posting. Condolences to family and friends of Hugh D. Yusha Auchincloss III
R.I.P.
Never even knew Jackie had a step-brother.
And I should care?
Will the Kennedy curse never end!?
I guess, somewhere in Massachusetts, there are still a couple of 80+ year old Kennedy worshipers who still enjoy reading this type of insipid chatter and think its funny.
A couple? This state is still loaded with such a-holes.
My brother summed it up years ago. He envisioned a couple of elder ladies on their way to the 7AM Mass. “And Rose. Theah poah mothah, She suffahed so much.”
Apologies to the non-New Englanders for the phonetics......
RIP.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.