John Vernou "Black Jack" Bouvier III

John Vernou Bouvier III was born on May 19, 1891, in Manhattan, New York County, New York. He was an American Wall Street stockbroker and socialite, remembered as the father of First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and socialite Lee Radziwill, and the father in law of President John F. Kennedy. Known by the nickname "Black Jack," he was recognized for his flamboyant lifestyle.

Black Jack Bouvier's Yale University graduation portrait, taken in 1914.

Descended from a family that cultivated an image of French aristocracy, Bouvier received an elite education befitting his social standing. He attended Phillips Exeter Academy and Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School before enrolling at Columbia University. He later transferred to Yale University's Sheffield Scientific School, where he was a member of the exclusive Book and Snake secret society and played varsity tennis. Graduating in 1914, he seamlessly entered the family business, joining his father and uncle’s Wall Street firm, Bouvier, Bouvier & Bouvier, to begin his career as a stockbroker.

His burgeoning career was interrupted by World War I. Bouvier served his country first in the United States Navy before transferring to the United States Army, where he rose to the rank of Major in the Army Air Service. After his discharge in 1919, he returned to a booming Wall Street that perfectly suited his extravagant tastes. He thrived in the excess of the Roaring Twenties, but the 1929 stock market crash dealt a severe blow to his finances and his pride, a setback from which he never fully recovered.

John "Black Jack' Bouvier During WWI (Circa 1917-1919)

On July 7, 1928, Bouvier married the beautiful and socially ambitious Janet Norton Lee. Their union produced two daughters, Jacqueline Lee (born 1929) and Caroline Lee (born 1933). In their early years, Bouvier was a doting and indulgent father who encouraged his daughters' independence and spirit. However, the marriage itself was a clash of fire and ice; his chronic womanizing, heavy drinking, and reckless gambling were in direct conflict with Janet's desire for social stability. The strain proved unbearable, and their stormy marriage ended in a bitter divorce in 1940.

The divorce marked a definitive turning point in Black Jack Bouvier's life. While he retained his Wall Street job, his standing within his own family was irrevocably altered. When Janet married the immensely wealthy Hugh D. Auchincloss two years later, his daughters were absorbed into a world of sprawling estates like "Merrywood" in Virginia and "Hammersmith Farm" in Newport. Compared to the Auchincloss fortune, Bouvier's finances were modest, and this disparity became a constant source of tension. He settled into a bachelor's life, maintaining an apartment at 125 East 74th Street in Manhattan.

Janet, Jackie, & Black Jack

His direct influence on his daughters' upbringing was actively curtailed by Janet, who controlled their schedules. Despite this, Bouvier fought to remain a significant presence, maintaining a faithful correspondence and seeing them for outings in New York. He represented a world of glamour and excitement that stood in stark contrast to the formal society of their stepfather. His diminished role was often on public display, such as at Jacqueline's 1947 debutante ball, where he was a mere guest at an event that should have been his to host.

The most devastating episode of his later life occurred on Jacqueline's wedding day, September 12, 1953. Deeply concerned that Bouvier's alcoholism would cause a scene at the marriage to Senator John F. Kennedy, the family watched him closely. On the morning of the wedding, Bouvier began drinking heavily at his hotel. By the time he was meant to leave for the church in Newport, he was belligerently intoxicated and unable to perform his duties. The difficult decision was made to bar him from the ceremony.

Jackie & her stepfather Hugh

A heartbroken Jacqueline was informed just before she left for the church, and her stepfather, Hugh Auchincloss, walked her down the aisle instead. For Bouvier, it was the ultimate public humiliation.

The final four years of his life were marked by increasing isolation and deteriorating health, as the wedding incident had severed many of his remaining social ties to the family. His lifelong heavy drinking finally caught up with him, and in the spring of 1957, he was diagnosed with terminal liver cancer. His daughters did visit him during his final weeks at Lenox Hill Hospital.

He fell into a coma on August 1st and died two days later, on August 3, 1957, at the age of 66. He was laid to rest in the Bouvier family plot in East Hampton.