Remarks on the Death of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis - May 20, 1994

I just wanted to say, personally, that every day, this nation owes a great debt to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. And the nation has lost a treasure, and our family has lost a dear friend.

We stand here in one of the many legacies that she has given to this house and to our country; in this garden, which is named for her, which she helped to realize.

If she taught us anything, it was to know the meaning of responsibility -- to one's family and to one's community. Her great gift of grace and style and dignity and heroism is an example that will live through the ages.

As a mother, she was selflessly devoted to her children and never wavered in the value she placed on being a mother, and more recently a grandmother. She once explained the importance of spending time with family and said: "If you bungle raising your children, I don't think whatever else you do matters very much."

She was a great support to me, personally, when I started talking with her in the summer of 1992 about the challenges and opportunities of being in this position, and how she had managed so well to carve out the space and privacy that children need to grow into what they have a right to become.

She will always be more than a great First Lady; she was a great woman and a great friend. And all of us will miss her very much.

Clinton, Hillary. 1994. "Remarks of the First Lady on the Death of Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis From the First Ladies' Garden the White House." The White House. https://clintonwhitehouse4.archives.gov/media/text/1994-05-20-first-lady-remarks-on-the-death-of-mrs-jacqueline-kennedy-onassis.text.