Source

From their first meeting, Jacqueline Bouvier and John Fitzgerald Kennedy are irretrievably attracted to each other. Love at first sight at a dinner at the White House's headquarters, back to the story of a mythical couple.

Women's fashion and beauty magazine
I SUBSCRIBE
Home celebrities Life of people couple of stars
Love Story: John Fitzgerald and Jackie Kennedy
By Aurore Rousset Published on 08/03/2017 at 17:12
Jackie and John Kennedy
207
shares
Share

Pin

From their first meeting, Jacqueline Bouvier and John Fitzgerald Kennedy are irretrievably attracted to each other. Love at first sight at a dinner at the White House's headquarters, back to the story of a mythical couple.

She is young, beautiful, rich and extremely cultured. He is the prodigal son of a clan of Irish origin with devouring ambition, and is about to become a senator of Massachusetts. Together, Jacqueline Bouvier and John Fitzgerald Kennedy will create a true myth. Story of an iconic couple.

A story that gets off to a flying start

The meeting between Jacqueline Lee Bouvier and John Fitzgerald Kennedy took place in May 1952, during a dinner hosted by journalist Charles Bartlett, a mutual friend. Jackie is a photographer-investigator for the Washington Time Herald, while John is a candidate for the Massachusetts senate seat. Coming from a family of American high society and good education, Jackie appears as the ideal candidate for the young man.

They start dating, and John became a senator in November of the same year, things get serious soon. Their engagement was announced on June 25, 1953, and their wedding was celebrated on September 12, 1953 in Newport, Rhode Island. Considered to be the event of the year, the ceremony features more than 800 guests, and more than 1,000 people flock to the reception that takes place at Jackie's father-in-law Hugh D. Auchincloss estate.

Source

A difficult married life

Although their wedding shots present them as extremely smiling, their marital life is far from being a long calm river. John is indeed known to be a great seducer with insatiable libido, and counts many mistresses. Her story with Hollywood actress Marilyn Monroe, is of common knowledge. Jackie suffers from these multiple connections, especially since the young woman is very affected by the loss of two of her children. The couple had four children, two of whom did not survive: a stillborn baby girl in 1956 (Arabella), and a boy in 1963 (Patrick), who died two days later, following a pulmonary malformation. Following the death of their first child, the couple separated briefly. The Kennedy family still has two other children: Caroline Bouvier Kennedy, born in 1957, and John Fitzgerald Kennedy, born in 1960. The latter died in 1999 in a plane crash.

A young couple at the White House

John runs for the US presidential election in January 1960. If she follows her husband for a while in his business travel, Jackie gives up quickly: she is, indeed, pregnant. Determined, the young woman is still bringing a stone to the building. She helps her husband by writing a weekly article in a newspaper and gives television interviews in various languages. This seems to succeed the Kennedy candidate, since the latter narrowly won the US presidential face against his competitor, Nixon, November 8, 1960. He was sworn on January 20, 1961. At age 31, Jackie becomes one of the youngest first ladies of the United States.

Not wishing to interfere in the political life of the country, she devotes herself to other tasks. Dissatisfied with the state in which the Eisenhower couple left the White House, she undertakes to redecorate everything. The renovations allowed Jackie to escape the suffocating atmosphere of the house, which is so often the source of bullying by the Kennedy Clan, who mocks her muffled voice.

Source

A complementary couple

While John is at the heart of the country's domestic politics, which he considers disastrous since Eisenhower's presidency, and is in favor of civil rights, Jackie's role as first lady is perfect. Relatively discreet, it seduces yet with its refined manners and impressive culture.

Admired for her elegance, many women try to copy the style of the first lady, still considered as one of the most elegant first American ladies. During the official visits, she seduced, especially by her command of foreign languages ​​- Jackie spoke fluent English, French, Spanish and Italian - and managed to eclipse the President of the United States. During the presidential couple's visit to Paris in the spring of 1961, when French President Charles de Gaulle was dazzled by the first American lady, John went so far as to say "I am the man who accompanies Jackie Kennedy". When they take the road to Orly airport, nearly 115,000 people cheering. At this point, John Fitzgerald Kennedy really realizes the benefit of having such a wife by his side.

A hasty end

It is again with Jackie that John moves on November 22, 1963 in Texas , and more precisely in Dallas, to carry out a new presidential campaign for a potential reelection. The couple crosses the city in an official convertible car. They are then victims of several shots, the last two shots proving fatal for John. As Jackie rushes into the back of the vehicle, his bodyguard tells him to stay in the vehicle, the latter heading towards the nearest hospital. The President of the United States dies there despite the efforts made by the medical team to resuscitate him. It's the end of a mythical couple.

In the years following the assassination of JFK, Jackie will not show much in public. After some rumors of connections between her and the brother of her late husband, Robert Kennedy, she married the Greek billionaire Aristotle Onassis in 1968 and became Jackie Onassis.