The courtship of Jack Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier was not the stuff of romantic dreams. They grew up in surprisingly different worlds but were very much connected through their troubled childhoods.

Jackie was the product of a broken home; her parents Jack and Janet Bouvier had been through a difficult divorce in 1939, which was widely reported in the newspapers at the time only adding to her distress at losing her beloved father from her daily life. She was not close to her mother and they had a troubled relationship throughout her adolescent years.

Jackie's mother was something of a snob who wished to move amongst the elite circles of Newport society. The problem was that at the time of her parents divorce Jackie's father had been almost penniless leaving his ex-wife and his children financially insecure. Things were to change significantly for Jackie after her mother's remarriage in 1943 to a wealthy stockbroker named Hugh D. Auchincloss.

Janet, Jackie and her sister Lee moved into a beautiful new home, Hammersmith Farm that belonged to her new stepfather. In time her mother added two new children into the family to mix with the other children from Hughdies previous marriage. It was a lonely time for Jackie and Lee who were missing their father and Jackie withdrew deeper into herself becoming almost reclusive. She had a love of books, poetry, and painting, a romantic soul; she would immerse herself in books dreaming her way through her days.

For Jack Kennedy life couldn't be more different in some ways. The second of nine children, he led acharmed life from a materialistic point of view. The son of Joe and Rose Kennedy, his father was the former Ambassador to the Court of St. James and a multi-millionaire and his mother the daughter of the former Mayor of Boston. Jack and his siblings never wanted for anything as they grew up. His father had made millions in his many business ventures among them Banking, Stock Broking, Films in Hollywood and endless other projects. They had houses in Boston, New York, Palm Beach Florida and Hyannis Port on Cape Cod. For the children however, life centred on each other and they formed such strong bonds that they were to remain close friends quite apart from their relationships as siblings throughout their lives.

Their parents were to spend a lot of time away from them as children, travelling across Europe, their father looking after his business interests and their mother making the rounds of the fashion houses in Europe. While their mother remained distant from them emotionally, for their father they were the centres of his universe and they in turned loved him unconditionally. Jack had been very ill as a child and it was his love of books and reading that would get him through some of his darkest days, A great admirer of courage and heroism he initially read spy novels but as he matured he became an avid reader of historical novels and poetry.

When Jack met Jackie for the first time he was a young Congressman. Nothing came of their first meeting and it was to be almost a year before their paths would cross again at a dinner organised by mutual friends of theirs the Charles Bartlett's. Jackie was very polished and elegant in her appearance while Jack looked as if he had just leapt out of bed, a dishevelled suit, sports socks and an old pair of trainers completing his outfit. Nevertheless Jackie was intrigued, he was confident in his manner and had a good sense of humour, added to the fact that he was handsome and one of the most eligible bachelors in Washington, she agreed to meet him again.

Their dating was at times sporadic, with Jack always in a hurry to some meeting, or off on a trip somewhere or other. Jackie was working at the Washington Times Herald at this time as an 'inquiring photographer' a position that had been formally held by Jacks sister Kathleen. Here she was told many stories about the fresh-faced congressman including his war heroics and his desirability amongst the female race. She was fascinated by him and more than a little flattered that he was interested in her. Although engaged at this time to a young man her mother thought completely suitable, she called the engagement off and spent more and more time with Jack. While their personalities were completely dissimilar they had a lot in common, their love of books and history, difficult relationships with their mothers, and both were intellectuals. She was educated at Miss Porters, Vassar and the Sorbonne and carried herself with a style and elegance unlike anyone he had known. His father and brothers were to recognise these attributes and grow to appreciate her rather more quickly than Jack.

Jack was impressed by Jackie's intelligence rather than threatened by it and their common love of books was a shared interest they would retain throughout their lives. Jack was never dull, he was a great conversationalist, and he had a thirst for knowledge and a curiosity that intrigued Jackie ensuring she was never bored. His reputation as something of a playboy did not give her cause for hesitation either, it made him all the more interesting to her. She had hero-worshipped her father who was of a similar disposition and she could see the similarities in Jack. He was good for her self-image and he improved her feelings of self worth.

Jack and Jackie married in Newport in 1953 in a wedding that was stage managed by Joe Kennedy. Over twelve hundred guests attended the wedding reception including the crème of Washington Society. Joe was going to make sure that Jacks profile was heightened at every available opportunity. The newlyweds headed for Acapulco where they spent what were according to Jackie blissful days together. However, on their return they stopped off in California to visit friends of Jacks and when Jack suggested Jackie continue back to Washington alone, a dark cloud formed over their relationship.

Jackie had known what Jack was like before she married him, but as with many women she allowed herself to believe that she would change him once they were married. It was not to be and once back in Washington; Jack continued his dalliances with other women, sometimes slipping out of parties leaving his new bride alone and humiliated.

Jackie tried to re-make her image convinced that it was her fault and that if she were more attractive he wouldn't stray. This did not deter Jack who continued his sexual exploits at every opportunity. She was to suffer a miscarriage in her first year of marriage causing her to withdraw ever more deeply into herself.

Jack became very ill in 1954 and had to be hospitalised for a spinal cord fusion operation. The fact that he suffered from Addison's disease further complicated things, as he would be at serious risk from infection. Although the operation was successful, infection did indeed set in leaving Jacks life in the balance for almost three days. Though Jackie had not been a favourite of either her mother-in-law or Jacks sisters up to now, she proved her mettle in her determination not to leave her husbands side. Through the long months of his convalescence she remained by his side, changing his dressings and cleaning the gory open wound in his back. She read to him and invited interesting people in to visit him to help lift him from the depression that had set in following the harrowing operation. When Jack began to write his Pulitzer Prize winning book, Profiles of Courage, Jackie was there to help with the research, take notes and help organise his daily activities. At this point the troubles of their early-married days seemed to be behind them.

However, from once Jack recovered life returned to the same pattern as before. Jackie was devastated that he could continue to betray her in this way after all they had been through. Things were to become worse though when after a failed bid for the Vice Presidential nomination at the Democratic Convention in Chicago in 1956 Jack left a heavily pregnant Jackie to go to the Riviera with friends on holiday. Jackie went into labour early and was delivered of a stillborn baby girl. It took several days to reach Jack and when they finally did he did not intend to return home immediately. It was his brother Bobby who would attend to Jackie and organise the burial of baby Arabella. It was only when his father ordered his return that Jack left the yacht in the South of France to return to his traumatised wife.

The marriage was in serious trouble, with her self-confidence in shreds; Jackie recovered from the loss of her baby while trying to decide if there was anything left of their marriage to salvage. Ultimately she decided to stay with Jack because she loved him deeply despite the terrible pain he had caused her in the past and she was confident that in time he would grow to feel the same way about her.

The following year in November 1957 their daughter Caroline was born. The deep feelings that both parents felt for their daughter strengthened their own commitment to each other and on some levels their marriage began to work. Jack was extraordinarily busy over the next three years at first unofficially politicking his way through the country testing the waters for when he would begin his campaign for the Presidency and the young couple spent much of their time apart. During this time, though Jackie was aware that the philandering was continuing, for her it was a classic case of out of sight, out of mind. While she continued to look after their daughter and create a home that she wanted Jack to be able to come back to and appreciate, she began to block all the unpleasantness from her mind and concentrate on the good times when the three of them were together.

Jackie continued to help her husband by reading research material for him and finding inspirational quotes to help his speeches. She had long worked on his wardrobe and appearance and he no longer looked like the ragbag he had been at Congress. Tall, handsome and distinguished he was gaining a reputation as the future of the Democratic Party. Jackie was proud of her husband but dismayed that he wanted to go after the Presidency while he was still so young. Jackie was pregnant with her second child in the months leading up to the campaign for the democratic nomination and she felt that if Jack were elected they would miss out on a normal family life, depriving their children of their privacy.

Jack would not be deterred, he knew that America was ready for change and that this was his chance. He could not afford to wait for another four years so he strode ahead winning primary after primary until he won the nomination of the Democratic Party making his graceful acceptance speech at the 1960 convention in Los Angeles. For Jackie it was a frightening time, she was only thirty-four years old and the mother of two young children. She feared that they would have no home life at all and that her privacy would be taken away from her.

As it was to turn out the White House years were to be the happiest years of her marriage and indeed her life.
From the time the Kennedy's entered the White House their lives were to change completely. For the first time in their married life Jack, Jackie and the children would spend the majority of their time together, living as a proper family. Since the birth of his children Jack had matured considerably, he wanted to spend time at home with them and became a more constant presence in their lives. Like all couples the bond that children bring to a relationship is immeasurable as it was in the case of Jack and Jackie. They were able to develop their own rituals, such as Caroline walking Jack to work each morning, John coming into the Oval Office for a story in the early mornings, swims with their father in the pool in the evenings, even family meals being taken together. Likewise with Jackie, after their successful trip to Europe in 1961 where the people of Paris feted Jackie as though she were royalty, Jack began to appreciate what an asset his beautiful, intelligent wife was. He was finally able to see in her what everybody else knew to be there all along - her intelligence, wit, elegance, beauty and the many other gifts and talents she brought to the White House. From these days onwards the couple operated as more of a partnership than at any other time in their relationship.

For Jackie though she would never have anticipated it, her time in the White House was to be the most fulfilling of her life to date. She began with her White House restoration plans, transforming the mansion from a dull office building into a beautiful museum worthy of the people it would play host to over the years. She brought style and elegance to the many functions they held as well as a sense of history and culture. Two of her most defining social moments would be the state dinner at Mount Vernon and the celebrated Pablo Cassals concert, both of which were personal triumphs for Jackie.

As the couple spent more time together and with their professional lives more fulfilling and successful they rediscovered some of their earlier feelings for each other. Each watched with pride as their personal achievements were celebrated. Their children too were a deep source of pride for each of them and they had the opportunity to watch them grow as they encouraged each child to develop their own personalities. The happiness they found in their children was to cement their feelings for each other as they re-discovered the reasons that had drawn them together in the first place.

And so it was that with the tragic death of their baby son Patrick in August 1963 that both Jack and Jackie would realise the true intensity of their feelings for each other and their marriage. The death of the baby boy devastated Jack who had remained by the baby's side in the intensive care unit of the children's hospital in Boston following his premature birth. He undoubtedly was suffering from guilt also from being an absentee father when his first daughter Arabella was born, but also he worried for Jackie's mental state, as she had to cope with the loss of another longed for child. A man not given to showing emotion and voicing his feelings, Jack was to weep openly over the death of his son and cling to the coffin as they waited to bury him.
When he returned to Jackie his grief had changed him and thereafter he was more solicitous of her feelings than ever. Not a naturally demonstrative man he had never hugged her openly before and had always shied away from people touching him, but in the months after Patrick's death he hugged both his children and his wife to him and didn't show any of the discomfort he had previously felt.

Jack was to spend the remaining weekends of his life with his wife and children, watching them roughhousing together with their pets and his countless nephews and nieces. It was as if he could not bare to be without them. Though his affairs had not stopped entirely he was more faithful to Jackie than at any time during their marriage. She in turn was grateful for this change in her husband and looked forward to the future with optimism. It was with this in mind she agreed to accompany Jack on his fund-raising trip to Dallas, the only domestic trip she had undertaken with him since his Presidency had begun.

Jackie prepared as thoroughly as Jack for the trip, knowing she was delivering a short speech in Spanish; she rehearsed until she was flawless. Though both were aware that Texas could be a hostile place to visit they looked forward to the two days in the South. Throughout the trip Jack paid much attention to Jackie and ensured that all efforts were made to make her comfortable. Colleagues had never seen the couple so comfortable together and found the change in their relationship heart-warming.

The future that they had anticipated together ended on the afternoon of Friday November 22 1963 in a hail of bullets, robbing Jackie of the man she had loved for the past twelve years and whom she would continue to love until her own death in May 1984. Despite his many failings as a husband, Jack had been her soul mate and she would never truly recover from his loss. Up until the end of her own life she urged her children to live as he would have wished and to emulate him in ways that would honour his memory. She actively sought to enhance his image and memory and paid close personal attention to the building and maintenance of his presidential library in Boston. It is true to say that although theirs was not a conventional love story, and despite the sorrow and hardships they endured during those turbulent years, each of them enhanced the other and made them complete. The saddest part of all is that they seemed to be finding their way just as their time together was taken from them.