Born: 1929

Died: 1994

Jackie Bouvier grew up in “society” in New York, Newport and northern Virginia. Although Catholic, Jackie’s parents were divorced. Her father, a handsome Wall Street broker and bon vivant, was also a spender and a drinker. But he and Jackie, his firstborn, adored each other. Raised by her mother and wealthy stepfather, Jackie rode horses, went to prep school, studied in Paris, was “Debutante of the Year,” and graduated college. She was a Washington news photographer when she met Jack Kennedy, a rich and handsome Congressman 12 years her senior. They wed in 1953, Jack by then a Senator and aiming higher. Jackie helped his campaigns, writing a “Campaign Wife” column and meeting with the press, but her heart’s desire was children. She bore four, but only two survived.

First Lady at 31, Jackie brought youth, beauty and exquisite taste to the White House. Her first priority was her little ones, whose antics delighted the nation. But she also undertook the historic restoration of the White House, helped preserve Lafayette Square, and pushed for government funding for the arts. A glamorous hostess, Jackie invited leading artists and intellectuals to the White House and charmed statesmen around the world. Supremely dignified throughout the ordeal of her husband’s assassination, she then left political life but never escaped the spotlight. Wed to tycoon Aristotle Onassis from 1968 till his 1975 death, Jackie then became an editor in New York. She died at home at 65.

Thirty-Fifth President
John F. Kennedy

Born: 1917, Brookline, MA
Died: 1963

John F. Kennedy was blessed with wealth, charm, intelligence and good looks. He was the second child of a Boston millionaire whose driving ambition was to put a son in the White House. After graduating from Harvard, “Jack” joined the Navy. He earned a hero’s medal for leading his surviving crew to safety, despite a grave back injury, after the Japanese sunk his PT boat. When his older brother was killed in action, Jack inherited the politician’s mantle. Elected to the U.S. House and then the Senate, he lost his bid for the Democratic Vice-Presidential nomination in 1956. In 1960, he led the ticket. Aided by his TV debates and choice of Lyndon Johnson as his running mate, JFK narrowly defeated Richard Nixon — becoming the nation’s first Catholic and youngest elected President.

In 1961 Kennedy supported a failed mission by anti-Castro Cuban exiles at the Bay of Pigs. The next year, the Soviets put nuclear missiles in Cuba, but withdrew them after JFK imposed a naval blockade. Tensions eased with the 1963 nuclear test ban treaty though the “space race” continued. A supporter of the arts, JFK was also mindful of the disadvantaged. He founded the Peace Corps and proposed wide-ranging civil rights legislation though he never saw its enactment. On November 22, 1963, he was shot to death in a Dallas motorcade. The nation watched and mourned as he was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Thirty-Fifth President
Democrat