JFK and Jackie at Hyannis Port
The newly engaged couple, long before "Camelot"
Alex Q. Arbuckle
June 1953
In May 1952, Massachusetts Representative John Fitzgerald Kennedy and Washington Times-Herald photographer Jacqueline Lee Bouvier were first introduced at a dinner party in Washington, D.C. Both highly educated children of wealthy and influential families, they were frequently seen in the society pages and attended the same gatherings. They shared an immediate attraction.After winning a Senate seat in November 1952, Kennedy began courting Bouvier in earnest. Stories vary about where and when Kennedy first popped the question — some claim it was in Booth 3 of Martin’s Tavern in Georgetown on June 24, 1953, while others claim it took place over the phone, or at the Omni Parker House in Boston. Regardless when and where he proposed, their engagement was officially announced on June 25, 1953. That weekend, the happy couple took a trip to the Kennedy family home in Hyannis Port on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. They were accompanied by a reporter and photographer for LIFE magazine, which published an issue on July 20 with the headline “Senator Kennedy Goes a-Courting."
Now, I think that I should have known that he was magic all along. I did know it — but I should have guessed that it would be too much to ask to grow old with and see our children grow up together. So now, he is a legend when he would have preferred to be a man. - Jackie Kennedy
