Inside John F. Kennedy and Jackie Kennedy's relationship, from their courtship to his assassination

1947: Before meeting his future wife, John F. Kennedy was climbing the political ranks. He was elected to the House of Representatives for Massachusetts in 1947.

Following the death of his older brother, Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., in World War II, John F. Kennedy was seen as the new political figure in the Kennedy family, according to History. 

1952: After graduating from George Washington University, Jacqueline Lee Bouvier won a 12-month junior editorship with Vogue.

However, an editor apparently made "condescending remarks" to her when she arrived, and she left on her first day, The New York Times reported.

1952: Bouvier got a receptionist job at The Washington Times-Herald.

According to "Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis: A Life," Bouvier asked for more challenging work and was tasked with doing man-on-the-street interviews. She notably spoke with 6-year-old Tricia Nixon before and after her father, Richard Nixon, was elected to the vice presidency.

In January that same year, Bouvier got engaged to stockbroker John G. W. Husted Jr. However, Bouvier called off the wedding soon after reportedly learning Husted wasn't as wealthy as she thought, People reported.

May 1952: Bouvier was introduced to Congressman John F. Kennedy, and the pair immediately hit it off.

The pair were introduced by a mutual friend, journalist Charles Bartlett, at a dinner party in Washington, DC. John was apparently instantly interested in pursuing Bouvier.

"My brother really was smitten with her right from the very beginning when he first met her at dinner," John's younger brother Ted Kennedy told author Sarah Bradford in "America's Queen," People reported.

"I've never met anyone like her," Kennedy said at the time, The Washington Post later reported.

November 1952: JFK won a seat in the Senate representing Massachusetts and proposed to Jackie.

According to Vogue, he proposed with a Van Cleef & Arpels ring set with a 2.88-carat diamond and 2.84-carat emerald.

Their engagement was the talk of the town. 

September 12, 1953: Jacqueline and John Fitzgerald Kennedy married in Newport, Rhode Island.

The wedding was one of the most high-profile celebrations of the decade, largely due to Kennedy's rising political star and the fact that both Kennedy and Bouvier came from influential families, Life Magazine reported. 

They were married in front of 600 guests, while 2,000 "society fans" gathered outside to cheer on the newlyweds after they had left the church. 

1956: Jackie gave birth to a stillborn daughter they called Arabella.

The couple had struggled conceiving, and Jackie had already had a miscarriage in 1955, the Huffington Post reported.

People reported Jackie later told her family she was considering divorce because John did not return from a cruise to be by her side after the death of their daughter.

The idea of divorce would come up again in their marriage, reportedly because of his affairs with other women.

"She wasn't naïve to it. They did have many conversations about it, and she did tell him that she was sick of it and she didn't like it," Jackie Kennedy biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli told People.

November 27, 1957: Their next child, Caroline Kennedy, was born.

Kennedy had recently won reelection and was serving as a junior Democratic senator, according to Biography.

January 2, 1960: Kennedy announced his plans to run for president.

The decision would mean 11 months of traveling across the country campaigning, according to the Kennedy Library.

However, a few weeks into the campaign, Jackie became pregnant, meaning she would have to stay home in Massachusetts while her husband hit the campaign trail. Jackie's pregnancy prevented her from joining him often, but she supported him by doing TV spots and magazine stories.

November 8, 1960: Kennedy won the election and became the 35th president of the United States, with Jackie by his side.

Upon his election, President John F. Kennedy and first lady Jackie Kennedy became a powerhouse political couple.

"We observe today not a victory of party but a celebration of freedom — symbolizing an end as well as a beginning — signifying renewal as well as change," Kennedy said in a speech at his inauguration, according to the Kennedy Library. "Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans."

Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra, who helped stage a gala the night before to pay off the campaign's debts, performed over inauguration weekend.

November 25, 1960: Their son John F. Kennedy Jr. was born.

A mere two weeks after Kennedy was named president-elect, Jackie gave birth to their first son, John F. Kennedy Jr. 

1961: Jackie restored and renovated the White House, making a lasting mark on America's most famous residence.

It was said that while taking a tour of the White House as a child, Jackie wasn't impressed by the home.

"From the outside, I remember the feeling of the place," she told Life Magazine, according to the Kennedy Library. "But inside, all I remember is shuffling through. There wasn't even a booklet you could buy. Mount Vernon and the National Gallery and the FBI made a far greater impression."

When she and her husband moved in 20 years later, she made it her mission to re-do the furnishings. According to the Kennedy Library, she focused on collecting antiques and incorporated heirloom pieces to emphasize the home's history and restore the White House — not just "decorate" it. 

According to the Kennedy Library, Kennedy had already spent the entire $50,000 budget allotted to the project just on furnishing the family's private quarters. However, she was able to finish the project by sourcing antiques on a loan.

"It was really the happiest time of my life," she once said of living in the White House, according to the Kennedy Library. "It was when we were the closest — I didn't realize the physical closeness of having his office ... in the same building and seeing him so many times a day."

May 19, 1962: Marilyn Monroe famously sang "Happy Birthday" to Kennedy, sparking a rumor they were having an affair.

Actor Marilyn Monroe performed a now-iconic rendition of "Happy Birthday" to him while she wore a glittering, skintight dress during a Democratic fundraiser in New York City. Jackie did not attend the event.

Taraborrelli, Jackie Kennedy's biographer, claims that in April 1962, roughly a month before Monroe performed for Kennedy and a month after the pair had engaged in a weekend-long affair, Monroe called Jackie asking for the president, but only to say hello.

"There was something about that phone call," Taraborelli told Fox News in 2023. "She later told family members that there was a haunting quality to Marilyn's voice that really stuck with her. And it's not like they even had any kind of deep conversation. But it was 10 years of wondering, was it really Marilyn Monroe? And that buzz stayed with the family."

August 1963: Their son Patrick Bouvier was born prematurely.

He suffered from a lung condition and died two days later on August 9, 1963, according to the Kennedy Library.

November 22, 1963: John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

The president was fatally shot while riding in a motorcade in downtown Dallas with Jackie, Texas Gov. John Connally, and his wife, Nellie, when shots suddenly rang out.

Kennedy was shot in the neck and the back, and doctors were unable to treat his injuries. Both raised Catholic, Jackie ensured that John received his last rites from Father Oscar Huber before being officially pronounced dead at 1 p.m. He was 46 years old. 

November 25, 1963: President John F. Kennedy was laid to rest.

Kennedy was buried at Arlington National Cemetery on his son John's third birthday.

After his death, Jackie worked diligently to carry on his legacy and preserve his memory. She created and oversaw the building of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum as a memorial to her husband, and carried on raising her young family. 

According to Time, she remarried Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis in 1968, though their marriage was more for security than a great love story.

"The first time you marry for love, the second for money, and the third for companionship," Kennedy was once quoted as saying, according to Forbes.

When Onassis died in 1975, she said, "Aristotle Onassis rescued me at a moment when my life was engulfed with shadows…We lived through many beautiful experiences together…for which I will be eternally grateful."

May 19, 1994: Kennedy died in her sleep from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma at the age of 64.

She was buried beside her husband a few days later in Arlington Cemetery.