Newspaper Articles

Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy paid little attention to politics until she married into it.

For someone who professes to like the quiet, introspective life, she chose a man already in the public spotlight and with high ambition - Sen. John F. Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat.

A socialite heiress who looks like a fashion model, 30-year-old Jacqueline is now a vital participant in her 42-year-old husband's campaign for the presidency.

Among wives of the presidential hopefuls, Jacqueline Kennedy is the least experienced - even as an observer. She had only been eligible to vote about three years when she married Kennedy in 1953.

She was attending her very first convention in 1956 when her husband was so far up in the national political ladder that he came within 38 votes of the vice presidential nomination.

If the Kennedys make it to the White House, Jacqueline would be the youngest of presidential wives - except for Mrs. Grover Cleveland. Mrs. Cleveland, not quite 22, married a bachelor president already in office.

Though a Johnny-come-lately to the political arena, Mrs. Kennedy is being called on more and more for public appearances.

In Wisconsin, with the Kennedy clan pitted against the family of Sen. Hubert H. Humphrey (D-Minn), Mrs. Kennedy even did a bit of off-the-cuff speaking.

Mrs. Kennedy doesn't take to the hustings easily. She usually quits after a three-day stint on the dawn-to-midnight schedule.

A brunette with large hazel eyes, Jacqueline and her 6-foot-tall boyishly handsome husband make a couple out of a Hollywood set.

While Kennedy wows the ladies, his wife has the same effect on the men.

Jack was once cited by a group of college girls as "better than Elvis Presley." Jacqueline has lost none of the attractiveness that made her "the most beautiful debutante of the year" when she came out in Newport, R. I., and New York in 1948.

Their wedding in 1953 was the most lavish that fashionable Newport had seen in some time. It drew 4,000 to a church that seated 600.

Both are socialites from wealthy families. But while the Kennedys are dedicated Democrats, Jacqueline's Newport-Southhampton-Park Avenue-oriented parents are said to be so rabidly Republican that as a child she thought Franklin D. Roosevelt was the devil.

Jacqueline may be a newcomer to politics but she comes up quickly with an answer for anyone who suggests Jack may be handicapped in the presidential race because of his youthful appearance.

"I don't think of him as young - he looks worried, he has lines and everything. It's erroneous."

To her Jack is "a mature man with an incredible mind, who's enormously energetic."

Mrs. Kennedy doesn't mind if strangers call her husband "Jack." But she'd rather not be known as "Jackie." It's "Jacklin" as she pronounces it.

Her idea of the most desirable life is not a career, 20th century woman style, but the quiet, a background role of a wife, who can help her husband to success by organizing a pleasant home.

A product of private schools, with two years at Vassar, a year of study in France, master of several languages and a graduate of George Washington University, her major aim: "I'd like to have a lot of children."

After six years of marriage, she has just one child, blonde, 2-year-old Caroline.

Jacqueline met Jack - 12 years her senior - at a Washington party. At the time she was about 22 and embarked on her first and only job, with the Washington Times-Herald as its inquiring photographer.

Looking back, she says she applied for the newspaper job because she wanted to try her hand at writing. She worked about a year, quitting to marry Jack.

Some have tagged Kennedy's wife as cool and aloof. She gives the impression she would be content in another, slower, era, filling herself with knowledge for the inner satisfaction of it. She loves to read helter-skelter in many fields and to paint.

It is obvious that home is where Jacqueline Kennedy is most at home. She has put the stamp of her personality on their $70,000 narrow, red-brick Georgetown house.

The soft, comfortable, feminine decor stems from her knowledge of art, literature and music. She has searched antique shops for many of the empire pieces that highlight her interest in 18th century Europe.

A painting of distant sailboats by the French marine painter Louis Eugene Boudin hangs over the fireplace. On the mantle is her special favorite - a small French clock balanced on a bronze lion.

She said frankly in an interview she never cooks. A nurse has handled the more mundane aspects of caring for little Caroline. The problems of housekeeping do not concern her much.

Her aim, she says, is to make home a refuge for Jack when he has time to spend there.

Jacqueline Kennedy has adapted herself to the uncertain routine of politics, says she has learned to live from day to day and doesn't even think of what it might be like in the White House.

RICHWOOD - Policeman Bernard Dawson wasn't making any exceptions as he stopped traffic Wednesday to make way for a funeral procession.

One driver told Dawson he would have to get through because Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr. was in the car and was late for a speech at nearby Summersville.

It turned out Roosevelt was in the car. He was on his way to make a campaign speech on behalf of Sen. John F. Kennedy (D-Mass.).

"I don't care if you've got Abraham Lincoln in the car," said Dawson, "You'll have to wait." And they did.

OAK HILL (RNS) - Sen. John F. Kennedy (D-Mass) spoke before Collins High School students Wednesday morning after his press conference at WOAY Television Station.

He told the students that West Virginia has problems which have been publicized throughout the United States.

He was introduced by Mayor Joseph Keatley. Others on the platform were Mrs. Samuel Price and John Stephan Gray, president of student council.

Kennedy thinks from seeing students of the high schools and colleges, the state shows a high-noon in prosperity. He compared this state with his state of Massachusetts, in having had the same problems following the second war. The state has now begun to dig out. There is an economic revival and they are encouraging new industry in the way of electronics.

Kennedy said new industry depends on good students and good teachers. He thinks West Virginia's problems should be handled locally, state, and nationally.

He mentioned the area development bill and said the president is the center of action as he appoints officers who are in charge of the nation which effects each state. Kennedy said the president is responsible for the freedom of the United States and he should be a representative of the people.

Following the talk, some of the students asked questions on the issues of the campaign.