In 1951 Jackie met John Fitzgerald Kennedy for the first time. The next year Kennedy was elected senator from Massachusetts and moved to Washington. The two continued to see each other and became engaged in June 1953. On September 12, 1953, Jacqueline Lee Bouvier married John Fitzgerald Kennedy at an enormous wedding that was the social event of the season. There were 1,300 guests at the reception. The only event that marred the wedding for the bride was the fact that her father, who had become an alcoholic, did not attend the wedding. Jackie Kennedy was a shy, private woman with little experience in politics or knowledge of politicians, but she was a help to her husband in many ways. She worked with him on his public speaking, helping to develop the charismatic style for which he would become so famous. In 1954 Kennedy had surgery to try to alleviate the constant pain he suffered from a back injury. Jackie spent the recovery period by his side. In 1956 there was speculation that John Kennedy would be the Democratic vice presidential nominee. Many members of the Kennedy family attended the convention, which was an exciting and exhausting one. Jackie was there to lend her support, despite the fact that she was seven months pregnant. Though Jack Kennedy gave a speech nominating Adlai Stevenson as the Democratic candidate for president, Estes Kefauver was selected as the vice presidential candidate. On August 23, soon after her husband had left for a short vacation, Jackie went into premature labor. The baby was stillborn, and it was Jackie's brother-in-law Bobby Kennedy who consoled her and made the arrangements for the baby's burial. In 1957 Jackie suffered another loss when her father died. This was also a difficult period in the Kennedy marriage. Much was rumored at the time and has been written subsequently about the various extramarital affairs that John Kennedy had both before and during his presidency, all of which undoubtedly put a strain on their marriage. On November 27, 1957, Caroline Bouvier Kennedy was born. Just months after Caroline's birth her father was up for reelection as senator from Massachusetts, and Jackie was active in the 1958 senatorial campaign as well. Jackie Becomes First Lady

Soon after Kennedy was returned to Washington by his constituents he began to seek the presidential nomination. Jackie campaigned vigorously for her husband until she became pregnant for the third time.