Mary Barelli Gallagher, personal secretary to Jacqueline Kennedy during her years in the White House,  recalls the summer of 1953 to be suddenly the season for weddings in the Kennedy family.  The first wedding was Eunice Kennedy, sister of John F. Kennedy, in May to Sergeant Shriver.

Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy’s personal secretary tells her memories of the first time she saw Jacqueline Bouvier walking into Senator John F. Kennedy’s office.  First impression was of a very young woman, with dark, tousled hair, poised and friendly as she walked past the girls in the Senator’s office.  Years later, Mrs. Gallagher, personal secretary to Mrs. Kennedy read the memoirs of John H. Davis, Jackie’s cousin.  In those memoirs it was revealed that Mrs. Kennedy did not take the Senator John F. Kennedy too seriously because of his “outlandish ambition,” which was the then Senator Kennedy confided to Jackie that he “intended to become President.”

Mary Barelli Gallagher was Jacqueline Kennedy’s personal secretary from shortly before her marriage to Senator John F. Kennedy through the White House years and afterward for a total of eight years. 

When Jacqueline Kennedy visited the White for the first time as a tourist in 1941, she was disappointed to see so few historical furnishings on display.  She also disliked the fact that there were no booklets to inform visitors about the history of the great house.  Twenty years later, as first lady, she sought to change things to make the White House “the most perfect house in the United States.”

The early 1960s were extremely tumultuous times for the United States and the entire world.  When you visit the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum it is helpful to gain an understanding of this era in our world-wide history.