This coming May 29, 2017, would’ve been President John F. Kennedy’s 100th birthday. To celebrate the occasion, Boston-based online auctioneer RR Auction—which in the past has offered some extremely rare JFK items—is one-upping itself, with a cache of rare, mostly never-before-seen early images of the future president.
The photos, which span 1946-63, chronicle Kennedy’s personal and professional history. There are more than a dozen of the early years of Camelot, including his wedding to Jacqueline Bouvier in 1953. Many more document his political career, including his first congressional campaign in ’46, run for U.S. Senate in ’52, and a early years in the White House. Some feature the future president with President Harry S. Truman and politician Adlai Stevenson, as well as baseball greats Ted Williams and Hank Greenberg.
The photos were most recently part of businessman Ronnie Paloger’s private collection. Take a look at some of the highlights below.
Jackie sliding down the hill after taking wedding party photos on the 300-acre ocean-front estate Hammersmith Farm, where the wedding reception was held for over 1,200 guests on September 12, 1953, JFK is seen holding her hand and Ted Kennedy is seen directly behind her. (Courtesy RR Auction)
John and Jacqueline Kennedy outside of St. Mary’s Church in Newport, Rhode Island, on September 12, 1953. (Courtesy RR Auction)
Candid group photo of the Kennedy-Bouvier wedding party on September 12, 1953 on the grounds of the 300 acre Auchincloss oceanfront estate, Hammersmith Farm. (Courtesy RR Auction)
Group photo of the Kennedy-Bouvier wedding party on September 12, 1953, on the grounds of the 300 acre Auchincloss oceanfront estate, Hammersmith Farm.(Courtesy RR Auction)
John and Jacqueline Kennedy standing with their mothers in the reception area at the 300 acre oceanfront Auchincloss Estate. (Courtesy RR Auction)
Jackie and John in the reception area at Hammersmith Farm (Jackie’s step-father’s estate) on their wedding day on September 12, 1953. (Courtesy RR Auction)
Newlyweds John and Jacqueline Kennedy cutting their wedding cake, with Jackie’s half-sister and flower girl Janet Auchincloss looking on. (Courtesy RR Auction)
Recently engaged John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier sitting on the front lawn of the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port in the summer of 1953. (Courtesy RR Auction)
President Harry S. Truman enjoying breakfast with John F. Kennedy for a photo op during the latter’s 1952 senatorial campaign. (Courtesy RR Auction)
Smiling Kennedy in the center of a crowd at a ‘Youth for Kennedy’ rally during his 1952 senatorial campaign. (Courtesy RR Auction)
JFK campaigning in front of a market in the Italian neighborhood in East Boston during the 1952 race for the Senate. (Courtesy RR Auction)
John F. Kennedy celebrating his congressional primary victory with his parents and campaign supporters on June 18, 1946. (Courtesy RR Auction)
Kennedy in 1946 being sworn in as commander of VFW POST NO. 5880 which JFK formed to honor his late brother Lt. Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. whose banner he marched behind on June 17, 1946 in the annual Bunker Hill Day Parade. (Courtesy RR Auction)
John F. Kennedy marching in a parade during his 1946 congressional campaign. (Courtesy RR Auction)
Kennedy in his Beacon Hill apartment on 112 Bowdoin St., Boston, speaking on the telephone and showing off a handful of telegrams. This was one of the ‘official’ images used to promote his campaign for the Senate in 1952. (Courtesy RR Auction)
John F. Kennedy smiling with his adoring fans at the ‘Meet the Kennedys’ congressional campaign event at the Commodore Hotel on June 15, 1946. (Courtesy RR Auction)
Young John F. Kennedy marching in the annual Charlestown Bunker HillDay Parade on June 17, 1946, a day before Kennedy was declared the overwhelming winner of the Democratic primary in Massachusetts’s 11th congressional district. (Courtesy RR Auction)
John F. Kennedy wearing a striped suit and sitting on a table in his Beacon Hill apartment. (Courtesy RR Auction)
Kennedy practicing his oration skills in his Beacon Hill apartment in 1948. (Courtesy RR Auction)
Kennedy family gathered around Caroline’s horse, Leprechaun, on the White House lawn, taken on September 30, 1963. (Courtesy RR Auction)
President John F. Kennedy with his son, John F. Kennedy, Jr., walking from the South Lawn to the West Wing Colonnade of the White House on October 10, 1963. (Courtesy RR Auction)
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