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Before Jackie Kennedy started dating her future first husband John F. Kennedy, in 1953, she was supposed to wed someone else (but her mother had a different future in mind for her)!
Back in 1951, Jackie started seeing a stockbroker named John G. W. Husted, Jr. after she graduated from Vassar College, per People, and by the end of the year, they were engaged to be wed! Everything seemed great for the pair, and they were on their way to living the high life together; but something happened.
Two months after their wedding plans were announced, and three months before their June 1952 wedding, Jackie called off the wedding because of her mother’s concerns.
According to J. Randy Taraborrelli’s 2018 biography , Jackie’s mother Janet Auchincloss wasn’t too keen on Husted’s annual salary. At the time, he was making around $17,000 a year (which would equal $174,000 a year today). She allegedly thought it was too little to support her daughter, reportedly telling her, “That was less money than your father made when I married him.”
So, how did Jackie end it? Per People, Jackie broke off their engagement at their own “engagement party,” and allegedly “dropped the ring back into Husted’s coat pocket.” However, per Vanity Fair, it seemed as though Jackie wasn’t too in love with Husted to begin with since he resembled the men she grew up with.
Now, did she regret it later in life? Nope. Per UVA Today, Jackie wrote a letter to one of her colleagues, saying, “Things have been rather confused — I was engaged to John Husted — and now I’m not anymore. It wasn’t a very happy time for a while but now I know it was right to break it. I went into it too fast and then it seemed very wrong. If it hadn’t affected another person I’d say it was good that it happened — it made me grow up and I needed to do that.”
Soon after breaking off her engagement in 1952, she moved on with JFK, whom she met while she was engaged to Husted.
Before you go, click here to see photos of all the many Jackie Kennedy has dated.
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