JFK

  • John F Kennedy was born

  • Jack gets carlet fever just before his third birthday and is hospitalized for two months.

  • Jack Kennedy begins high school at Choate, an elite boarding school in Connecticut. Despite his high intelligence and academic potential, Jack earns only mediocre grades.

  • John F. Kennedy graduates from Harvard with a degree in International Affairs. His thoughts World War II, will later serve as the foundation for his first book, Why England Slept.

  • Navy Enlistment on the eve of America's entry into World War II, JFK enlists in the Navy. His older brother, Joe Jr., is already training to be a navy pilot.

  • Joseph Kennedy, Jr., Jack's older brother, is killed while fighting in Europe. Jack, the second oldest Kennedy child, is now "next in line" for political leadership within the powerful Kennedy clan.

  • With the help of his father's campaign financing, Jack is elected to the United States House of Representatives from Massachusetts' 11th District.

  • Jack Kennedy's younger brother, Bobby, becomes his campaign manager in the 1952 Senate race, signaling the birth of an enduring political partnership between the two brothers.

  • Largely due to Bobby Kennedy's effective strategic planning in the campaign, John F. Kennedy is elected to the United States Senate. Joe Sr., Jack, and Bobby all consider the Senate seat to be a key step in Jack's political ascendancy.

  • John F. Kennedy establishes the Peace Corps by executive order.

  • Lee Harvey Oswald shoots and kills John F. Kennedy in Dallas, where the president is campaigning for re-election.