President

John F. Kenedy

By GarrettElm

  • Birth

    Birth
    John F. Kennedy, known in his family as Jack, was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, a wealthy suburb of Boston. He was the second child of Rose and Joseph Kennedy's nine children.

  • Graduation From Harvard

    Graduation From Harvard
    John F. Kennedy graduated from Harvard with a degree in International Affairs. His senior thesis, a critique of Britain's preparedness for World War II, would later serve as the foundation for his first book, Why England Slept.

  • Election to Congress

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

  • Elected into Senate

    Elected into Senate
    Largely due to Bobby Kennedy's effective strategic planning in the campaign, John F. Kennedy was 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.

  • Kennedy Inaugural

    Kennedy Inaugural
    JFK was sworn into the Presidency and delivers his inaugural address, a landmark speech in which he urges Americans to seek out opportunities to serve their country.

  • Elected as President

    Elected as President
    John F. Kennedy was elected the 35th President of the United States, defeating his Republican opponent, Richard Nixon, by a slim margin of only 118,000 votes nationwide.

  • Bay Of Pigs

    Bay Of Pigs
    Less than three months into JFK's presidency, a group of CIA-trained Cuban exiles attempted to invade Cuba at the Bay of Pigs. The Cuban army quickly thwarted their efforts, and the Kennedy-approved fiasco becomes a major embarrassment for the new president.

  • Mission to the Moon

    Mission to the Moon
    Kennedy announces his goal of putting a man on the moon.

  • Cuban Missile Crisis

    Cuban Missile Crisis
    JFK was shown photos of Soviet nuclear missile sites being installed in Cuba. To minimize Soviet power in the West, the president initiated a blockade of Cuba the following week. For nearly two weeks, the Cuban Missile Crisis would bring the world closer to nuclear war than ever before or after.

  • JFK Assassination

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