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Born in Brookline, Mass., the son of Joe and Rose Kennedy (Fitzgerald) and the great-grandson of Irish immigrants.
http://www.jfklibrary.org/John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the son of Joseph Patrick Kennedy and Rose Fitzgerald, was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, on 29th May, 1917. His great grandfather, Patrick Kennedy , had emigrated from Ireland in 1849 and his grandfathers, Patrick Joseph Kennedy and John Francis Fitzgerald , were important political figures in Boston . Kennedy's father was a highly successful businessman who later served as ambassador to Great Britain. -
Graduated Cum Laude with a bachelor of science degree from Harvard University.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/johnfkennedy In 1940 Kennedy graduated from Harvard University with a science degree. The same year saw the publication of Why England Slept (1940), a book on foreign policy. He joined the United States Navy in 1941 and became an intelligence officer. After the United States entered the Second World War , -
While on active duty in Blackett Strait, North Solomon Islands in the Pacific,PT-109 is sunk by the Japanese. Kennedy performed heroically in rescuing his crew.
[goo.gl/BK9ZY](goo.gl/BK9ZY)Sent to the South Pacific, in August 1943, his boat was hit by a Japanese destroyer. Two of his crew were killed but the other six men managed to cling on to what remained of the boat. After a five hour struggle Kennedy, and what was left of his crew, managed to get to an island five miles from where the original incident took place. -
Honorably discharged from the Navy with the full rank of lieutenant.
[goo.gl/UkZgB](goo.gl/UkZgB) Kennedy suffered a bad back injury and in December 1943 was sent back to the United States. When he recovered he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant and became a PT instructor in Florida. After a further operation on his back he returned to civilian life in March 1945. For the next twelve months he worked as a journalist covering the United Nations Conference in San Francisco and the 1945 General Election in Britain. -
Elected as a U.S. representative for the 11th Congressional District in Boston at age 29.
[goo.gl/eLduf](goo.gl/eLduf) A member of the Democratic Party , Kennedy won election to the House of Representatives in 1946. Over the next couple of years he established himself as a loyal supporter of Harry S. Truman . In Congress he advocated progressive taxation, the extension of social welfare and more low-cost public housing. He was also a leading opponent of the Taft-Hartley Bill. -
Elected as senator from Massachusetts.
[goo.gl/n5BO6](goo.gl/n5BO6) Kennedy was elected to the Senate in 1952. The following year he married Jacqueline Bouvier , the daughter of a New York City financier. Over the next few years four children were born but only two, Caroline and John, survived infancy. Kennedy continued to suffer from back problems and had two operations in October 1954 and February 1955. While recovering in hospital he wrote the Pulitzer Prize winning Profiles in Courage (1956). -
Loses his bid for the Democratic nomination for vice president.
[goo.gl/dtxW7](goo.gl/dtxW7) At the Democratic National Convention in 1956 he was unsuccessful in a bid for the vice-presidential nomination. Ironically, Kennedy lost to another TV senator, Estes Kefauver of Tennessee, whose national reputation had been created several years earlier when he chaired televised hearings into crime in America. Still, from the loss to Kefauver, Kennedy gained increased national exposure and political credibility. -
Announces his candidacy for president of the United States.
[goo.gl/nlS18](goo.gl/nlS18) In 1960 Kennedy entered the race to become the Democratic Party presidential candidate. Kennedy won Democratic primaries in New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, Oregon, Maryland, Nebraska and West Virginia. At the national convention in July 1960, Kennedy was nominated on the first ballot. He selected Lyndon B. Johnson , as his running mate. -
Defeats Richard M. Nixon to become the 35th president of the United States.
[goo.gl/YgpBP](goo.gl/YgpBP) The 1960 election became a debate over experience. Although the two candidates had both come to Congress in 1946, Nixon tried to strengthen his position by playing up his foreign policy work as Vice President. Also, at forty-three, Kennedy's youthful appearance did not help to discourage the attacks of Nixon. At the end of the day, citizens viewed Kennedy as a greater strength for the United States. -
Takes oath of Office.
[goo.gl/qD5Qd](goo.gl/qD5Qd) At age 43, takes the oath of office to become the 35th president of the United States. He is the youngest elected president and the first president to be Roman Catholic. In his inaugural speech, Kennedy speaks these words: "And so, my fellow Americans ... ask not what your country can do for you ... ask what you can do for your country.” -
Signs a bill creating the Peace Corps.
[goo.gl/87J4K](goo.gl/87J4K) He announced the establishment of the Peace Corps, a scheme that intended to send 10,000 young people to serve in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Kennedy argued that this "practical, inexpensive, person-to-person program will plant trust, good will and a capacity for self-help" in the underdeveloped world for the overall benefit of everyone. -
Moon Speech.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouRbkBAOGEw Delivers a speech at Rice University, pledging that the United States will put a man on the moon "before the end of this decade." Seven years later, on July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong walks on the moon. This was great achievement for the United States who were usually beaten by the soviets in Space exploration. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
[goo.gl/ficfc](goo.gl/ficfc) United States intelligence discovers that the Russians are building missile sites in Cuba, thus beginning the Cuban Missile Crisis. Kennedy ordered a naval and air quarantine on all shipments of weapons to Cuba. Armed conflict seems imminent; however, the Soviets retreat and promise not to set up the missiles. The United States agrees not to attack Cuba. -
Civil Rights
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWX_pjyIq-g During a visit to Germany, Kennedy speaks to an enormous crowd at Schoneberger Rathaus in the Rudolph Wilde Platz on June 26. Kennedy's stirring words on freedom excite the crowd: "All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin and therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words "Ich bin ein Berliner." -
Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
[goo.gl/KyQtX](goo.gl/KyQtX) President John F. Kennedy signs the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in Washington, D.C.: "with our courage and understanding enlarged by this achievement, let us press onward in quest of man's essential desire for peace." Wanted international peace and primarily to avoid situations similar to the Cuban Missile Crisis. -
JFK was assassinated in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, TX
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouRbkBAOGEw At about 12.30 p.m. the presidential limousine entered Elm Street. Soon afterwards shots rang out. John Kennedy was hit by bullets that hit him in the head and the left shoulder. Another bullet hit John Connally in the back. He had a massive wound to the head and at 1 p.m. he was declared dead.
