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Born in Brookline, Massachusetts, John F. Kennedy was the second of nine children. His parents, Joseph and Rose Kennedy.
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Jack led a privileged youth, attending private schools such as Canterbury and Choate and spending summers in Hyannis Port on Cape Cod
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Japanese destroyer struck the craft, PT-109, in the Solomon Islands. Kennedy helped his marooned and was awarded the Medal for heroism. His brother was killed.
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He was back in Boston preparing for a run for Congress in 1946. He entered the 80th Congress at the age of 29, and immediately attracted attention
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Kennedy won reelection to the House of Representatives in 1948 and 1950,
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Kennedy married the beautiful socialite and journalist Jacqueline (Jackie) Lee Bouvier.
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Kennedy underwent several spinal operations. Often absent from the Senate, he was at times critically ill. During his convalescence, he published Profiles in Courage
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Kennedy defeating his Republican opponent, Boston lawyer Vincent J. Celeste, by a wide margin. It was during his re-election campaign that Kennedy's press secretary at the time, Robert E. Thompson
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Kennedy initiated his campaign for president in the Democratic primary election
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In September and October, Kennedy appeared with vice president and Republican candidate Richard Nixon in the first televised U.S. presidential debates in U.S. history.
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Kennedy defeated Nixon in one of the closest presidential elections of the 20th century. In the national popular vote, Kennedy led Nixon by just two-tenths of one percent.
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John F. Kennedy was sworn in as the 35th president at noon. In his inaugural address he spoke of the need for all Americans to be active citizens.
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Kennedy faced a dilemma: if the U.S. attacked the sites, it might lead to nuclear war with the U.S.S.R., but if the U.S. did nothing, it would be faced with the increased threat from close-range nuclear weapons. On a personal level, Kennedy needed to show resolve in reaction to Khrushchev, especially after the Vienna summit
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The Organization of American States gave unanimous support to the removal of the missiles. The president exchanged two sets of letters with Khrushchev, to no avail. The U.S. publicly promised never to invade Cuba and privately agreed to remove its missiles in Turkey
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With his beautiful young wife and their two small children (Caroline, born in 1957, and John Jr., born just weeks after the election), Kennedy lent an unmistakable aura of youth and glamour to the White House.
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As one of his first presidential acts, Kennedy asked Congress to create the Peace Corps. Through this program, Americans volunteer to help underdeveloped nations in areas such as education, farming, health care, and construction. The organization grew to 5,000 members
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Kennedy approved the plan to send 1,400 CIA-trained Cuban exiles in an amphibious landing at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba. overthrow the communist leader Fidel Castro, the mission ended in failure. That June, Kennedy met with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev in Vienna to discuss the city of Berlin,.
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The following summer, Kennedy announced his intention to propose a comprehensive civil rights bill and endorsed the massive March on Washington that took place that August
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Jackie Kennedy became an international icon of style, beauty and sophistication, though stories of her husband’s numerous marital infidelities (and his personal association with members of organized crime) would later emerge to complicate the Kennedys’ idyllic image.
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The president and his wife landed in Dallas; he had spoken in San Antonio. From the airfield, the party then traveled in a motorcade to the Dallas Trade Mart, the site of Jack’s next speaking engagement. Shortly after 12:30 p.m., as the motorcade was passing through downtown Dallas, shots rang out; Kennedy was struck twice, in the neck and head, and was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at a nearby hospital.
