Born: May 29, 1917
Died: November 22, 1963 Place of Birth: Brookline, Massachusetts
Major Notes:
John Kennedy was the son of the wealthy Joseph P. Kennedy who, at one time, was the US Ambassador to Great Britain.
The Kennedys were a large family of nine children and the father encouraged them to take leadership roles.
Kennedy received an excellent education and graduated cum laude from Harvard University in 1940.
He injured his back seriously when he was playing football at Harvard; an injury that he suffered with most of his life.
In 1941, after working to strengthen his back, Kennedy was accepted into the US Navy.
By 1943, he had been promoted to Lieutenant in charge of his own patrol torpedo boat, the PT-109.
Kennedy proved himself a hero when his boat was rammed by a Japanese destroyer and yet he managed to get his crew to a nearby island.
In the above incident, Kennedy had hurt his back again but managed to swim the three miles to the island while he was towing one of his crew.
After the war, he began his political career by successfully running for the House of Representatives as a Democrat.
He was re-elected twice and then, in 1952, ran for the Senate defeating Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., the Republican incumbent.
Kennedy was known for sometimes going against his own party for the good of his Massachusetts constituents.
He spoke for censure of the Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy, who through a public investigation, was ruining many people's lives by branding them communists.
In 1953, he married Jacqueline Bouvier, a local photographer and debutante, and the couple later had two children.
Kennedy continued to have constant back pain and underwent several operations.
It was while hospitalized, he wrote a book entitled "Profiles of Courage" which went on to win a Pulitzer Prize for Biography.
In 1960, he was chosen as the Democrats nomination for US President and he was successful in a close election against then Vice President Richard Nixon.
Kennedy's running mate for Vice President was a well-known Texan, Senator Lydon B. Johnson.
Kennedy, his wife, and children brought a youthful vitality to the White House and his messages for Americans were often heard around the world.
Following an unsuccessful CIA-led invasion of Cuba, Kennedy faced down Soviet Premier Nikita Khruschev in what was called the "Cuban Missile Crisis."
He promoted US space technology and welcomed desegregation, particularly in two learning institutions, the University of Mississippi and the University of Alabama.
John Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, supposedly by a lone gunman Lee Harvey Oswald, although there is much speculation of a possible conspiracy.
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