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Early life
John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born on May 29, 1917, in Brookline, Massachusetts. Both the Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys were wealthy and prominent Irish Catholic Boston families. Kennedy's paternal grandfather, P.J. Kennedy, was a wealthy banker and his maternal grandfather, John E. Fitzgerald was a skilled politician who served as a congressman and as the mayor of Boston. Kennedy's mother, Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald, was a Boston debutante, and his father, Joseph Kennedy Sr. -
John F. Kennedy in Harvard University
Kennedy transferred to Harvard University in 1936. There, he repeated his by then well-established academic pattern, but proving only an average student due to the omnipresent diversions of sports.
He wrote to Billings during his sophomore year, "I can now get tail as often and as free as I want which is a step in the right direction." Nevertheless, as an upperclassman, Kennedy finally grew serious about his studies and began to realize his potential. -
Why England Slept
Kennedy decided to research and write a senior thesis on why Britain was so unprepared to fight Germany in World War II. An incisive analysis of Britain's failures to meet the Nazi challenge, the paper was so well-received that upon Kennedy's graduation in 1940 it was published as book, Why England Slept, selling more than 80,000 copies. -
World War II and a Future in Politics
Kennedy joined the U.S. Navy and was assigned to command a patrol torpedo boat in the South Pacific. On August 2, 1943, his boat, PT-109, was rammed by a Japanese warship and split in two. Two sailors died and Kennedy badly injured his back. Hauling another wounded sailor by the strap of his life vest, Kennedy led the survivors to a nearby island, where they were rescued six days later.
The Navy and Marine Corps Medal for "extremely heroic conduct" -
JFK’S BEGINNINGS IN POLITICS
Then in 1946, at the age of 29, he decided to run for the U.S. House of Representatives from a working class district of Boston, a seat being vacated by Democrat James Michael Curly.
Kennedy found his work in Congress incredibly dull. Despite serving three terms, from 1946 to 1952, Kennedy remained frustrated by what he saw as stifling rules and procedures that prevented a young, inexperienced representative from making an impact. -
Congressman and Senator
In 1952 he became senator of Massachusetts. In 1956 he almost became running mate of Adlai Stevenson, but lost to Estes Kefauver of Tennessee: anyway, they lost the elections. In 1958 he won reelection in Massachusetts by 875,000 votes, the largest majority in the state's history. He was elected for president in November 1960, after a less than easy election contest. -
John F. Kennedy marries Jacqueline Bouvier in Newport, Rhode Island
Kennedy met a beautiful young woman named Jacqueline Bouvier at a dinner party and, in his own words, "leaned across the asparagus and asked her for a date." They were married on September 12, 1953. Jack and Jackie Kennedy had three children: Caroline Kennedy, John F. Kennedy Jr. and Patrick Kennedy. -
KENNEDY’S ROAD TO PRESIDENCY
In 1956, Kennedy was very nearly selected as Democratic presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson's running mate, but was ultimately passed over for Estes Kefauver from Tennessee. Four years later, Kennedy decided to run for president.
The election turned largely on a series of televised national debates in which Kennedy bested Nixon. On November 8, 1960, Kennedy defeated Nixon by a razor-thin margin to become the 35th president of the United States of America. -
Profiles in Courage
Kennedy continued to suffer frequent illnesses during his career in the Senate. While recovering from one surgery, he wrote another book, profiling eight senators who had taken courageous but unpopular stances. Profiles in Courage won the 1957 Pulitzer Prize for biography, and Kennedy remains the only American president to win a Pulitzer Prize. -
Democratic party
Kennedy and Harry Truman, promising a new surge of legislative innovation in the 1960s.
JFK hoped to pull together key elements of the Roosevelt coalition of the 1930s—urban minorities.
John F. Kennedy's New Frontier speech at the Democratic National Convention in 1960 set the stage for his presidency. 'We stand today on the edge of a New Frontier--the frontier of unknown opportunities and perils--a frontier of unfulfilled hopes and threats,' he proclaimed to the crowd in California. -
Kennedy vs Nixon
Selecting Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson as his running mate, Kennedy faced Vice President Richard Nixon in the general election. The election turned largely on a series of televised national debates in which Kennedy bested Nixon, an experienced and skilled debater.
On November 8, 1960, Kennedy defeated Nixon by a razor-thin margin to become the 35th president of the United States of America. -
John F. Kennedy Becomes The 35th President of the United States
At the age of 43, he was the second youngest American president in history, second only to Theodore Roosevelt, who assumed the office at 42. He was also the first Catholic president and the first president born in the 20th century. Delivering his legendary inaugural address on January 20, 1961, Kennedy sought to inspire all Americans to more active citizenship. "Ask not what your country can do for you," he said. "Ask what you can do for your country." -
Peace Corps and Alliance for Progress
Kennedy created the Peace Corps by executive order in 1961. By the end of the century, over 170,000 Peace Corps volunteers would serve in 135 countries. Also in 1961, Kennedy created the Alliance for Progress to foster greater economic ties with Latin America, in hopes of alleviating poverty and thwarting the spread of communism in the region. -
Kennedy presided over a series of international crises
he authorized a covert mission to overthrow leftist Cuban leader Fidel Castro with a group of 1,500 CIA-trained Cuban refugees. Known as the Bay of Pigs Invasion, the mission proved an unmitigated failure, causing Kennedy great embarrassment. -
International crises
Kennedy also presided over a series of international crises. On April 15, 1961, he authorized a covert mission to overthrow leftist Cuban leader Fidel Castro with a group of 1,500 CIA-trained Cuban refugees. Known as the Bay of Pigs Invasion, the mission proved an unmitigated failure, causing Kennedy great embarrassment. -
Civil Rights Act in 1964
Kennedy offered only tepid support for civil rights reforms early in his term. Nevertheless, in September 1962 Kennedy sent his brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy, to Mississippi to use the National Guard and federal marshals to escort and defend civil rights activist James Meredith as he became the first black student to enroll at the University of Mississippi on October 1, 1962. -
The greatest crisis administration.
Kennedy discovering that the Soviet Union had sent ballistic nuclear missiles to Cuba, Kennedy blockaded the island and vowed to defend the United States at any cost. After several of the tensest days in history, during which the world seemed on the brink of nuclear annihilation, the Soviet Union agreed to remove the missiles in return for Kennedy's promise not to invade Cuba and to remove American missiles from Turkey. -
Martin Luther King Jr. and John F. Kennedy: civil rights' wary allies
Near the end of 1963, in the wake of the March on Washington and Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Had a Dream" speech, Kennedy finally sent a civil rights bill to Congress. One of the last acts of his presidency and his life, Kennedy's bill eventually passed as the landmark Civil Rights Act in 1964. -
Assassination
November 22, Kennedy, along with his wife and Texas governor John Connally, rode through cheering crowds in downtown Dallas in a Lincoln Continental convertible. From an upstairs window of the Texas School Book Depository building, a 24-year-old warehouse worker named Lee Harvey Oswald, a former Marine with Soviet sympathies, fired upon the car, hitting the president twice. Kennedy died at Parkland Memorial Hospital shortly thereafter, at the age of 46. -
Jhon F. Kennedy was an American hero.
John F. Kennedy is a hero — a visionary politician who, if not for his untimely death, might have averted the political and social turmoil of the late 1960s. In public-opinion polls, Kennedy consistently ranks with Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln as among the most beloved American presidents of all time. -
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UAEM
UAPH, Licenciatura en Lenguas
Hernández Gallardo Elizabeth
5to Semestre
Estudios contemporaneos del inglés.
