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The Beginning
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, son of Rose and Joseph Kennedy is born in Brookline, Massachusetts (suburb of Boston). The second of nine children. -
Graduation
John F. Kennedy graduates from Harvard with a degree in International Affairs. His senior thesis was a critique of Britain's preparedness for World War II. He will later write a book based on this thesis. He'll call his book "Why England Slept". In October 1941 JFK will enlist in the Navy to join WWII. -
Command of PT Boat
After an eight-week training course in Rhode Island, Kennedy is assigned to take command of a patrol boat stations in the South Pacific. It took him a month and a half to go from San Francisco to the Solomon Islands. -
Sinking of PT 109
Kennedy's patrol boat collides with a Japanese destroyer. Two of the men are killed instantly, the men that are left are severely injured (including JFK). JFK then instructs all the men to abondon ship and leads them to a nearby island. -
The Debate
John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon are a part of the first ever televised pesidential debate. JFK is very charming in the debate which makes people fall in love with him...turning point in the campain. -
The Election
Kennedy defeats Nixon! JFK is elected to be the 35th president of the United States. He defeated (republican) Richard Nixon of only 118,000 votes nationwide and becomes the youngest president ever elected. -
Bay of Pigs
Less than 3 months into the presidency, a group of CIA-trained cuban exiles attempts to invade Cuba at the Bay of Pigs. The Cuban army stops them, and this becomes and embarrassment for the president. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
JFk is shown pictures of the Soviet nuclear missile sites being installed in Cuba. To minimize the power, the president initiates a blockade of Cuba the following week. For the next two weeks, known as the cuban missile crisis will bring the world closer to nuclear war than it has ever been in the past. -
No more Missiles
JFK's efforts were noted by the soviets and after extreme tension between the Soviets and US the Cuban Missle Crisis ends. The Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev agrees to remove the missiles from Cuba. -
The End
Lee Harvey Oswald shoots JFK in the back of the head and kills him. While Kennedy and his wife Jackie are in the back of a car in Dallas, Texas campaigning for re-election JFK gets shot and dies.