May 26, 2020 (Tuesday)
John F. Kennedy was born May 29, 1917 in Brookline, Massachusetts, and died November 22, 1963 in Dallas, Texas. He married Jacqueline Lee Bouvier and they had two children, Caroline and John. He was the 35th President of the United States, serving 1961-1963.
He was 43 at his inauguration and 45 at his death by assassination.
John F. Kennedy is most famous for being assassinated early in his presidency. He is also famous for the Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban missile crisis.
John grew up in a wealthy and powerful political family in Brookline, Massachusetts. It was also a big family as he had three brothers and five sisters. John’s father Joe had the dream that one of his sons would become president. He sent them to the best schools and expected that his oldest son, Joe Jr., would be president one day.
John graduated from Harvard in 1940 with honors. He then traveled to Great Britain to be with his father who was the U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain at the time. Here he learned firsthand about World War II and realized that the U.S. would likely be involved before it was over. He tried to join the army, but couldn’t get in because he had a bad back. So he joined the Navy and was in command of a patrol torpedo boat when it was sunk. He survived and became something of a war hero. Sadly, his older brother Joe wasn’t as lucky and died in combat during the war.
When Joe Jr. died, John’s father turned to John to become president. He got John involved in politics and helped John to get elected to the U.S. Congress in 1947. In 1955 he won the Pulitzer Prize in history for the book Profiles in Courage.John served as congressman for six years and then became a U.S. Senator in 1953.
Kennedy ran for president in 1960 against current Vice President Richard Nixon. He won in one of the closest elections in history. When he was elected he gave one of the most stirring inaugural speeches in history. In this speech he said the famous words “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.”
Just a few months after becoming president, Kennedy decided to try and help Cuban rebels overthrow the communist Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Unfortunately, the invasion failed miserably when the CIA-assisted rebels were soundly defeated. This event is called the Bay of Pigs because of the name of the bay where the invasion took place.
In 1962 the United States discovered that the Soviet Union was building secret missile bases in Cuba. These missiles would be able to strike the U.S. with nuclear bombs. In the unfolding days the U.S. and the Soviet Union came close to nuclear war. The U.S. quarantined Cuba in order to keep the missiles out. After negotiations, the Soviet Union agreed to dismantle the bases. In return, the U.S. agreed never to attack Cuba and to remove missiles from Turkey.
On November 22, 1963 John F. Kennedy was shot by Lee Harvey Oswald while riding in a convertible car in Dallas, Texas.
John F. Kennedy – President 1961-1963