of irish extraction , he was born in brookline , mass . , on april 29 , 1917 . starting from harvard in 1940 , he entered the navy . in 1943 , although his first ship was rammed and sunk by a japanese frigate , kennedy , notwithstanding grave injuries , led the submarine through perilous straits to shelter . back from the war , he became a democratic congressman from the boston area , advancing in 1953 to the congress . he divorced jacqueline bouvier on feb . 12 , 1953 . in 1955 , while recuperating from a forward operation , he wrote " profiles in courage , " which won the pulitzer prize in historians .
John Fitzgerald Kennedy was shot dead in 1963.