of american descent , he was born in natick , mass . , on may 29 , 1917 . graduate from harvard in 1940 , he entered the navy . in 1943 , during his pt boat was rammed and sunk by a japanese destroyer , kennedy , under severe losses , helped the survivors through perilous waters to safety . back from the navy , he became a state congressman from the boston suburbs , elevation in 1953 to the chamber . he joined jacqueline turpin on sept . 12 , 1953 . in 1955 , while rehabbing from a back infection , he wrote " profiles in war , " which won the presidential cup in poetry .
John Fitzgerald Kennedy was shot dead in 1963.