John F. Kennedy

* Real World
* Timeless (1934)
* Timeless (1962)

### Sibling(s)

Eight, including Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Robert F. "Bobby" Kennedy and Theodore M. "Ted" Kennedy

## In the Timeless Universe

### Played by

Scott Bailey (“Atomic City”)
Grant Jordan (“The Kennedy Curse”)

**John Fitzgerald Kennedy**, often known as **Jack** or **JFK**, was the 35th President of the United States.

Kennedy was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, and was the second oldest of nine children. As a young boy, Kennedy often looked up to his older brother Joe as a role model. Joe Kennedy was originally supposed to become president because Kennedy’s father had always been determined to have the oldest of his children become the leader of the free world. However, Joe’s death left Kennedy next in line.

Kennedy graduated from Harvard University, then served in the U.S. Navy on PT boats in the Pacific during WWII, where he was severely injured; his back injury would trouble him the rest of his life. After the war, he entered politics, and in 1953 was elected to the U.S. Senate after having served in the House of Representatives. That same year, Kennedy married Jacqueline Bouvier. While a Senator, he wrote the Pulitzer Prize winning collection of short biographies entitled "Profiles in Courage."

In 1960, Kennedy was elected President, narrowly defeating Republican candidate Richard Nixon. Kennedy was the first Catholic elected President. During his presidency, tensions between the U.S. and the communist Iron Curtain countries grew, and the failed Bay of Pigs invasion, designed to remove Castro from office, lead to the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Kennedy administration first sent troops to Viet Nam, but also fought for a nuclear test ban treaty, a partial success.

On the home front, Kennedy stood behind the civil rights movement, and founded the Peace Corps. Kennedy was also notable for proposing the first services to children with disabilities in public schools. Although his domestic policies were not as successful as his foreign policy, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 shortly after his assassination.

Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald on November 22, 1963 in Dallas, Texas. He was the first Democratic President to be murdered in office. Although his killer, Lee Harvey Oswald, is largely believed to have acted alone, his death remains the topic of numerous conspiracy theories, with responsibility for his assassination believed to originate with groups as varying as the mafia to his own politically ambitious Vice President's inner circle.

### “Atomic City”

Lucy Preston, Wyatt Logan, and Rufus Carlin travel to September 21, 1962, when Kennedy was staying at the Sands Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas for a Democratic National Committee fundraiser. At the hotel, Kennedy continued an affair with Judith Campbell. Garcia Flynn takes photographs of this affair to blackmail Campbell. Flynn's plan was to use Campbell to gain access to a plutonium core of an atom bomb and steal it, though Lucy, Wyatt, and Rufus initially thought Flynn was going to assassinate Kennedy earlier.

After a performance by the Rat Pack, Frank Sinatra welcomes Kennedy on the stage. During the 1960 election, Frank Sinatra's song "High Hopes" was actually sung by one of Kennedy's campaign managers during a campaign rally.

### “Karma Chameleon”

Anthony Bruhl explains that Rittenhouse has always fought against rebels and outliers to try to keep their power. He uses both Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as an example, implying that Rittenhouse was behind both of their assassinations.

### “The Kennedy Curse”

Wyatt and Rufus bring a 17-year-old JFK back to the present to escape a Rittenhouse sleeper agent, Mr. Greer, trying to kill him. Kennedy escapes the bunker, believing he had been kidnapped and finds himself in 2018 San Francisco. At a gas station, he meets Kayla and joins her and her friends, who are driving to a house party in Palo Alto. Kennedy tells Kayla about being from the past, though Kayla does not believe him at first. The stop at a hospital, but leave just before Emma Whitmore is able to find him. At the house party, Kayla, seeing an old photo of a youthful Kennedy on her iPad, and finally believes him. Kayla tells him that he becomes President, but also about his siblings' deaths and his eventual assassination. Eventually, Wyatt, Lucy, and Jessica find Kennedy and bring him back to the bunker before Emma can find him.

At the bunker, Lucy talks to Kennedy. He asks her if he was a good president, and she says he was one of the greatest. Before they take Kennedy onto the Lifeboat to return him to his own timeline, Rufus warns him not to go to Dallas in 1963. However, after he is sent back to the past, and Rufus asks what they know about Kennedy, Agent Christopher tells him that Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, in Austin rather than Dallas; Jiya suggests that it was meant to be.