KENNEDY, John Fitzgerald - Biographical Information Senate Years of Service: 1953-1960 Party: Democrat Courtesy U.S. Senate Historical Office KENNEDY, John Fitzgerald, (brother of Edward M. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy, grandson of John Francis Fitzgerald, and uncle of Joseph Patrick Kennedy II and Patrick J.

Kennedy), a Representative and a Senator from Massachusetts and 35th President of the United States; born in Brookline, Norfolk County, Mass., May 29, 1917; attended the public and private schools of Brookline, Mass., Choate School, Wallingford, Conn., the London School of Economics at London, England, and Princeton University; graduated from Harvard University in 1940; attended Stanford University School of Business; during the Second World War served as a lieutenant in the United States Navy 1941-1945; PT boat commander in the South Pacific; author and newspaper correspondent; elected as a Democrat to the Eightieth, Eighty-first, and Eighty-second Congresses (January 3, 1947-January 3, 1953); did not seek renomination in 1952; elected to the United States Senate in 1952; reelected in 1958 and served from January 3, 1953 to December 22, 1960, when he resigned to become President of the United States; chairman, Special Committee on the Senate Reception Room (Eighty

-fourth and Eighty-fifth Congresses); unsuccessfully sought the Democratic vice presidential nomination in 1956; elected thirty-fifth President of the United States in 1960, and was inaugurated on January 20, 1961; died in Dallas, Tex., November 22, 1963, from the effects of an assassins bullet; remains returned to Washington, D.C.; lay in state in the Rotunda of the U.S.

Capitol, November 24-25, 1963; interment in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Va.; posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom on December 6, 1993. Bibliography American National Biography; Dictionary of American Biography; Burns, James M. John Kennedy: A Political Profile. New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, 1961; Sorenson, Theodore. Kennedy. 1965. Reprint. New York: Perennial Library, 1988; Dallek, Robert. An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963. Boston: Little Brown Co., 2003. Life of John F. Kennedy - John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum Life of John F. Kennedy Life of John F. Kennedy Life of John F. Kennedy Growing Up in the Kennedy Family Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, who was a very disciplined and organized woman, made the following entry on a notecard, when her second child was born: John Fitzgerald Kennedy Born Brookline, Mass.

(83 Beals Street) May 29, 1917 In all, Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy would have nine children, four boys and five girls. She kept notecards for each of them in a small wooden file box and made a point of writing down everything from a doctor’s visit to the shoe size they had at a particular age. John Fitzgerald Kennedy was named in honor of Rose’s father, John Francis Fitzgerald, the Boston Mayor popularly known as Honey Fitz. Before long, family and friends called this small blue-eyed baby, Jack. Jack was not a very healthy baby, and Rose recorded on his notecard the childhood diseases from which he suffered, such as: "whooping cough, measles, chicken pox." On February 20, 1920 when Jack was not yet three years old, he became sick with scarlet fever, a highly contagious and then potentially life-threatening disease. His father, Joseph Patrick Kennedy, was terrified that little Jack would die. Mr. Kennedy went to the hospital every day to be by his son’s side, and about a month later Jack took a turn for the better and recovered.

But Jack was never very healthy, and because he was always suffering from one ailment or another his family used to joke about the great risk a mosquito took in biting him – with some of his blood the mosquito was almost sure to die! When Jack was three, the Kennedys moved to a new home a few blocks away from their old house in Brookline, a neighborhood just outside of Boston. It was a lovely house with twelve rooms, turreted windows, and a big porch. Full of energy and ambition, Jack’s father worked very hard at becoming a successful businessman. When he was a student at Harvard College and having a difficult time fitting in as an Irish Catholic, he swore to himself he would make a million dollars by the age of 35. There was a lot of prejudice against Irish Catholics in Boston at that time, but Joseph Kennedy was determined to succeed. Jack’s great-grandparents had come from Ireland and managed to provide for their families, despite many hardships. Jack’s grandfathers did even better for themselves, both becoming prominent Boston politicians. Jack, because of all his family had done, could enjoy a very comfortable life. The Kennedys had everything they needed and more.

By the time Jack was eight there were seven children altogether. Jack had an older brother, Joe; four sisters, Rosemary, Kathleen, Eunice, and Patricia; and a younger brother, Robert. Jean and Teddy hadn’t been born yet. Nannies and housekeepers helped Rose run the household. At the end of the school year, the Kennedy children would go to their summer home in Hyannis Port on Cape Cod where they enjoyed swimming, sailing, and playing touch football. The Kennedy children played hard, and they enjoyed competing with one another. Joseph Sr. encouraged this competition, especially among the boys. He was a father with very high expectations and wanted the boys to win at sports and everything they tried. As he often said, "When the going gets tough, the tough get going." But sometimes these competitions went too far. One time when Joe suggested that he and Jack race on their bicycles, they collided head-on. Joe emerged unscathed while Jack had to have twenty-eight stitches. Because Joe was two years older and stronger than Jack, whenever they fought, Jack would usually get the worst of it. Jack was the only sibling who posed any real threat to Joe’s dominant position as the oldest child.

Jack was very popular and had many friends at Choate, a boarding school for adolescent boys in Connecticut. He played tennis, basketball, football, and golf and also enjoyed reading. His friend Lem Billings remembers how unusual it was that Jack had a daily subscription to the New York Times. Jack had a "clever, individualist mind," his Head Master once noted, though he was not the best student. He did not always work as hard as he could, except in history and English, which were his favorite subjects. "Now Jack," his father wrote in a letter one day, "I don’t want to give the impression that I am a nagger, for goodness knows I think that is the worse thing any parent can be, and I also feel that you know if I didn’t really feel you had the goods I would be most charitable in my attitude toward your failings. After long experience in sizing up people I definitely know you have the goods and you can go a long way…It is very difficult to make up fundamentals that you have neglected when you were very young, and that is why I am urging you to do the best you can.

I am not expecting too much, and I will not be disappointed if you don’t turn out to be a real genius, but I think you can be a really worthwhile citizen with good judgment and understanding." Jack graduated from Choate and entered Harvard in 1936, where Joe was already a student. Like his brother Joe, Jack played football. He was not as good an athlete as Joe but he had a lot of determination and perseverance. Unfortunately, one day while playing he ruptured a disk in his spine. Jack never really recovered from this accident and his back continued to bother him for the rest of his life. The two eldest boys were attractive, agreeable, and intelligent young men and Mr. Kennedy had high hopes for them both. However, it was Joe who had announced to everyone when he was a young boy that he would be the first Catholic to become President. No one doubted him for a moment. Jack, on the other hand, seemed somewhat less ambitious. He was active in student groups and sports and he worked hard in his history and government classes, though his grades remained only average. Late in 1937, Mr.

Kennedy was appointed United States Ambassador to England and moved there with his whole family, with the exception of Joe and Jack who were at Harvard. Because of his father’s job, Jack became very interested in European politics and world affairs. After a summer visit to England and other countries in Europe, Jack returned to Harvard more eager to learn about history and government and to keep up with current events. Joe and Jack frequently received letters from their father in England, who informed them of the latest news regarding the conflicts and tensions that everyone feared would soon blow up into a full-scale war. Adolph Hitler ruled Germany and Benito Mussolini ruled Italy. They both had strong armies and wanted to take land from other countries. On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland and World War II began. By this time, Jack was a senior at Harvard and decided to write his thesis on why Great Britain was unprepared for war with Germany. It was later published as a book called Why England Slept. In June 1940, Jack graduated from Harvard.

His father sent him a cablegram from London: "TWO THINGS I ALWAYS KNEW ABOUT YOU ONE THAT YOU ARE SMART TWO THAT YOU ARE A SWELL GUY LOVE DAD." World War II and a Future in Politics Soon after graduating, both Joe and Jack joined the Navy. Joe was a flyer and sent to Europe, while Jack was made Lieutenant (Lt.) and assigned to the South Pacific as commander of a patrol torpedo boat, the PT-109. Lt. Kennedy had a crew of twelve men whose mission was to stop Japanese ships from delivering supplies to their soldiers. On the night of August 2, 1943, Lt. Kennedy’s crew patrolled the waters looking for enemy ships to sink. A Japanese destroyer suddenly became visible. But it was traveling at full speed and headed straight at them. Holding the wheel, Lt. Kennedy tried to swerve out of the way, but to no avail. The much larger Japanese warship rammed the PT-109, splitting it in half and killing two of Lt. Kennedy’s men. The others managed to jump off as their boat went up in flames. Lt.

Kennedy was slammed hard against the cockpit, once again injuring his weak back. Patrick McMahon, one of his crew members, had horrible burns on his face and hands and was ready to give up. In the darkness, Lt. Kennedy managed to find McMahon and haul him back to where the other survivors were clinging to a piece of the boat that was still afloat. At sunrise, Lt. Kennedy led his men toward a small island several miles away. Despite his own injuries, Lt. Kennedy was able to tow Patrick McMahon ashore, a strap from McMahon’s life jacket clenched between his teeth. Six days later two native islanders found them and went for help, delivering a message Jack had carved into a piece of coconut shell. The next day, the PT-109 crew was rescued. Jack’s brother Joe was not so lucky. He died a year later when his plane blew up during a dangerous mission in Europe. When he returned home, Jack was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for his leadership and courage. With the war finally coming to an end, it was time to choose the kind of work he wanted to do. Jack had considered becoming a teacher or a writer, but with Joe’s tragic death suddenly everything changed.

After serious discussions with Jack about his future, Joseph Kennedy convinced him that he should run for Congress in Massachusetts' eleventh congressional district, where he won in 1946. This was the beginning of Jack’s political career. As the years went on, John F. Kennedy, a Democrat, served three terms (six years) in the House of Representatives, and in 1952 he was elected to the US Senate. Soon after being elected senator, John F. Kennedy, at 36 years of age, married 24 year-old Jacqueline Bouvier, a writer with the Washington Times-Herald. Unfortunately, early on in their marriage, Senator Kennedy’s back started to hurt again and he had two serious operations. While recovering from surgery, he wrote a book about several US Senators who had risked their careers to fight for the things in which they believed. The book, called Profiles in Courage, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for biography in 1957. That same year, the Kennedys’ first child, Caroline, was born. John F. Kennedy was becoming a popular politician. In 1956 he was almost picked to run for vice president.

Kennedy nonetheless decided that he would run for president in the next election. He began working very long hours and traveling all around the United States on weekends. On July 13, 1960 the Democratic party nominated him as its candidate for president. Kennedy asked Lyndon B. Johnson, a senator from Texas, to run with him as vice president. In the general election on November 8, 1960, Kennedy defeated the Republican Vice President Richard M. Nixon in a very close race. At the age of 43, Kennedy was the youngest man elected president and the first Catholic. Before his inauguration, his second child, John Jr., was born. His father liked to call him John-John. John F. Kennedy Becomes The 35th President of the United States John F. Kennedy was sworn in as the 35th president on January 20, 1961. In his inaugural speech he spoke of the need for all Americans to be active citizens. "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country," he said.

He also asked the nations of the world to join together to fight what he called the "common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself." President Kennedy, together with his wife and two children, brought a new, youthful spirit to the White House. The Kennedys believed that the White House should be a place to celebrate American history, culture, and achievement. They invited artists, writers, scientists, poets, musicians, actors, and athletes to visit them. Jacqueline Kennedy also shared her husband's interest in American history. Gathering some of the finest art and furniture the United States had produced, she restored all the rooms in the White House to make it a place that truly reflected America’s history and artistic creativity. Everyone was impressed and appreciated her hard work. The White House also seemed like a fun place because of the Kennedys’ two young children, Caroline and John-John. There was a pre-school, a swimming pool, and a tree-house outside on the White House lawn. President Kennedy was probably the busiest man in the country, but he still found time to laugh and play with his children. However, the president also had many worries.

One of the things he worried about most was the possibility of nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union. He knew that if there was a war, millions of people would die. Since World War II, there had been a lot of anger and suspicion between the two countries but never any shooting between Soviet and American troops. This 'Cold War', which was unlike any other war the world had seen, was really a struggle between the Soviet Union's communist system of government and the United States' democratic system. Because they distrusted each other, both countries spent enormous amounts of money building nuclear weapons. There were many times when the struggle between the Soviet Union and the United States could have ended in nuclear war, such as in Cuba during the 1962 missile crisis or over the divided city of Berlin. President Kennedy worked long hours, getting up at seven and not going to bed until eleven or twelve at night, or later. He read six newspapers while he ate breakfast, had meetings with important people throughout the day, and read reports from his advisers. He wanted to make sure that he made the best decisions for his country. "I am asking each of you to be new pioneers in that New Frontier," he said.

The New Frontier was not a place but a way of thinking and acting. President Kennedy wanted the United States to move forward into the future with new discoveries in science and improvements in education, employment and other fields. He wanted democracy and freedom for the whole world. One of the first things President Kennedy did was to create the Peace Corps. Through this program, which still exists today, Americans can volunteer to work anywhere in the world where assistance is needed. They can help in areas such as education, farming, health care, and construction. Many young men and women have served as Peace Corps volunteers and have won the respect of people throughout the world. President Kennedy was also eager for the United States to lead the way in exploring space. The Soviet Union was ahead of the United States in its space program and President Kennedy was determined to catch up. He said, "No nation which expects to be the leader of other nations can expect to stay behind in this race for space." Kennedy was the first president to ask Congress to approve more than 22 billion dollars for Project Apollo, which had the goal of landing an American man on the moon before the end of the decade. President Kennedy had to deal with many serious problems here in the United States.

The biggest problem of all was racial discrimination. The US Supreme Court had ruled in 1954 that segregation in public schools would no longer be permitted. Black and white children, the decision mandated, should go to school together. This was now the law of the land. However, there were many schools, especially in southern states, that did not obey this law. There was also racial segregation on buses, in restaurants, movie theaters, and other public places. Thousands of Americans joined together, people of all races and backgrounds, to protest peacefully this injustice. Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the famous leaders of the movement for civil rights. Many civil rights leaders didn’t think President Kennedy was supportive enough of their efforts. The President believed that holding public protests would only anger many white people and make it even more difficult to convince the members of Congress who didn't agree with him to pass civil rights laws. By June 11, 1963, however, President Kennedy decided that the time had come to take stronger action to help the civil rights struggle. He proposed a new Civil Rights bill to the Congress, and he went on television asking Americans to end racism.

"One hundred years of delay have passed since President Lincoln freed the slaves, yet their heirs, their grandsons, are not fully free," he said. "This Nation was founded by men of many nations and backgrounds…[and] on the principle that all men are created equal." President Kennedy made it clear that all Americans, regardless of their skin color, should enjoy a good and happy life in the United States. The President is Shot On November 21, 1963, President Kennedy flew to Texas to give several political speeches. The next day, as his car drove slowly past cheering crowds in Dallas, shots rang out. Kennedy was seriously wounded and died a short time later. Within a few hours of the shooting, police arrested Lee Harvey Oswald and charged him with the murder. On November 24, another man, Jack Ruby, shot and killed Oswald, thus silencing the only person who could have offered more information about this tragic event. The Warren Commission was organized to investigate the assassination and to clarify the many questions which remained. The Legacy of John F. Kennedy President Kennedy's death caused enormous sadness and grief among all Americans. Most people still remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news.

Hundreds of thousands of people gathered in Washington for the President's funeral, and millions throughout the world watched it on television. As the years have gone by and other presidents have written their chapters in history, John Kennedy's brief time in office stands out in people's memories for his leadership, personality, and accomplishments. Many respect his coolness when faced with difficult decisions--like what to do about Soviet missiles in Cuba in 1962. Others admire his ability to inspire people with his eloquent speeches. Still others think his compassion and his willingness to fight for new government programs to help the poor, the elderly and the ill were most important. Like all leaders, John Kennedy made mistakes, but he was always optimistic about the future. He believed that people could solve their common problems if they put their country's interests first and worked together. John F. Kennedy | whitehouse.gov Air Force One John F. Kennedy John F. Kennedy was the 35th President of the United States (1961-1963), the youngest man elected to the office.

On November 22, 1963, when he was hardly past his first thousand days in office, JFK was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, becoming also the youngest President to die. On November 22, 1963, when he was hardly past his first thousand days in office, John Fitzgerald Kennedy was killed by an assassin's bullets as his motorcade wound through Dallas, Texas. Kennedy was the youngest man elected President; he was the youngest to die. Of Irish descent, he was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, on May 29, 1917. Graduating from Harvard in 1940, he entered the Navy. In 1943, when his PT boat was rammed and sunk by a Japanese destroyer, Kennedy, despite grave injuries, led the survivors through perilous waters to safety. Back from the war, he became a Democratic Congressman from the Boston area, advancing in 1953 to the Senate. He married Jacqueline Bouvier on September 12, 1953. In 1955, while recuperating from a back operation, he wrote Profiles in Courage, which won the Pulitzer Prize in history.

In 1956 Kennedy almost gained the Democratic nomination for Vice President, and four years later was a first-ballot nominee for President. Millions watched his television debates with the Republican candidate, Richard M. Nixon. Winning by a narrow margin in the popular vote, Kennedy became the first Roman Catholic President. His Inaugural Address offered the memorable injunction: "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country." As President, he set out to redeem his campaign pledge to get America moving again. His economic programs launched the country on its longest sustained expansion since World War II; before his death, he laid plans for a massive assault on persisting pockets of privation and poverty. Responding to ever more urgent demands, he took vigorous action in the cause of equal rights, calling for new civil rights legislation. His vision of America extended to the quality of the national culture and the central role of the arts in a vital society. He wished America to resume its old mission as the first nation dedicated to the revolution of human rights. With the Alliance for Progress and the Peace Corps, he brought American idealism to the aid of developing nations. But the hard reality of the Communist challenge remained.

Shortly after his inauguration, Kennedy permitted a band of Cuban exiles, already armed and trained, to invade their homeland. The attempt to overthrow the regime of Fidel Castro was a failure. Soon thereafter, the Soviet Union renewed its campaign against West Berlin. Kennedy replied by reinforcing the Berlin garrison and increasing the Nation's military strength, including new efforts in outer space. Confronted by this reaction, Moscow, after the erection of the Berlin Wall, relaxed its pressure in central Europe. Instead, the Russians now sought to install nuclear missiles in Cuba. When this was discovered by air reconnaissance in October 1962, Kennedy imposed a quarantine on all offensive weapons bound for Cuba. While the world trembled on the brink of nuclear war, the Russians backed down and agreed to take the missiles away. The American response to the Cuban crisis evidently persuaded Moscow of the futility of nuclear blackmail. Kennedy now contended that both sides had a vital interest in stopping the spread of nuclear weapons and slowing the arms race--a contention which led to the test ban treaty of 1963.

The months after the Cuban crisis showed significant progress toward his goal of "a world of law and free choice, banishing the world of war and coercion." His administration thus saw the beginning of new hope for both the equal rights of Americans and the peace of the world. The Presidential biographies on WhiteHouse.gov are from “The Presidents of the United States of America,” by Frank Freidel and Hugh Sidey. Copyright 2006 by the White House Historical Association. For more information about President Kennedy, please visit The Election of 1960 [ushistory.org] 56a. The Election of 1960 Coming into the first televised Presidential debate, John F. Kennedy had spent time relaxing in Florida while Richard Nixon maintained a hectic campaign schedule. As a result, Kennedy appeared tan and relaxed during the debate while Nixon seemed a bit worn down. Radio listeners proclaimed Nixon the better debater, while those who watched on television made Kennedy their choice. It was one of the closest elections in American history. The Republican insider was Richard Nixon of California, relatively young but experienced as the nation's Vice-President for 8 years under Dwight Eisenhower. The Democratic newcomer was John F.

Kennedy, senator from Massachusetts, who at the age of 43 could become the youngest person ever to be elected President. Regardless of the outcome, the United States would for the first time have a leader born in the 20th century. Age was not the only factor in the election. Kennedy was also Roman Catholic, and no Catholic had ever been elected President before. Al Smith, a Catholic, suffered a crushing defeat to Herbert Hoover in 1928. This raised serious questions about the electability of a Catholic candidate, particularly in the Bible Belt South. Questions were raised about Kennedy's ability to place national interests above the wishes of his Pope. The Presidential election of 1960 was one of the closest in American history. John F. Kennedy won the popular vote by a slim margin of approximately 100,000 votes. Richard Nixon won more individual states than Kennedy, but it was Kennedy who prevailed by winning key states with many electoral votes. To mollify these concerns, Kennedy addressed a group of Protestant ministers. He pledged a solid commitment to separation of church and state. Despite his assurances, his faith cost him an estimated 1.5 million votes in November 1960.

Nixon decided to leave religious issues out of the campaign and hammer the perception that Kennedy was too inexperienced to sit in the Oval Office. Nixon stressed his steadfast commitment to fighting communism. He had made a name for himself as a staunch red-baiter in the post-war era, leading the charge against alleged spy Alger Hiss. Nixon emphasized the importance of his 8 years as Vice-President. The Soviet Union and China were always pressing, and America could ill afford a President who had to learn on the job. Kennedy stressed his character, assisted by those in the press who reported stories about his World War II heroism. While he was serving in the South Pacific aboard the PT109, a Japanese destroyer rammed his ship and snapped it in two. Kennedy rescued several of his crewmates from certain death. Then he swam from island to island until he found a group of friendly natives who delivered a distress message Kennedy had carved into a coconut to an American naval base. Courage and character became the major themes of Kennedy's campaign. Although both candidates were seen as moderates on nearly every policy issue of the time, each hailed from different backgrounds. Kennedy was from a wealthy background and graduated from Harvard University.

Nixon painted himself the average American, growing up poor in California, and working his way through Whittier College. The combination of New Englander John F. Kennedy and Texan Lyndon B. Johnson created what some called a "Boston-Austin connection" that helped balance the 1960 Democratic ticket geographically. In an attempt to broaden his base, Kennedy named one of his opponents for the Democratic nomination his Vice-President. Lyndon Johnson was older and much more experienced in the Senate. Johnson was from Texas, an obvious attempt by Kennedy to shore up his potential weaknesses in the South. Nixon named Massachusetts Senator Henry Cabot Lodge as his running mate to attack Kennedy in his region of greatest strength. In such a close contest, every event matters. Many analysts suggest that the decisive battle in the campaign was waged during the televised Presidential debates. Kennedy arrived for the debates well-tanned and well-rested from Florida, while Nixon was recovering from a knee injury he suffered in a tiresome whistle-stop campaign. The Democrat was extremely telegenic and comfortable before the camera. The Republican was nervous, sweated profusely under the hot lights, and could not seem to find a makeup artist that could hide his five o'clock shadow.

Radio listeners of the first debate narrowly awarded Nixon a victory, while the larger television audience believed Kennedy won by a wide margin. When the votes were tallied in November, Kennedy earned 49.7% of the popular vote to Nixon's 49.5%. Kennedy polled only about 100,000 more votes than Nixon out of over 68 million votes cast. The electoral college awarded the election to Kennedy by a 303-219 margin, despite Nixon winning more states than Kennedy. HOME | TABLE of CONTENTS | INDEX | SEARCH John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917-1963) John Fitzgerald Kennedy (JFK), the thirty-fifth president of the United States and the second son of Joseph Patrick Kennedy and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, May 29, 1917. The Kennedy household teemed with activity – all nine children were encouraged to be athletic and to play to win.

At dinner, both parents expected their children to be well informed, to participate in the political debates that often occurred during dinner, and to accept the ethos of noblesse oblige and a "life of constant competition." JFK's battles were also physical – scarlet fever before he was three, intense back pain caused by a difference in the length of his legs, and a variety of illnesses which forced him to leave Princeton during his freshman year. A year later, he hurt his back trying out for the freshman football team at Harvard, where he had enrolled after leaving Princeton. When he failed to make the team, he joined the varsity swimming team instead. Despite his lackadaisical attitude toward his studies, JFK earned second highest honors for his thesis "Appeasement at Munich," in which he disagreed with his father, who had arranged the interviews JFK used to construct his argument, which posited that while Chamberlain had no choice but to negotiate with Hitler, Churchill was also correct in arguing that American aid was crucial to Britain's survival.

With the encouragement of Arthur Krock and his father's assistance, the thesis, published under the title, Why England Slept, became a bestseller in England and in America, selling 80,000 copies in nine months. He donated the royalties from the British edition to the campaign to rebuild war-scarred Plymouth and enrolled in the London School of Economics. John Kennedy planned to attend Yale Law School, but when American entry into World War II seemed imminent, he exercised to strengthen his back, enlisted in the Navy, and requested a commission to command a PT boat. On August 2, 1943, a Japanese destroyer rammed JFK's boat, which was patrolling the Solomon Islands protecting American transports against Japanese attacks, and split the PT 109 in half, killing two of his thirteen-man crew. One survivor was so badly burned that JFK had to tow him to safety by holding the crewman's life jacket strap in his teeth while he swam five hours to reach a small island. Two days later, they abandoned it for another, larger island, where they stayed for five days before they were rescued.

He then returned to sea as commander of a new PT boat only to have his second tour cut short by malaria and severe back pain. Determined to observe as much as he could, JFK spent the remainder of the war as a Hearst correspondent for the 1945 British elections and the Potsdam conference. Kennedy's heroic actions attracted national attention, especially after John Hersey chronicled the rescue for the New Yorker and the Reader's Digest syndicated an abridged version. Yet, when he returned to Massachusetts and began to give lectures around the state, he refused to capitalize on his fame, saying simply, "It was involuntary. They sank my boat." In 1946, JFK was one of eleven candidates seeking to represent Massachusetts' Eleventh District, an enclave of Irish and Italian voters. He campaigned as a New Deal Democrat and, in a direct reference to Boston Mayor James Curley, promised that he would "maintain integrity and virtue in public office." As a young congressman, he usually followed the lead of House Democrats. Yet his few differences were stark and angered leadership and key constituencies.

He opposed clemency for Curley (which Truman supported), a veteran's pension bill supported by the American Legion, and supported the Mundt-Nixon bill, which liberals considered an anathema. Although he voted against Taft-Hartley, he wrote a minority opinion as critical of labor as it was of management. He also blamed the communist victory in China on Truman's inept foreign policy decisions. In 1953, he joined the Senate at the age of thirty-five, after defeating incumbent Henry Cabot Lodge by 70,000 votes in a state Eisenhower carried by three times that margin. Having set his sights on the presidency, Kennedy collaborated with but never led his colleagues. His prominence came from his national exposure at the 1956 Democratic convention when he narrated the convention film, placed Stevenson 's name in nomination, and narrowly lost the vice-presidential nomination. He then became one of the most sought after speakers among the Senators and a frequent guest on radio and television talk shows. As he did in the House, Kennedy usually sided with the liberal Democratic voting bloc, but angered his colleagues by opposing increased farm price supports and voting for the jury trial amendment to the 1957 Civil Rights Act.

He became an expert on labor law and became a frequent target of criticism by both the National Association of Manufacturers and the AFL-CIO. In foreign policy, he supported economic aid to India, supported Algerian independence from France, and argued that economic aid should be used to lessen Russia's grip on its satellites. In 1960, Kennedy organized his presidential campaign around the themes, "Get America Moving Again" and "To Seek A New Frontier." The nation was prosperous and at peace and the outgoing Eisenhower still commanded great affection from a majority of voters. While Kennedy tried to capitalize on Sputnik by campaigning to bridge "the missile gap" we had with the Soviets, his Catholicism became just as important an issue to the voters. After four nationally televised debates , he defeated Richard Nixon in the closest presidential election since 1888 and became the youngest man ever elected president. Even though Nixon carried more states than JFK and the Republicans controlled Congress, President Kennedy refused to accept that he did not have a clear mandate to lead, declaring, "the margin is narrow, but the responsibility is clear." In the shortest inaugural address since FDR 's 1933 speech, JFK issued a clarion call for citizen engagement and public service.

His domestic priority was the economy. He reduced personal and corporate taxes, increased spending on space and defense projects, and refused to increase federal funding of social programs. He based his foreign policy on the concept of counterinsurgency, arguing that the threat to America was the Third World (Cuba, Latin America, and Vietnam). He increased funding for missile development, increased numbers of all military branches, and urged the creation of a new, more mobile military (the Green Berets). In his one thousand days as president, he faced three major crises: The Bay of Pigs, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the emergence of a powerful civil rights movement. In the process, he brought a new sardonic wit, intellectual charm, and a young, vibrant family to the White House. President John Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, November 22, 1963, while driving past Dealy Plaza in a open-top limousine. His death stunned the nation, which watched his death, the murder of the man arrested for his murder, and his funeral on television. Sources: Carl Brauer, "John F. Kennedy," in Henry F.

Graff, ed., The Presidents: A Reference History, (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1996), pp. 479-485; Fletcher Knebel, "Pulitzer Prize Entry: John F. Kennedy" in Eric Sevareid, ed., Candidates 1960: Behind the Headlines in the Presidential Race, (New York: Basic Books, 1959), pp. 181-215; Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1965), passim. Recommended citation: Eleanor Roosevelt, John Kennedy, and the Election of 1960: A Project of The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers, ed. by Allida Black, June Hopkins, John Sears, Christopher Alhambra, Mary Jo Binker, Christopher Brick, John S. Emrich, Eugenia Gusev, Kristen E. Gwinn, and Bryan D. Peery (Columbia, S.C.: Model Editions Partnership, 2003). Electronic version based on unpublished letters. .

For more information, visit The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers home page at ~erpapers/ . Copyright © 2006. The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers. All rights reserved. Robert F. Kennedy - Facts & Summary - HISTORY.com Robert F. Kennedy A+E Networks Introduction Robert Kennedy (1925-1968) served as the U.S. attorney general from 1961 to 1964 and as a U.S. senator from New York from 1965 to 1968. A graduate of Harvard University and the University of Virginia School of Law, Kennedy was appointed attorney general after his brother John Kennedy (1917-1963) was elected president in 1960. In this role, Robert Kennedy fought organized crime and worked for civil rights for African Americans. He also served as a close advisor to the president. In the Senate, he was a committed advocate of the poor and racial minorities, and opposed escalation of the Vietnam War. On June 5, 1968, while in Los Angeles campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination, Kennedy was shot. He died early the next day at age 42.

Kennedy, the father of 11 children, was buried at Virginia’s Arlington National Cemetery near the grave of his brother John. Google Robert Kennedy’s Education and Early Career Robert Francis Kennedy was born on November 20, 1925, in Brookline, Massachusetts , the seventh of nine children of Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. (1888-1969), a wealthy financier, and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy (1890-1995), the daughter of a Boston politician. Kennedy spent his childhood between his family’s homes in New York ; Hyannis Port, Massachusetts; Palm Beach, Florida ; and London, where his father served as the American ambassador to the United Kingdom from 1938 to 1940. Did You Know? In 1965, Robert Kennedy was part of a group that was the first to ascend Mount Kennedy, which at the time was the highest unclimbed peak in North America. The 14,000-foot peak, named for John Kennedy, is located in Yukon, Canada. During World War II (1939-1945), Kennedy served in the U.S. Navy.

In 1946 he was an apprentice seaman on the shakedown cruise of a naval destroyer named for his eldest brother, Joseph Kennedy Jr . (1915-1944), a Navy pilot killed during the war. After completing his military service, in 1948 Kennedy graduated from Harvard University, the alma mater of his father and older brothers. He went on to attend law school at the University of Virginia , earning his degree in 1951. That same year, Kennedy began working as a lawyer in the U.S. Department of Justice. In 1952 he managed his brother John’s successful campaign for the U.S. Senate. The following year, Kennedy worked as an assistant counsel for the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, headed by anticommunist crusader Senator Joseph McCarthy (1908-1957) of Wisconsin . In the late 1950s, as chief counsel to the Senate Select Committee on Improper Activities in the Labor or Management Field, Kennedy gained national attention for investigating corruption in the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, a powerful trade union led by James “Jimmy” Hoffa (1913-1975).

Kennedy left the committee in 1959 to manage his brother John’s successful presidential campaign. Robert Kennedy’s Marriage and Family On June 17, 1950, Robert Kennedy married Ethel Skakel (1928-) of Greenwich, Connecticut . The couple had 11 children: Kathleen (1951-), Joseph II (1952-), Robert Jr. (1954-), David (1955-1984), Courtney (1956-), Michael (1958-1997), Kerry (1959-), Christopher (1963-), Max (1965-), Douglas (1967-) and Rory (1968-), who was born six months after her father’s death. The family lived at an estate called Hickory Hill in McLean, Virginia. Kennedy’s oldest son, Joseph, served in the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts from 1987 to 1999, while his daughter Kathleen was lieutenant governor of Maryland from 1995 to 2003. Robert Kennedy as U.S.

Attorney General After John Kennedy was elected president in November 1960, he named Robert Kennedy as America’s 64th attorney general. In this role, Kennedy continued to battle corruption in labor unions, as well as mobsters and organized crime. In 1964, Jimmy Hoffa was convicted of jury tampering and fraud. As attorney general, Kennedy also advocated for the civil rights of African Americans. In the fall of 1962, he sent thousands of federal troops to Oxford, Mississippi , to enforce a U.S. Supreme Court order admitting the first black student, James Meredith (1933-), to the University of Mississippi. The state’s segregationist governor, Ross Barnett (1898-1987), had attempted to bar Meredith, whose enrollment prompted riots and violence at the school. Additionally, Kennedy worked with his brother, as well as his successor as president, Lyndon Johnson (1908-73), on the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlawed racial discrimination in voting, employment and public facilities.

Kennedy also acted as one of his brother’s closest political advisors in the White House and was involved in important foreign policy decisions, including the administration’s handling of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis . He later wrote a book about the crisis, titled “Thirteen Days,” which was published posthumously in 1969. Robert Kennedy’s Senate Career and Bid for the Presidency On November 22, 1963, 46-year-old President John Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas . Robert Kennedy stayed on as attorney general under President Johnson until September 1964, when he resigned to embark on a campaign to represent New York in the U.S. Senate. Despite charges from some that he was a carpetbagger with little connection to the Empire State, Kennedy won the election and took office in January 1965. As senator, Kennedy championed civil rights and social justice issues. He traveled to Appalachia, the Mississippi Delta, migrant workers’ camps and urban ghettos to study the effects of poverty, and made trips abroad to such places as apartheid-ruled South Africa to advocate for the advancement of human rights.

Kennedy also spoke out against President Johnson’s policies to further escalate the war in Vietnam. In 1968, Kennedy was urged by his supporters to run for president as an antiwar and socially progressive Democratic. Hesitant until he saw positive primary returns for fellow antiwar candidate Eugene McCarthy (1916-2005), Kennedy announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination on March 16, 1968, declaring, “I do not run for the presidency merely to oppose any man, but to propose new policies. I run because I am convinced that this country is on a perilous course and because I have such strong feelings about what must be done, and I feel that I’m obliged to do all I can.” On March 31, 1968, Johnson announced he would not seek reelection, and Vice President Hubert Humphrey (1911-1978) became the key Democratic hopeful, with McCarthy and Kennedy trailing closely behind. Kennedy conducted an energetic campaign and on June 4, 1968, won a major victory in the California primary.

Robert Kennedy’s Assassination In the early hours of June 5, 1968, shortly after delivering a speech to celebrate his win in the California primary, Kennedy was shot in a kitchen corridor outside the ballroom of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. He died the next day at age 42. In 1969, Sirhan Bishara Sirhan (1944-), a Palestinian immigrant, was convicted of Kennedy’s murder and sentenced to death. However, in 1972, after the California Supreme Court outlawed capital punishment, Sirhan’s sentence was commuted to life in prison, where he remains today. On June 8, at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City , Edward “Ted” Kennedy (1932-2009), a U.S.

senator from Massachusetts and the youngest Kennedy sibling, delivered a now-famous eulogy for his brother, remembering him as “a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it.” After the funeral, Kennedy’s coffin was taken by train from New York to Washington , D.C., with hundreds of thousands of mourners lining the tracks along the route. The train arrived in the nation’s capital that night, and a motorcade transported Kennedy’s body to Arlington National Cemetery for a rare nighttime burial. Tags

Question: Which state did JFK represent as a senator?
Answer: Massachusetts