User:Severo

John Fitzgerald Kennedy
35th President of the United States
In office January 20, 1961 – November 22, 1963
Vice President	Lyndon B. Johnson
Preceded by	Dwight D. Eisenhower
Succeeded by	Lyndon B. Johnson
United States Senator from Massachusetts
In office January 3, 1953 – December 22, 1960
Preceded by	Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.
Succeeded by	Benjamin A. Smith
Member of the United States House of Representatives from Massachusetts's 11th congressional district
In office 1947–1953
Preceded by	James Michael Curley
Succeeded by	Thomas P. O'Neill, Jr.
Personal details
Born	May 29, 1917 Brookline, Massachusetts
Died	November 22, 1963(1963-11-22) (aged 46) Dallas, Texas
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy
Signature

John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also referred to as John F. Kennedy, JFK, John Kennedy or Jack Kennedy, was the 35th President of the United States. He served from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. His leadership during the USS PT-109 incident during the Second World War in the South Pacific was a turning point in his life. Kennedy represented the state of Massachusetts from 1947 to 1960, first as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, and then, in the U.S. Senate. Kennedy (Democrat) was elected president of the United States in 1960, at age 43, against Richard Nixon (Republican) in one of the closest elections in American history. He is the only Roman Catholic to be elected President of the country.

Major events during his presidency include the Bay of Pigs Invasion, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the building of the Berlin Wall, the Space Race, early events of the Vietnam War and the American Civil Rights Movement.

John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963 in Dallas, Texas, United States. Lee Harvey Oswald, charged with the crime, was himself murdered, two days later, by Jack Ruby — before an Oswald trial could be convened. The Warren Commission concluded that Oswald had acted alone in killing the president. However, the House Select Committee on Assassinations, in 1979, concluded that there may have been a conspiracy. For the public at large, the entire subject remains controversial and shrouded in mystery with multiple allegation theories. The assassination itself proved to be a defining moment in U.S. history due to its traumatic impact on the psyche of the nation and its ensuing political fallout; a historical fallout that influenced, and continues to influence, the temperament of American society. President Kennedy is now regarded as an icon of American hopes and aspirations to ever new generations of Americans.

Early life and education

Kennedy was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, the second son of Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. and Rose Fitzgerald; Rose, in turn, was the eldest child of John "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald, a prominent figure in Boston politics who was the city's mayor and a three-term member of Congress.

Kennedy lived in Brookline for his first ten years, attending Edward Devotion School, a public school, from kindergarten through the beginning of 3rd grade, then Noble and Greenough Lower School and its successor, Dexter School, a private school for boys, through 4th grade.

In September 1927, Kennedy moved with his family to a rented 20-room mansion in Riverdale, New York, then two years later moved five miles northeast to a 21-room mansion on a six-acre estate in Bronxville, New York, purchased in May 1929. He was a member of Scout Troop 2 at Bronxville from 1929 to 1931, and was later the first Scout to become President. Kennedy spent summers with his family at their home in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, purchased in 1929, and Christmas and Easter holidays with his family at their winter home in Palm Beach, Florida, purchased in 1933. He attended Riverdale Country School, a private school for boys in Riverdale, for 5th through 7th grade.

For 8th grade in September 1930, Kennedy was sent fifty miles away to Canterbury School, a lay Catholic boarding school for boys in New Milford, Connecticut. In late April 1931, he had appendicitis requiring an appendectomy, after which he withdrew from Canterbury and recuperated at home. In September 1931, Kennedy was sent over sixty miles away to The Choate School, an elite private university preparatory boarding school for boys in Wallingford, Connecticut for 9th through 12th grades, following his older brother Joe who was two years ahead of him. In January 1934, during his junior year at Choate, he became ill, lost a lot of weight and was hospitalized at Yale-New Haven Hospital until Easter and spent most of June 1934 hospitalized at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota for evaluation of colitis.

He graduated from Choate in June 1935, and in September 1935 sailed on the SS Normandie on his first trip abroad with his parents and his sister Kathleen to London with the intent of studying for a year with Professor Harold Laski at the London School of Economics (LSE) as his older brother Joe had done, but after a brief hospitalization with jaundice, then less than a week at LSE, he sailed back to America three weeks after he had arrived in London. In October 1935, Kennedy enrolled late and spent six weeks at Princeton University, but was then hospitalized for two months observation for possible leukemia at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston in January and February 1936, recuperated at the Kennedy winter home in Palm Beach in March and April, spent May and June working as a ranch hand on a 40,000-acre cattle ranch outside Benson, Arizona, then July and August racing sailboats at the Kennedy summer home in Hyannis Port.

In September 1936, he enrolled as a freshman at Harvard College, residing in Winthrop House during his sophomore through senior years, again following two years behind his older brother Joe. In early July 1937, Kennedy took his convertible, sailed on the SS Washington to France, and spent ten weeks driving with a friend through France, Italy, Germany, Holland and England. In late June 1938, Kennedy sailed with his father and his brother Joe on the SS Normandie to spend July working with his father at the American embassy in London and August with his family at a villa near Cannes. From February through September 1939, Kennedy went on a major seven-month tour of Europe, the Soviet Union, the Balkans and the Middle East to gather background information for his senior thesis. He spent the last ten days of August in Czechoslovakia and Germany before returning to London on September 1, 1939, the day Germany invaded Poland. On September 3, 1939, Kennedy, along with his brother Joe, his sister Kathleen, and his parents were in the Strangers Gallery of the House of Commons to hear speeches in support of the United Kingdom's declaration of war on Germany. Kennedy was sent as his father's representative to help with arrangements for American survivors of the SS Athenia, before flying back to the U.S. on Pan Am's Dixie Clipper from Foynes, Ireland to Port Washington, New York on his first transatlantic flight at the end of September.

In 1940, Kennedy wrote his honors thesis, entitled "Appeasement in Munich" about the British dealings concerning the Munich Agreement. He initially intended for his thesis to be only for college use, but his father encouraged him to publish it in a book. He graduated cum laude from Harvard with a degree in international affairs in June 1940. His thesis was published in July 1940 as a book, entitled Why England Slept, and became a bestseller.

From September to December 1940, Kennedy was enrolled and audited classes at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. In early 1941, Kennedy helped his father work on a memoir about his father's three years as ambassador. In May and June 1941, Kennedy traveled throughout South America.

Military service

Main article: Motor Torpedo Boat PT-109

In the spring of 1941, Kennedy volunteered for the U.S. Army, but was rejected, mainly because of his troublesome back. Nevertheless, in September of that year, the U.S. Navy accepted him, due to the influence of the director of the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI), a former naval attaché to the Ambassador, his father. As an ensign, he served in the office which supplied bulletins and briefing information for the Secretary of the Navy. It was during this assignment that the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred. He attended the Naval Reserve Officers Training School and Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron Training Center before being assigned for duty in Panama and eventually the Pacific theater. He participated in various commands in the Pacific theater and earned the rank of lieutenant, commanding a patrol torpedo (PT) boat.

Lt. Kennedy on his navy patrol boat, the PT-109.

On August 2, 1943, Kennedy's boat, the PT-109, was taking part in a nighttime patrol near New Georgia in the Solomon Islands when it was rammed by the Japanese destroyer Amagiri. Kennedy was thrown across the deck, injuring his already-troubled back. Still, Kennedy towed a wounded man three miles (5 km) in the ocean, arriving at an island where his crew was subsequently rescued. Kennedy said that he blacked out for periods of time during the life-threatening ordeal. For these actions, Kennedy received the Navy and Marine Corps Medal under the following citation:

“ For heroism; the rescue of three men following the ramming and sinking of his motor torpedo boat while attempting a torpedo attack on a Japanese destroyer in the Solomon Islands area on the night of Aug 1–2, 1943. Lt. KENNEDY, Capt. of the boat, directed the rescue of the crew and personally rescued three men, one of whom was seriously injured. During the following six days, he succeeded in getting his crew ashore, and after swimming many hours attempting to secure aid and food, finally effected the rescue of the men. His courage, endurance and excellent leadership contributed to the saving of several lives and was in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service. ”

Kennedy's other decorations in World War II included the Purple Heart, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal and the World War II Victory Medal. He was honorably discharged in early 1945, just a few months before Japan surrendered. The incident was popularized when he became president, and would be the subject of several magazine articles, books, comic books, TV specials and a feature length movie, making the PT-109 one of the most famous U.S. Navy ships of the war. Scale models and even G.I. Joe figures based on the incident were still being produced in the 2000s. The coconut which was used to scrawl a rescue message given to Solomon Islander scouts who found him was kept on his presidential desk and is still at the John F. Kennedy library.

During his presidency, Kennedy privately admitted to friends that he didn't feel that he deserved the medals he had received, because the PT-109 incident had been the result of a botched military operation that had cost the lives of two members of his crew. When asked by interviewers how he became a war hero, Kennedy's grim reply was: "It was involuntary. They sank my boat."

In May 2002, a National Geographic expedition found what is believed to be the wreckage of the PT-109 in the Solomon Islands. One of the Kennedy family also returned to the islands to give a gift to the scouts who are still alive today, but were turned away when they traveled to the inauguration because of communication problems. The Australian coastwatcher who dispatched the natives was also invited to the White House.

Early political career

After World War II, Kennedy thought about being a journalist for a while before deciding to run for political office. Prior to the war, he hadn't really thought about being a politician primarily because his older brother, Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., had been tabbed by the family as the future politician and, hopefully, the future President. Tragically, Joe was killed in World War II, making John next in line to fulfill his father's political ambitions. In 1946, Representative James Michael Curley vacated his seat in an overwhelmingly Democratic district to become mayor of Boston, and Kennedy ran for the seat, beating his Republican opponent by a large margin. He was a congressman for six years but had a mixed voting record, often diverging from President Harry S. Truman and the rest of the Democratic Party. In 1952, he defeated incumbent Republican Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. for the U.S. Senate. Kennedy married Jacqueline Lee Bouvier on September 12, 1953. He underwent several spinal operations in the following two years, nearly dying (receiving the Catholic faith's "last rites" four times during his life), and was often absent from the Senate. During this period, he published Profiles in Courage, highlighting eight instances in which U.S. Senators risked their careers by standing by their personal beliefs. The book was awarded the 1957 Pulitzer Prize for Biography.

In 1956, after Adlai Stevenson left the choice of a Vice Presidential nominee to the Democratic convention, Kennedy finished 2nd in that balloting to Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee. Kennedy, however, got valuable public exposure from that episode. His father, Joseph Kennedy Sr., pointed out that it was just as well that John did not get that nomination, as some people sought to blame anything they could on Catholics, even though it was privately known that any Democrat would have trouble running against Eisenhower in 1956.

John F. Kennedy voted for final passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1957 after having earlier voted for the "Jury Trial Amendment," which effectively rendered the Act toothless because convictions for violations could not be obtained. Staunch segregationists such as senators James Eastland and John McClellan and Mississippi Governor James Coleman were early supporters in Kennedy's presidential campaign. In 1958, Kennedy was re-elected to a second term in the United States Senate defeating his Republican opponent, Boston lawyer Vincent J. Celeste, by a wide margin.

Years later it was revealed that in September 1947, during his first term as a congressman, when he was 30 years old, Kennedy had been diagnosed by Sir Daniel Davis at The London Clinic with Addison's disease, a rare endocrine disorder. This and other medical disorders were kept from the press and public throughout Kennedy's lifetime.

Sen. Joseph McCarthy was a friend of the Kennedy family: Joe Kennedy was a leading McCarthy supporter; Robert F. Kennedy worked for McCarthy's subcommittee, and McCarthy dated Patricia Kennedy. In 1954, when the Senate was poised to condemn McCarthy, John Kennedy had a speech drafted calling for the censure of McCarthy, but never delivered it. When the Senate rendered its highly publicized decision to censure McCarthy on December 2, 1954, Senator Kennedy was hospitalized, and never indicated then or later how he would have voted. The episode seriously damaged Kennedy's support in the liberal community, especially with Eleanor Roosevelt, as late as the 1960 election.

1960 presidential election

Main article: United States presidential election, 1960

John and Jackie Kennedy campaigning in Appleton, Wisconsin in March 1960.

On January 2, 1960, Kennedy declared his intent to run for President of the United States. In the Democratic primary election, he faced challenges from Senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota and Senator Wayne Morse of Oregon. Kennedy defeated Humphrey in Wisconsin and West Virginia and Morse in Maryland and Oregon, although Morse's candidacy is often forgotten by historians. Kennedy also defeated token opposition (often write in candidates) in New Hampshire, Indiana, and Nebraska. In West Virginia, Kennedy made a visit to a coal mine, and talked to the mine workers to win their support; most people in that conservative, mostly Protestant state were deeply suspicious about Kennedy being a Catholic. Kennedy emerged as a universally acceptable candidate for the party after that victory.

With Humphrey and Morse out of the race, Kennedy's main opponent at the convention in Los Angeles was Senator Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas. Adlai Stevenson, the Democratic nominee in 1952 and 1956, was not officially running, but had broad grassroots support inside and outside the convention hall. Senator Stuart Symington of Missouri was also a candidate, as were several favorite sons. On July 13, 1960, the Democratic convention nominated Kennedy as its candidate for President. Kennedy asked Johnson to be his Vice Presidential candidate, despite opposition from many liberal delegates and Kennedy's own staff, including Robert Kennedy. He needed Johnson's strength in the South to win what was considered likely to be the closest election since 1916. Major issues included how to get the economy moving again, Kennedy's Catholicism, Cuba and whether both the Soviet space and missile programs had surpassed those of the U.S. To allay fears that his Catholicism would impact his decision-making, he said in a famous speech in Houston, Texas (to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association), on September 12, 1960, "I am not the Catholic candidate for President. I am the Democratic Party's candidate for President who also happens to be a Catholic. I do not speak for my Church on public matters — and the Church does not speak for me." Kennedy also brought up the point of whether one-quarter of Americans were relegated to second-class citizenship just because they were Catholic.

In September and October, Kennedy debated Republican candidate Vice President Richard Nixon in the first televised U.S. presidential debates. During the debates, Nixon looked tense and uncomfortable, while Kennedy was composed, which led the television audience to deem Kennedy the winner, although radio listeners in general thought Nixon had won or the debate was a draw. Nixon did not wear make-up during the debate unlike Kennedy. The debates are considered a political landmark: the point at which the medium of television played an important role in politics.

Presidency (1961–1963)

John Kennedy was sworn in as the 35th President on January 20, 1961. In his inaugural address he spoke of the need for all Americans to be active citizens. He famously remarked, "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." 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." In closing, he expanded on his desire for greater internationalism: "Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world, ask of us the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you."

File:Kenn-grant-det.jpg

The arms of John F. Kennedy, granted by the Chief Herald of Ireland.

Foreign policy

Cuba and the Bay of Pigs Invasion

Main article: Bay of Pigs Invasion

Prior to Kennedy's election to the Presidency, the Eisenhower Administration created a plan for the overthrow of the Fidel Castro regime in Cuba. Central to such a plan (structured and detailed by the CIA with minimal input from the State Department) was the arming of a counter-revolutionary insurgency composed of anti-Castro Cubans. U.S. trained Cuban insurgents were to invade Cuba and instigate an uprising among the Cuban people in hopes of achieving the goal of removing Castro from power. On April 17, 1961, Kennedy gave approval for the previously planned invasion of Cuba to proceed. With support from the CIA, in what is known as the Bay of Pigs Invasion, 1,500 U.S.-trained Cuban exiles, called "Brigade 2506", returned to the island in the hope of deposing Castro. However, the CIA proceeded to allow the troops to go even though Kennedy did not authorize air support. By April 19, Castro's government had captured or killed most of the invading exiles and Kennedy was forced to negotiate for the release of the 1,189 survivors. The failure of the plan originated in a lack of dialogue among the military leadership, a result of which was the complete lack of naval support in the face of organised artillery troops on the island who easily incapacitated the exile force at the landing beaches. After 20 months, Cuba released the captured exiles in exchange for $53 million worth of food and medicine. The incident was a major embarrassment for Kennedy, but he took full personal responsibility for the debacle. Furthermore, the incident made Castro wary of the U.S. and untrusting, leading him to believe that another invasion such as that one would occur.

Cuban Missile Crisis

Main article: Cuban Missile Crisis

Kennedy's Cabinet meets during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Meeting Nikita Khrushchev in 1961.

The Cuban Missile Crisis began on October 14, 1962, when American U-2 spy planes took photographs of a Soviet intermediate-range ballistic missile site under construction in Cuba. They were shown to Kennedy on October 16. America would soon be posed with a serious nuclear threat. Here Kennedy faced a dilemma: if the U.S. attacked the sites, it might lead to nuclear war with the U.S.S.R.. However, if the U.S. did nothing, it would endure the perpetual threat of nuclear weapons within its region—in such close proximity that if the weapons were launched pre-emptively, the U.S. might have been unable to retaliate. Another fear was that the U.S. would appear to the world as weak in its own hemisphere. Many military officials and cabinet members pressed for an air assault on the missile sites, but Kennedy ordered a naval blockade in which the U.S. Navy inspected all ships. He began negotiations with the Soviets. He ordered the Soviets to remove all "defensive" material that was being built off the Cuban island. Without doing so, the Soviet and Cuban peoples would face naval blockades. A week later, he and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev reached an agreement. Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles while the U.S. publicly promised never to invade Cuba — as long as U.N. inspections were allowed for verification; Kennedy also secretly promised to remove U.S. ballistic Jupiter missiles from Turkey within six months, although these missiles were already stated for removal. Following this incident, which brought the world closer to nuclear war than at any point before or since, Kennedy was more cautious in confronting the Soviet Union.

Latin America and Communism

Arguing that "those who make peaceful revolution impossible, make violent revolution inevitable," Kennedy sought to contain communism in Latin America by establishing the Alliance for Progress, which sent foreign aid to troubled countries in the region and sought greater human rights standards in the region. He worked closely with Puerto Rican Governor Luis Muñoz Marín for the development of the Alliance of Progress, as well as developments in the autonomy of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

Peace Corps

As one of his first presidential acts, Kennedy created the Peace Corps. Through this program, Americans volunteered to help underdeveloped nations in areas such as education, farming, health care and construction.

Vietnam

In South East Asia, Kennedy followed Eisenhower's lead by using limited military action to fight the Communist forces ostensibly led by Ho Chi Minh. Proclaiming a fight against the spread of Communism, Kennedy enacted policies providing political, economic, and military support for the unstable French-installed South Vietnamese government, which included sending 16,000 military advisors and U.S. Special Forces to the area. Kennedy also agreed to the use of napalm, defoliants, free-fire zones and jet planes. U.S. involvement in the area continually escalated until regular U.S. forces were directly fighting the Vietnam War in the next administration. The Kennedy Administration increased military support, but the South Vietnamese military was unable to make headway against the pro-independence Viet-Minh and Viet Cong forces. By July 1963 Kennedy faced a crisis in Vietnam. The Administration's response was to assist in the coup d'état of the Catholic President of South Vietnam, Ngo Dinh Diem. In 1963, South Vietnamese generals overthrew the Diem government, arresting Diem and later killing him (though the exact circumstances of his death remain unclear). Kennedy sanctioned Diem's overthrow. One reason for the support was a fear that Diem might negotiate a neutralist coalition government which included Communists, as had occurred in Laos in 1962. Dean Rusk, Secretary of State, remarked "This kind of neutralism...is tantamount to surrender."

It remains a point of controversy among historians whether or not Vietnam would have escalated to the point it did had Kennedy served out his full term and possibly been re-elected in 1964. Fueling this speculation are statements made by Kennedy's and Johnson's Secretary of Defense Robert MacNamara that Kennedy was strongly considering pulling out of Vietnam after the 1964 election. Additional evidence is Kennedy's National Security Action Memorandum (NSAM) #263 on October 11 that gave the order for withdrawal of 1,000 military personnel by the end of 1963. Nevertheless, given the stated reason for the overthrow of the Diem government, such action would have been a dramatic policy reversal, but Kennedy was generally moving in a less hawkish direction in the Cold War since his acclaimed speech about World Peace at American University the previous June 10.

After Kennedy's assassination, new President Lyndon B. Johnson immediately reversed Kennedy's order to withdraw 1,000 military personnel by the end of 1963 with his own NSAM #273 on November 26.

West Berlin Speech

Kennedy meeting with West Berlin governing mayor Willy Brandt, March 1961

Under simultaneous and opposing pressures from the Allies and the Soviets, Germany was divided. The Berlin Wall separated West and East Berlin, the latter being under the control of the Soviets. On June 26, 1963, Kennedy visited West Berlin and gave a public speech criticizing communism. Kennedy used the construction of the Berlin Wall as an example of the failures of communism: "Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect, but we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in." The speech is known for its famous phrase "Ich bin ein Berliner". Nearly five-sixths of the population was on the street when Kennedy said the famous phrase. He remarked to aides afterwards: "We'll never have another day like this one."

Nuclear Test Ban Treaty

Troubled by the long-term dangers of radioactive contamination and nuclear weapons proliferation, Kennedy pushed for the adoption of a Limited or Partial Test Ban Treaty, which prohibited atomic testing on the ground, in the atmosphere, or underwater, but did not prohibit testing underground. The United States, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union were the initial signatories to the treaty. Kennedy signed the treaty into law in August 1963.

Ireland

Further information: The Ireland Funds

President Kennedy in motorcade in Ireland on June 27, 1963.

On the occasion of his visit to Ireland in 1963, President Kennedy joined with Irish President Éamon de Valera to form The American Irish Foundation. The mission of this organization was to foster connections between Americans of Irish descent and the country of their ancestry. Kennedy furthered these connections of cultural solidarity by accepting a grant of armorial bearings from the Chief Herald of Ireland.

He also visited the original cottage where previous Kennedys had lived before emigrating to America, and said: "This is where it all began ...".

On December 22, 2006, the Irish Justice Department released declassified police documents that indicated that Kennedy was the subject of three death threats during this visit.

Domestic policy

Kennedy called his domestic program the "New Frontier". It ambitiously promised federal funding for education, medical care for the elderly, and government intervention to halt the recession. Kennedy also promised an end to racial discrimination. In 1963, he proposed a tax reform which included income tax cuts, but this was not passed by Congress until 1964, after his death. Few of Kennedy's major programs passed Congress during his lifetime, although, under his successor Johnson, Congress did vote them through in 1964–65.

As President, Kennedy oversaw the last pre-Furman federal execution, and last, to date, military execution. In both cases he refused to ask for commutation of the death sentences (Iowa governor Harold Hughes personally contacted Kennedy to request clemency for Victor Feguer, who was sentenced to death under federal law in Iowa, and executed on March 15, 1963).

Civil rights

Kennedy during the State of the Union address, 1963.

The turbulent end of state-sanctioned racial discrimination was one of the most pressing domestic issues of Kennedy's era. The U.S. Supreme Court had ruled in 1954 that racial segregation in public schools would no longer be permitted. However, many schools, especially in southern states, did not obey the Supreme Court's injunction. Segregation on buses, in restaurants, movie theaters, bathrooms, and other public places remained. Kennedy supported racial integration and civil rights, and during the 1960 campaign he telephoned Coretta Scott King; wife of the jailed Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., which perhaps drew some additional black support to his candidacy.

In 1962, James Meredith tried to enroll at the University of Mississippi, but he was prevented from doing so by white students. Kennedy responded by sending some 400 federal marshals and 3,000 troops to ensure that Meredith could enroll in his first class. Kennedy also assigned federal marshals to protect Freedom Riders.

As President, Kennedy initially believed the grassroots movement for civil rights would only anger many Southern whites and make it even more difficult to pass civil rights laws through Congress, which was dominated by Southern Democrats, and he distanced himself from it. As a result, many civil rights leaders viewed Kennedy as unsupportive of their efforts.

On June 11, 1963, President Kennedy intervened when Alabama Governor George Wallace blocked the doorway to the University of Alabama to stop two African American students, Vivian Malone and James Hood, from enrolling. George Wallace moved aside after being confronted by federal marshals, Deputy Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach, and the Alabama National Guard. That evening Kennedy gave his famous civil rights address on national television and radio. Kennedy proposed what would become the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Space program

President Kennedy looks at the space craft Friendship 7, the spacecraft which made three earth orbits, piloted by astronaut John Glenn, February 23, 1962, Cape Canaveral, Florida, Hangar S. Photo by Cecil Stoughton.

Kennedy was eager for the United States to lead the way in the space race. Sergei Khrushchev says Kennedy approached his father, Nikita, twice about a "joint venture" in space exploration—in June 1961 and Autumn 1963. On the first occasion, Russia was far ahead of America in terms of space technology. Kennedy first made the goal for landing a man on the Moon in speaking to a Joint Session of Congress on May 25, 1961, saying

"First, I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish."

Kennedy later made a speech at Rice University in September 1962, in which he said

"No nation which expects to be the leader of other nations can expect to stay behind in this race for space"

and

"We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard."

On the second approach to Khrushchev, the Russian was persuaded that cost-sharing was beneficial and American space technology was forging ahead. The U.S. had launched a geostationary satellite and Kennedy had asked Congress to approve more than $22 billion for the Apollo Project, which had the goal of landing an American man on the moon before the end of the decade. Khrushchev agreed to a joint venture in Autumn 1963, but Kennedy died in November before the agreement could be formalized. On July 20, 1969, almost six years after Kennedy's death, the Project Apollo's goal was realized when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first men to land on the moon.

Cabinet

The Kennedy Cabinet
OFFICE	NAME	TERM
President	John F. Kennedy	1961–1963
Vice President	Lyndon B. Johnson	1961–1963
State	Dean Rusk	1961–1963
Treasury	C. Douglas Dillon	1961–1963
Defense	Robert S. McNamara	1961–1963
Justice	Robert F. Kennedy	1961–1963
Postmaster General	J. Edward Day	1961–1963
	John A. Gronouski	1963
Interior	Stewart L. Udall	1961–1963
Agriculture	Orville L. Freeman	1961–1963
Commerce	Luther H. Hodges	1961–1963
Labor	Arthur J. Goldberg	1961–1962
	W. Willard Wirtz	1962–1963
HEW	Abraham A. Ribicoff	1961–1962
	Anthony J. Celebrezze	1962–1963

Supreme Court appointments

Kennedy appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States:

• Byron Raymond White — 1962
• Arthur Joseph Goldberg — 1962

Image, social life and family

Further information: Kennedy political family

John F. Kennedy with wife Jacqueline and children, 1962.

Kennedy and his wife "Jackie" were very young in comparison to earlier Presidents and first ladies, and were both extraordinarily popular in ways more common to pop singers and movie stars than politicians, influencing fashion trends and becoming the subjects of numerous photo spreads in popular magazines.

The Kennedys brought new life and vigor — a favorite word of Kennedy — to the atmosphere of the White House. They believed that the White House should be a place to celebrate American history, culture, and achievement, and they invited artists, writers, scientists, poets, musicians, actors, Nobel Prize winners and athletes to visit, notwithstanding Kennedy's own well-known middle-brow intellectual and aesthetic tastes. Jacqueline also bought new art and furniture, and eventually restored all the rooms in the White House.

The White House also seemed like a more fun, youthful place, because of the Kennedys' two young children, Caroline and John Jr. (who came to be known in the popular press as "John-John", although years later Jacqueline Kennedy denied that the family called him by that name). Outside the White House lawn the Kennedys established a preschool, swimming pool and tree house. Jackie did not like the children to be photographed, and during her frequent absences Kennedy asked photographers to come and photograph the children in the Oval Office. He was quoted as saying, "Jackie's not here, so you'd better come over right away." The resulting photos are probably the most famous of the children, and especially John Jr., after he was photographed playing underneath the President’s desk.

The President was closely tied to popular culture. Things such as "Twisting at the White House" and "Camelot" (the popular Broadway play) were part of the JFK culture. Vaughn Meader's "First Family" comedy album—an album parodying the President, First Lady, their family and administration—sold about 4 million copies. On May 19, 1962, Marilyn Monroe sang for the president at a large birthday party in Madison Square Garden.

Behind the glamorous facade, the Kennedys also suffered many personal tragedies. Jacqueline suffered a miscarriage in 1955 and gave birth to a stillborn daughter, Arabella Kennedy, in 1956. The death of their newborn son, Patrick Bouvier Kennedy, in August 1963, was a great loss. Since Kennedy's death, allegations have been made that Kennedy carried on numerous extramarital dalliances during his presidency with women such as Hollywood actress Marilyn Monroe and socialite Mary Pinchot Meyer. [1]

The charisma of Kennedy and his family led to the figurative designation of "Camelot" for his administration, credited by his widow to his affection for the contemporary Broadway musical of the same name. She gave an interview to Theodore H. White, where she mentioned the musical Camelot, and White later said that he had "found the headline".

Assassination

Main article: John F. Kennedy assassination

File:JFKmotorcade.jpg

President Kennedy, Jackie, and Governor John Connally in the Presidential limousine shortly before the assassination

President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas at 12:30 p.m. CST on November 22, 1963, while on a political trip through Texas. He was struck by at least two bullets. Texas Governor John Connally, seated ahead of Kennedy, was also struck by a bullet, but survived.

Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested in a theatre about 80 minutes after the assassination and charged at 7:00 p.m. for killing a Dallas policeman by "murder with malice", and also charged at 11:30 p.m. for the murder of Kennedy (there being no charge for "assassination" of a president at that time). Oswald denied shooting anyone; he claimed that he was being set up as a "patsy", and that photographs of him holding the alleged murder weapon were fabrications. Oswald was fatally shot less than two days later on Sunday, November 24 in a Dallas police station by Jack Ruby, in front of TV cameras in the first live murder ever seen by U.S. audiences. Consequently, Oswald's guilt or innocence was never determined in a court of law, and some critics (such as New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison, and conspiracy researchers Mark Lane and David S. Lifton) contend that Oswald was either part of a conspiracy, or framed, or that he was not involved at all.

Five days after Oswald was killed, on November 29, President Lyndon B. Johnson created the Warren Commission—chaired by Chief Justice Earl Warren—to investigate the assassination. It concluded that Oswald was the lone assassin. A later investigation in the 1970s by the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) also concluded that Oswald was the assassin, but that there was a "probable conspiracy" as well.

The assassination was captured on film, most famously by Dallas dress manufacturer Abraham Zapruder, directly to the north of the limousine and east of the grassy knoll, as well as by Orville Nix to the south of the motorcade route.

On February 19, Presidents Day, 2007 new film footage relating to the JFK assassination was donated to the Sixth Floor Museum by George Jefferies, an amateur photographer. The film does not show the assassination, having been taken roughly 90 seconds beforehand and a couple of blocks away. The only detail relevant to the investigation of the assassination is a clear view of Kennedy's bunched collar — which has led to different calculations about how low in the back Kennedy was first shot.

Less than a year later the President's supposed former mistress Mary Pinchot Meyer was shot dead on the streets of Washington in what still is an unsolved murder.[[2]] Immediately her house was searched for her diary, and was there attained by CIA counterintelligence chief James Jesus Angleton, who supposedly then destroyed it, or handed it over for destruction.[[3]] [4]

Burial

Kennedy's grave at Arlington National Cemetery

On March 14, 1967, Kennedy's body was moved to a permanent burial place and memorial at Arlington National Cemetery. Kennedy is buried with his wife and their deceased minor children, and his brother, the late Senator Robert Kennedy is also buried nearby. His grave is lit with an "Eternal Flame". In the film The Fog of War, then Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara claims that he picked the location in the cemetery — a location which Jackie agreed was suitable. Kennedy and William Howard Taft are the only two U.S. Presidents buried at Arlington.

Legacy

Kennedy's casket departs the White House.

Television became the primary source by which people were kept informed of events surrounding John F. Kennedy's assassination. Newspapers were kept as souvenirs rather than sources of updated information. U.S. networks switched to 24-hour news coverage for the first time ever. Kennedy's state funeral procession and the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald were all broadcast live in America and in other places around the world.

The assassination had an effect on many people, not only in the U.S., but also among the world population. Many vividly remember where they were when first learning of the news that Kennedy was assassinated. U.N. Ambassador Adlai Stevenson said of the assassination, "all of us... will bear the grief of his death until the day of ours."

Ultimately, the death of President Kennedy and the ensuing confusion surrounding the facts of his assassination are of political and historical importance insofar as they marked a decline in the faith of the American people in the political establishment — a point made by commentators from Gore Vidal to Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.

Coupled with the murder of his own brother, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, D-N.Y., and that of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., the five tumultuous years from 1963 to 1968 signalled a growing disillusionment within the well of hope for political and social change which so defined the lives of those who lived through the 1960s. Kennedy's introduction of the U.S. to the Vietnam War preceded President Johnson's escalation of a conflict which contributed to a decade of national difficulties and disappointment on the political landscape. The Watergate scandal of President Richard Nixon's administration is widely recognized as being the final stroke in this process of diminishing trust in the government.

On March 14, 1967, Kennedy's body was moved to a permanent burial place and memorial at Arlington National Cemetery. Kennedy is buried with his wife and their deceased minor children, Patrick Bouvier Kennedy and an unnamed stillborn daughter; his brother Robert is also buried nearby. His grave is lit with an "Eternal Flame". In the film The Fog of War, then Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara claims that he picked the location in the cemetery — a location which Jackie agreed was suitable. Kennedy and William Howard Taft are the only two U.S. Presidents buried at Arlington.

Many of Kennedy's speeches (especially his inaugural address) are considered iconic; and despite his relatively short term in office and lack of major legislative changes during his term, Americans regularly vote him as one of the best Presidents, in the same league as Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Some excerpts of Kennedy's inaugural address are engraved on a plaque at his grave at Arlington.

Kennedy is also sometimes credited with giving American Catholics the full recognition they deserved as American citizens. He is also seen as responsible for giving Catholics full opportunities in politics outside of the Northeast.

Memorials

Kennedy has appeared on the U.S. half-dollar coin since 1964

Kennedy's legacy has been memorialized in various aspects of American culture. They include:

• Kennedy came third (behind Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mother Teresa) in a Gallup list of the most admired people of the twentieth century.
• New York International Airport was renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport on December 24, 1963. Short forms of this, particularly "JFK," have replaced its former commonly used nickname "Idlewild."
• The John F. Kennedy Expressway, a major expressway in Chicago, was renamed after the President by unanimous vote of the city council, just days after the president's assassination.
• Kennedy Blvd (Florida State Road 60) in Tampa, Florida was renamed after the President in 1964 by unanimous vote of Tampa City Council following his visit to Tampa on November 18, 1963, less than a year earlier. His motorcade made use of the roadway during that rare visit only four days before his assassination. It was chosen for such a renaming because Kennedy had used about five miles of Grand Central Avenue for his motorcade leading through the center of the business district.
• NASA's Launch Operations Center at Cape Canaveral was renamed the John F. Kennedy Space Center. Cape Canaveral itself was likewise renamed Cape Kennedy, but reverted to its original name in 1973.
• A Kennedy memorial at Runnymede, U.K., where the Magna Carta was signed, is on a plot of land that is now U.S. territory.
• A stretch of Interstate 95 in Maryland, running from the Baltimore Beltway to the State Line, where it becomes the Delaware Turnpike, had been dedicated by President Kennedy on November 14, 1963, just eight days before his assassination. It was soon renamed the John F. Kennedy Memorial Highway.
• The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy was named on April 30, 1964, and is in active service until March 23, 2007.
• The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library opened in 1979 as Kennedy's official presidential library.
• John F. Kennedy University opened in Pleasant Hill, California, in 1964 as a school for adult education.
• The John F. Kennedy National Historic Site preserves his home in Brookline.
• At Harvard University:
  • The Harvard Institute of Politics serves as a living memorial which promotes public service in his name.
  • The School of Government is known as the John F. Kennedy School of Government.
• The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts opened in 1971 in Washington, D.C. as a living memorial to him.
• A new, unnamed bridge spanning the Ohio River between Louisville, Kentucky and Jeffersonville, Indiana, completed four days ahead of Kennedy's assassination, was afterwards quickly named the John F. Kennedy Memorial Bridge.
• Hundreds of schools across the U.S. were also renamed in his honor.
• Philadelphia Municipal Stadium was renamed John F. Kennedy Stadium in 1964, and stood until 1992.
• He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963.
• Since 1964, Kennedy's portrait has appeared on the United States half dollar coin, replacing Benjamin Franklin.
• At the southwest outskirts of Jerusalem is Yad Kennedy, reached by following the winding mountain roads past Aminadav Moshav. On top of an 825 m. high mountain is a monument in the shape of a cut tree trunk, symbolizing a life cut short. 51 columns, each bearing the emblem of a state of the Union, plus the District of Columbia, encircle the mountaintop memorial. An eternal flame burns in the very centre. The site was opened in 1966 with funds donated by Jewish communities in the USA. The monument and adjoining picnic grounds are part of the John F. Kennedy Peace Forest.
• In the Solomon Islands, an island is named the Kennedy Island.
• The city of Evansville, Indiana observed John F. Kennedy Day on November 22, 2003 to mark the 40th anniversary of his death.
• He is recognized as an Honorary brother of Alpha Phi Omega, through the University of Maryland, College Park chapter. He was supposed to receive his initiatory honors, which he accepted to receive, on November 25, 1963, 3 days after his assassination. His initiatory honors are displayed in the local APO Epsilon Mu chapter's office to this day.
• One of the five residential towers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst is named "Kennedy" tower in his honor.
• In February 2007, Kennedy's name, along with his wife's, was on board the Japanese SELENE spacecraft.

Criticism

A right-wing anti-Kennedy handbill/poster circulated on November 21, 1963 in Dallas, Texas — one day before the assassination of John F. Kennedy

It is argued that his reputation is undeserved. His immense popularity, according to some, was the result of the optimistic beginnings of many programs declared to be of great benefit to the United States, its people, and various global issues, and the national trauma of his assassination. The Civil Rights Act which he sent to Congress in June 1963 was, in large part, conceived by his brother, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, and it was signed into law by his successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, in 1964.

Others point out that Kennedy started the process which led to the U.S. getting involved in a complete war in Vietnam. They point to Kennedy sending 16,000 military advisers and introducing napalm, defoliants, strategic hamlet, free-fire zones and jet planes to the Vietnam conflict, which the previous administration was not willing to do.

According to the US Senate Church Committee, Kennedy had an affair with Judith Campbell Exner, who was simultaneously having an affair with Sam Giancana, the boss of the Chicago Mafia, while Giancana was conspiring with the CIA to assassinate Fidel Castro.

Seymour Hersh's The Dark Side of Camelot (1998) presents a critical analysis of the Kennedy administration, stating that Kennedy "was probably one of the unhealthiest men ever to sit in the Oval Office," because of Addison's Disease and a bad back, as well as recurring childhood illnesses and venereal infections. Robert Dallek's An Unfinished Life (2003) is a more traditional biography but contains a lot of detail about Kennedy's health issues.

Thomas Reeves' A Question of Character: A Life of John F. Kennedy is a sharply critical analysis of Kennedy's "revisionism".Noam Chomsky, in his book Rethinking Camelot: JFK, the Vietnam War, and US Political Culture (1993), presents a thesis on the Kennedy administration in opposition to the one that lingers in the memory of many Americans.

Trivia

• Kennedy dated actress Gene Tierney, who was separated from her then husband fashion designer Oleg Cassini in 1946. In her book Self-portrait Ms. Tierney recalls how over an informal brunch Jack just stated that he could never marry her because of her pending divorce, if he was to be the first elected Catholic President (moreover, she was also a Protestant). Subsequently, Tierney folded her napkin and left the cafe. Mr. Cassini was hired as the exclusive designer for the First Lady after the election. The President and Cassini quickly become friends.
• Kennedy's superlative in his Choate Rosemary Hall yearbook was "Most likely to become President".
• Kennedy is the last Democrat from outside the South to be elected, and the last president to be elected while serving in the U.S. Senate.
• At age 43, Kennedy is the youngest person ever elected President of the United States, but he was not the youngest ever to serve as President (Theodore Roosevelt, while Vice President and at age 42, was elevated to the Presidency following the assassination of President William McKinley in 1901. Roosevelt was subsequently elected to a full term as President in his own right when he was 46).
• No person born in the 20th century had yet served as president until Kennedy did. However, four subsequent presidents (LBJ, Nixon, Ford and Reagan), all also born in the 20th century, were born before him.
• Kennedy was a collector of scrimshaw carvings made by sailors from bones of whales and other marine mammals. His interest in scrimshaw helped to popularize this particular folk art.
• Kennedy was a very fast reader and often read two to three books per day. He was also a master orator. In a speech given in December 1961, Kennedy set a record as the world's fastest public speaker by speaking 327 words in one minute. This record is still listed in the Guinness Book of World Records.
• The commander of his PT boat squadron was future Attorney General John N. Mitchell.
• Kennedy has been the only Roman Catholic president in the history of the United States. Among Catholics, only Al Smith and John Kerry, also Democrats, have been major-party nominees for President.
• Kennedy died the very same day as The Chronicles of Narnia author C.S. Lewis and Brave New World writer Aldous Huxley.
• Kennedy's life and assassination appears to have strange parallels with Abraham Lincoln's. See: Lincoln Kennedy Coincidences (urban legend).

See also

Family:

• Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
• Caroline Kennedy
• John F. Kennedy, Jr.
• Kennedy political family

History of:

• U.S. presidential election, 1960
• History of the United States (1945–1964)
• State funeral of John F. Kennedy
• Jesuit Ivy

Political policy:

• Peace Corps
• Kennedy Doctrine

Staff:

• Evelyn Lincoln, personal secretary to the President

Assassination:

• John F. Kennedy assassination
• Nellie Connally
• John Connally
• Zapruder film, primary film of assassination
• Orville Nix, photographer of second film of assassination
• Kennedy assassination theories
• Robert F. Kennedy assassination
• Kennedy curse

Memorials/legacy:

• John F. Kennedy Eternal Flame
• John F. Kennedy Memorial at Runnymede, England
• John F. Kennedy Memorial near Jerusalem, Israel
• Kennedy Memorial Trust
• Kennedy half dollar
• Five cents John Kennedy, postage stamp
• List of people on stamps of Ireland
• John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
• John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library in Boston

Coincidence/trivia:

• Lincoln/Kennedy Coincidences
• Coincidence theory
• "Senator, you are no Jack Kennedy" retort by Senator Lloyd Bentsen, 1988 VP debate
• G.I. Joe figure as PT-109 commander
• JFK Reloaded

Kennedy in fiction and song

Cartoons and comic books

• In the South Park episode Weight Gain 4000, Kennedy's assassination is parodied when schoolteacher Mr. Garrison goes into the Book Depository in an attempt to shoot Kathie Lee Gifford during a motorcade.
• In an episode of The Simpsons, Homer Simpson and Abraham Lincoln sneak up on Lee Harvey Oswald and, in doing so, prevent the assassination of President Kennedy.
• "Superman" N0170 and Action Comics N0's 285 and 309 published by DC Comics, where President Kennedy appears as himself within fictional comic story lines.
• On the cartoon show Clone High, one of the main characters is a young, aggressive, hyper macho clone of Kennedy's who seems to very much look up to his forefather and namesake. Like Kennedy, he was outgoing, charismatic, a ladies man and athletic. Unfortunately, the clone only recognized those aspects of Kennedy's personality, and when told that Kennedy was a caring leader who inspired a generation of young people, the clone responded "I thought he was a macho womanizing stud who "conquered the moon".
• Kennedy's ghost appears in the comic book Hellblazer, in an arc titled "Damnation's Flame", where he accompanies protagonist John Constantine across a Hellish version of America.
• Kennedy's assassination is parodied in the cartoon Robot Chicken, when a mongoose is shown to shoot President Kennedy and, in doing so, frames Lee Harvey Oswald.

Films and television productions

• In the 1985 movie Back to the Future, a character called Marty, who has traveled through time to 1955, asks someone directions to a house. The man responds that the house is a block past maple, and Marty answers, "that's right past John F. Kennedy drive", to which the man responds with, "who the hell is John F. Kennedy?".
• In the 1997 episode "Tikka to Ride" of the British comedy series Red Dwarf, the main characters accidentally foil the Kennedy assassination, causing severe problems with their own time. They return, and after several failed attempts to correct the timeline, enlist the help of Kennedy, who survives to become his own second gunman. Kennedy dresses like a police officer, a reference to the Badge man photograph, and shoots from the "Grassy Knoll".
• On the soap opera Passions (1997-2007), Rebecca Hotchkiss Crane stated that her mother Pamela Osburn committed adultery with Kennedy.
• In Bubba Ho-tep (2002), a black character, played by Ossie Davis, claims to be JFK.

Songs

• Several popular songs have mentioned him. These include:
  • "April Sun In Cuba" by Dragon, talks about the Cuba Missile Crisis at the Time of President Kennedy... with the lyrics "See Castro in the alley way, Talkin' 'bout missile love, Talkin' 'bout J.F.K., And the way he shook him up".
  • "I Shall Be Free" by Bob Dylan, in which Dylan imagines Kennedy calling him on the phone.
  • "PT-109" by Jimmy Dean in 1962 became a Top 10 single and was written in honor of President Kennedy.
  • Warmth of the Sun" by The Beach Boys, written as a tribute to Kennedy.
  • "Harvey and Sheila" by Allan Sherman, a comedy recording to the tune of "Hava Nagila," filled with initials involving the protagonists, contains the lyrics "And on Election Day, worked for JFK!", but, after they "moved to West L.A.," "switched to the G.O.P.".
  • "Crucifixion" and "That was the President" by Phil Ochs.
  • "Love Me, I'm a Liberal" by Phil Ochs again, a satire in which he says he cried when Kennedy and Medgar Evers were shot, but not when Malcolm X was.
  • "Abraham, Martin and John" by Dion, a memorial to Kennedy, his brother Robert, Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King.
  • "Foreign Policy" by The Buckinghams released in 1968 has a portion of a speech made by JFK on the flip side of "Susan".
  • "Sympathy for the Devil" by the Rolling Stones, in which lead singer Mick Jagger, in character as Satan, says that "you and me" killed the Kennedys. The lyrics were changed from "Kennedy" to "Kennedy's" when Robert Kennedy was assassinated during the recording session for the song.
  • "She Is Always Seventeen" by Harry Chapin, referencing Kennedy's inauguration.
  • "The Day John Kennedy Died" by Lou Reed, in which Reed lists some things he dreamed he forgot.
  • "Life in a Northern Town" by The Dream Academy.
  • "We Didn't Start the Fire" by Billy Joel, in which Kennedy and Nixon are the only two people mentioned twice.
  • Glenn Danzig wrote a song about the assassination called Bullet for his band at that time, The Misfits.
  • "Civil War" by Guns N' Roses contains the lyrics "and in my first memory they shot Kennedy...".
  • In the live version of "Something to Believe In" by Bon Jovi, Jon adds a lyric that says "for John F. Kennedy, for Robert Kennedy, for Martin Luther King, for all those who believe, say 'hey, hey, hey, hey...'".
  • "Dallas 1 P.M." by Saxon. References by the English Heavy Metal band to the events of the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
  • "Brain of J" by Pearl Jam.
  • "President Kennedy" by Son House.
  • "Purple Toupee" by They Might Be Giants contains the line "I remember the book depository where they crowned the king of Cuba", a reference to Kennedy's assassination.
  • "Glad I'm Not A Kennedy" by Shona Laing conjures up the whole Kennedy family myth.
  • "Born In The 50's" by The Police has the line "my mother cried...when President Kennedy died...she said it was the Communists...but I knew better".
  • "Little Bones" by the Tragically Hip has the line "So is football Kennedy style".
  • "A built-in remedy for Kruschev and Kennedy..." by Queen in the song "Killer Queen".
  • "Last Straw" by Jack's Mannequin includes the lyric "I won't wait for you forever, while you run around like JFK".
  • Yolanda Adams' song "The Things We Do" on her album "Mountain High, Valley Low" includes audio of Kennedy's inauguration speech at the beginning and Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech at the end.
  • The Postal Service's song "Sleeping In" opens with the lines "Last week I had the strangest dream, where everything was exactly how it seemed, where there wasn't any mystery of who shot John F. Kennedy" referring to his assassination.
  • "He Was a Friend of Mine" by the Byrds makes specific reference to his assassination.
  • "Nice to be Out" from the Stereophonics album "Just Enough Education to Perform" contains almost an entire verse about Kennedy's death.

Kennedy portrayed in film and television

Film:

• PT 109 (1963): played by Cliff Robertson
• JFK (1991): Film about the assassination; Kennedy played by Steve Reed
• Malcolm X (1992): played by Steve Reed
• Ruby (1992): played by Gérard David and Kevin Wiggins
• Forrest Gump (1994): played by Jed Gillin
• Thirteen Days (2000): played by Bruce Greenwood
• Timequest (2002): played by Victor Slezak
• C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America (2004): through use of historical archive footage, he is the Republican candidate for President of the Confederacy in 1960, winning against Democrat Richard Nixon. He ran on a platform of possible abolitionism of slavery and women's suffrage, but was still assassinated.

TV:

• The Missiles of October (1974, TV): played by William Devane
• The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover (1977): played by William Jordan
• Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye (1977, TV): played by Paul Rudd
• Young Joe, the Forgotten Kennedy (1977, TV): played by Sam Chew Jr.
• King (1978, TV): played by William Jordan
• Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy (1981, TV): played by James Franciscus
• Blood Feud (1983, TV): played by Sam Groom
• Kennedy (1983, TV): played by Martin Sheen
• Prince Jack (1985): played by Robert Hogan
• Robert Kennedy & His Times (1985, TV): played by Cliff De Young
• J. Edgar Hoover (1987, TV): played by Art Hindle
• LBJ: The Early Years (1987, TV): played by Charles Frank
• Onassis: The Richest Man in the World (1988, TV): played by David Gillum
• The Kennedys of Massachusetts (1990, TV): played by Steven Weber
• A Woman Named Jackie (1991, TV): played by Stephen Collins
• Sinatra (1992, TV): played by James F. Kelly
• J.F.K.: Reckless Youth (1993, TV): played by Patrick Dempsey
• Norma Jean & Marilyn (1996, TV): played by Perry Stephens
• Red Dwarf: Tikka to Ride (1997, TV): played by Michael Shannon
• The Rat Pack (1998, TV): played by William L. Petersen
• Bonanno: A Godfather's Story (1999, TV): played by Matt Norklun
• Jackie Bouvier Kennedy Onassis (2000, TV): played by Tim Matheson, who at the time was also playing a fictional vice president on the series The West Wing
• How to Marry a Billionaire: A Christmas Tale (2000, TV): played by Dabney Coleman
• Jackie, Ethel, Joan: The Women of Camelot (2001, TV): played by Daniel Hugh Kelly
• Power and Beauty (2002, TV): played by Kevin Anderson
• RFK (2002, TV): played by Martin Donovan
• America's Prince: The John F. Kennedy Jr. Story (2003, TV): played by Randy Triggs
• Days That Shook the World episode JFK (2003, TV): played by Karl J. Morris

References

Primary sources

• Goldzwig, Steven R. and Dionisopoulos, George N., eds. In a Perilous Hour: The Public Address of John F. Kennedy, text and analysis of key speeches (1995)

Secondary sources

• Brauer, Carl. John F. Kennedy and the Second Reconstruction (1977)
• Burner, David. John F. Kennedy and a New Generation (1988)
• Dallek, Robert (2003). An Unfinished Life : John F. Kennedy, 1917 – 1963. Brown, Little. ISBN 0-316-17238-3.
• Collier, Peter & Horowitz, David. The Kennedys (1984)
• Freedman, Lawrence. Kennedy's Wars: Berlin, Cuba, Laos and Vietnam (2000)
• Fursenko, Aleksandr and Timothy Naftali. One Hell of a Gamble: Khrushchev, Castro and Kennedy, 1958–1964 (1997)
• Giglio, James. The Presidency of John F. Kennedy (1991), standard scholarly overview of policies
• Harper, Paul, and Joann P. Krieg eds. John F. Kennedy: The Promise Revisited (1988), scholarly articles on presidency
• Harris, Seymour E. The Economics of the Political Parties, with Special Attention to Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy (1962)
• Heath, Jim F. Decade of Disillusionment: The Kennedy–Johnson Years (1976), general survey of decade
• Hersh, Seymour. The Dark Side of Camelot (1997), highly negative assessment
• House Select Committee on Assassinations. Final Assassinations Report (1979)
• Kunz, Diane B. The Diplomacy of the Crucial Decade: American Foreign Relations during the 1960s (1994)
• O'Brien, Michael. John F. Kennedy: A Biography (2005), the most detailed biography
• Parmet, Herbert. Jack: The Struggles of John F. Kennedy (1980)
• Parmet, Herbert. JFK: The Presidency of John F. Kennedy (1983)
• Piper, Michael Collins. Final Judgment (2004: sixth edition). American Free Press.
• Reeves, Richard. President Kennedy: Profile of Power (1993), balanced assessment of policies
• Reeves, Thomas. A Question of Character: A Life of John F. Kennedy (1991) hostile assessment of his character flaws
• Schlesinger, Arthur, Jr. A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House (1965), by a close advisor
• Schlesinger, Arthur, Jr. Robert Kennedy And His Times (2002)
• Smith, Jean Edward. Kennedy and Defense: The Formative Years. Air University Review (Mar.–Apr. 1967) [5]
• Smith, Jean Edward. The Defense of Berlin, Baltimore. Johns Hopkins Press (1963)
• Smith, Jean Edward. The Wall as Watershed, Arlington, Virginia. Institute for Defense Analysis (1966)
• Smith, Jean Edward. The Bay of Pigs: The Unanswered Questions. The Nation, pp. 360–363 (April 13, 1964)
• Sorensen, Theodore. Kennedy (1966), by a close advisor
• Walsh, Kenneth T. Air Force One: A History of the Presidents and Their Planes (2003)

Media

President Kennedy comments on the possible prevention of the Cold War.

The sound file for President Kennedy

The sound file of the message to Turkish President Cemal Gursel and The Turkish People on the Anniversary of the Death of Kemal Ataturk,November 10, 1963

The sound file for Kennedy's speech

The Text of the message to Turkish President Cemal Gursel and The Turkish People on the Anniversary of the Death of Kemal Ataturk, November 10, 1963

File:JFKennedy1963 text.pdf

The text of Kennedy's speech

External links

• Template:Nndb name
• Video Footage of John F. Kennedy
• Video, Audio, Text of John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address
• John F. Kennedy Library
• John F. Kennedy Birthplace National Historic Site
• The White House Biography
• JFK at the Avalon Project
• JFK's Secret White House Recordings @ University of Virginia's Miller Center of Public Affairs
• Kennedy Administration Official Documentary Historical Record of Major Foreign Policy Decisions from The Foreign Relations of the United States Series, U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian, United States Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.
• Armigerous American Presidents Series
• The JFK Years And Popular Culture
• Audio clips of Kennedy's speeches and other commentary
• JFK Reloaded — Recreate the assassination of JFK
• InnerVIEWS with Ernie Manouse: Nelley Connally (TV Interview with in-car eye witness of Kennedy assassination)
• Assassination of President Kennedy Encyclopaedia
• McAdams website about JFK
• Facts and Fiction in the Kennedy Assassination
• John F. Kennedy in United States Census Records
• Medical and Health history of John F. Kennedy
• Works by John F. Kennedy at Project Gutenberg
• St. John the Liberal?
• Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress
• John F. Kennedy Audio Soundboard
• Gretchen Rubin radio interview: November 4, 2005 on Up To Date
• John F. Kennedy's inaugural address: from the National Archives
• Presidents of the United States
• Archive.org collection of audio recordings
• New video footage released of JFK's last moments

Template:U.S. Representative boxTemplate:Succession box two to one

Template:Kennedyfamilytree

Template:Persondata

edit count | edit summary usage

Hi,

I'm Severo. I'm from the United Kingdom and am in my early twenties. I contribute most to articles about Milton Keynes, professional cycling, football (of the association variety) and boxing. I am a bit Gnomish, especially with diacritic marks in people's names.

See what I'm up to!

This user maintains a strict policy advising against all personal attacks. This user assumes good faith. This user is proud to be a Wikipedian. This user is interested in their local history.

This user is interested in politics. en-GB -NThis user is a native speaker of British English. This user enjoys writing. User:Buenaparte Social Club/Userboxes/Proud EU

Released into public domain I agree to release my text and image contributions, unless otherwise stated, into the public domain. Please be aware that other contributors might not do the same, so if you want to use my contributions under public domain terms, please check the multi-licensing guide.