John F. Kenedy

"JFK" redirects here. For other uses of "JFK", see JFK (disambiguation). For other persons named "John Kennedy", see John Kennedy (disambiguation).

John Fitzgerald Kennedy

John F. Kennedy

35th President of the United States

In office

January 20, 1961 Ð'- November 22, 1963

Vice President(s) Lyndon B. Johnson

Preceded by Dwight D. Eisenhower

Succeeded by Lyndon B. Johnson

United States Senator

from Massachusetts

In office

January 3, 1953 Ð'- 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 Ð'- 1953

Preceded by James Michael Curley

Succeeded by Thomas P. O'Neill, Jr.

Born May 29, 1917

Brookline, Massachusetts

Died November 22, 1963, age 46

Dallas, Texas

Political party Democratic

Spouse Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy

Religion Roman Catholic

Signature

John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 Ð'- 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, allegedly 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, later, concluded that there may have been a conspiracy [1]. 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.

Contents

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* 1 Early life and education

* 2 Military service

* 3 Early political career

* 4 1960 presidential election

* 5 Presidency (1961-1963)

o 5.1 Foreign policies

+ 5.1.1 Cuba and the Bay of Pigs Scandal

+ 5.1.2 Cuban Missile Crisis

+ 5.1.3 Latin America and Communism

+ 5.1.4 Peace Corps

+ 5.1.5 Vietnam

+ 5.1.6 West Berlin Speech

+ 5.1.7 Nuclear Test Ban Treaty

+ 5.1.8 Ireland

o 5.2 Domestic policies

+ 5.2.1 Civil rights

+ 5.2.2 Space program

o 5.3 Cabinet

o 5.4 Supreme Court appointments

* 6 Image, social life, and family

* 7 Assassination

* 8 Legacy and memorials

o 8.1 Memorials

* 9 Criticism

* 10 Trivia

* 11 Kennedy in song and fiction

* 12 Kennedy portrayed in film and television

* 13 See also

* 14 References

o 14.1 Primary sources

o 14.2 Secondary sources

o 14.3 Other sources

* 15 Media

* 16 External links

Early life and education

Kennedy was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, the 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 attended Edward Devotion School for four years (kindergarten in 1922 to third grade), Riverdale Country School in the Bronx, the Dexter School in Boston, a year at