A Biography of John F. Kennedy The 35th
President of the United States |
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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. |
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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 liked swimming, sailing, and playing touch football. Joseph Sr. was a father with very high expectations and wanted the boys to win at sports and everything they tried. Jack attended a boarding school for adolescent boys in Connecticut. He had a daily subscription to the New York Times newspaper. although Jack had a ‘clever, individualist mind’, his Head Master once noted, he was not the best student. He did not always work as hard as he could, except in history and English, his favorite subjects. |
In 1936 he started his first year at
Harvard, where Joe was already a student. Like his
brother Joe, Jack played football. He was not as good of
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. 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 his summer visit to England and other countries in Europe, even visiting Moskow, Jack returned to Harvard more eager to learn about history and government and to keep up with current events. |
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By this time Jack was a senior at Harvard and decided to write his thesis on the reasons why Great Britain was unprepared for war with Germany. It was so good that 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 the enemy Japanese ships from
delivering supplies to their soldiers. |
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On the dark 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 him 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 written on a
piece of coconut shell. The next day, the PT-109 crew was
rescued. Back home, Jack was awarded the Navy and Marine
Corps Medal for his leadership and courage. Jack’s brother Joe was not so
lucky. |
Soon after being elected senator, John F. Kennedy, at thirty-six years of age, married twenty-four 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 operations. While recovering from surgery, he wrote a book about several U.S. 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. Having been defeated, Kennedy 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 8th
1960, Kennedy beat Republican Richard M. Nixon in a very
close race. At the age of forty-three, 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. |
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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,' [sound]
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.' [sound
Links to the Kennedy Library Site] 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 the same interest in American history as her
husband. Gathering 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 with a sense of beauty. 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. |
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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 disaster or war, such as in Cuba and in the 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. |
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One of the first things President
Kennedy did was to create the Peace Corps.
Through this program, which still exists today, Americans
can volunteer where help 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 many
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 knowledge of space 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 twenty two 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 had to do with racial discrimination. The US Supreme Court had ruled in 1954 that segregation in public schools would no longer be permitted. Black children and White children should be able to 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 peacefully protest 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. |
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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. |
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.
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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 of the murder. 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 the missiles in Cuba. |
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.
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th Kennedy Biography |