John F. Kennedy

20/01/196122/11/1963View on timeline
John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy: The 35th President of the United States | Biography

John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from January 1961 until his assassination in November 1963. Kennedy served at the height of the Cold War, and the majority of his work as president concerned relations with the Soviet Union and Cuba. A Democrat, Kennedy represented Massachusetts in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate prior to becoming president.

Kennedy was born into a wealthy, political family in Brookline, Massachusetts. He graduated from Harvard University in 1940, before joining the U.S. Naval Reserve the following year. During World War II, he commanded a series of PT boats in the Pacific theater and earned the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for his service. After a brief stint in journalism, Kennedy represented a working-class Boston district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1947 to 1953. He was subsequently elected to the U.S. Senate and served as the junior Senator from Massachusetts from 1953 to 1960. While in the Senate, Kennedy published his book, Profiles in Courage, which won a Pulitzer Prize. In the 1960 presidential election, he narrowly defeated Republican opponent Richard Nixon, who was the incumbent vice president.

Kennedy's administration included high tensions with communist states in the Cold War. As a result, he increased the number of American military advisers in South Vietnam. In April 1961, he authorized an attempt to overthrow the Cuban government of Fidel Castro in the Bay of Pigs Invasion. Kennedy authorized the Cuban Project in November 1961. He rejected Operation Northwoods (plans for false flag attacks to gain approval for a war against Cuba) in March 1962. However, his administration continued to plan for an invasion of Cuba in the summer of 1962. The following October, U.S. spy planes discovered Soviet missile bases had been deployed in Cuba; the resulting period of tensions, termed the Cuban Missile Crisis, nearly resulted in the breakout of a global thermonuclear conflict. The Strategic Hamlet Program began in Vietnam during his presidency. Domestically, Kennedy presided over the establishment of the Peace Corps and the continuation of the Apollo space program. He also supported the civil rights movement, but was only somewhat successful in passing his New Frontier domestic policies.

On November 22, 1963, he was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson assumed the presidency upon Kennedy's death. Marxist and former U.S. Marine Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested for the state crime, but he was shot and killed by Jack Ruby two days later. The FBI and the Warren Commission both concluded Oswald had acted alone in the assassination, but various groups contested the Warren Report and believed that Kennedy was the victim of a conspiracy. After Kennedy's death, Congress enacted many of his proposals, including the Civil Rights Act and the Revenue Act of 1964. Kennedy ranks highly in polls of U.S. presidents with historians and the general public. His personal life has also been the focus of considerable sustained interest following public revelations in the 1970s of his chronic health ailments and extramarital affairs.


0 comments

Comment
No comments avaliable.

Author

Info

Published in 28/08/2020

Updated in 19/02/2021

All events in the topic USA - Presidents:


30/04/178904/03/1797George WashingtonGeorge Washington
04/03/179704/03/1801John AdamsJohn Adams
04/03/180104/03/1809Thomas JeffersonThomas Jefferson
04/03/180904/03/1817James MadisonJames Madison
04/03/181704/03/1825James MonroeJames Monroe
04/03/182504/03/1829John Quincy AdamsJohn Quincy Adams
04/03/182904/03/1837Andrew JacksonAndrew Jackson
04/03/183704/03/1841Martin Van BurenMartin Van Buren
04/03/184104/04/1841William Henry HarrisonWilliam Henry Harrison
04/04/184104/03/1845John TylerJohn Tyler
04/03/184504/03/1849James K. PolkJames K. Polk
04/03/184909/07/1850Zachary TaylorZachary Taylor
09/07/185004/03/1853Millard FillmoreMillard Fillmore
04/03/185304/03/1857Franklin PierceFranklin Pierce
04/03/185704/03/1861James BuchananJames Buchanan
04/03/186115/04/1865Abraham LincolnAbraham Lincoln
15/04/186504/03/1869Andrew JohnsonAndrew Johnson
04/03/186904/03/1877Ulysses S. GrantUlysses S. Grant
04/03/187704/03/1881Rutherford B. HayesRutherford B. Hayes
04/03/188119/09/1881James A. GarfieldJames A. Garfield
19/09/188104/03/1885Chester A. ArthurChester A. Arthur
04/03/188504/03/1889Grover ClevelandGrover Cleveland
04/03/188904/03/1893Benjamin HarrisonBenjamin Harrison
04/03/189304/03/1897Grover ClevelandGrover Cleveland
04/03/189714/09/1901William McKinleyWilliam McKinley
14/09/190104/03/1909Theodore RooseveltTheodore Roosevelt
04/03/190904/03/1913William Howard TaftWilliam Howard Taft
04/03/191304/03/1921Woodrow WilsonWoodrow Wilson
04/03/192102/08/1923Warren G. HardingWarren G. Harding
04/03/192304/03/1929Calvin CoolidgeCalvin Coolidge
04/03/192904/03/1933Herbert HooverHerbert Hoover
04/03/193312/04/1945Franklin D. RooseveltFranklin D. Roosevelt
12/04/194520/01/1953Harry S. TrumanHarry S. Truman
20/01/195320/01/1961Dwight D. EisenhowerDwight D. Eisenhower
20/01/196122/11/1963John F. KennedyJohn F. Kennedy
22/11/196320/01/1969Lyndon B. JohnsonLyndon B. Johnson
20/01/196909/08/1974Richard NixonRichard Nixon
09/08/197420/01/1977Gerald FordGerald Ford
20/01/197720/01/1981Jimmy CarterJimmy Carter
20/01/198120/01/1989Ronald ReaganRonald Reagan
20/01/198920/01/1993George H. W. BushGeorge H. W. Bush
20/01/199320/01/2001Bill ClintonBill Clinton
20/01/200120/01/2009George W. BushGeorge W. Bush
20/01/200920/01/2017Barack ObamaBarack Obama
20/01/201720/01/2021Donald TrumpDonald Trump