President J.F. Kennedy - LiAnne Weller

John F. Kennedy
On November 22, 1963, when he was hardly past his first thousand days in office, John Fitzgerald Kennedy was killed by an assassin's bullets as his motorcade wound through Dallas, Texas. Kennedy was the youngest man elected President; he was the youngest to die.

Of Irish descent, he was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, on May 29, 1917. Graduating from Harvard in 1940, he entered the Navy. In 1943, when his PT boat was rammed and sunk by a Japanese destroyer, Kennedy, despite grave injuries, led the survivors through perilous waters to safety.

Back from the war, he became a Democratic Congressman from the Boston area, advancing in 1953 to the Senate. He married Jacqueline Bouvier on September 12, 1953. In 1955, while recuperating from a back operation, he wrote Profiles in Courage, which won the Pulitzer Prize in history.

In 1956 Kennedy almost gained the Democratic nomination for Vice President, and four years later was a first-ballot nominee for President. Millions watched his television debates with the Republican candidate, Richard M. Nixon. Winning by a narrow margin in the popular vote, Kennedy became the first Roman Catholic President.

His Inaugural Address offered the memorable injunction: "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country." As President, he set out to redeem his campaign pledge to get America moving again. His economic programs launched the country on its longest sustained expansion since World War II; before his death, he laid plans for a massive assault on persisting pockets of privation and poverty.

Responding to ever more urgent demands, he took vigorous action in the cause of equal rights, calling for new civil rights legislation. His vision of America extended to the quality of the national culture and the central role of the arts in a vital society.

He wished America to resume its old mission as the first nation dedicated to the revolution of human rights. With the Alliance for Progress and the Peace Corps, he brought American idealism to the aid of developing nations. But the hard reality of the Communist challenge remained.

Shortly after his inauguration, Kennedy permitted a band of Cuban exiles, already armed and trained, to invade their homeland. The attempt to overthrow the regime of Fidel Castro was a failure. Soon thereafter, the Soviet Union renewed its campaign against West Berlin. Kennedy replied by reinforcing the Berlin garrison and increasing the Nation's military strength, including new efforts in outer space. Confronted by this reaction, Moscow, after the erection of the Berlin Wall, relaxed its pressure in central Europe.

Instead, the Russians now sought to install nuclear missiles in Cuba. When this was discovered by air reconnaissance in October 1962, Kennedy imposed a quarantine on all offensive weapons bound for Cuba. While the world trembled on the brink of nuclear war, the Russians backed down and agreed to take the missiles away. The American response to the Cuban crisis evidently persuaded Moscow of the futility of nuclear blackmail.

Kennedy now contended that both sides had a vital interest in stopping the spread of nuclear weapons and slowing the arms race--a contention which led to the test ban treaty of 1963. The months after the Cuban crisis showed significant progress toward his goal of "a world of law and free choice, banishing the world of war and coercion." His administration thus saw the beginning of new hope for both the equal rights of Americans and the peace of the world.


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For more information about President Kennedy, please visit
John F. Kennedy Library and Museum


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Learn more about John F. Kennedy 's spouse, Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy.



timeline

1917-1963
MAY 29, 1917: Born in Brookline, Mass., the son of Joe and Rose Kennedy (Fitzgerald) and the great-grandson of Irish immigrants.

JUNE 1940: Graduates cum laude with a bachelor of science degree from Harvard University.

JULY 1940: Kennedy's college thesis "Appeasement in Munich," about Britain's failure to prepare itself against Nazi Germany, is published as a book titled Why England Slept.

SEPTEMBER 1941: At age 24, he is sworn in as an ensign in the U.S. Navy.

MARCH 1943: Given command of PT-109 as a lieutenant.

AUG. 3, 1943: While on active duty in Blackett Strait, North Solomon Islands in the Pacific, PT-109 is sunk by the Japanese. Kennedy performed heroically in rescuing his crew.

JUNE 11, 1944: Awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal and Purple Heart for his actions while in command of PT-109.

AUG. 12, 1944: Kennedy's older brother, Joe Kennedy Jr., is killed when his Air Force plane explodes shortly after take-off.

MARCH 1, 1945: Honorably discharged from the Navy with the full rank of lieutenant.

NOV. 5, 1946: Elected as a U.S. representative for the 11th Congressional District in Boston at age 29. He is re-elected in 1948 and 1950.

NOV. 4, 1952: Elected as senator from Massachusetts and re-elected in 1958.

JAN. 3, 1953: Evelyn Lincoln starts work as Kennedy's personal secretary.

SEPT. 12, 1953: Marries Jacqueline Lee Bouvier in Newport, R.I. She is the daughter of John Vernon Bouvier III and Janet Lee Bouvier.

OCT. 21, 1954: Undergoes surgery for a back injury he received during the PT-109 incident.

FEBRUARY 1955: Undergoes a second back operation during which he almost dies. During his recovery, he writes Profiles in Courage, which won a Pulitzer Prize for biography in 1957.

AUG. 17, 1956: Loses his bid for the Democratic nomination for vice president.

AUG. 23, 1956: The Kennedys' daughter, Arabella, is stillborn in Newport, R.I.

NOV. 27, 1957: Caroline Bouvier Kennedy is born at Cornell Medical Center, New York.

JAN. 2, 1960: Announces his candidacy for president of the United States.

JULY 13, 1960: Receives the Democratic nomination for president.

NOV. 8,1960: Defeats Richard M. Nixon to become the 35th president of the United States. Kennedy wins by a margin of 2/10 of 1 percent with 49.75 percent of the votes. Nixon receives 49.55 percent.

NOV. 25, 1960: John Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr. is born at Georgetown University Hospital.

JAN. 20, 1961: At age 43, takes the oath of office to become the 35th president of the United States. He is the youngest elected president and the first president to be Roman Catholic. In his inaugural speech, Kennedy speaks these words: "And so, my fellow Americans ... ask not what your country can do for you ... ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world ... ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man."

MARCH 1, 1961: Signs a bill creating the Peace Corps.

APRIL 17, 1961: The Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba. Kennedy supports the invasion to oust that country's Communist leader, Fidel Castro, but the invasion fails. Kennedy is heavily criticized.

JUNE 3-4, 1961: Meets with Nikita Khrushchev in Vienna on international issues. The focus of the meeting is disarmament, Germany, Laos and nuclear testing. They fail to agree on certain problems but issue a joint statement that they agrees to "maintain contact on all questions of interest to the two countries and for the whole world." After this meeting, the Soviets build a wall between East and West Berlin during the summer.

SEPT. 12, 1962: Delivers a speech at Rice University, pledging that the United States will put a man on the moon "before the end of this decade." Seven years later, on July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong walks on the moon.

OCT. 16-28, 1962: U.S. intelligence discovers that the Russians are building missile sites in Cuba, thus beginning the Cuban Missile Crisis. Kennedy orders a naval and air quarantine on all shipments of weapons to Cuba. Armed conflict seems imminent; however, the Soviets retreat and promise not to set up the missiles. The United States agrees not to attack Cuba.

JUNE 11, 1963: Sends the Alabama National Guard to the University of Alabama to protect two African-American students who won a court order to attend the college. Kennedy speaks on television later in the day and expresses his support for the civil rights movement.

JUNE 23-26, 1963: During a visit to Germany, Kennedy speaks to an enormous crowd at Schoneberger Rathaus in the Rudolph Wilde Platz on June 26. Kennedy's stirring words on freedom excite the crowd: "All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin and therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words "Ich bin ein Berliner.' "

JUNE 26-29, 1963: Visits Ireland and delivers a speech to the Irish Parliament in Dublin.

AUG. 7, 1963: The Kennedys' second son, Patrick, is born five weeks premature and dies Aug. 9.

OCT. 7, 1963: Signs the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in Washington, D.C.: "with our courage and understanding enlarged by this achievement, let us press onward in quest of man's essential desire for peace."

NOV. 15, 1963 (FRIDAY): Visits the family home in Palm Beach.

NOV. 16, 1963 (SATURDAY): Visits Cape Canaveral. Ten days after his visit, the cape was renamed Cape Kennedy. Today it is known as the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral.

NOV. 17, 1963 (SUNDAY): Returns to Palm Beach. He is scheduled to visit Tampa, Miami and several cities in Texas in the coming week.

NOV. 18, 1963 (MONDAY): Arrives at MacDill Air Force Base, Tampa. His first stop is Al Lopez Field, where he delivers a speech. He then travels to the State Chamber of Commerce meeting and delivers another speech at a meeting at the Fort Homer Hesterly Armory. Then he flies to Miami to speak at a Democratic rally at the airport and at the Inter-American Press Association in Miami Beach. He returns to Washington late in the evening.

NOV. 19, 1963 (TUESDAY): Sends a presidential statement to be read at the Centennial Ceremony in Gettysburg National Military Park, where Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address.

NOV. 20, 1963 (WEDNESDAY): Kennedy discusses the prospect of a single global commercial space communications system. He transmits to Congress an annual report on the United Nations. He signs a bill authorizing medals commemorating the founding of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (his last bill). That evening Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy host a cocktail party at the White House.

NOV. 21, 1963 (THURSDAY): Kennedy begins his tour of Texas. His destinations are San Antonio, Houston, Fort Worth, Dallas and Austin.

NOV. 22, 1963 (FRIDAY): John Fitzgerald Kennedy is shot at 12:30 p.m. while riding in an open-top limousine in a motorcade through downtown Dallas. He is pronounced dead at 1 p.m. at Parkland Memorial Hospital. Eighty minutes after the assassination, Lee Harvey Oswald is arrested. Later Oswald is charged with murder.

NOV. 24, 1963 (SUNDAY): Jack Ruby fatally shoots Lee Harvey Oswald.

NOV. 25, 1963 (MONDAY): John Fitzgerald Kennedy is buried in Arlington National Cemetery with his son Patrick and his daughter Arabella.

NOV. 29, 1963: President Lyndon B. Johnson appoints the Warren Commission to investigate the assassination.

SEPT. 29, 1964: The Warren Commission publishes a report with its findings. It finds that the lone gunman was Lee Harvey Oswald. They find no evidence "of any conspiracy to assassinate President Kennedy."

MAY 19, 1994: Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis dies of cancer. She is buried next to John F. Kennedy and their children in Arlington.

JULY 16, 1999: John F. Kennedy Jr. dies when his small plane crashes while flying from the Essex County Airport in Fairfield, N.J., to Martha's Vineyard. With him are his wife, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, and her sister, Lauren Bessette. All three are later buried at sea.



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.



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.

Source(s):
1. Wikipedia
2. I am a History teacher
3. The scariest is that I remember that era.

The Space Program and he got a nuclear test ban treaty with the United Kingdom and the former USSR which banned nuclear explosions in the air or under water. President Kennedy was an advocate for civil rights. He helped get Martin Luther King Jr. out of jail early and proposed the "Civil Rights Act of 1964." Too bad he was killed before he reached his full potential.

PRESIDENT KENNDY HAD A GREAT DEAL OF ACCMPLISHMENTS AND POLITICAL EVENTS THAT IT WAS TOO LARGE TO TYPE. THESE ARE JUST THE MOST IMPORTANT AND THE WELL KNOWN INFO INCLUDING HIS TIMELINE. (NOT COMPLETELY COMPLETE)