John F. Kennedy

[Jacques]

John F. Kennedy (1917 –1963) by Quentin V.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy is the youngest president ever to be elected, at the age of 43 he became the 35th President of the United States of America which has been marked by his firm handling of the Cuban Crisis Missile and his assassination. He also won earlier the Navy and Marine Corps Medal during the World War II for heroism and served as Senator and Congressman between 1946 and 1960 .

 

Jack Kennedy was born in Brookline, Massachusetts May 29, 1917 the son of Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. and Rose Fitzgerald. Joseph Kennedy was a prominent United States businessman and political figure and the patriarch of the Kennedy political family. Rose Fitzgerald was the eldest child of John "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald, a prominent figure in Boston politics who served one term as a member of Congress and later became the city's mayor. They had nine children. Jack was the second eldest child after Joseph Jr. who was supposed to be the first Kennedy to run for the office. Jack also grow up in the shadow of his brother, who was better that him, playing in varsity sports, while Jack was plagued by allergies, asthma, flu and a mysterious illness that left limp and exhausted. Jack had lots of illness during his childhood. During a College Football Game, he broke his back, an injury that he’ll keep for the rest of his life. His education was strict, and elitist. Years later, it would be revealed that Kennedy had been diagnosed as a young man with Addison's Disease, a rare endocrine disorder.

 

Kennedy attended The Choate School in Connecticut, one of the country's most elite, and he graduated in 1935. Though most of his teachers thought he could get very good marks, if only he set his mind to the task in front of him and applied himself, he seldom did. He only did well in the classes that interested him, such as English and history. He performed poorly in classes like biology, chemistry, and Latin. Before enrolling in college, he attended the London School of Economics for a year, where he studied political economy. In the fall of 1935, he enrolled in Princeton University, but was forced to leave during Christmas break after contracting jaundice. The next fall, he began attending Harvard University. Kennedy traveled to Europe twice during his years at Harvard, visiting the United Kingdom, while his father was serving as Ambassador to the Court of St. James's. In 1937, Kennedy was prescribed steroids to control his colitis, which only heightened his medical problems causing him to develop osteoporosis of the lower lumbar spine. In 1938, Kennedy wrote his honors thesis on the British portion of the Munich Agreement. He was an average student at Harvard He graduated cum laude from Harvard with a degree in international affairs in June 1940. His thesis, entitled Why England Slept, was published in 1940 and became a best-seller. He married Jacqueline Bouvier on September 12, 1953. They had four Children Arabella (stillborn, 1956) Caroline Bouvier Kennedy (b. 1957), John Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr. (1960–1999), and Patrick Bouvier Kennedy (born and died in August 1963). During his early career he has won the Navy and Marine Corps Medal during the World War II "For heroism the rescue of 3 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 3 men, one of whom was seriously injured. During the following 6 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." He also has been a Representative and a Senator.

 

After World War II, Kennedy entered politics (partly to fill the void of his popular brother, Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., on whom his family had pinned many of their hopes but who was killed in the war). In 1946, Kennedy ran for a Representative seat, beating his Republican opponent by a large margin. He was reelected twice, but had a mixed voting record, often diverging from President Harry S. Truman and the rest of the Democratic Party. In 1952, Kennedy ran for the Senate with the slogan "Kennedy will do more for Massachusetts." In an upset victory, he defeated Republican incumbent Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. by a margin of about 70,000 votes. In 1960, Kennedy declared his intent to run for President of the United States. In the Democratic primary election, he faced challenges from Senator Hubert H. Humphrey of Minnesota, Senator Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas, and Adlai Stevenson. Kennedy won key primaries like Wisconsin and West Virginia. Kennedy emerged as a universally acceptable candidate for the party after that victory. On July 13, 1960 the Democratic Party nominated Kennedy as its candidate for president. Kennedy asked Johnson to be his Vice Presidential candidate, despite clashes between the two during the primary elections. He needed Johnson's strength in the South to win the closest election since 1916. To allay fears that his Roman 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 happens also to be a Catholic. I do not speak for my Church on public matters - and the Church does not speak for me." In September and October, Kennedy debated Republican candidate Vice President Richard Nixon in the first ever televised presidential debates. During the debates, Nixon looked tense, sweaty, and unshaven contrasted to Kennedy's composure and handsomeness, leading many to deem Kennedy the winner. In the general election on November 8, 1960, Kennedy beat Nixon in a very close race. 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. "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country", 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." His first foreign affair was the Bay of Pigs invasion, which has been a total disaster. An airstrike failed to destroy Cuba’s air force and Cuban troop were more than a match for the 1500 US backed invaders. Kennedy stopped a hopeless effort and chose simply to accept defeat. Europeans were concerned about the kind of leadership he would provide but the Cuban Missile Crisis on October 1962, presented JFK as inspired through his answer to soviet intimidations by placing missile in Cuba. He decided to place Cuba in quarantine, Khrushev removed soviet missiles and USA pledged not to invade Cuba. Kennedy avoided a nuclear war and emerged form the confrontation as an hero. Another example of Kennedy's belief in the ability of nonmilitary power to improve the world was the creation of the Peace Corps, one of his first acts as president. Through this program, Americans volunteered to help underdeveloped nations in areas such as education, farming, health care, and construction. Kennedy also used limited military action to contain the spread of communism. Determined to stand firm against the spread of communism, Kennedy continued the previous administration's policy of political, economic, and military support for the unstable South Vietnamese government, which included sending military advisers and U.S. special forces to the area. U.S. involvement in the area continually escalated until regular U.S. forces were directly fighting the Vietnam War in the next administration. On June 26, 1963 Kennedy visited West Berlin and gave a public speech criticizing communism. While Kennedy was speaking, on the other side of the wall were the people of East Berlin who were applauding Kennedy showing their distaste in Soviet control. 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” ("I am a Berliner"). Troubled by the long-term dangers of radioactive contamination and nuclear weapons proliferation, Kennedy also 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 does 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, and believed it to be one of the greatest accomplishments of his administration. Kennedy was eager for the United States to lead the way in the space race. The Soviet Union was ahead of the U.S. in its knowledge of space exploration and Kennedy was determined that the U.S. could catch up. In a speech made at Rice University in September 1962, 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.". Kennedy asked 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. In 1969, six years after Kennedy's death, this goal was finally realized when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to land on the Moon. President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, on Friday, November 22, 1963 at 12:30 pm CST while on a political trip through Texas. Lee Harvey Oswald was charged at 7:00 pm for killing a Dallas policeman by "murder with malice", and also charged at 11:30 pm for the murder of the president (there being no charge of "assassination" of a president at that time).

 

JFK has been the first catholic president, the youngest elected and the first born in the 20th Century . He symbolized a new hope for America during his short turn in the office with projects like Civil Rights who were passed after his death. He was athletic, good speaker and gave dynamism to the country with his famous inaugural address for example : "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country". John and Jackie were as popular pop singers or movie stars. He also developed the presence of the art in the White House. During his office his major act has been his firm handling of Cuban Missile Crisis, which emerged him as a national hero. The Kennedy are associated to the drama. The assassination of the President Kennedy is one of the first elements of this legend.

 

John Kennedy was a good politician using his charisma and his youth.. He was an idealist who started project like the civil right acts and the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. For lots of people he’ll stay a president who has not been used by the power and keep his dynamic image and a national hero who avoided a nuclear war with the Cuban missile crisis, although he didn’t warn public about his Addison Disease. He was a good public man, but his private life has been a kind of disaster. He has been many times ill, his brother Joe dead during the war, her sister Kick dead early too in France during a plane crash, the death of his son Patrick Bouvier Kennedy. He has been away for his child birth and his wife was feeling lonely for long time… some sources give him extra marital affairs. But he seemed to be a good father for his children. John Fitzgerald Kennedy is one of the most famous president and his assassination contributes to his legend.

 

My source have been the website : www.wikipedia.org through the article John F Kennedy and links related to the Kennedy Family, the biography a twilight struggle the life of John Fitzgerald Kennedy by Barbara Harrison and Daniel Terris ( the whole book ) and the Kennedy Family page 416 from the book 10 of the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

 

What do you think about my biography for US history??

[RXS]

Looks like a lot of cut and paste.

[[FF5]Knix]

Yeah Jacques, you need to use more of your words. All the stuff you write is correct, but its just regergitating facts.

 

Joe Kennedy Sr. made his money as a boot legger.....he dealt in Booze. So the foundation of all teh Kennedy money comes from that. Your Tennessee teacher can appreciate that .

 

 

No mention of Marilyn Monroe? :O:O

[daybreak]

Looks like a lot of cut and paste.

 

Ease up now, we don't know that ¬_¬

 

Anyhow, you did seem to gloss over some of the arguably more interesting facets of Kennedy's life. True, many of these items are a bit sensationalistic and some are just plain rumors, but still.

[RXS]

Ease up now, we don't know that ¬_¬

 

Anyhow, you did seem to gloss over some of the arguably more interesting facets of Kennedy's life. True, many of these items are a bit sensationalistic and some are just plain rumors, but still.

 

You ease up Daybreak...he asked what we thought and I told him. Jacques can barely structure a legible sentence yet his entire report sounds like it came straight out of an Encyclopedia.

 

Better that it comes from us where he can take it with a grain of salt than have it come from his teacher where he can take it with a F for plagarism.

[[FF5]Knix]

Yep.

 

If the topic read. "Only post if you like my report." Then I wouldn't have said anything.

 

I've known an F or 2 in my day....

[{GD}Independent]

Of course, the report went wrong right from the title. it should have started "Ronald Wilson Reagan" to be worth a crap anyway! lol, j/k Jacques!

[Jacques]

The 1st and the 2 last paragraph are form my words as you could guess.

I forgot to write about Monroe and I havent read that in the biography book about him for bootleggers.

 

It's just my chapter in history.

18th Amendment, and speakeasies... funny things.

Anyway It's for extra credit and I have something like 98 or 97, that's so easy here. Matching, True or False...

 

Doc. Knix teach me more history. The book and the TV things are not interesting enough

[[FF5]Knix]

 

 

1) He had to wear a brace constantly due to a bad case of scoliosis (man was a physical wreck...imbreeding...BAD!). This brace is thought to have held him proped up after being shot the first time throug his neck, not allowing his body to slump down, thus allowing Lee Harvey to get the clean 2nd shot into his head....killing him.

 

2) His older brother Joe Jr. was actually the one who Joe Sr. wanted to cultivate into being a President. HOwever at the end of WW2, Joe Jr. volunteered for a final mission (air force), which in retrospect was bound to fail. Overloaded with bombs, his plane crashed in Germany..killing him. Joe Sr. then turned to John to take up the mantle as the future Kennedy president.

 

3) Joe Sr. used his underworld influence with the Mafia to help the fudge the votes in Chicago, and other major cities. (dead people voted, etc, etc). And prior to the election in 2000, his ultimate victory over Richard Nixon was the closest margin of victory in the history of presidential elections.

 

4) Many people say that the reason why Kennedy won the election over Nixon (besides the whole mafia thang), was that he was a handsom man. T.V was coming into wide-spread popularity, and the first televised debates where held in 1960, during that election. Kennedy was made for TV. With his chisled features he came across to the viewing public as very photogenic, while the brooding Nixon came across as a sweaty old guy with a 5 o'clock shadow. Many people feel that Kennedy gained an enormous advantage from these televised debates.