John F. Kennedy Biography

John Fitzgerald Kennedy is among one of the most famous presidents of the United Nation of America.  He was commonly known as JFK or John F. Kennedy.  He served as the 35th  president of America in 1961, during his third year of government he was assassinated. The assassination took place on 22nd November 1963. He also served the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate before getting elected as the President. During his term as president, he faced many foreign crises especially from countries like Berlin and Cuba. His extraordinary achievements during his term include the Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty and the Alliance for Progress. Kennedy served during the peak of the cold war, the tension between the United States of America and the Soviet Union was primarily high during his term. 

John F. Kennedy was born in Brooklyn, Massachusetts in the year of 1917. He was born into a rich family. The paternal side of his family was well-established liquor traders, his grandfather was a banker. The maternal side “Fitzgeralds:” were prominent figures in local politics. His maternal grandfather was the mayor of Brooklyn.  He studied at Harvard University, he then married Jacqueline Bouvier. She was an American socialite, editor and photographer. Her popularity as a first lady was evident because of her love for history.

The article discusses the John F Kennedy biography. The article mainly focuses on the early life, education, marriage and major political events of the president. The article also incorporates some of the John F. Kennedy facts and quotes.

Early life

John F Kennedy was born on 29 May 1917. He was born in  Brooklyn, Massachusetts. His father was Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. and Rose Fitzgerald. Both their parents belonged to prominent families. The Kennedy family was a well-reputed liquor dealer, while his father Joseph P. Kennedy Sr was a banker in the stock market. He made huge profits during the first world war. He later served as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission and as an ambassador to Great Britain. Rose Fitzgerald was an eminent socialist and philanthropist of the Boston elites. The grandfather of young JFK, John E. Fitzgerald was known to be a prominent figure in politics; he served as Mayor for the town of Brooklyn. 

John F. Kennedy's background was very strong and political, since he had such a strong political background it is needless to say that his prior interest in becoming a public servant was rooted in his home. JFK was among the youngest among the nine brothers and sisters. Ted and Bobby primarily played an important role in shopping his political career. His sisters Eunice and Pat were also very influential. Eunice was the founder of the Special Olympics, his brother Robert was a U.S. Attorney General. The Kennedy siblings maintained a close group. All of the siblings had their achievements in their personal and professional life. 

It is evidently mentioned in the John Fitzgerald Kennedy biography that he was chronically ill during his childhood and adolescence years. JFK suffered from severe colds, flu, scarlet fever and many severe undiagnosed diseases that led him to miss many months of school at a time. 

JFK was not particularly a genius child, there are written letters exchanged between his father and him regarding his studies. 

Education 

He attended a catholic Christian school called Canterbury, he particularly excelled in subjects like History and English. The interest of young Keneddy was primarily present in sports. He briefly attended Princeton University and then transferred to Harvard where he continued his studies. During his college, he particularly excelled in political science and history. During the year 1939, he wrote an incisive thesis on the subject of World War II and the failure of Britain to combat Nazis in Germany called "Appeasement in Munich". The thesis contained a detailed study of the state of war and the condition of Britain and Germany. The thesis was well received and was later published as a book called Why England Slept. The book sold more than eighty thousand copies.

The book Why England Slept was based on the arguments presented at the Munich Agreement during the second world war. In addition to the shortcomings of Britain, the book also focused on the Anglo-American alliance against the rising totalitarian powers. Kennedy strongly believed in the U.S intervention against Nazi Germany. He graduated from Harvard with a degree of Bachelors of Arts in government, concentrating on international affairs. 

Navy service

An unpopular John F. Kennedy facts include his service at the naval forces. Shortly after graduating from Harvard, he joined the US Navy. During his term, he was assigned to command a patrol torpedo boat in the South Pacific. During this, he faced life-threatening attacks from Japanese troops; the boat under his command, PT-109, was attacked on August 2,1943. This led to two casualties, and 2 injuries one of them was JFK. he led the survivors to a nearby island, where they were rescued six days later. He was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for "extremely heroic conduct" and a Purple Heart for the injuries he suffered. Upon discharge from the Navy, he worked briefly as a newspaper editor for Hearst newspaper.

Congressional career (1947 to 1960)

House of Representatives (1947–1953)

As stated in many John F. Kennedy biography books he served at both the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate. The congressional period was from 1947 to 1960. In 1946, Kennedy won the Democratic primary with 42 per cent of the vote, in the House of Representatives. The main agenda of his campaign included better housing for veterans, better health care for all, and support for organized labour’s campaign for reasonable work hours, a healthy workplace, and the right to organize, bargain, and strike. He also campaigned for peace in the United Nations and was in strong opposition to the Soviet Union. Although Democrats lost the vote in the 1946 elections, JFK won his seat by a majority of 72 per cent votes. He served the House of Representatives for six years, he was among the members of Education and Labor Committee and the Veterans' Affairs Committee. He was a supporter of the Truman Doctrine during the emergence of the cold war. He publicly supported the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, he opposed the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947, which restricted the power of labour unions.

Senate (1953–1960)

He served the senate from 1953 to 1960. Kennedy defeated Lodge by 70,000 votes for the Senate seat in the elections of 1952. During his time at the senate, he published the book for which he won the Pulitzer Prize. The book was named  Profiles in Courage and was published in 1956. The book mentioned the courageous but unpopular contribution of the senate members who risked their careers for their personal beliefs. 

The main focus during his term as a senate member was on eradicating Massachusetts-specific issues by sponsoring bills to help the fishing, textile manufacturing, and watchmaking industries. Kennedy also played an important role in the  Civil Rights Act of 1957. He was re-elected for his term at the senate for the second time. He completed his term in 1960.

Presidency

He was elected as the 35th president of the United Nations, he was a democratic candidate. He won the election on January 20, 1961. He was the second next youngest president in the history of presidents in the United States of America next to Theodore Roosevelt. The major issue that he faced during his short tenure of the presidency was foreign affairs. One of the major historical events in the presidency was the failure to overthrow the Cuban leftist government. The project was called Bay of Pigs Invasion. The Cuban missile crisis was also among the major international nuclear crises of the world. 

The main achievement of the presidency was the establishment of the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty with Great Britain and the Soviet Union, helping to ease Cold War tensions. One of the major reforms that Kennedy initiated was the approval of the Civil Rights for Black people of America Kennedy’s bill eventually passed as the landmark Civil Rights Act in 1964. During his early years of presidency, he initiated the foundation of the peace corps that was focused on education, farming, health care, and the construction of the country.  

Marriage and Children 

He married Jacqueline Bouvier, who was known as a famous photographer, editor and socialite of the country. The first lady was popular for her love of history. Jacqueline Bouvier met with Kennedy during his term as Senate member, they later got married in the year of 1953. They had three children, named Arabella, Caroline, and John Jr.Patrick. They were believed to be a happily married couple. 

Assassination

The murder of JFK was considered a national tragedy. The first historian documented the incident as in the JFK biography. He was murdered by Lee Harvey Oswald, a former Marine with Soviet sympathies. He was shot by the former Marine twice while he was in his car with the governor of Texas and his wife on 22nd November 1963. He died in the hospital at Parkland Memorial Hospital shortly thereafter, at age 46. One of the historians named Arthur Schlesinger Jr. documented the tragedy and its impact "as if Lincoln had been killed six months after Gettysburg or Franklin Roosevelt at the end of 1935 or Truman before the Marshall Plan."