JOHN F. KENNEDY - Biography, Marriage, Kennedys assassination

JOHN F.

KENNEDY

Contents:

Biography

Marriage

Decision to run

The Kennedy - Nixon presidential debates

Family support

Kennedys assassination

Parallel destiny: Lincoln-Kennedy

Chronology

Bibliography

BIOGRAPHY

John Fitzgerald Kennedy was the second son of Joseph Patrick Kennedy and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, both of whose grandparents were Irish immigrants, and both of whose fathers were political powers in the Irish wards of Boston.

Of Irish descent, he was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, on May 29, 1917.

He had another eight brothers: Joseph, Rosemary (1919), Kathleen (1920), Eunice (1921), Patricia (1924), Robert (1925), Jean (1928) and Edward (1932).

Patrick J. Kennedy was born in 1862, the fourth and the last child of parents who immigrated to America during the devastating potato famine of the 1840s. Starting out as a dockworker, he accumulated enough capital to open a saloon.

He expanded and diversified, adding more saloons retail and wholesale liquor businesses, a coal company and, finally, a bank that later had served to catapult his son Joseph into his first prominence.

As his fortune grew, Mr. Kennedy turned the drive and perfectionism of his character toward his family. The slogan of the Kennedy family was Second best is a loser.

To encourage independence in his family, Mr. Kennedy settled on each of the children a $1,000,000 trust fund.

Of Johns Kennedy eight brothers and sisters, only one, Joe, apparently had any influence on him greater that generated by the usual sibling relationships. Joe was two years older, heavier, stronger, better looking, and more athletic as many believed, more intelligent.

During the Patrick Kennedy many absences on businesses, Joe assumed the mantle of father. Quick tempered, domineering, like his father, he ruled the roots with an iron hand-and fist.

The Kennedy was a devout family, but Mr. Kennedy left the religious training of his children to his church and his wife. He opposed parochial school education for his sons, because he considered it more important for them to broaden their horizons by attending secular schools.

He was a Catholic by heritage, habit and conviction, and a friend of Cardinals.

He did not believe that all virtue resided in the Catholic Church, nor did he believe that all none-Catholics would go to hell. He felt neither self-conscious nor superior about his religion but simply accepted it as a part of his life.

The boys education began at Brooklines Dexter school. He switched to the Riverdale county day school in New York when the family moved there in 1926.

Johns year at Canterbury cut short by an emergency appendicitis operation and his convalescence, the first of many illnesses to plague him during his life.

By the time Jack graduated from Choate in 1935 at 18.Since Mr. Kennedy was a Harvard graduate and Joe was making a name for himself there, it seemed natural that john should go to Cambridge. He insisted, however, on applying to Princeton. Displeased by the decision, Mr. Kennedy nevertheless acquiesced, but sooner he dispatched john to London to study under Harold Laski, at the London school of economies. John Kennedy never returned to Princeton.

In the fall of 1936 he enrolled at Harvard, and he was finally, a Harvard undergraduateas his father desire

Johns career at Harvard was mark by an accident and late-blooming interest in foreign affairs, stimulated by a trip in Europe and his fathers appointment as Ambassador to Britain.

Too slight for the varsity football team, john managed to win a place on the scrubs; He did excel in swimming and with Brother Joe, he won the intercollegiate sailing title.

In June 1940, Kennedy was graduated from Harvard in political science. His thesis was published as a book, Why England Slept.

After that, he entered Stanford Universitys graduate business school, dropped out after six months and left on a long tour in South America.

In the spring of 1941, Kennedy volunteered for the U.S. Army, but was rejected, mainly because of his troublesome back. Nevertheless, in September of that year, the U.S. Navy accepted him, due to the influence of the director of the Office Naval Intelligence.

In August 2, 1944, his brother, Joseph P. Jr. was killed on Naval air raid against Belgian coast.

After that, in 1945 john Kennedy worked as reporter for Hearst newspapers

Back from the war, he became a Democratic Congressman from the Boston area, advancing in 1953 to the Senate.

MARRIAGE

Jacqueline and Kennedy were at the same functions several times between 1948 and 1952. The first was the wedding of a mutual friend on Long Island in 1948. In May 1951 she met him at a dinner party at the home of Charles and Martha Bartlett in Washington, DC.

In September 12, 1953, Kennedy gets married with Jacqueline Lee Bouvier. She was a striking young woman, with soft, abundant hair and inquisitive mind.

She was daughter of John Vernon Bouvier III and his wife Janet Lee. She had been brought up in the social whirl of New York and Washington. She had been educated at the best of girls schools, at Vassar, and was soon graduate from George Washington University. She was a good equestrian and she swam well. In addition, she wrote poems and stories, drew illustrations for them, and studied ballet.

They had two children, Caroline, on November 27, 1957, and John F. Jr. on November 25, 1960. Before and after the births of their children, the couple lost two other infants. The first was a girl, dead at birth on August 7, 1956 and the second, a son, Patrick Bouvier Kennedy, born on August 7, 1963, dead two days later.

For theirfirst years of marriage John and Jacqueline Kennedy lived in a townhouse on N Street in Georgetown, Washington D.C..

In 1955, while recuperating from a back operation, he wrote Profiles in Courage, which won the Pulitzer Prize in history.

The marriage had problems arising from John F. Kennedy's alleged affairs and his debilitating health issues, both of which were hidden from the public. Jacqueline spent much of her time and money early in their marriage redecorating their home and shopping for clothes.

DECISION TO RUN

Historians are already disputing the precise moment when John Fitzgerald Kennedy decided that the Presidency of the United States was within his reach. Some historians insist that decision was implicit the day his father transferred his political ambitions fro his fallen brother to him. Others believe it came later.

These are conjectures but with elements of fact for many events obviously, the private crisis of identity fallowed by his illness in 1954-1955, contributed to Kennedys historic decision.

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.'

THE KENNEDY-NIXON

PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES 1960

In January 1960, Senator John Kennedy announced his candidacy for Presidency of the United States, and began working very long hours and traveling all around the country.

On 26 September 1960, 70 million U.S. viewers tuned in to watch Senator John Kennedy of Massachusetts and Vice President Richard Nixon in the first-ever televised presidential debate. It was the first of four televised 'Great Debates' between Kennedy and Nixon. The first debate centered on domestic issues. The high point of the second debate, on 7 October, was disagreement over U.S. involvement in two small islands off the coast of China, and on 13 October, Nixon and Kennedy continued this dispute. On 21 October, the final debate, the candidates focused on American relations with Cuba.

The Great Debates marked television's grand entrance into presidential politics. They afforded the first real opportunity for voters to see their candidates in competition, and the visual contrast was dramatic. In August, Nixon had seriously injured his knee and spent two weeks in the hospital.

In substance, the candidates were much more evenly matched. Indeed, those who heard the first debate on the radio pronounced Nixon the winner. However, the 70 million who watched television saw a candidate still sickly and obviously discomforted by Kennedy's smooth delivery and charisma. Those television viewers focused on what they saw, not what they heard. Studies of the audience indicated that, among television viewers, Kennedy was perceived the winner of the first debate by a very large margin.

The televised Great Debates had a significant impact on voters in 1960, on national elections since, and, indeed, on our concerns for democracy itself. The impact on the election of 1960 was significant, albeit subtle. Commentators broadly agree that the first debate accelerated Democratic support for Kennedy.

  Kennedy and Nixon amazingly presented similar agendas.  Both spoke of progress and change.  Kennedy talked of a 'New frontier.' He wanted to develop new technologies and make advancements in space exploration.  He also wanted to confront the demons of the past like poverty, war, and ignorance in order to provide for a brighter future.

 Nixon repeated the message of a brighter future, but he echoed the sentiments through Republican themes such as increased emphasis on private industry and decreased government spending.

 Although the methods of achieving their goals were different, the campaign themes were closely aligned.  Besides the overall message of, Kennedy and Nixon shared similar beliefs in the threat of Communism, the need to strengthen the military and other foreign policy issues.  The similarity in policy and ideas forced the campaigns to seek out other differences.

Although the two candidates had both come to Congress in 1946, Nixon tried to strengthen his position by playing up his foreign policy work as Vice President.  In addition, at forty-three, Kennedy's youthful appearance did not help to discourage the attacks of Nixon.

The Republican nominee had found a weak spot in the Kennedy armor and seemed to be gaining some momentum in the race.  This was extremely important because, at the time, Republicans were in the minority nationwide.  The run for the White House was going to be tight and any small advantage could pay enormous dividends.  No sooner than Nixon had found his focal point, the first of several media oriented events weighed in on the eventual outcome of the election.

FAMILY SUPPORT

Jacqueline, his wife, had taken an active role in the campaign, even speaking to grocery store shoppers over the PA system in one town. She helped her husband by answering thousands of campaign letters, taping TV commercials, giving interviews both televised and printed and by writing a weekly newspaper column, Campaign Wife, which was distributed across the country. She was assisted by her personal secretary, Mary Barelli Gallagher, who continued her post during the White House Years; she stopped working for Jackie several months after Mrs. Kennedy moved to New York City. In 1969, Gallagher published her best-selling tell-all memoir, My Life with Jacqueline Kennedy.

John F. Kennedy was sworn in as the 35th President.

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.

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. However, 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.

Following this crisis, which brought the world closer to nuclear war than at any point before or since, Kennedy was more cautious in confronting the Soviet Union.

Instead, the Russians now sought to install nuclear missiles in Cuba. When this was discovered by air reconnaissance in October 1962, Kennedy imposed 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 that 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.

In South East Asia, Kennedy followed Eisenhower's lead by using limited military action to fight the Communist forces ostensibly led by Ho Chi Minh. Proclaiming a fight against the spread of Communism, Kennedy enacted policies providing political, economic, and military support for the unstable French-installed South Vietnamese government, which included sending 16,000 military advisors and U.S. Special Forces to the area.

Kennedy also agreed to the use of free-fire zones, napalm, defoliants and jet planes. U.S. involvement in the area continually escalated until regular U.S. forces were directly fighting the Vietnam War in the next administration. The Kennedy Administration increased military support, but the South Vietnamese military was unable to make headway against the pro-independence Viet-Minh and Viet Cong forces. By July 1963, Kennedy faced a crisis in Vietnam.

In 1963, South Vietnamese generals overthrew the Diem government, arresting Diem and later killing him (though the exact circumstances of his death remain unclear) Kennedy sanctioned Diem's overthrow. One reason for the support was a fear that Diem might negotiate a neutralist coalition government which included Communists, as had occurred in Laos in 1962. Dean Rusk, Secretary of State, remarked 'This kind of neutralismis tantamount to surrender.'

KENNEDYS ASSASIANATION

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

The assasination of John F.Kennedy, the thirty-fifth president of the united states took place on Friday, in Dallas, Texas, USA.

John F. Kennedy was fatally wounded by gunshots while riding with his wife Jaqueline a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza.

That Kennedy was assasinated by Lee Harvey Oswald, an employee of the Texas School Book Depository in Dealey Plaza, was the conclusion of multiple government investigations, including the ten-month investigation of the Warren Commission of 1963-1964 and the United States House Select Committee on Assassination of 1976-1979.

Lee Harvey, reported missing to the Dallas Police by his supervisor at the Depository, was arrested an hour an 20 minutes after the assassination for killing a dallas police officer, J.D. Tippit, who had spotted Oswald walking along a sidewalk.

He was captured in a nearby movie theatre. Oswald resisted, attemping to shoot the arresting officer with a pistol, and was forcibly restrained by the police. He was charged with the murders of Tippit and Kennedy later that night.

Oswald denied shooting anyone and claimed he was a patsy. Oswalds case never came to trial because two days later , while being escorted to an unmarked car for transfer from Dallas Police Headquarters to the Dallas County Jail, he was chot and kiled by Jack Ruby.

This conclusion initially met with widespread support among the American public, but polls, since the original 1966 Gallup poll, show a majoriry of the public hold beliefs contrary to these findings.

The assassination is still the subject of widespread speculations and has spawned numerous conspiracy theories, though none of these theories have been proven.

At 1:00 p.m. , after all heart activity had ceased and after a priest administered the last rites, the president was pronouned death.Vice-President Johnson( who hd been riding two cars behind Kennedy in motorcade through Dallas and was not injured) became President of the United States upon Kennedys death.

The staff at Parkland Hospitals Trauma Room 1 who treated kennedy observed that his condition was moribund, meaning that he had no chance of survival upon arriving at thr hospital.

Dr. George Gregory, the Presidents personal physician arrived at the Parkland emergency room where the president was located, five minutes after the President arrived. Dr. Burkley observed both the head wound and a wound of the back of the President, and determinated that the head wound was the cause of death. Dr. Burkley signed President Kennedys death ceritficate.

The auotpsy of Preisdent Kennedy performed to the night of november 22 at the Bethesda Naval Hospital led the three examining pathologist to conclude that the bullet wound to the head was fatal.

The autopsy eport said the defect extended into the right temporal and occipital regions of the skull.

The report addressed a second missile which entered Kennedys upper back above the shoulder blade, passed through the strap muscles at the base of his neck, bruising the upper tip of the right lung without puncturing it, then exiting the front neck, in a owund that was destroyed by the tracheotomy incision.

The autopsy was fallowed by ambalming and cosmetic funeral preparation in the morgue at Bethesda, in a room adjacent to the autopsy theater. This was done by a team of private mortuary personnel, who made an usual trip to the hospital for his procedure, not ordinarily done there. The body, prepared for viewing, was then placed in a casket for transportation to Washintong D.C.

The body was privately and briefly viewed during this time by the kennedy family and some close friends. The Sunday following the assasination, his falg- draped closed casket was moved to the Capitol for public viewing. Throughout the day and night, hundreds of thousands lined up to view the guarded casket.

Representatives from over 90 countries, including the Soviet Union, attended the funeral on November 25. After the service, the casket was taken by caisson to Arlington National Cemetery for burial.

Later federal agencies such as the Assasination Records Review Board criticized the autopsy on several grounds including destruction from burning of the original draft of the autopsy report and notes taken by Dr. James Humes at the time of autopsy, and failure to maintain a proper chain of custody of all of the autopsy materials.

PARALLEL DESTINY

LINCOLN(1809-1865) -KENNENDY(1917-1963)

The assasination in similar terms of the presidents Abraham Lincoln and John kennedy, represents just a last link of a incredible circle of parallelism of them destinies.

Lincoln was choose as deputy in Congress in 1846 an Kennedy after a hundred year later (1946).

Lincoln become president in 1860 and Kennedy in 1960.

The assassin of Lincoln borned in 1839(Booth), the assassin of Kennedy in 1939(Oswald).

Both assassin were from South USA; both dead before being judged.

Booth killed Lincoln in a theatre, and after that he arcaned in a storehouse. Oswald killed Kennedy in a storehouse and he arcaned in a theatre.

Both presidents declared in the day of assassination that something tragic will happen.

Lincoln had a secretary named Kennedy, and Kennedy had also a secretary named Lincoln.

Both was assassinated in wifes attendance.

Both were shoot in the nape.

Both assassiantion taked place in a Friday.

Lincoln was assasinated in Ford Theatre, Kennedy was assassinated in a Ford limousine.

The function of president was taking over politicians from South USA, both with the same name: Andrew Johnson and Lyndon Johnson.

CHRONOLOGY :

May 29, 1987: Born in Brookline, Mass.

Attended Canterburry School, New Millford.

Attended Choate School.

1935(summer):  Studied at London School of Economics.

Entered Harvard.

June, 1940: Recived B.S. degree cum laude from Harvard.

Aug. 1, 1940: Brother Joseph P. Jr. killed on naval air raid against Belgian coast.

Jan. 1945: Released from service with rank of full lieutenant.

Worked as reporter for Hearst newspaper.

Nov. 5, 1946:  Elected to House of Representatives.

Nov. 4, 1952:  Elected to United States Senate.

Sept. 12, 1953:  Married Jaquelline Lee Bouvier.

Oct. 21,1954: Operated on for recurrent back injury.

Jan 2, 1956: Profiles of courege published.

May 6, 1957:   Recived Pulitzer Prize for biography.

Nov. 27, 1957:  Caroline born.

Nov. 4, 1958:   Re-elected to Senate.

Jan 2, 1960: Announced candidacy for Presidency.

July 13, 1960:   Nomainated for president by the Democratic National Convention.

Nov 8 1960:   Elected president.

Nov 25, 1960:   John F. Jr. born.

Jan 20, 1961 :  Inaugurated as the 35^th president of the United States.

Aug. 7, 9, 1963:  Patrick bouvier born prematurely and died.

Nov. 22, 1963:  Assassinated in Dallas, Texas.

Nov. 25, 1963:  Buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Kennedy- Theoodre C. Sorensen

Special Consil to the late President

Harper & Kow

The presidency of John f. Kennedy

Herbert S. Parmet- The Dial Press

The Kennedy years- The viking press The New York Times

https://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/K/htmlK/kennedy-nixon/kennedy-nixon.html

https://www.kennesaw.edu/pols/3380/pres/1960.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Kennedy

https://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents