Search results
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to as JFK, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the youngest person elected president.
- Overview
- Early life
John F. Kennedy was reared in a large Roman Catholic family of Irish descent that demanded intense physical and intellectual competition among its nine siblings. Steeped in Democratic Party politics, the family produced three presidential candidates: John and his brothers Robert and Ted.
What were John F. Kennedy’s parents’ names?
John F. Kennedy’s father was Joseph P. Kennedy, who acquired a multimillion-dollar fortune in banking, bootlegging, shipbuilding, motion pictures, and the stock market and who served as U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom. His mother, Rose, was the daughter of John F. (“Honey Fitz”) Fitzgerald, onetime mayor of Boston.
When was John F. Kennedy born and when did he die?
John F. Kennedy was born on May 29, 1917, in Brookline, Massachusetts, and he was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963. While riding in a motorcade, he was struck by two rifle bullets and died shortly after hospitalization. Lee Harvey Oswald was accused of the slaying.
What were John F. Kennedy’s jobs?
The second of nine children, Kennedy was reared in a family that demanded intense physical and intellectual competition among the siblings—the family’s touch football games at their Hyannis Port retreat later became legendary—and was schooled in the religious teachings of the Roman Catholic church and the political precepts of the Democratic Party. His father, Joseph Patrick Kennedy, had acquired a multimillion-dollar fortune in banking, bootlegging, shipbuilding, and the film industry, and as a skilled player of the stock market. His mother, Rose, was the daughter of John F. (“Honey Fitz”) Fitzgerald, onetime mayor of Boston. They established trust funds for their children that guaranteed lifelong financial independence. After serving as the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Joseph Kennedy became the U.S. ambassador to Great Britain, and for six months in 1938 John served as his secretary, drawing on that experience to write his senior thesis at Harvard University (B.S., 1940) on Great Britain’s military unpreparedness. He then expanded that thesis into a best-selling book, Why England Slept (1940).
In the fall of 1941 Kennedy joined the U.S. Navy and two years later was sent to the South Pacific. By the time he was discharged in 1945, his older brother, Joe, who their father had expected would be the first Kennedy to run for office, had been killed in the war, and the family’s political standard passed to John, who had planned to pursue an academic or journalistic career.
Britannica Quiz
Comprehension Quiz: Cold War
- John F. Kennedy’s Early Life. John F. Kennedy. Born on May 29, 1917, in Brookline, Massachusetts, John F. Kennedy (known as Jack) was the second of nine children.
- JFK’s Beginnings in Politics. Abandoning plans to be a journalist, Jack left the Navy by the end of 1944. Less than a year later, he returned to Boston, preparing a run for Congress in 1946.
- Kennedy’s Road to Presidency. After nearly earning his party’s nomination for vice president (under Adlai Stevenson) in 1956, Kennedy announced his candidacy for president on January 2, 1960.
- Kennedy’s Foreign Policy Challenges. An early crisis in the foreign affairs arena occurred in April 1961, when Kennedy approved the plan to send 1,400 CIA-trained Cuban exiles in an amphibious landing at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba.
Four presidents died in office of natural causes (William Henry Harrison, Zachary Taylor, Warren G. Harding, and Franklin D. Roosevelt), four were assassinated ( Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield, William McKinley, and John F. Kennedy ), and one resigned ( Richard Nixon, facing impeachment and removal from office). [9]
No. [a]PortraitName (birth–death)Term [14]January 20, 2021 – IncumbentDonald Trump (b. 1946) [74]January 20, 2017 – January 20, 2021Barack Obama (b. 1961) [73]January 20, 2009 – January 20, 2017George W. Bush (b. 1946) [72]January 20, 2001 – January 20, 2009A Leader. John F. Kennedy was inaugurated the 35th President of the United States in 1961 after narrowly defeating the Republican candidate, Vice President Richard Nixon. He was, at age 43, the youngest man ever elected President.
People also ask
When did JFK become president?
When was John Fitzgerald Kennedy inaugurated?
What did President Kennedy do in 1963?
When was President Kennedy sworn in?
As the head of the government of the United States, the president is arguably the most powerful government official in the world. The president is elected to a four-year term via an electoral college system. Since the Twenty-second Amendment was adopted in 1951, the American presidency has been limited to a maximum of two terms.
Feb 9, 2010 · John F. Kennedy inaugurated. On January 20, 1961, on the newly renovated east front of the United States Capitol, John Fitzgerald Kennedy is inaugurated as the 35th president of the...
