John F. Kennedy

I

Introduction

John F. Kennedy (1917-1963), 35th president of the United States (1961-1963), the youngest person ever to be elected president. He was also the first Roman Catholic president and the first president to be born in the 20th century.

Kennedy was assassinated before he completed his third year as president. His achievements, both foreign and domestic, were therefore limited. Nevertheless, his influence was worldwide, and his handling of the Cuban missile crisis may have prevented war. Young people especially admired him, and perhaps no other president was so popular. He brought to the presidency an awareness of the cultural and historical traditions of the United States and an appreciation of intellectual excellence. Because Kennedy eloquently expressed the values of 20th-century America, his presidency had an importance beyond its legislative and political achievements.

II

Early Life

John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born on May 29, 1917, in Brookline, Massachusetts. Kennedy was the second of nine children of Joseph Patrick Kennedy and his wife, Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. The other children in the family were Joseph, Rosemary, Kathleen, Eunice, Patricia, Robert, Jean, and Edward. Robert and Edward Kennedy also entered politics. The family was wealthy. By the age of 30, Joseph Kennedy had amassed a fortune through business ventures that included motion pictures, shipbuilding, real estate, and stock-market speculation.

The Kennedy family had long been active in politics. Rose Kennedy was the daughter of John F. Fitzgerald, who, as mayor of Boston, Massachusetts, was popularly known as “Honey Fitz.” Joseph Kennedy was the son of Patrick Kennedy, a successful businessman and a prominent Boston politician. Although Joseph Kennedy never held elective office, he held appointive positions in the federal government during the New Deal of President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1945).

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A

Education

At 13, John Kennedy went to the Canterbury School, a private school in New Milford, Connecticut, but he fell ill and never returned. He later graduated from Choate Preparatory School in Wallingford, Connecticut, and in 1935 he entered Princeton University. Again illness forced him to leave school, but he resumed his studies the following year at Harvard University.

Despite frequent illness, Kennedy was a good athlete. While at Harvard he concentrated especially hard on swimming and with his brother Joe won the intercollegiate sailing title. However, he was forced to give up football after injuring his spine in practice.

Kennedy used his undergraduate thesis at Harvard as the basis for a book, Why England Slept (1940), a study of Britain’s response to German rearmament prior to World War II. The book gained attention in England and the United States. Kennedy graduated from Harvard in 1940. For a few months he attended Stanford University’s business school and then he traveled in South America.

B

World War II Military Service

World War II began in 1939 as a conflict between Germany on one side and Britain and France on the other; the United States entered the war in December 1941 after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The war eventually included most of the nations of the world and ended in 1945.

Kennedy hoped to fight in the war but in the spring of 1941 he was rejected by the U.S. Army because of the back injury he had received at Harvard. Determined to see active service, he passed the U.S. Navy physical examination after a five-month program of special exercise.

Early in 1943 Kennedy became commander of PT Boat 109 in the South Pacific. In August 1943 the boat was rammed by a Japanese destroyer in waters off New Georgia in the Solomon Islands. The boat was sliced in half and 2 of the 13 men aboard were killed. Kennedy and the other survivors clung for hours to the wreckage, hoping for rescue. When none came, they swam to a small island 5 km (3 mi) away. Kennedy towed a wounded crew member by clenching the long strap of the injured man’s life jacket between his teeth.

For the next four days, Kennedy swam along a water route that he knew American ships used. He finally encountered friendly natives on Cross Island. They brought his message for help, carved on a coconut shell, to U.S. infantry patrol and Kennedy and his crew were finally rescued. For his “courage, endurance, and excellent leadership,” Kennedy received the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps Medal, awarded for heroism not involving conflict with the enemy. Then, because of an attack of malaria and the recurrence of his back disorder, Kennedy returned to the United States for medical treatment.

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