John F. Kennedy

John F. Kennedy

John Fitzgerald ("Jack") Kennedy (1917-1963) was an American political leader and the most prominent member of the Kennedy family. Despite severe medical problems and frequent sexual liaisons (which all remained secret), he defeated Richard M. Nixon in 1960 by attacking the Eisenhower administration as tired and old-fashioned. He was the first (and only) Catholic elected president, with his religion was a major issue in 1960 Kennedy served as the 35th President of the United States from 1961 to 1963 as a Democrat. His 1000 days in office was characterized by glamor and celebrity, and by confrontations with the Soviet Union over Cuba, involved a failed invasion in 1961 and the Soviet introduction of nuclear-armed missiles in 1962. Kennedy forced the removal of the nuclear weapons, and reached an arms limitation agreement with the Soviets, while imposing an economic blockade on Cuba that remains in effect. He sent 16,000 soldiers (in non-combat roles) into the Vietnam War. Apart from the successful launch of the Peace Corps, nearly all his domestic initiatives were blocked in Congress; they became part of his legacy and achieved passage under his successor, Lyndon B. Johnson. He served as a Representative from 1947 to 1952 and a U.S. Senator from 1953 to 1960, representing the state of Massachusetts. Kennedy was assassinated by loner Lee Harvey Oswald, and the shock effect resonated in American life for decades, with public opinion dubious of official explanations and receptive to numerous conspiracy theories. He remains a glamorous symbolic figure of the 1960s.

Early life

Kennedy was born in 1917 in Brookline, Massachusetts. He grew up in an Irish Catholic family already steeped in politics and public service, with his grandfather the former mayor of Boston and his father Joseph P. Kennedy a senior New Deal official. He graduated from Harvard University in 1940. During World War II he joined the United States Navy and participated in war's Pacific theatre of operations. Serving on a patrol boat, he was injured in a naval battle, where he acted heroically. In 1946, he was elected by his home state to the United States Congress. Besides politics, he was an avid swimmer and he wrote a popular book, Profiles in Courage.

Political career

He served as a congressman from 1947 to 1953 and was elected to the Senate in 1952. In 1956, he attempted to gain the Democratic nomination for the Vice Presidency, and was favored by the presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson. However, Estes Kefauver was chosen instead. He served in the Senate until 1960, when he resigned to assume the presidency.

Election of 1960

In 1960, Kennedy was nominated by the Democratic Party for the presidential election. His opponent from the Republican Party was Richard Nixon, the Vice President at that time. The election was marked by the use of televised debate of the first time, between Kennedy and Nixon. During the debate, the young, calm Kennedy gained advantage against Nixon, who appeared awkward on the television.

Building on the enormous wave of ethnic Catholic support for Kennedy, reinforced by Kennedy's book A Nation of Immigrants, the campaign gave priority to ethnic outreach efforts such as Viva Kennedy as part of its effort to reinvigorate the Roosevelt coalition. It went beyond earlier efforts in wooing African Americans and Latinos, who provided the winning margin in several states, and it ushered in modern era of racial/ethnic politics.

Kennedy won the election narrowly, with 49.7% of the popular vote and 303 electoral votes. Nixon obtained 49.5% of the votes and 219 electoral votes. Several southern electors cast their electoral ballot to Harry F. Byrd, a segregationist Senator from Virginia.

Presidency

Although Kennedy's presidency only lasted for two years, his policies, both domestic and foreign, had profound influence in American history.

Domestic policy

During his administration, Kennedy proposed the Medicare but did not succeed (Medicare was enacted, however, under later presidents). He also called for civil rights legislation, but it did not pass Congress.

Civil rights

In 1961 he sent federal marshals to protect Freedom Riders in Alabama.

Foreign policy

Kennedy's presidency was marked by extensive international involvement of the United States, including the establishment of Alliance for Progress and the Peace Corps. He maintained a strong stance against Communist government in Cuba. He ordered the invasion of Cuba by a group of Cuban exiles to overthrow the regime of Fidel Castro, but the invasion was unsuccessful. Subsequently the Soviet Union secretly installed missiles, causing the Cuban Missile Crisis, which could have escalated into a nuclear war. Kennedy responded by a quarantine on Cuba, forcing Khrushchev to remove the missiles.

Trying to contain Communism by modernizing the ally South Vietnam, he sent 16,000 military advisors, plus money and munitions to Vietnam, hoping to defeat the Communist insurgency there. His successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, greatly escalated the involvement in the Vietnam War.

Supreme Court nominations

During his presidency, he nominated two justices to the Supreme Court. Byron White is best known for his dissent in Roe v. Wade, and labor union lawyer Arthur J. Goldberg, who later left the court to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.

Assassination

on November 22, 1963, Kennedy died from being shot in Dallas, Texas. According to the first early reports, and then the Warren Commission, it was Lee Harvey Oswald who shot the president. His motives remain unknown and Oswald was himself murdered by Jack Ruby a few days later.

Investigation

After the assassination, President Johnson appointed Chief Justice Earl Warren to lead a commission to investigate. The Warren Commission members include the future president Gerald R. Ford and Allen W. Dulles, former head of CIA. The commission accepted the Single Bullet Theory proposed by the attorney and the future Senator Arlen Specter. However, many any number of contradictory and unfounded conspiracy theories circulated for decades.

Legacy

Many streets and public institutions were renamed in his memory, including John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum is located in Boston, Massachusetts, overlooking Boston Harbor. John F. Kennedy's younger brother, Edward Kennedy, is currently serving as a U.S. Senator from Massachusetts.

External links

• John F. Kennedy School of Government
• White House biography
• Congressional Biographical Directory
• Voice of America: 1960s
• Voice of America: Election of 1960
• American Presidency Project
• John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum

See also

• U.S. Democratic Party, history
• Cold War
• List of U.S. Presidents