Kennedy, John F. (1917–1963)

John F. Kennedy served as the 35th president of the United States. He was the only Catholic and the youngest man elected to serve. Kennedy's father, Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., used his wealth and political clout to launch his son's career in politics. Kennedy was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, on May 29, 1917. He graduated from Harvard University in 1940 and served as a naval officer in the Pacific during World War II.

Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946. After serving three undistinguished terms in the House of Representatives, he won election to the U.S. Senate. In 1960 he captured the Democratic nomination for president, and went on to win a narrow popular victory over then Vice President Richard M. Nixon. As president, Kennedy brought a mixture of idealism and pragmatism to the Oval Office.

An ardent cold warrior, Kennedy sanctioned an amphibious assault against Cuba to overthrow communist leader Fidel Castro. The attack failed and led to an even greater crisis in October 1962, when Kennedy learned of the Soviet Union's plan to construct missile launchers on Cuban soil. His unwillingness to make concessions to the Soviet Union at a Vienna summit meeting in 1961 led to the construction of the Berlin Wall. Kennedy visited West Berlin in 1963 and pledged his country's unwavering support of democracy.

Kennedy's idealism is evidenced in other initiatives such as the Peace Corps, which mobilized thousands of college-educated volunteers to serve in remote locations of 44 different developing nations, teaching technical skills and English. He unveiled one of his most ambitious goals in 1961 when he pledged to send a manned mission to the moon before the end of the decade.

Kennedy was slower to act in the area of civil rights. During the 1960 campaign, for example, Kennedy had promised to eliminate racial discrimination in federal housing. To the consternation of black leaders, it took him nearly 2 years to issue an [Page 798]executive order dealing with that issue. In the spring of 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr., led a massive civil rights demonstration in Birmingham, Alabama, to protest that city's segregated stores and restaurants. Harsh repression of these protestors led Kennedy to take his strongest stand in support of civil rights. In a nationally televised address on June 11, 1963, Kennedy referred to civil rights as a moral issue. During the final months of Kennedy's presidency, a civil rights bill worked its way through committee hearings in both houses of Congress. When his successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, signed the Civil Rights Bill of 1964, he held it up as a legacy of Kennedy's work to promote racial justice.

Kennedy's term was cut short on November 22, 1963, when he was assassinated in Dallas, Texas.