His older brother, Joe Jr., was not so fortunate: He was killed in August 1944 when his Navy airplane exploded on a secret mission against a German rocket-launching site. Kennedy helped some of his marooned crew back to safety, and was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for heroism. In August 1943, a Japanese destroyer struck the craft, PT-109, in the Solomon Islands. Navy in 1941 and two years later was sent to the South Pacific, where he was given command of a Patrol-Torpedo (PT) boat. In the end, though he planned to vote against McCarthy, Kennedy missed the vote when he was hospitalized after back surgery. Kennedy's Senate career got off to a rocky start when he refused to condemn Senator Joseph McCarthy, a personal friend of the Kennedy family whom the Senate voted to censure in 1954 for his relentless pursuit of suspected communists. His senior thesis about British’s unpreparedness for war was later published as an acclaimed book, “Why England Slept” (1940).ĭid you know? John F.
As a student at Harvard University, Jack traveled in Europe as his father’s secretary. Roosevelt, was appointed chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission in 1934 and in 1937 was named U.S. Joe Kennedy, a hugely successful businessman and an early supporter of Franklin D. Despite persistent health problems throughout his childhood and teenage years (he would later be diagnosed with a rare endocrine disorder called Addison’s disease), Jack led a privileged youth, attending private schools such as Canterbury and Choate and spending summers in Hyannis Port on Cape Cod. His parents, Joseph and Rose Kennedy, were members of two of Boston’s most prominent Irish Catholic political families. Kennedy (known as Jack) was the second of nine children. To this day, historians continue to rank him among the best-loved presidents in American history.īorn on May 29, 1917, in Brookline, Massachusetts, John F. His assassination on November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas, sent shockwaves around the world and turned the all-too-human Kennedy into a larger-than-life heroic figure.
He also led a renewed drive for public service and eventually provided federal support for the growing civil rights movement. As president, Kennedy confronted mounting Cold War tensions in Cuba, Vietnam and elsewhere. He was born into one of America’s wealthiest families and parlayed an elite education and a reputation as a military hero into a successful run for Congress in 1946 and for the Senate in 1952. presidents, as well as the first Roman Catholic. Elected in 1960 as the 35th president of the United States, 43-year-old John F.
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