John F. Kennedy
1917-1963
The 4th successfully assassinated president of the United States
by Rit Nosotro First Published:: 2003( )
Can you name one of the bravest presidents who lived briefly but with great impact? On May 29, 1917, in Boston, Mass., John Fitzgerald Kennedy, was born to a fiercely competitive Roman Catholic family whose passions were politics, sailing, and contact sports. John’s father, who was a combative businessman, became a multimillionaire, the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the ambassador to Great Britain. The Kennedy family progressively moved to Riverdale and finally to Bronxville, both suburbs of NYC. Like all his siblings, John attended private schools as a child. After graduating from Choate School in Wallingford, Connecticut in 1935, he briefly attended Princeton University until an illness forced him to leave. In 1936, he went to Harvard University. At Harvard University, he wrote an honors thesis on British foreign policies in the 1930’s. The book was published under the title "Why England Slept in 1940". Upon graduating from Harvard University, he signed up for the U. S. Navy.
After the attack on Pearl Harbor brought the USA into World War II against
the Japanese, Kennedy was assigned to a PT boat, 109. PT boats are fast, highly
maneuverable patrol boats that are used for lightning attacks on enemy barges,
destroyers, and other watercraft. On one such patrol, a little after midnight,
Kennedy’s boat was cut in half by a destroyer. As soon as all of the crew
that was alive had been discovered, Kennedy’s crew built a raft from the
timber of the PT boat. As many as were able climbed on to the raft, while the
rest swam nearby. Although he had a hurt back, Kennedy towed a crewman, who
couldn’t swim, for five hours to shore. The rest of the crew arrived with
the raft two hours later. For the next four days, it was said Kennedy swam from
sunrise to sunset looking for help. After swimming on the fifth day to Cross
Island, Kennedy persuaded the friendly natives to go for help. Finally, on the
sixth day, the crew was rescued on August 7. When he reached headquarters, Kennedy
received the Navy and Corps Medal for his heroism and bravery and was awarded
the Purple Heart for being wounded in combat.
When he retired from the military, John F. Kennedy got into politics. In 1946,
he ran successfully for a Boston-based seat in the U.S. House of Representatives
and was reelected in 1950. In 1952, he challenged the incumbent Republican senator
from Massachusetts and defeated him with a platform of social legislation. Unfortunately,
he was an ineffectual senator during parts of 1954 and 1955, as he was seriously
ill with back ailments. During his illness, though, he was able to write a book
of biographical studies of American political heroes. The book was published
in 1956 under the title Profiles in Courage and it won the Pulitzer Prize. Like
his other book, it revealed his admiration for forceful political figures. In
1956, he bid unsuccessfully for Democratic vice-president nomination. Thereafter,
he set his sights on presidency. In 1960, he ran for president and won against
Richard Nixon.
While Kennedy was a Cold War president during the nuclear arms race against
the U.S.S.R. At this point, the United States had made nuclear missiles that
could hit Russia from the USA base in Turkey. To maintain detente (power balance),
Russia asked Fidel Castro, the leader of Cuba,
if they could move their missiles into his country. Castro, who had recently
fought off an invasion of the U.S. at the Bay of Pigs, heartily agreed. When
the U.S. confirmed this through high altitude U2 spy plane photos, they immediately
surrounded Cuba with a Naval Blockade. If one of the U.S. ships saw a Russian
ship, the U.S. would warn that Russian ship by shooting across their bow. If
the Russian ship didn’t stop after three warnings, the U.S. would shoot
the Russian ship. Although hawkish advisors pushed President Kennedy into brinkmanship,
others realized this plan could rapidly escalate into a nuclear war. The Russian
Premier, Nikita Khrushchev, also realized this but he did not want to back down
and appear weak in front of his cabinet. Just before the Russian fleet arrived
to counter the US blockade, Kennedy contacted Khrushchev and told him, “If
you move all your missiles out of Cuba, we will break the blockade and not invade
Cuba.” Khrushchev agreed. The U.S. removed the blockade and Russia poled
their missiles out of Cuba. People say that this is the closest the world has
come to a nuclear war.
Suddenly, in 1963, the president’s life ended. As the Governor of Texas,
President John F. Kennedy, his wife, Vice-president Lyndon B. Johnson, and his
wife drove through Dallas in an open limo, three shots rang out. Kennedy was
shot in the back of the neck and head. The third bullet hit the governor in
the back. They were immediately rushed to the nearest hospital. Kennedy died
about a half hour later. The governor survived.
The man who assassinated him, Lee Harvey Oswald, was a U.S. citizen who had
joined communism. His reason for killing Kennedy was unknown for, on his way
to jail he was shot by Jack Ruby. This left many questions unanswered and led
to many conspiracy theories. Was there more than one assassin? Did other political
leaders know about the assassination? Was it a within the administration? While
Oswald was with a communist group, did someone hire him to kill Kennedy? We
may never know.
The youngest president of the United States had accomplishment great things
in a short time. These were graduating from Harvard University, receiving the
Navy and Corps Medal, becoming the president, and stopping the Cuban Missile
Crisis. Kennedy did many great deeds and, of all of them, the one that impacted
his life the most was during World War II, after their PT boat was cut in half,
he risked his life swam around for five days to save his crewmembers and himself.
Sources:
Tregaskis, Richard. John F. Kennedy and PT-109. Toronto, Canada: Random House, Inc. 1962.
George, Judith St. In The Line of Fire Presidents’ Lives at Stake. New York, NY: Scholastic Inc.
Cuban Missile Crisis: Summary. ThinkQuest Team 11046. 30 Aug. 2004
http://library.thinkquest.org/11046/days/?tqskip1=1
Scholastic Library Publishing, Inc. 03 Sept. 2004.
http://ap.grolier.com/article?assetid=0229520-00&templatename=/article/article.html
JFK. 03 Sept. 2004.
http://sc94.ameslab.gov/TOUR/jfk.html
The JFK Assassination Context. 03 Sept. 2004.
http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/context.htm
