Presidents john f kennedy biography wikipedia

Two sailors died, and Kennedy badly injured his back. Hauling another wounded sailor by the strap of his life vest, Kennedy led the survivors to a nearby island, where they were rescued six days later. A pilot, he died when his plane blew up in August Handsome, athletic, intelligent, and ambitious, Joseph Kennedy Jr. In the aftermath of Joe Jr.

Upon his discharge from the Navy, John worked briefly as a reporter for Hearst Newspapers. Then in , at the age of 29, he decided to run for the U. House of Representatives from a working-class district of Boston, a seat being vacated by Democrat James Michael Curly. However, after the glory and excitement of publishing his first book and serving in World War II, Kennedy found his work in Congress incredibly dull.

Despite serving three terms, from to , Kennedy remained frustrated by what he saw as stifling rules and procedures that prevented a young, inexperienced representative from making an impact. In , seeking greater influence and a larger platform, Kennedy challenged Republican incumbent Henry Cabot Lodge for his seat in the U. In an election year in which Republicans gained control of both houses of Congress, Kennedy nevertheless won a narrow victory, giving him considerable clout within the Democratic Party.

Kennedy continued to suffer frequent illnesses during his career in the Senate. While recovering from one surgery, he wrote another book, profiling eight senators who had taken courageous but unpopular stances. Profiles in Courage won the Pulitzer Prize for biography, and Kennedy remains the only American president to win a Pulitzer Prize. The couple first expected to become parents in , but Jackie delivered a stillborn girl they intended to name Arabella.

In August , their son Patrick was born prematurely and died two days after his birth. Four years later, Kennedy decided to run for president himself. In the Democratic primaries, Kennedy outmaneuvered his main opponent, Hubert Humphrey, with superior organization and financial resources. The election turned largely on a series of televised national debates in which Kennedy bested Nixon, an experienced and skilled debater, by appearing relaxed, healthy, and vigorous in contrast to his pallid and tense opponent.

On November 8, , Kennedy defeated Nixon by a razor-thin margin to become the 35 th president of the United States of America. At the age of 43, he was the second youngest American president in history, second only to Theodore Roosevelt , who assumed the office at Cleveland is counted as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States, while Trump is counted as the 45th and 47th president.

The presidency of William Henry Harrison , who died 31 days after taking office in , was the shortest in American history. Roosevelt served the longest, over twelve years, before dying early in his fourth term in He is the only U. Harding , and Franklin D. Roosevelt , four were assassinated Abraham Lincoln , James A. Kennedy , and one resigned Richard Nixon , facing impeachment and removal from office.

Throughout most of its history, American politics has been dominated by political parties. The Constitution is silent on the issue of political parties, and at the time it came into force in , no organized parties existed. Soon after the 1st Congress convened, political factions began rallying around dominant Washington administration officials, such as Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson.

He was, and remains, the only U. Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikidata Wikiquote Wikidata item. Redirected from List of Presidents of the United States. For other uses, see President of the United States disambiguation. Presidents [ edit ].

See also [ edit ]. Notes [ edit ]. For example, George Washington served two consecutive terms and is counted as the first president, instead of the first and second, but Grover Cleveland and Donald Trump are counted twice, because their two terms were not consecutive. A vice president who temporarily becomes acting president under the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the Constitution is not counted, because the president remains in office during such a period.

Changes during their time in office are noted. Also reflects the vice president's political party unless otherwise noted beside the individual's name. When they did develop, during Washington's first term, Adams joined the faction that became the Federalist Party. The elections of were the first ones in the United States that were contested on anything resembling a partisan basis.

Federalist John Adams was elected president, and Jefferson of the Democratic-Republicans was elected vice president. When Andrew Jackson became president in , this group became the "Anti-Jackson" opposition , and organized themselves as the National Republican Party. His policy priorities as president soon proved to be opposed to most of the Whig agenda, and he was expelled from the party five months after assuming office.

Near the end of his presidency, Johnson began reassociating with the Democratic Party. Arthur succeeded to the presidency upon the death of James A. Truman succeeded to the presidency upon the death of Franklin D. Johnson succeeded to the presidency upon the death of John F. Even though Ford simply served out the remainder of Nixon's second term, he was never elected to the presidency or vice presidency in his own right.

References [ edit ]. Elections , p. Elections , pp. Works cited [ edit ]. General Guide to U. SAGE Publications. ISBN Library of Congress. Retrieved February 20, Retrieved May 14, Expert studies Abbott, Philip Presidential Studies Quarterly. Wiley : — ISSN JSTOR Abbott, Philip Bad Presidents. The Evolving American Presidency Series.

Palgrave Macmillan. Cash, Jordan T. American Political Thought. Dinnerstein, Leonard Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. Virginia Historical Society : — Epstein, Richard A. Hofstra Law Review. Goldman, Ralph Morris University of Chicago Press. OCLC Houpt, David W. The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. Virginia Historical Society.

ProQuest Matuz, Roger As the car drove into Dealey Plaza , shots were fired. Kennedy was shot once in the throat and once in the head. He was taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital 4 miles 6. At p. Lee Harvey Oswald , a former U. Marine , was the prime suspect in the murder, and he was arrested on the same day for the murder of a policeman called J.

Oswald denied shooting anyone and was killed two days later on November 24 by Jack Ruby. Kennedy had a state funeral on November 25, three days after his murder, near to the White House. Kennedy was a very popular president and still is today. He is considered one of the greatest presidents, ranking highly in public surveys and opinion polls. Contents move to sidebar hide.

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Jacqueline Lee Bouvier. Early life [ change change source ]. Presidency [ change change source ]. Assassination [ change change source ]. Ruby successfully appealed his conviction but died of cancer on January 3, , while the date for his new trial was being set. President Johnson quickly issued an executive order to create the Warren Commission —chaired by Chief Justice Earl Warren —to investigate the assassination.

The commission concluded that Oswald acted alone in killing Kennedy and that Oswald was not part of any conspiracy. House Select Committee on Assassinations concluded, with one third of the committee dissenting, "that Kennedy was probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy. This conclusion was based largely on audio recordings of the shooting.

Kennedy's body was brought back to Washington. On November 23, six military pallbearers carried the flag-draped coffin into the East Room of the White House , where he lay in repose for 24 hours. Throughout the day and night, hundreds of thousands lined up to view the guarded casket, [ ] [ ] with a quarter million passing through the rotunda during the 18 hours of lying in state.

Kennedy's funeral service was held on November 25, at St. Matthew's Cathedral in Washington, D. The Kennedy family is one of the most established political families in the United States, having produced a president, three senators, three ambassadors, and multiple other representatives and politicians. While a congressman, Kennedy embarked on a seven-week trip to India, Japan, Vietnam, and Israel in , at which point he became close with his then year-old brother Robert, as well as his year-old sister Patricia.

Because they were several years apart in age, the brothers had previously seen little of each other. This 25,mile 40, km trip was the first extended time they had spent together and resulted in their becoming best friends. Kennedy met his wife, Jacqueline Lee "Jackie" Bouvier , when he was a congressman. Charles L. Bartlett , a journalist, introduced the pair at a dinner party.

Mary's Church in Newport, Rhode Island. After a miscarriage in and a stillbirth in their daughter Arabella , their daughter Caroline was born in John Jr. However, he died after two days due to complications from birth. Kennedy and his wife were younger than the presidents and first ladies who preceded them, and both were popular in the media culture in ways more common to pop singers and movie stars than politicians, influencing fashion trends and becoming the subjects of photo spreads in popular magazines.

Although Eisenhower had allowed presidential press conferences to be filmed for television, Kennedy was the first president to ask for them to be broadcast live and made good use of the medium. The Kennedys invited a range of artists, writers and intellectuals to White House dinners, raising the profile of the arts in America. On the White House lawn, they established a swimming pool and tree house, while Caroline attended a preschool with 10 other children inside the home.

Vaughn Meader 's First Family comedy album, which parodied the president, the first lady, their family, and the administration, sold about four million copies. Despite a privileged youth, Kennedy was plagued by childhood diseases, including whooping cough , chicken pox , measles , and ear infections. These ailments compelled him to spend a considerable amount of time convalescing.

Three months prior to his third birthday, in , Kennedy came down with scarlet fever , a highly contagious and life-threatening disease, and was admitted to Boston City Hospital. During his years at Choate, Kennedy was beset by health problems that culminated with his emergency hospitalization in at Yale New Haven Hospital , where doctors suspected leukemia.

He then spent the spring of working as a ranch hand outside Benson, Arizona under Jack Speiden. Years after Kennedy's death, it was revealed that in September , when he was 30 and in his first term in Congress, he was diagnosed by Sir Daniel Davis at The London Clinic with Addison's disease. Davis estimated that Kennedy would not live for another year, while Kennedy hoped he could live for ten.

The presence of two endocrine diseases raises the possibility that Kennedy had autoimmune polyendocrine syndrome type 2. Kennedy suffered from chronic severe back pain, for which he had surgery. His condition may have had diplomatic repercussions, as he appears to have been taking a combination of drugs to treat back pain during the Vienna Summit.

The combination included hormones, animal organ cells, steroids, vitamins, enzymes, and amphetamines, and possible side effects included hyperactivity, hypertension , impaired judgment, nervousness, and mood swings. Into late , disagreements existed among Kennedy's doctors concerning the balance of medication and exercise. Kennedy preferred the former because he was short on time and desired immediate relief.

Burkley , set up gym equipment in the White House basement, where Kennedy did stretching exercises thrice weekly. In , Robert Dallek wrote an extensive history of Kennedy's health based on a collection of Kennedy-associated papers from to , including X-rays and prescription records from Travell. According to Travell's records, during his presidential years Kennedy suffered from high fevers; stomach, colon, and prostate issues; abscesses; high cholesterol; and adrenal problems.

Travell kept a "Medicine Administration Record", cataloging Kennedy's medications:. Kennedy was single in the s while having relationships with Danish journalist Inga Arvad [ ] and actress Gene Tierney. The full extent of Kennedy's relationship with Monroe who in famously sang " Happy Birthday, Mr. President " at Kennedy's birthday celebration at Madison Square Garden is not known, though it has been reported that they spent a weekend together in March while he was staying at Bing Crosby 's house.

According to historian Michael Beschloss , in July , Hoover reportedly informed Robert Kennedy about the affair with a woman "suspected as a Soviet intelligence agent, someone linked to East German intelligence. Kennedy inspired affection and loyalty from the members of his team and his supporters. Kennedy was the first Catholic elected to the presidency.

Aidan's Church in Brookline, Massachusetts, where he was baptized on June 19, Historians and political scientists tend to rank Kennedy as an above-average president, and he is usually the highest-ranking president who served less than one full term. The survey found Kennedy to be the most overrated U. Kennedy came in third behind Martin Luther King Jr.

The term "Camelot" is often used to describe his presidency, reflecting both the mythic grandeur accorded Kennedy in death and powerful nostalgia for that era of American history. Siracusa, the most popular theme surrounding Kennedy's legacy is its replay of the legend of King Arthur and Camelot from Arthurian Literature. However, in the public memory, the years of Kennedy's presidency are still seen as a brief, brilliant, and shining moment.

The LIFE article represented the first use of the term "Camelot" in print and is attributed with having played a major role in establishing and fixing this image of the Kennedy Administration and period in the popular mind. Contents move to sidebar hide.

Presidents john f kennedy biography wikipedia

Naval Reserve — House of Representatives — Senate — Article Talk. Read View source View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikiquote Wikisource Wikidata item. President of the United States from to Several terms redirect here. Kennedy disambiguation. Oval Office portrait, Jacqueline Bouvier.

Joseph P. Rose Fitzgerald. John F. Kennedy's voice. Kennedy speaking on the establishment of the Peace Corps Recorded March 1, Commanding PT and PT Main article: Patrol torpedo boat PT Journalism Main article: John F. Kennedy presidential campaign. See also: Democratic Party presidential primaries and United States presidential election.

Presidency — Main article: Presidency of John F. For a chronological guide, see Timeline of the John F. Kennedy presidency. Main article: Foreign policy of the John F. Kennedy administration. Cold War and flexible response. Decolonization and the Congo Crisis. Main article: Peace Corps. Vienna Summit and the Berlin Wall. See also: Vienna summit and Berlin Crisis of Main article: Bay of Pigs Invasion.

See also: Kennedy's betrayal. Main article: Cuban Missile Crisis. Latin America and communism. Further information: Presidency of John F. See also: Alliance for Progress. See also: Laotian Civil War. See also: Vietnam War. American University speech. World Peace Speech. Speech from American University by John F. Kennedy, June 10, duration Problems playing this file?

See media help. Main article: New Frontier. See also: Recession of — and Kennedy Slide of See also: Civil rights movement. Native American relations. Main articles: John F. Main article: Assassination of John F. Kennedy assassination. Main articles: State funeral of John F. Kennedy and List of dignitaries at the state funeral of John F. Personal life, family, and reputation.

Further information: Kennedy family. See also: John F. Historical evaluations and legacy. Main article: List of things named after John F. Kennedy comments on the possible prevention of the Cold War. Kennedy's message to Turkey. Problems playing these files? Announcement to go to the Moon. Secret Societies speech. Hanami later supported Kennedy's election campaign.

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