Who is John F. Kennedy?

John F. Kennedy was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 to 1963, when on 22 November he was shot and killed. Kennedy, or JFK as he’s fondly referred to, leaves a legacy not only of one of the most popular American Presidents, but that of the youngest President ever elected as well as to die. John F. Kennedy’s assassination remains one of the country’s most historical controversial mysteries as many conspiracy theories surround the event.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born 29, May 1917 in Massachusetts to a family with a prominent political history. Kennedy graduated from Harvard University in 1940 and joined the Navy. After his military service, Kennedy entered the political arena as a Boston Congressman and then moved on to the Senate.

In 1953, John F. Kennedy married Jacqueline Bouvier. He was almost placed on the Democratic ticket for Vice-President in 1956, an election year that belonged to Republican Dwight Eisenhower. However, the exposure for his near Democratic Convention election to the ticket garnered much publicity for Kennedy, all of which proved to benefit him in the 1960 presidential election.

In the fall of 1960, John F. Kennedy, as Democratic Presidential Candidate publicly debated Republican candidate Richard Nixon in a series of the first-ever televised presidential debates. With youthfulness, charisma, and Kennedy family savvy all working in his favor, John F. Kennedy narrowly defeated Nixon in the election. His famous Inaugural Speech contained the famous line “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”

During office, Kennedy implemented his own economic plan as well as allowing Cuban exiles, trained in combat, to attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro. The Cuban Missile Crisis ensued during Kennedy’s term in office, but his service to the country was cut short when his motorcade was shot at during a visit to Dallas, Texas.

A report issued by the Warren Commission, a special commission charged with investigating the assassination of Kennedy concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald, acting alone shot and killed John F. Kennedy, even though Oswald maintained his innocence. Oswald was murdered by Jack Ruby, a Dallas businessman with connections to organized crime, before he could stand trial. Even with the conclusion drawn by the Warren Commission, the majority of Americans have never believed the report according to Gallup Polls.

John F. Kennedy died on 22 November, 1963 as a result of a bullet wound to the back of the head. His permanent place of burial is Arlington National Cemetery, where is headstone is marked with an eternal flame.