1940 John F. Kennedy graduated from Harvard.

1941 Kennedy joins the Navy and serves on a PT boat during WW II.

1946 John Kennedy is elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.

1960 Kennedy is elected President and Lyndon Johnson, Vice President.

1961 U.S. directed an invasion of Cuba called the Bay of Pigs.

1962 Kennedy orders a blockade of Cuba. (Cuban Missile Crisis)

1963 Martin Luther King gives his famous "I have a dream." speech in Washington, DC.

1963 John F. Kennedy is assassinated.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy
1961 - 1963
35th President

John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born in Brookline, Massachusetts on May 29, 1917.

President Kennedy was the first Catholic President.

John Kennedy served in WWII. He was on PT 109 which was sunk by the Japanese.

John F. Kennedy's father gave him $1,000,000 when he turned twenty-one. (Each of his nine brothers and sisters got a million dollars too!)

"Do you realize the responsibility I carry?" Kennedy asked his supporters during the presidential campaign. "I'm the only person between Nixon and the White House."

Senator John F. Kennedy debates Vice President Richard M. Nixon
in the first televised debate, 1960.
National Park Service

"Last Thursday night," Kennedy said during the campaign, "Mr. Nixon dismissed me as 'another Truman.' I regard that as a great compliment. I consider him another Dewey."

JFK's first daughter was stillborn and his 2-day-old son, Patrick, died while his father was president in August 1963.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy was the youngest man, the first Roman Catholic to be elected president, the first to win a Purple Heart, the 4th president to be assassinated, and the first Pulitzer Prize winner (Profiles in Courage).

Kennedy's Vice President was Lyndon B. Johnson (1961-1963).

John Kennedy was the first Boy Scout to become President.

John Kennedy wore corrective shoes, because his right leg was 3/4 inch longer than his left.

He had been diagnosed as having Addison's disease, a debilitating and often fatal condition, according to one of his many doctors. He denied that he had it and was in very good health--and went on to win the presidency.

During John Kennedy's Presidency the US was involved in the Bay of Pigs Invasion in 1961 and the beginning of the Vietnam War.

President Kennedy was often referred to as "JFK."

John F. Kennedy was the first President to hold a press conference on television.

His daughter had a pony named Macaroni while they lived in the White House.

J.F.K. was the first President to appoint his brother to a cabinet position.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy was the first President to visit the Pope during his term in office. He was also the first Roman Catholic President.

Kennedy did not accept a salary for being President.

The Kennedy's had an Irish Wolfhound Wolf and Irish Spaniel named Shannon.

Jacqueline Kennedy believed that the furnishings and portraits in the White House should be preserved as landmarks in U.S. history. Her efforts have been supported by each succeeding president and first lady.

John F. Kennedy, 1961.
Library of Congress

John Fitzgerald Kennedy had the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. attend his Cabinet meetings.
President Kennedy started the Peace Corp.

President John F. Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald on November 22, 1963. He was 46 years and 177 days old. Note: One reader said that I should add "allegedly" because that is the official government position. I have to check on this some more.

Kennedy's Grave Site
Arlington, Washington, DC
Personal Image

Only President Kennedy and President Taft are buried in Arlington.

Kennedy was the youngest president to be assassinated.

On Dec. 4, 1963, the two deceased Kennedy children were reburied in Arlington, Patrick Bouvier Kennedy from Brookline who had predeceased JFK by 15 weeks and an unnamed stillborn daughter from Newport, R. I.

On May 23, 1994, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis was buried next to President Kennedy. The grave site was completed with addition of her grave marker Oct. 6, 1994.

Quotes from JFK:

"And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country." Inaugural Address, January 20, 1961.

Quick Facts

35th President
1961-1963

Born: Brookline, MA., May 29, 1917

Inaugurated as President:
Jan. 20, 1961

Party: Democratic

Died: Dallas, TX., Nov. 22, 1963, age 46

References:

• The Presidents of the United States. 22 September 2004
• Davis, Gibbs and Ilus. David A. Johnson. Wackiest White House Pets. New York: Scholastic Press, October 2004
• James, Barber and Amy Pastan. Smithsonian Presidents and First Ladies. New York: DK Publishing, 2002
• Harnsberger, Caroline Thomas. Treasury of Presidential Quotations. Chicago: Follett Publishing Company, 1964
• Kane, Joseph Natan. Facts about the Presidents from Washington to Johnson. New York: H.W. Wilson Company, 1964.
• National Park Service Web Site on Presidential Trivia: http://www.nps.gov/pub_aff/pres/trivia.htm.

Additional Sources:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents
http://www.historyplace.com/specials/portraits/presidents/index.html
www.freep.com
http://www.umkc.edu/imc/prestriv.htm
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Rhodes/4062/trivia.html
http://www.freep.com/news/inaug/trivia/index.htm
http://www.ipl.org/div/potus/

If you have comments or corrections, please send them to jim@anewadventure.org.