Biography of John F. Kennedy

1. JOHN F. KENNEDY
BIOGRAPHY OF

2. EARLY LIFE
BIRTH
▸ John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born
on May 29, 1917 in Brookline,
Massachusetts to Joseph Kennedy
Sr. (father) and Rose Elizabeth
Fitzgerald (mother).
▸ “Both the Fitzgeralds and the
Kennedys were wealthy and
prominent Irish Catholic Boston
families”
▸ John F. Kennedy had eight siblings,
and he was the second in his family.

3. EARLY LIFE
FAMILY DYNAMICS
▸ Joseph and Rose Kennedy prioritized their children’s
education, and sought to instill in them from an early age a
competitive spirit.
▸ This was particularly true for Joe Sr., who unlike other fathers
of the time was very involved in his children’s upbringing. He
wanted his children to believe that winning at everything
they did was the most important thing in their lives.
▸ "I was twenty-four before I knew I didn't have to win
something every day.” - Eunice Kennedy, JFK’s sister.

5. EARLY LIFE
▸ Despite his father’s influences, John was uninterested in excelling at
school until later in college, developing a pattern of excelling at
certain subjects he enjoyed, yet never proving himself to be an
excellent student.
▸ He was quite popular thanks to his good looks and charm, and filled
his early college life with parties and womanizing.
▸ It was when he became an upperclassman that he began to take his
studies seriously.
▸ He graduated from Harvard in 1940.
▸ His senior thesis, an analysis of Britain’s unpreparedness to fight
Germany during World War Two, was turned into a book upon his
graduation. It was called Why England Slept and sold more than
80,000 copies.

6. EARLY LIFE
JOHN F. KENNEDY IN THE NAVY
▸ After his graduation, John joined the Navy.
▸ While serving as a commander on a
torpedo patrol boat in the South Pacific, he
earned the Navy and Marine Corps Medal
and a Purple Heart for his heroic actions
when his boat came under attack.
▸ His older brother Joseph Kennedy Jr. had
also joined the Navy, but died when the
plane he was piloting blew up. The death
of his brother meant that John was now
the eldest, which made him most
responsible for the family’s aspirations.

7. EARLY CAREER
▸ First worked as a reporter for Hearts Newspaper after leaving the
Navy.
▸ Then in 1946, he ran for the U. S. House of Representatives and won
easily thanks to his family connections, father’s money and the fact
that he was a war hero. He served in Congress until 1952, but found
that he wasn’t satisfied with the impact he was making.
▸ Seeking more influence, he ran for the U. S. Senate in 1952 and
won, again thanks to his father’s financial resources and his persona.
▸ "He was the new kind of political figure that people were looking
for that year, dignified and gentlemanly and well-educated and
intelligent, without the air of superior condescension.” - one of his
aides

8. SPOUSE
JACQUELINE KENNEDY
▸ In 1951, John F. Kennedy met Jacqueline
Bouvier at a dinner party.
▸ He “leaned across the asparagus and asked
her for a date.” - John F. Kennedy
▸ Even though Jackie was engaged to another
man when they met, it didn’t deter John
because of his playboy nature.
▸ Jackie was beautiful, intelligent,
accomplished and wanted a family.
▸ They got married on September 12, 1953 in
an extravagant storybook wedding.
▸ They had three children.

9. CHILDREN
CAROLINE KENNEDY
▸ Born in November 27, 1957, she is
the first and only surviving child of
John F. Kennedy.
▸ She is an author, a lawyer and was
appointed as the U.S. ambassador
to Japan by President Barack
Obama in 2013.

10. CHILDREN
JOHN F. KENNEDY JR.
▸ The second child of John K. Kennedy,
John F. Kennedy Jr. was born on
November 25, 1960.
▸ He lived a life in the spotlight.
▸ He started a political magazine called
George, and worked as the publisher.
▸ His death was both untimely and tragic.
▸ In 1999, he crashed his plane and died
alongside his wife and sister-in-law.
▸ Side note: He graduated from Brown

11. CHILDREN
PATRICK BOUVIER KENNED (AUGUST 7, 1963 – AUGUST 9, 1963)
▸ He was the third child of John F. Kennedy.
▸ He was born five weeks prematurely, and “developed
symptoms of hyaline membrane disease, now called infant
respiratory distress syndrome (IRDS)”.

13. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
▸ In 1960, John F. Kennedy ran for president against Vice
President Richard Nixon, and defeated him by a small margin
to become the 35th president of the Unites States of America.
▸ At the age of 43, he was the second youngest president to be
elected, behind Theodore Roosevelt.
▸ On January 20, 1961, John F. Kennedy delivered his historic
inaugural address seeking to inspire Americans to be more
active citizens.
▸ “And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can
do for you--ask what you can do for your country.” - John F.
Kennedy during his inaugural speech.

14. TYPE A QUOTE
HERE.

15. PRESIDENCY
FOREIGN AFFAIRS - 1961
▸ John F. Kennedy created the Peace Corps, and by the end
of the 20th century there were 170,000 Peace Corps
serving.
▸ He also created the Alliance for Progress to improve
economic ties with Latin America so as to alleviate poverty
in the region and decrease the spread of communism.
▸ The Bay of Pigs Invasion to overthrow leftist Cuban Leader
Fidel Castro came to be a failure and caused Kennedy
quite a bit of embarrassment.

16. PRESIDENCY
CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS - 1962
▸ This was the biggest international crisis during President Kennedy’s
administration.
▸ Discovering that the Soviet Union had nuclear millions in Cuba, just 90 miles
from U.S. shores, President Kennedy ordered a naval blockade on the island,
and stated that he would neutralize the national threat with military force if
necessary.
▸ For 13 very tense days, the world seemed to be on the brink of nuclear war until
finally the leader of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev promised to remove the
missiles from Cuba if the Unites States promised to not invade Cuba.
▸ Eight months after the Cuban Missile Crisis, in 1963, President Kennedy
negotiated the Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty with Great Britain and the Soviet
Union, which was one of his greatest accomplishments.

17. PRESIDENCY
CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
▸ During his term, President Kennedy showed tepid support for
the Civil Rights Movement until he sent the National Guard to
defend James Meredith as he became the first black student
to enroll at the University of Mississippi on October 1, 1962.
▸ In 1963, President Kennedy sent a civil rights bill to Congress
following the March on Washington and Martin Luther Kind
Jr.’s “I Had a Dream” speech.
▸ The bill passed as The Civil Rights Act in 1964 following
President Kennedy’s death.

18. ASSASSINATION
JOHN F. KENNEDY’S DEATH
▸ On November 22, 1963, President
Kennedy was assassinated while
riding in motorcade in Dallas.
▸ The death was a national tragedy.

19. THERE'LL BE GREAT PRESIDENTS AGAIN, AND
THE JOHNSONS ARE WONDERFUL, THEY'VE
BEEN WONDERFUL TO ME — BUT THERE'LL
NEVER BE ANOTHER CAMELOT AGAIN
Jackie Kennedy
JOHN F. KENNEDY’S LEGACY

20. REFERENCES
▸ https://www.biography.com/people/john-f-
kennedy-9362930
▸ https://www.jfklibrary.org/
▸ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Kennedy
▸ https://www.biography.com/people/john-f-kennedy-
jr-9542094
▸ https://www.biography.com/people/caroline-
kennedy-204598
▸ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Bouvier_Kennedy