The Life Of John F Kennedy Essay

, Research Paper

John F. Kennedy

John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born on May 29, 1917 around 3:00pm in Boston,

Massachusetts. He was born in the master bedroom of the Kennedy’s brookline house. His parents were Brookline Rose Fitzgerald and Joe Kennedy. At this particular time, a stressful war was near and his father was forced to register in the army one week after his birth. (Goodwin p. 274)

As John grew up he faced many things and many illnesses. His back was unstable for most of his life, and he had many other sicknesses later on in his life. He also had to face constant competition with his older brother, Joe P. Kennedy Jr., for the favor of their father.(Goodwin p .353) “He was a funny little boy, and he said things in such an original, vivid way,”his mother once said. (Nigel p.49)

His illnesses started at the age of two and a half. He became ill with scarlet fever and nearly died and there were doctors to take him to. His father took care of him until he was admitted to Boston City Hospital. The nurses noticed that John, even at that young age, had a special charm about him, to give the impression that you and him had a special bond. His father promised if JFK was spared from scarlet, he would give half his money to charity. At the same time as this, his mother was giving another birth. (Goodwin pp.309-11) A few weeks later he also became ill with the mumps and whooping cough. (Goodwin p.314)

His family life was not perfect either. Not only did he compete with his brother, he also had hostilities toward his Catholic family and marriage in general.(Reeves p.41) Things got better with his family as time went on. John was an warm and playful brother even though he was jealous of his older brother’s extra attention. Joe Jr. and John was competitive at everything. (Goodwin p.344, 353) Things really turned around when John’s father bought the Film Booking Office and the Kennedy’s started making the money. (Nigel p.60) JFK also had friends, such as his life long friend Lemoyne Billings who he called Lem.

On September 24, 1930, John was accepted to Caterbury Boarding School

(catholic) which was a school that John liked. (Nigel p.85) John liked Caterbury, but decided to try out for Choate Boarding School which was same school his older brother went to. He was accepted October 2, 1931. (Nigel pp. 88-90)

As school was coming to a close and John was getting ready for college, he was voted most likely to succeed by his senior high school class. (Reeves p.42)College was next and John had some ideas on where he wanted to go. July 23, 1935, he was accepted to Harvard, but decided to go to Princeton because of medical reasons.(Nigel pp.139-44) He returned to Harvard in September of 1936 (Nigel p.159)

On September 25, 1941, he joined the U.S. Navy as John Kennedy Ensign I-V(s). He was shipwrecked on August 2, 1943 but managed to make it out alive. He was 26 years old. (Nigel pp. 408,577)

Kennedy decided to go into politics in 1945 at the age of 28. (Nigel p. 689) John did not really want to go into politics but did because of his father’s wishes and dreams.He hated the thought of shaking unknown hands, but that came with it.(Reeves p. 84)

On November 5, 1946, JFK was elected to congress at the young age of 29.

(Nigel p. 776, 793) Being elected to congress was the first step in his father’s dream to have a son as the President of the United States. He was one of fifteen congress members from Massachusetts. (Reeves p. 85- 86)

It was discovered that John did not really like politics. He spent most of his time thinking about being some heroic football player. He also did not understand finances and borrowed constantly even though he was wealthy. (Reeves p.87- 88)

In 1947, John became ill with Addison’s disease and nearly died. He was still in congress when it happened. This is another example of Kennedy’s constant bad

health. (Reeves p. 92)

On September 12, 1953, John F. Kennedy married Jacqueline Bouvier. Jacqueline and John were seen often together and appeared to have a good marriage. John, however, was later discovered to have had many affairs. (Reeves p.113)

On January 2, 1960, John announced his candidacy for the President of the United States. He said that he would get president or nothing because he would not accept vice- president nominations. (Reeves p. 157)

The campaign for the presidency was started and it was rough. Although it was hard, everyone pitched in. John’s wife and mother made appearances, and friends helped anyway they could. (Reeves pp. 160 – 163)

Kennedy’s first test was the West Virginia primary in which he defeated Hubert Humphries. The next obstacle was the Democratic nation convention in which he received the nomination for president by a landslide over Lyndon B. Johnson. (Reeves pp. 166, 176)It was no secret that Lyndon Johnson and John were at odds, but even that as it were, John asked Johnson to be his Vice President. Johnson thought it over and said

to his assistant Clare Luce,” Clare, I looked it up: one out of every four presidents has died in office, I’m a gamblin’ man darlin’,and this is the only chance i got,” so he accepted. (Reeves p. 205)

On November 8, 1960, John Fitzgerald Kennedy was elected to be President of the United States. He was later inaugurated on January 20, 1961. The Kennedy/Johnson administration took over the country. (Reeves pp. 214, 233)

November 22, 1963, being John F. Kennedy’s one thousandth day in the office of President of the United States, was assassinated supposedly by a man by the name of Lee Harvey Oswald. (Goodwin p. 274) There is much conflict on this subject, and some say the true killer will never be known. In any case, John Kennedy was buried in the Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. (www.grolier.com)

The speech he was going to deliver that day goes as follows: “…Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other. The advancement of learning depends on community leadership and financial and political support – - and the products in turn are essential to the leadership’s hopes for continued progress and prosperity” –

The final but unspoken words of John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917 – 1963).

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