John F. Kennedy
| John F. Kennedy | |
|---|---|
| |
| 35th President of the United States | |
| Term of office January 20, 1961 - November 22, 1963 | |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Vice President | Lyndon B. Johnson |
| Preceded by | Dwight D. Eisenhower |
| Succeeded by | Lyndon B. Johnson |
| Born | May 29, 1917 Brookline, Massachusetts |
| Died | November 22, 1963 Dallas, Texas |
| Spouse | Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 - November 22, 1963) was the 35th and youngest (when elected) president. He died in 1963 when he was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald.
Kennedy won the 1960 Presidential election against Richard Nixon by a thin margin. An important part of the campaign turned out to be the role of television. When Kennedy and Nixon held their presidential debate, those who listened on radio thought that Nixon won, but those who saw it on television thought Kennedy had won. Kennedy, young, tanned, and wearing discrete makeup for the camera, had a better television presence.
Kennedy was responsible for the Bay of Pigs fiasco, ineptly encouraging the invasion but then pulling back support and even allowing advance notice of the invasion to leak to Fidel Castro. When a year later the Soviet Union was building a ballistic missile site in Cuba that could house nuclear missiles, Kennedy handled the ensuing Cuban Missile Crisis with the help of hawks in his administration whose conduct, such as putting bombers on alert status, posed a credible threat to Soviets and helped cause them to back down.
Kennedy authorized the de-segregation of Federal housing and proposed the civil rights bill, passed after his assassination. He created the Peace Corps and also pledged to put a man on the moon before the end of the 1960s, a pledge that was later fulfilled after his death.
Kennedy cut taxes and appointed Byron White to the U.S. Supreme Court, who consistently ruled with conservatives on social issues such as abortion and homosexuality.
Kennedy was a notorious womanizer, which the media failed to report on until well after his death.
