Keenedys Life

3 Pages 749 Words

John F. Kennedy

Of Irish descent, he was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, on May 29, 1917. When he was a student at Harvard College and having a difficult time fitting in as an Irish Catholic, he swore to himself he would make a million dollars by the age of thirty-five. Graduating from Harvard in 1940, he entered the Navy. In 1943, when his PT boat was rammed and sunk by a Japanese destroyer, Kennedy, despite bad injuries, led the survivors through dangerous waters to safety. Back from the war, he became a Democratic Congressman from the Boston area, advancing in 1953 to the Senate. Soon after being elected senator, John F. Kennedy, at thirty-six years of age, married twenty-four year-old Jacqueline Bouvier, a writer with the Washington Times-Herald. He married Jacqueline Bouvier on September 12, 1953.

In 1955, while recovering from a back operation, he wrote Profiles in Courage, which won the Pulitzer Prize in history. John F. Kennedy was becoming a popular politician. In 1956 Kennedy almost gained the Democratic nomination for Vice President, and four years later was a first-ballot nominee for President. Millions watched his television debates with the Republican candidate, Richard M. Nixon. He won by a narrow margin in the popular vote, Kennedy became the first Roman Catholic President. Before his inauguration, his second child, John Jr., was born.

His Inaugural Address offered the memorable saying: "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country." President Kennedy, together with his wife and two children, brought a new, youthful spirit to the White House. The Kennedy's believed that the White House should be a place to celebrate American history, culture, and achievement. As President, he set out to redeem his campaign pledge to get America moving again. His economic programs launched the country on its longest sustained expansion since World War II; before his death, he laid plans f...