John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born on May 29, 1917 to Rose Fitzgerald and Joseph Patrick Kennedy. John was named after his maternal grandfather John "HoneyFitz" Fitzgerald, the mayor of Boston. Because he was a sick boy he was given his last rites 5 times, the first one being when he was a newborn. He was born to an Irish Catholic family with 9 children. John was the 2nd of 4 boys. There was Joseph Jr., John, Robert (called Bobby), and Edward (called Ted). Because Rose made Joe and Jack (the name his family called him) wear matching clothes, they fought a lot for attention. When John was young the family moved from Boston to New York. John went to Choate, a private school. Most of the time, though, he was too sick to attend. In the late 1930s John's father Joe became the ambassador to England. He took his two sons John and Robert with him, as well as his wife and daughters Kathleen and Rosemary. John went to Princeton and then Harvard and for his senior thesis he wrote a piece about why England refused to get into the war until later. It was published in 1940 and called Why England Slept. His older brother Joe was a flyer during the war, and one day while he had bombs with him his plane exploded. Not long after that, John's sister Kathleen and her husband died in a plane crash. In the early 1950s, John ran for Congress in Massachusetts and won. He married Jacqueline Lee Bouvier on September 12 1953. Their first child, named Caroline Bouvier Kennedy, was born on November 27, 1957 and their son, named John Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr., was born on November 25, 1960. They had a son named Patrick Bouvier, but he died a few days after his birth. In 1954, JFK had to have back surgery and in the hospital wrote his second book, Profiles in Courage. Joe Sr. always said that his son Joe was going to be President; when he died in WWII, though, John took the title. He ran for president in 1960 against Richard Milhouse Nixon and won. His administration had many conflicts, the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis being key examples. In November of 1963 he and Jackie (his wife's nickname) went on a trip to Texas. Everywhere they went there were signs saying "Jack and Jackie." On November 22, 1963 John was to give a speech in Dallas, but on his way there was shot by an assassin on the 6th floor of the Texas Book Depository. In just a little bit of irony, considering the death of Lincoln 100 years earlier, he was shot in a Ford Lincoln (Lincoln was in Ford's theater when he was shot). He was shot 2 times and died at about 1 pm. He was laid to rest on his son's third birthday.


Father of John Kennedy Jr. and Caroline Kennedy. Brother-in-law of Peter Lawford. Believed to have been shot by Lee Harvey Oswald, who was later killed by Jack Ruby. Was the youngest elected US President. Attended the installation in Rome of Pope Pius XII with his parents and family. Son, John Kennedy Jr., born 25 November 1960 and died 16 July 1999. Was instrumental in the creation of the space program, and in just 8 years (1961 - 1969), Americans sent a man to the moon. Daughter, Caroline Kennedy, born 27 November 1957. Was elected to the House of Representatives in 1946 and to the U. S. Senate in 1952. Suffered from Addison's disease. He graduated from Harvard in 1940. In 1955, he wrote Profiles in Courage, which won the Pulitzer Prize in history in 1957. He was the youngest man elected President, and the youngest to die. Brother of Eunice Kennedy Shriver and Ted Kennedy. Uncle of Christopher Lawford Pictured on the 13¢ US postage stamp in the original Prominent Americans series, issued 29 May 1967 (50th anniversary of his birth). During a stopover in Palm Beach, Florida, en route to Dallas, Texas on November 17, 1963, a private screening of Tom Jones (1963) was organized on behalf of the president. It was the last film he saw. While in office, the family Secret Service code names were: Lancer (The President); Lace (Jacqueline Kennedy); Lyric (Caroline Kennedy); Lark (John Kennedy Jr.). Although he was the youngest person elected president, he was not the youngest person to become president. That was Theodore Roosevelt, who became president after William McKinley was shot. His vice president, Lyndon Johnson, a Texas native, campaigned against him for the presidential spot in 1960, and Kennedy later chose him to be his vice president because he needed Johnson to win over the southern voters. John's brother, Robert F. Kennedy, disliked Johnson greatly and the feeling was mutual. In stark contrast to his own poor physical health, his younger brother Robert F. Kennedy was a very strong and physically active man who enjoyed hiking and canoeing among other outdoor sports. He was the first president born in the 20th Century. His assassination inspired journalist Hunter S. Thompson's famous phrase "Fear and Loathing". The Lincoln limousine in which he was riding in on the day of his assassination is on display in a Dearborn, Michigan museum. Is portrayed by Martin Sheen in the mini-series Kennedy. "Black Jack," the riderless horse that served at Kennedy's funeral, also participated in the funeral ceremonies of President Herbert Hoover, Lyndon Johnson and General Douglas MacArthur. Coincidentally, "Black Jack" was also the nickname of Jacqueline Kennedy's father He had numerous bizarre distant connections with the 16th president Abraham Lincoln. Was portrayed by Stephen Collins in "A Woman Named Jackie" (1991) and Martin Donovan in RFK (2002) (TV). Brother of U.S. Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith. Both he and his brother Robert F. Kennedy have been portrayed by Martin Sheen. Encouraged Kirk Douglas to make the anti-nuclear movie Seven Days in May (1964). Fourth U.S. president to be successfully assassinated (unsuccessful assassination attempts had been made on Presidents Andrew Jackson and 'Harry S Truman', and on President-elect Franklin Delano Roosevelt) and the seventh president to die in office. Ironically, all presidents to have died in office since the first (William Henry Harrison in 1841) were elected 20 years apart: Harrison in 1840, Abraham Lincoln in 1860, James Garfield in 1880, William McKinley in 1900, Warren G. Harding in 1920, Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1940, and Kennedy in 1960. Ironically, Kennedy and his retinue had been aware of this "20-year curse" on the Presidency. Ronald Reagan (elected 1980) was the victim of an assassin's bullet in 1981, but he survived and broke the 120-year curse that had plagued the U.S. Presidency. His sister Jean Kennedy Smith was US ambassador to Ireland (June 1993 - September 1998). The street, rue John-F-Kennedy is named in J.F.K.'s honor in downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. PT 109 - the boat that he commanded during World war II - was mentioned on more than one occasion on the TV series, "McHale's Navy", Kennedy is referred to, but never mentioned by name. The Oscar-winning Jimmy Van Heusen - Sammy Cahn composition "High Hopes" (from A Hole in the Head (1959)) was Kennedy's official presidential campaign song. Considered his younger brother Robert his top advisor and closest friend. Bobby similarly felt the same way about Jack and was "utterly devastated" by Jack's death in 1963. Friends and family said that, after his brothers death, Bobby was never the same man. During his entire political career, he never once lost a single election. When Kennedy visited Ireland in late June 1963, he became first sitting U.S. President to set foot on Irish soil. Mentioned in the song "We didn't start the fire" by Billy Joel.