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VIDEOS OF JOHN KENNEDY
John
Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often
referred to by his initials JFK and Jack, was an American
politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from
January 1961 until his assassination in November
1963. Kennedy served at the height of the Cold War,
and the majority of his work as president concerned relations with the Soviet
Union and Cuba.
A Democrat, Kennedy represented Massachusetts
in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate prior to becoming president.
Kennedy
was born into a wealthy political family in Brookline, Massachusetts. He graduated
from Harvard University in 1940, before joining the U.S. Naval Reserve the following year. During World
War II, he commanded a series of PT boats in
the Pacific
theater and earned the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for his
service.
After
the war, Kennedy represented the Massachusetts's 11th
congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1947 to
1953. He was subsequently elected to the U.S. Senate and served as the junior Senator from
Massachusetts from 1953 to 1960. While in the Senate, Kennedy published his
book, Profiles in Courage, which won a Pulitzer Prize.
In the
1960 presidential election,
he narrowly defeated Republican opponent Richard
Nixon, who was the incumbent vice president.
John
F. Kennedy was sworn in as the 35th president at noon on January 20, 1961. In his inaugural address, he
spoke of the need for all Americans to be active citizens, famously saying,
"Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your
country."
Kennedy's
administration included high tensions with communist
states in the Cold War. As a result, he increased the number of American military advisers in South
Vietnam. In April 1961, he authorized an attempt to overthrow the Cuban
government of Fidel Castro in the Bay of Pigs Invasion.
His Death
On
November 22, 1963, he was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Vice President Lyndon
B. Johnson assumed the presidency
upon Kennedy's death. Marxist and former U.S. Marine Lee
Harvey Oswald was arrested for the state
crime, but he was shot and killed by Jack Ruby
two days later. The FBI and the Warren
Commission both concluded Oswald had acted alone in the assassination, but
various groups contested the Warren Report and believed that Kennedy was the
victim of a conspiracy.
Kennedy
ranks highly in polls of U.S.
presidents with historians and the general public. His personal life has
also been the focus of considerable sustained interest, following public
revelations in the 1970s of his chronic health ailments and extramarital
affairs.
Videos of John Kennedy
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