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- Pàgina web:
- http://www.jfklibrary.org/
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- Home
- Estat civil:
- Casat/ada amb
Jacqueline Kennedy - Aniversari:
- 29 / maig / 1917
- Població d'origen:
- Brookline, Massachusetts
- Ideologia política:
- Moderat
- Creences religioses:
- Roman Catholic
- Activitats:
- Of Irish descent, John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, on May 29, 1917. He was the second of nine children, the son of Rose Fitzgerald and millionaire Joseph P. Kennedy who had served as ambassador to Great Britain under Franklin Roosevelt. John attended Caterbury School in New Milford, Connecticut and later Choate Academy in Wallingford, Connecticut, where he was voted "most likely to succeed." He attended Princeton University briefly, but left for Harvard where he majored in government and international relations.
After a summer tour of Europe in 1939, Kennedy wrote his college thesis on the failure of England to prepare itself against Nazi Germany. Published in book form in 1949, under the title, "Why England Slept," the work became a best seller. He graduated from Harvard in 1940.
Before Pearl Harbor, Kennedy entered the Navy as a seaman. He was commissioned an ensign assigned to a PT boat squadron which patrolled the Soloman Islands. In 1943, when his PT boat was rammed and sunk by a Japanese destroyer, Kennedy, despite grave injuries, led the survivors through perilous waters to safety. His heroic rescue of survivors of his crew won him the Navy and Marine Corps Medal as well as the Purple Heart.
After the war, Kennedy worked as a reporter for Hearst newspapers for a short time. One of his assignments was coverage of the United Nations conference at San Francisco in 1945. He decided to enter politics in 1946, and with the enthusiastic help of his brothers and sisters won the Democratic nomination to the House of Representatives in the eleventh district of Massachusetts. His mother and sisters organised teas at the homes of voters, while his father furnished campaign funds. He won the election and as Congressman voted for Truman's welfare programs, including expanded social security benefits, aid to veterans, and old-age benefits. In 1952, Kennedy upset the veteran Republican Senator Henry Cabot Lodge by winning his seat in the US Senate.
He married Jacqueline Lee Bouvier, daughter of a wealthy Wall Street broker, on September 12, 1953. ( They had four children, a girl who was stillborn; Caroline, born Nov. 27, 1957; John Fitzgerald, Jr., born Nov. 25, 1960, and Patrick Bouvier, born August, 1963, died two days later.) Meanwhile, as a Mass. Senator, he worked for bills that would help New England industries. In 1955, while recuperating from a back operation, he wrote "Profiles in Courage," which won the Pulitzer Prize in history.
He and his family began working tirelessly for his presidential nomination as early as 1956. 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 four television debates with the Republican candidate and then Vice President, Richard M. Nixon. Winning by a narrow margin in the popular vote, (he won 303 electoral votes to Nixon’s 219 electoral votes. The electoral vote figure needed to win the election of 1960 was 269). Kennedy became the first Roman Catholic President as well as the youngest elected to the office, at the age of 43.
Cabinet:
Secretary of State, Dean Rusk (1961-63)
Secretary of the Treasury, C. Douglas Dillon (1961-63)
Secretary of Defense, Robert S. McNamara (1961-63)
Attorney General, Robert F. Kennedy (1961-63)
Postmaster General, J. Edward Day (1961-63) John A. Gronouski, Jr. (1963)
Secretary of the Interior, Stewart L. Udall (1961-63)
Secretary of Agriculture, Orville L. Freeman (1961-63)
Secretary of Commerce, Luther H. Hodges (1961-63)
Secretary of Labor, Arthur J. Goldberg (1961-62) W. Willard Wirtz (1962-63)
Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, Abraham A. Ribicoff (1961-62) Anthony J. Celebrezze (1962-63)
His Inaugural Address offered the memorable quote: "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country." 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 for a massive assault on persisting pockets of privation and poverty.
Responding to ever more urgent demands, he took vigorous action in the cause of equal rights, calling for new civil rights legislation. His vision of America extended to the quality of the national culture and the central role of the arts in a vital society.
He wished America to resume its old mission as the first nation dedicated to the revolution of human rights. He established the Peace Corps to send Americans to assist people in underdeveloped countries with education, modern farming and industrial methods. With the Alliance for Progress and the Peace Corps, he brought American idealism to the aid of developing nations.
Shortly after his inauguration, Kennedy permitted a band of Cuban exiles, already armed and trained by the CIA, to invade their homeland. The attempt to overthrow the regime of Fidel Castro was a failure. Kennedy took responsibility for this failure. Later that year he met with Russian Premier Nikita Khrushchev in Vienna in an effort to settle differences, but the meeting was fruitless. Soon thereafter, the Soviet Union renewed its campaign against West Berlin. Kennedy replied by reinforcing the Berlin garrison and increasing the Nation's military strength, including new efforts in outer space.
The Russians sought to install nuclear missiles in Cuba. When this was discovered by air reconnaissance in October 1962, Kennedy imposed a quarantine on all offensive weapons bound for Cuba. While the world trembled on the brink of nuclear war, the Russians backed down and agreed to take the missiles away.
Kennedy now contended that both sides had a vital interest in stopping the spread of nuclear weapons and slowing the arms race--a contention which led to the test ban treaty of 1963. The months after the Cuban crisis showed significant progress toward his goal of "a world of law and free choice, banishing the world of war and coercion." His administration thus saw the beginning of new hope for both the equal rights of Americans and the peace of the world.
On a speaking tour which took him to Dallas, Texas, Kennedy was shot as he rode in a motorcade. Kennedy fell into the arms of his wife, who was riding in the open car beside him. - Cites preferides:
- A man does what he must - in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures - and that is the basis of all human morality.
A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on.
A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.”
A nation which has forgotten the quality of courage which in the past has been brought to public life is not as likely to insist upon or regard that quality in its chosen leaders today - and in fact we have forgotten.
All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin. And therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words "Ich bin ein Berliner!"
And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.
Our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, we all breathe the same air, we all cherish our children's futures; and we are all mortal."
As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.
Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.
Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men.
Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.
I am not the Catholic candidate for President. I am the Democratic Party's candidate for President, who happens also to be a Catholic. - Estudis de postgrau: