John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy (1917-63). US statesman; 35th president of the US. A son of the millionaire Joseph P. Kennedy, he won distinction in the navy during World War II and entered politics as the Democratic representative for Massachusetts. In 1953 he married Jacque-line Lee Bouvier (1929-94), who married the Greek shipping millionaire Aristotle Onassis after Kennedy’s death. Despite his youth, Kennedy ran for president in 1960 and beat Richard Nixon by a very narrow margin to become the first Catholic president. His successful demand for the withdrawal of Soviet missiles from Cuba (1962), and the signing of the Nuclear Test-Bari. Treaty (1963) between the Soviet Union, Britain, and the US, are often considered the greatest achievements of his short term of office. On 22 November 1963, Kennedy was assassinated while driving through Dallas in an open car. He was being filmed for television at the time, and the event caused widespread shock throughout the world. His younger brothers Robert (1925-68) and Edward (1932- ) have also been involved in US politics. Robert, who served as attorney general during the Kennedy administration, was assassinated in 1968 while campaigning for the presidential nomination. Edward has been a proMinent liberal senator since 1962.
“In some ways John Fitzgerald Kennedy died just in time. He died in time to be remembered as he would like to be remembered, as ever-young, still victorious, struck down undefeated… The Kennedy Administration was approaching an impasse, certainly at home, quite possibly abroad, from which there seemed no escape. I. F. Stone, ‘We All Had A Finger On That Trigger”
