John Fitzgerald Kennedy. President who is pleasant in every way
There are articles on Wikipedia about other people with this last name, see Kennedy.
| Senator from Massachusetts |
Brookline, Massachusetts, USA
Dallas, TX, USA
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John Fitzgerald Kennedy at Wikimedia Commons
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy(eng. John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy also known as JFK; May 29, 1917, Brookline - November 22, 1963, Dallas) - American politician, 35th President of the United States (1961-1963). In the modern public consciousness, Kennedy is most often associated with his mysterious assassination, which shook the whole world, numerous hypotheses for the resolution of which are put forward to this day.
A World War II veteran who rose to the rank of "lieutenant", Kennedy went through the entire campaign in the Solomon Islands, leading the team of the PT-109 torpedo boat. For the bravery shown during hostilities, he was awarded many awards.
Immediately after the end of the war, he began his political career, in 1947 he was elected from Massachusetts to the US House of Representatives, where he remained until 1953. Then he became a Senator of Massachusetts and held this position until 1960. At the beginning of the decade, in the next presidential election, 43-year-old Kennedy, Democrat, defeated Republican Richard Nixon by a narrow margin, thus becoming the only President of the United States to be a Catholic and the first president born in the 20th century.
Almost three years of Kennedy's presidency was marked by the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Bay of Pigs operation, the space race between the USSR and the United States, which led to the start of the Apollo space program, as well as serious steps towards equalizing black rights.
On November 22, 1963, while on a visit to Dallas, Texas, John F. Kennedy was wounded by a sniper rifle in his open limousine on one of the city's central streets. The President was promptly taken to Parkland Hospital, where, after unsuccessful resuscitation attempts, he was pronounced dead at about 1:00 pm local time. A specially created Warren Commission revealed that the lone gunman Lee Harvey Oswald was Kennedy's assassin. A huge number of social polls conducted across the country have shown that at least 60% of the American population does not believe that Oswald killed the president, or at least acted alone.
A large number of objects, streets, schools and others (for example, the international airport in New York) are named after Kennedy in the United States. According to most citizens of the country, Kennedy is one of the ten greatest American presidents in history.
Ancestors
Main article: Kennedy family
Maternal grandfather - John Francis Fitzgerald (1863-1950), an eloquent politician, three times mayor of Boston. Graduated from Boston College, in 1894 he was elected to the US Congress. From 1906 to 1914 he served as mayor of Boston, regularly yielding this position to other politicians with the end of terms. Until the end of his life, he remained one of the most prominent political figures of the area; he predicted to his grandson John that he would become president. He was married to Mary Josephine Hannon's second cousin and had six children.
Paternal grandfather - Patrick Joseph Kennedy (1858-1929), businessman and politician, was elected to the US House of Representatives from Massachusetts. At the age of fourteen, he dropped out of school and started working, as the family had nothing to live on. Over time, with the money he earned, he opened a small chain of bars and eateries, founded an alcoholic and coal company. He was married to the daughter of the owner of the bar, Mary Hickey, four children were born in the marriage.
Parents
Mother - Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald (1890-1995), philanthropist, matriarch of the Kennedy clan. She attended Catholic High School and Manhattanville College.
Father - Joseph Patrick Kennedy (1888-1969), businessman and politician, patriarch of the Kennedy clan, US Ambassador to Great Britain. He studied at the Boston Latin School, graduated from Harvard University. At a young age, he became the president of the bank's board Columbia trust, doubled his capital.
Joseph and Rosa met in 1906, but the girl, according to her father's plan, was to marry another young man, whom she categorically did not like. In October 1914, Joseph and Rosa were married and moved to permanent place residence in the city of Brookline, where a year later their first child, Joseph Patrick Kennedy Jr., was born.
Spouses Kennedy
in a new york restaurant,
November 1940
Kennedy Sr. believed that banking was above all and, as he later wrote in his memoirs, “all roads are open for the banker, as he plays important role in the development of any entrepreneurial activity ". Joseph did not plan to be a major figure in his own city, he wanted to go to a higher level - the banking sector of Boston and New York. His intentions were destroyed by the First World War, he left the bank and went to a steel and shipbuilding company Bethlehem Steel that in Quincy, thus avoiding the call to the front. One of his colleagues later said:
In the mid-1920s, Kennedy became a member of a brokerage firm Bramin, thus breaking out into the ranks of the most successful investors of his generation.
Joseph's insistence on climbing the career ladder repelled Rosa, she wanted a more orderly and calm family life... By the early 1930s, she had already given birth to nine children and was worried about her huge family after doctors discovered that the eldest daughter, Rosemary, was lagging behind her peers in mental development. To distract herself from family problems at least a little, Rosa traveled a lot across the States and Europe. Joseph often cheated on his wife, in particular with the silent film star, three Oscar nominee Gloria Svenson, in films with whose participation he often invested his own money.
At the height of his career, Kennedy Sr. was friends with Pope Pius XII, newspaper magnate W. R. Hirst, and was a personal adviser to US President Franklin Roosevelt. Joseph counted on the same life path, like himself, his eldest son Joe Jr. will pass and all his hopes were pinned on him, and not on John.
As noted by the historian, long-term professor at Columbia University Alan Brinkley, "long before the Kennedy clan became famous political figures, the family was already among the most famous Irish families in America."
Birth and early years
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the second of Joseph and Rose's children, was born in Brookline, Beals Street, at 3 a.m. on May 29, 1917. The boy was named after John the Evangelist (eng. John the apostle) and Rose's father, John Francis Fitzgerald. According to the old American tradition, relatives called John Jack.
Soon after John was born, the family moved from a cramped home to a huge one on Abbotsford Road. There he also went to Dexter School, where only he and his brother Joseph were Catholics. As a child, John was frail, the cause of which was all sorts of diseases: from chickenpox to scarlet fever, from which he almost died. Kennedy's most vivid childhood memory is a tour of constituencies with his grandfather John in 1922, when he was running for governor.
Having become a large economic figure in the center of America and possessing a capital of 2 million dollars, in 1927 Joseph Kennedy moved his family to the capital of the stock exchange - New York, more precisely, to his mini-district of Riverdale, and then to the Bronxville. In Massachusetts, Kennedy Sr. has property left - a family estate in the small village of Hyannis Port. There John began attending Riverdale Country School, where he studied neither well nor badly.
Secondary education
In the fall of 1930, thirteen-year-old John was sent to Canterbury Catholic School, which was located away from home in New Milford, Connecticut. He continued to get sick on a regular basis and missed his family, in letters he complained to them that at school he was “being harassed by religion; territory can only be stepped out when the Yale team is playing against Harvard, or against a team of the military. " John spent most of the school year in the hospital, and in recent months he has practiced home teaching. Despite his illness, he was athletic at school, playing baseball, basketball and athletics.
Kennedy began his ninth grade at the private boarding school "Choate Rosemary Hall", where his brother Joseph already studied, and before that his future colleagues in political affairs, Adlai Stevenson II and Chester Bowles. John also did not receive high marks in Chow, according to historian Alan Brinkley, "His work was carelessly executed, and he had a reputation as a frivolous and uncollected student in a school that made order a principle." "Choate" Kennedy was often called a prison, his health did not improve, he lay for a long time in the famous Mayo Clinic.
A rebel by nature, Kennedy entered the so-called "Maker Club", in which its members performed obscene songs concerning teachers and administration. Despite his defiant behavior, John was not expelled from school and he graduated, although not with a perfect certificate.
Higher education
With his secondary education, Kennedy began to think about further education. In 1935, he entered Harvard University, but at the very end of August, he took the documents and went to the London School of Economics and Political Science, personally to a prominent economist, Professor Harold Lasky, who later spoke warmly of Kennedy. In the capital of England, John fell ill again, this time with jaundice, and returned to his homeland, where he was enrolled at Princeton University, in particular, because his best friend Lem Billings had already studied there.
Princeton seemed to Kennedy "an oppressively provincial small university town." Not finishing his first semester, he again went to one of the Boston hospitals with a disease unknown to doctors. For several weeks John underwent examinations and tests, which he later called "the most difficult test in my whole life battered by storms." In the end, the boy was diagnosed with leukemia. Kennedy did not believe it and was right - soon the doctors admitted that they had made a mistake.
John spent the rest of the school year at a Palm Beach resort, a ranch in Arizona, and Los Angeles. In August 1936 he was again admitted to Harvard University, whose admissions committee issued its verdict on Kennedy: “Jack has excellent mental abilities, but does not have a deep interest in learning ... There is reason to believe that he can enter. "
At Harvard, John studied better than at "Chow" or Princeton, read a lot, did not leave sports. During the summer holidays of 1937, Kennedy spent a large-scale tour of European countries with Lem Billings, sponsored by his father. He also organized John's acquaintance with the future Pope Cardinal Pacelli and several other major world figures. The young man was especially impressed by countries with a fascist regime, in particular Italy and Germany.
Upon his return from the cruise, an amazed Kennedy began to get seriously involved in history and political science. He longed to succeed not only in education, but also in student society, setting himself the goal of getting into one of Harvard's social clubs. He soon became a member of the club Hasty Pudding, published in the university newspaper The harvard crimson... However, John was most proud of his membership in the club. Spee and spent almost all his free time at his headquarters.
Kennedy learned about the beginning of World War II while vacationing at a resort in Antibes. Back at Harvard, he titled his graduate work The Politics of Conciliation in Munich, a team he helped write, from his father's assistants to stenographers and typists. “Poorly written, but conscientious, interesting and reasonable analysis difficult problem"- this was the verdict of Kennedy's scientific advisors. Despite the mediocrity of this thesis, she, with the help of a newspaper journalist The New York Times Arthur Kroc, was released as a separate book under the other title "Why England slept."
The analytical work of the young Kennedy caused a wide public outcry, which was dictated, in the opinion of Alan Brinkley, "by an almost complete lack of interest on the part of political analysts of that time in the issue of the readiness of democratic states to resist totalitarian regimes." In it, John also first mentioned the thesis, which later became one of the key points of his political doctrine: "Democracy must be strong and combat-ready to endure the hardships of a long intense struggle with the gaining strength of the communist world."
The Second World War
After graduating from Harvard, Kennedy's Bachelor of Science wondered what to do next. There was an idea to start studying law; in 1941, he applied to Yale University and even studied for several months at Stanford, but soon America was officially involved in World War II. John knew that due to constant ailments he would not be enrolled in the front. A year before the events at Pearl Harbor, he tried to pass a medical examination, but he was refused due to a back injury. Here, his father and his acquaintances (in particular, Admiral Alan Kirk) helped out, with the help of whose influence Kennedy was sent to the Washington intelligence department of the US Navy in October.
In the ranks of the Navy, Kennedy prepared reports for the headquarters and found the job boring. He longed for real military action; as historian Alan Brinkley believed:
| Jack considered it his duty to participate in the hostilities. In addition, he knew that the biography of a military officer would help him in moving up the career ladder, no matter what profession he chose. In addition, the life principles of his family, raising children in a spirit of rivalry and striving for success, did not even allow him to think that during the war he could sit out somewhere in the rear. |
After spending a short time at intelligence headquarters, John was transferred to a military shipyard in Charleston, South Carolina. In July 1942, he became a member of the naval school that trained officers. In Portsmouth and Newport, he was trained in the basics of controlling a high-speed torpedo boat and in the spring of 1943 took command of the boat. PT-109... Prior to that, dreaming of becoming its commander, Kennedy again turned to his father and Massachusetts Senator David E. Walsh for help. John was immediately dispatched to the Pacific Ocean, where hostilities between the United States and Japan were in full swing.
On August 2, Kennedy was assigned with fifteen other boats to attack the Japanese ships. During a night raid, an enemy destroyer that jumped out of the darkness rammed and cut PT-109 in half. On falling onto the deck, John severely injured his already injured back. Of the thirteen sailors, two instantly died, the rest were saved thanks to the timely and precise actions of Kennedy. Within five hours, the boat crew swam to the nearest shore, with Kennedy dragging one of the wounded along with him.
On the island of Nauro, John carved a small message on a coconut shell indicating the coordinates of the boat's crew. A week later, Kennedy and his men sailed home in another New Zealand patrol torpedo boat from the islands of New Georgia.
In the following days, the American press wrote with admiration about the feat of Kennedy and the entire team, in which John was most often referred to as "Kennedy's son." For his courage during the fighting, John was awarded many orders and medals, including the Purple Heart and the Navy and Marine Corps Medal. The order to honor Kennedy was personally signed by Admiral William Halsey: “His courage, endurance and leadership helped save several human lives in full accordance with the high traditions of the United States maritime service. "
Ten days after the incident with PT-109 Kennedy returned to the front. In December 1943, he contracted malaria, a back injury made itself felt again, and due to his critical health condition, John decided to return home. Already in the new year, 1944, Kennedy arrived in San Francisco and was hospitalized at the Mayo Clinic, where he remained for several long months. In March 1945, a few months before the end of the war, he was officially sent to the reserve.
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The start of a political career
John F. Kennedy on the personality of Adolf Hitler
One can easily understand how in just a few years, overcoming the hatred that surrounds him now, Hitler will turn into one of the most significant personalities in history. Cherishing the boundlessly ambitious plans that he wanted to realize for his country, he posed a threat to humanity. But the mystery surrounding his life and death will survive him for a long time. There was something about him that is legendary.
Recordings of John F. Kennedy during his tour of Europe, 1945
A few months after his transfer to the reserve, Kennedy took up journalism - covered in San Francisco the creation of the United Nations for the media conglomerate W. R. Hirst Hearst Corporation... Then he went on another tour of Europe, during which he again thought about the key political events and personalities of that time.
After the death in August 1944 of the eldest child, Joseph, in the family all hopes were pinned on John. Upon his return from Europe, his father began to persuade him to engage in politics, although he doubted his political inclinations. John knew for sure that he would not be involved in journalism. Kennedy Sr. helped lay the foundation for his son's future political career - he contacted Massachusetts Congressman in the US House of Representatives, James Michael Curley, who offered to vacate his seat in the House in exchange for resolving some of his problems. So John F. Kennedy became a member of the US House of Representatives and began his political career.
From 1947 to 1953, Kennedy represented Boston County in the US Congress as the Democratic congressman. In 1953, Kennedy became a Senator after defeating Senator Lodge in a bitter struggle. The most controversial decision of the future president during this period was the decision not to participate in the Senate vote to censure Senator Joseph McCarthy for his leadership of the Commission on Un-American Activities. Researchers offer different motivations for this step (in particular, staying in the hospital and unwillingness to undermine the confidence of conservative voters), but Kennedy's own statement, made in 1960, is also known:
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Subsequent life
President of the U.S.A
Official portrait of the White House presidential gallery
Election campaign
Main article: US Presidential Election (1960)
When John F. Kennedy, the Democratic presidential candidate, won the 1960 elections, he was 43 years old. When Kennedy officially announced his candidacy in the early 1960s, he was opposed in the Democratic primaries by Senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota, Senator Stuart Symington of Missouri, Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson of Texas, and Adlai Stevenson. By the time the convention opened in Los Angeles, Kennedy had already secured a victory and was approved in the first round of voting. Two weeks later, Republicans elected Vice President Richard Nixon as their candidate. In televised debates with his rival Richard Nixon, Kennedy gave the impression of a businesslike, eloquent and energetic person. During the election campaign, he spoke of the need to decisively strive forward into the new decade, for "new frontiers are near - whether we are looking for them or not." Kennedy focused his efforts on the densely populated states of the Northeast, hoping that his partner Senator Johnson would provide Democrats with traditional South support. This strategy was successful, but the advantage was insignificant. Kennedy defeated Nixon by a majority of 119 thousand votes (with 69 million voters). Kennedy and Johnson received 303 electoral votes, Nixon and Lodge - 219, Senator Harry Flood Bird - 15. The decisive role in ensuring the victory of Kennedy, according to the press, was not played by the political platform of his party and not the expectation of "energetic leadership" and the policy promised by Kennedy " flexible response "to the challenges of the outside world, and the way it looked on the television screen.
Kennedy was to become the country's first Catholic president.
Presidency
John F. Kennedy was elected President in November 1960.
“The Kennedy government will be able to take a number of steps the right direction“(Regarding the possibility of improving US-Soviet relations), but this will only be done gradually. It is difficult to expect radical changes in US policy in the near future, since Kennedy will be bound by certain obligations regarding continuity. foreign policy"(Cyrus Eaton, 1960).
On January 20, 1961, John F. Kennedy was sworn in and thus became the 35th President of the United States. Kennedy ended his first inaugural speech with an appeal: "Think not about what the country can give you, but about what you can give it." The government, along with the new president, includes completely new persons with connections in the financial and monopoly circles of the United States, or people who have already succeeded in the political arena.
The Kennedy administration included: Vice President Lyndon Johnson, Secretary of State D. Rusk (specialist in political science, served in the Pentagon, State Department, since 1952 headed the Rockefeller Foundation), Secretary of Defense R. McNamara (professional businessman, president Ford concern), Treasury Secretary D. Dillon (served in the Eisenhower administration), Justice Secretary Robert Kennedy (Kennedy's brother, led the election campaign).
Of the first 200 people appointed by Kennedy to top government posts, about half were from the state apparatus, 18% were university professors, 6% were businessmen, which was in sharp contrast to the composition of the administration of his predecessor Eisenhower, where only 6% were university professors. and 42% are businessmen.
Domestic policy
The beginning of the Kennedy presidency coincided with a cyclical boom in the economy. However, by the spring of 1962, the economic situation had become noticeably complicated: the growth rate slowed down, the level of unemployment that had begun to decline stood at 5.5%, and the volume of new investment also decreased. In May, this was added to the drop in the share price on the stock exchange - the sharpest since 1929. Halting the economic downturn was a top priority for the new administration, but Kennedy lost the credibility of the business community by pushing in 1962 to cut steel prices that the government found excessive. The administration entered into a confrontation with steel companies led by the United States Steel Corporation ( United States Steel Corporation), which, despite the insistence of the administration, which had previously forced the steel workers' union to limit its demands for higher wages within the framework of "benchmarks", went to a demonstratively sharp increase in steel prices. Only by using all the levers of pressure, the White House managed to get this decision canceled at the cost of worsening relations with the monopolies.
He achieved this immediate goal, but lost the strong support of the industrialists. For example, in January 1963, Kennedy sent Congress a program to cut taxes on corporate profits (from 52% to 47%) and cut rates income tax from citizens (from 20-91 to 14-65%) for a total amount of about $ 10 billion with the actual rejection of the tax reform. When Kennedy tried to push through Congress a tax-cut bill to stimulate savings and revitalize the economy, conservative opposition deprived him of any hope of a deficit bill. At the same time, he promised to cut government spending on social needs and balance the federal budget.
Despite some successes, the Kennedy presidency as a whole cannot be called successful in terms of legislation. It received no new funding for education and health care for the elderly, and the minimum wage rose marginally. So, the extension of the period for payments of unemployment benefits in 1961-1962. left more than 3 million unemployed behind; the increase in the minimum hourly wage (to $ 1.15 in 1961 and $ 1.25 in 1963) affected only 3.6 million of the 26.6 million low-paid workers. The measures taken by the government to combat unemployment - the 1961 Aid Areas of Depression Act, the 1962 Retraining Act for Fired Workers, appropriations for public works, etc. - have not led to significant improvements in employment. The movement for the reduction (35 hours) of the working week was gaining growth.
Kennedy advocated equal rights for blacks, taking the Abraham Lincoln model, supported Martin Luther King, and met him in Washington in 1963.
One of President Kennedy's decisions was to stop issuing silver coins and certificates due to the constant rise in the price of silver. In 1963, at his initiative, Congress passed Public Law 88-36 allowing the Federal Reserve to issue $ 1 and $ 2 notes and prohibiting the Treasury from issuing silver certificates. Since the Treasury was still supposed to issue these certificates during the transition period, Kennedy signed Executive Order 11110 on the same day, which delegated the power to issue silver certificates to the President of the Treasury. There is a conspiracy theory that mistakenly links this decree with the issuance of US Treasury notes in 1963. It is assumed, therefore, that Kennedy was going to deprive the FRS of its monopoly on money emission, and therefore, allegedly, this decision became the reason for a conspiracy against the president.
Foreign policy
Kennedy advocated improving relations between the United States and the USSR, but his reign was also marked by great foreign policy tensions: the unsuccessful landing in the Bay of Pigs, the Berlin crisis, the Cuban missile crisis (one of the phrases recorded in the 35th president's diary, "fear of loss breeds suspicion" - this is how Kennedy himself argued for this crisis).
Under Kennedy, there was an increase in US intervention in civil war in South Vietnam; in 1961, he sent the first regular units of the US armed forces to South Vietnam (before that, only military advisers were serving there). By the end of 1963, the United States had spent billions of dollars on the Vietnam War.
In March 1961, an organization called the Peace Corps was created, which, on a voluntary basis, helped the people of developing countries to eradicate illiteracy, acquire basic work skills and knowledge.
On March 13, 1961, Kennedy announced the Alliance for Progress program, designed to promote the economic and political development of Latin America. The official goals of this program were: to ensure an annual increase in industrial production in Latin America at least a year, eliminate illiteracy on the continent, and carry out agrarian reforms. Over a ten-year period, the program was to be financed with billions of dollars, nearly ten times the total amount of American aid to Latin America from 1945 to 1960.
In 1961, Kennedy created the United States Agency for international development", with the aim of contributing to the solution of economic and political problems of developing countries.
John F. Kennedy has done a lot for space exploration, initiating the launch of the Apollo program ("We decide to go to the moon"). He proposed to the First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Khrushchev to join forces in preparing the flight to the moon, but he refused.
In Moscow on August 5, 1963, an agreement was signed between representatives of the USSR, the USA and Great Britain on the prohibition of nuclear weapons tests in three areas - in the air, on the ground and under water. On October 17, representatives of the USSR and the United States voted for the decision unanimously adopted by the UN General Assembly to prohibit the launch of objects with nuclear weapons on board.
Kennedy in the presidential limousine, seconds before the assassinationMain article: The assassination of John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963 in Dallas, Texas; while the presidential cortege was moving through the streets of the city, shots were heard. The first bullet hit the president in the back of the neck and exited the front of the throat, the second hit in the head and caused the destruction of the skull bones in the back of the head, as well as damage to the medulla. President Kennedy was taken to the operating room, where his death was pronounced half an hour after the assassination attempt. In addition, the Governor of Texas, Connolly, who was driving in the same car, was seriously injured, and one of the passers-by was also slightly injured.
Lee Harvey Oswald, arrested on suspicion of murder, was shot and killed two days later at the police station by Dallas resident Jack Ruby, who also later died in prison.
The official report of the Warren Commission on the investigation into the Kennedy assassination was published in 1964; according to this report, the president's killer was Oswald, and all the shots were fired from the top floor of the building. No murder conspiracy has been identified, according to the report.
Official data on the Kennedy assassination is contradictory and contains a number of "blank spots". There are especially many different conspiracy theories about this case: it is questioned whether Oswald shot at the car at all or that he was the only shooter. It is assumed that the murder is connected with various major figures of politics and business, deliberate elimination of witnesses is seen, etc. One of such versions is presented in the film "JFK" by Oliver Stone. About John F. Kennedy filmed including: "PT 109" (1963) - about Kennedy's participation in World War II; the series "Kennedy" and "The Kennedy Clan" ( Kennedy, in 1983 and The kennedys in 2011); "John F. Kennedy: A Daring Youth" ( J.F.K .: Reckless Youth, 1993).
Private life
Brothers and sisters:
- Joseph Patrick Kennedy Jr. (1915-1944)
- Rosemary Kennedy (1918-2005)
- Kathleen Egnes Kennedy (1920-1948)
- Eunice Mary Kennedy (1921-2009). Husband - Sargent Robert Shriver (1915-2011). Their daughter, Maria Shriver (1955), was the wife of Arnold Schwarzenegger.
- Patricia Kennedy (1924-2006). She was married to American actor Peter Lawford (1923-1984).
- Robert Francis Kennedy (1925-1968)
- Gene Ann Kennedy Smith (1928-)
- Edward Moore Kennedy (1932-2009)
In 1953, Kennedy married Jacqueline Lee Bouvier, from this marriage four children were born, two died shortly after giving birth; daughter Caroline and son John survived. John died in 1999 in a plane crash.
- Arabella (b. And d. 1956)
- Caroline Kennedy (b. 1957)
- John Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr. (1960-1999)
- Patrick (b. And d. 1963)
After the death of John F. Kennedy, Jacqueline married Aristotle Onassis.
In November 2002, after the expiration of the retention period for medical secrets, medical reports were released to the public. Kennedy's physical illness turned out to be more serious than previously thought. He suffered constant pain from his injured spine despite repeated treatments, in addition to troubles from severe digestive problems and Addison's disease. Kennedy had to inject multiple novocaine before press conferences to look healthy.
He was the richest president of the United States.
Author of books
Profiles in courage(Profiles of courage). - NY-Evanston: Harper & Raw, 1957.
The book provides brief biographies of people whom Kennedy regarded as models of courage in politics. V 1957 year Kennedy received the Pulitzer Prize for this book, the highest award in journalism. The book was reprinted in 1964.
Why England slept- NY, 1961.
Publication of Kennedy's thesis.
A nation of immigrants- NY-Evanston: Harper & Raw, 1964.
America the beautiful in the worlds - 1964
"Personal Diary of the 35th President of the United States" - After the death of Kennedy, a diary was published in which John F. Kennedy wrote down his sayings and thoughts.
Memory
Half dollar 1967 featuring Kennedy. Silver
Postage stamp depicting the Eternal Flame
- Kennedy's portrait is featured on a 1964 50 cent coin.
- In 1963, New York's Idleide International Airport was renamed John F Kennedy International Airport. At the same time, the airport code was replaced with a combination of letters JFK (by the initials John Fitzgerald Kennedy).
- In 1966, the name Kennedy was given to the Harvard Institute of Public Administration, one of the faculties of Harvard University.
- The aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67) is named after him.
- Also named after him is the NASA Space Center, located at Cape Canaveral.
Awards
Obtained during hostilities- Navy and Marine Corps Medal
- Purple heart
- U.S. Defense Service Medal
- American Campaign Medal
- Medal for the Asia-Pacific Campaign
- World War II Victory Medal
- Pulitzer Prize (1957)
- Order of Merit for the Italian Republic
- Order of the Star of Italy
Kennedy in culture
- In the animated series Clone High, there is a Kennedy clone as a character.
- April 2011 saw the premiere of the Kennedy Clan mini-series, which depicts the life of the Kennedy family.
- The novel by the American writer Elizabeth Gage "Pandora's Box" tells the story of a young politician, his life, love and death. The plot clearly shows a parallel with John F. Kennedy.
- In the second season of the American TV series "Smash" (in Russian translation "Life is a Show"), a musical is staged about the relationship between John F. Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe.
- John F. Kennedy is mentioned in the movie Back to the Future when Marty McFly, in the past, asks the address of Doc from his ancestors, to which his grandfather replies “it's a block from Maple Street”, to which Marty says with surprise “this is an alley John F. Kennedy ".
John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born on May 29, 1917 in Brookline, Massachusetts.
John F. Kennedy grew up in a Catholic Irish family, his father was a prominent businessman, diplomat and politician, the mother was responsible for raising children. In total, Joseph Patrick and Rose Elizabeth Kennedy had nine children - four boys and five girls.
According to another version, at the head of the conspiracy were Vice President Lyndon Johnson, who was eager to become president, and FBI Director Edgar Hoover, his close friend. According to supporters of this version, Hoover acted in the interests of the mafia, the fight against which became much more intense after Robert Kennedy, the president's brother, took over the post of attorney general.
There are also theories that Soviet and / or Cuban intelligence services killed Kennedy.
They associate the reason for the murder of the president and with his alleged interest in UFOs and aliens that arose shortly before his death.
John F. Kennedy. The award went to him in 1957 for his biography Profiles in Courage, which tells the story of prominent Americans who have gone down in history for their unwavering character.
John F. Kennedy was married to Jacqueline Bouvier, whom he met in 1952. From this marriage, the Kennedy family had four children, two of whom died shortly after birth. Kennedy's eldest daughter Caroline studied law, worked at the New York Metropolitan Museum, and was involved in charity work. In 2009, she applied for a seat in the Senate from New York State, but later withdrew.
In October 2013, Caroline Kennedy became the first female U.S. Ambassador to Japan. John Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr. was a journalist and lawyer who died in 1999 at the age of 38 in a plane crash.
The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources
The years of his reign are from 1961 to 1963, when he was assassinated. Kennedy was a participant in the 1939-1945 war and a member of the Senate.
Childhood and adolescence
According to local American tradition, he was called Jack. He was first elected to the Senate at the age of 43. In the entire history of the United States, he was the youngest president. John F. Kennedy was born on May 29, 1917, in a small town called Brooklyn, to a Catholic family. He was the second child in the family.
As a child, John F. Kennedy was a very frail physique, was often ill, and even nearly died due to scarlet fever. When he grew up, many women, on the contrary, were crazy about him. When the boy was ten years old, his family moved into a twenty-room house. At school, the future president was distinguished by a rebellious spirit, and his academic performance left much to be desired. Despite the fact that John F. Kennedy Jr. was very often ill, he continued to actively engage in sports.
After graduating from school, he entered the truth, lasted there for a short time due to health problems. Returning to the States, Kennedy continues his studies - now at Princeton. He soon falls ill, and doctors diagnose him with leukemia. Kennedy does not believe doctors, and later they themselves admit that they made the diagnosis wrong.
Traveling in Europe and participating in hostilities
In 1936, John F. Kennedy returned to Harvard University. In the summer, he travels to European countries, which further spurs his interest in politics and international relations. Under the patronage of his father, the future president meets the head of the Catholic Church, Pope Pius XII.
Despite poor health, Kennedy takes part in hostilities that lasted until 1945. At the front, he takes an active part in battles, showing courage in rescuing a boat sunk by enemy troops. And after being fired from the military, he took up the job of a journalist.
The beginning of a political career
In 1946, John F. Kennedy was elected to the House of Congress. Further, the same post is occupied by him three more times. In 1960, he was first nominated for the presidency of the country, and finally, in 1961, he became the head of the United States. Many of Kennedy's contemporaries were impressed by his decisiveness, intelligence and wisdom in governing the country. For example, Kennedy was able to secure a ban on nuclear testing. He also carried out many popular reforms and became a lover of the whole nation.
Personal life of the president
John Fitzgerald Kennedy was married to Jacqueline Lee Bouvier, who was 12 years his junior. Instead of flowers and sweets, Kennedy gave her books that he himself considered the most valuable. Their wedding took place in the city of Newport. Subsequently, the Kennedy family had four children. However, the oldest girl and the youngest boy were killed. Caroline's middle daughter became a writer. Son John died in tragic circumstances in a plane crash.
Also, John F. Kennedy had a large number of extramarital affairs. Among his passions was Pamela Turner, who worked as the press secretary for his wife Jacqueline. Gunilla von Post, an aristocrat from Sweden, described her relationship with the president in a book. Also the infamous Marilyn Monroe had an affair with Kennedy.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy: Death
Before the upcoming elections in 1963, Kennedy began a series of trips around the country. On November 21, 1963, his procession was on the streets of Dallas. Exactly at half of the first day, three shots thundered. The first bullet went right through and also injured the governor of Texas. Another of the shots hit the head and was fatal.
Within five minutes, the president was taken to the hospital. But the doctors were powerless against such injuries, and by about one in the afternoon the death of the president was announced. The Governor of Texas - John Connali - survived. Two hours later, the police arrested the murder suspect, Lee Harvey Oswald, and two days later he was shot and killed by Jack Ruby, whom the authorities suspected of having links with the mafiosi. Ruby was sentenced to death.
But, having filed an appeal, he managed to get a pardon. The date of the new trial had not yet been set, as Ruby was diagnosed with cancer. He died in January 1967. There are many versions according to which John Fitzgerald Kennedy could have been killed. According to one of them, the massacre of the president was a response to his program to fight organized crime.
Kennedy was a World War II veteran who rose to the rank of lieutenant. He went through the entire campaign in the Solomon Islands, leading the team of the PT-109 torpedo boat. For the bravery shown during hostilities, he was awarded many awards.
John F. Kennedy speaks among the crowd with kitchen chair in West Virginia, New York, where a boy is playing with a realistic-looking toy pistol a meter away
Vice President Lyndon Johnson, President John F. Kennedy and Special Assistant to President Dave Powers at the opening of the 1961 basketball season at Griffith Stadium, Washington DC
After the end of World War II, the future president began a political career, in 1947 he was elected from Massachusetts to the US House of Representatives, where he remained until 1953. Then he became a Senator of Massachusetts and held this position until 1960.
Left to right: Vice President Johnson, Arthur Schlesinger, Admiral Arley Burke, President Kennedy, and Mrs. Kennedy watch the spacecraft launch into space with the first American on board May 5, 1961
President Kennedy aboard the USCG Manitou on August 26, 1962 in Narraganset Bay, Rhode Island
In 1961, in the next presidential election, 43-year-old Kennedy, Democrat, defeated Republican Richard Nixon by a narrow margin, thus becoming the only President of the United States to be a Catholic and the first president born in the 20th century.
President Kennedy addresses the people of Berlin, Germany, June 26, 1963
In Miami, Florida, following an official address by President Kennedy and Mrs. Kennedy to the 2506 Brigade of Cuban activists at the stadium, Mrs. Kennedy speaks informally with some of their members on December 29, 1962
Almost three years of Kennedy's presidency was marked by the Berlin Crisis, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Bay of Pigs operation, the space race between the USSR and the USA, which led to the start of the Apollo space program, as well as serious steps towards equalizing black rights.
President Kennedy with his children Caroline and John Jr. in the Oval Office of the White House on October 10, 1962
President Kennedy arrives in Massachusetts on May 11, 1963
According to the World Bank, US GDP from 1960 to 1964 grew from 543 to 685 billion dollars, the average annual GDP growth was 6%, and the average annual inflation was 1%.
A large group of photographers, including those from the White House, gathered around the nuclear test ban treaty to document President Kennedy's signature, October 7, 1963
President Kennedy and the Attorney General in the West Wing of the White House on October 3, 1962
Despite some successes, the Kennedy presidency as a whole cannot be called successful in terms of legislation. It received no new funding for education and health care for the elderly, and the minimum wage rose marginally. Thus, the extension of the term for the payment of unemployment benefits in 1961-1962 left more than 3 million unemployed behind; the increase in the minimum hourly wage (to $ 1.15 in 1961 and $ 1.25 in 1963) affected only 3.6 million of the 26.6 million low-paid workers.
President John F. Kennedy looks into a space capsule at the NASA Distinguished Service Medal Ceremony to Astronaut and Colonel John Glenn Jr. at Cape Canaveral, Florida, February 23, 1962
Florida Senator George Smathers and President John F. Kennedy at Cape Canaveral during the presentation of the Saturn launch vehicle, November 16, 1963
The measures taken by his government to combat unemployment - the 1961 Aid Areas of Depression Act, the 1962 Retraining Act for Fired Workers, appropriations for public works, etc. - did not lead to significant improvements in employment. The movement for the reduction (35 hours) of the working week was gaining growth. 
President John F. Kennedy signs the Equal Pay Act prohibiting discrimination on the basis of gender in pay by employers
Mrs Kennedy and John F. Kennedy Jr. in late 1962 in the White House nursery
Kennedy advocated equal rights for blacks by taking the Abraham Lincoln model, supported Martin Luther King, and met him in Washington in 1963. President Kennedy introduced a Civil Rights Bill to Congress on June 19, 1963, prohibiting segregation in all public places.
President Kennedy speaks at University Stadium in Houston, Texas on September 12, 1962.
First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy and her sister Princess Lee Radziwill ride an elephant on a tour to India in March 1962
It is assumed that Kennedy was going to deprive the FRS of its monopoly on money emission and therefore, allegedly, this decision became the reason for a conspiracy against the president.
President John F. Kennedy in the Oval Office of the White House on July 11, 1963
Meeting with Khrushchev, Vienna, June 4, 1961
Kennedy advocated better relations between the United States and the USSR, but his rule was also marked by great foreign policy tensions.
On June 4, 1961, in Vienna, at the Schönbrunn Palace, Kennedy's only meeting with the Soviet leader Khrushchev took place. Among other things, he suggested that Khrushchev join forces in preparing a flight to the moon, but he refused. Kennedy's political testament is a speech at the American University on June 10, 1963, which contains a call to "ensure peace not only in our time, but forever" by "expanding mutual understanding between the USSR and us."
President Kennedy in Cork, Ireland, June 28, 1963
November 22, 1963 - President Kennedy addresses the crowd in the parking lot of a Texas hotel
Under Kennedy, there was an increase in US intervention in the civil war in South Vietnam; in 1961, he dispatched the first regular units of the U.S. armed forces to South Vietnam ( before that, only military advisers served there). By the end of 1963, the United States had spent $ 3 billion on the Vietnam War, and there were 16,000 US soldiers and officers in South Vietnam.
Kennedy assassination
The first moments after John F. Kennedy was shot. A fatally wounded president is transported by limousine to a hospital in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963.
John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963 in Dallas, Texas; while the presidential cortege was moving through the streets of the city, shots were heard. The first bullet hit the president in the back of the neck and exited the front of the throat, the second hit in the head and caused the destruction of the skull bones in the back of the head, as well as damage to the medulla. President Kennedy was taken to the operating room, where his death was pronounced half an hour after the assassination attempt.
President Kennedy's coffin is carried onto a U.S. Air Force plane in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963. Attendants include Lawrence "Larry" O'Brien, Jacqueline Kennedy, and Dave Powers
Lee Harvey Oswald, arrested on suspicion of murder, was shot and killed two days later at the police station by Dallas resident Jack Ruby, who also later died in prison.
The official report of the Warren Commission on the investigation into the Kennedy assassination was published in 1964; according to this report, the president's killer was Oswald, and all the shots were fired from the top floor of the building. No murder conspiracy has been identified, according to the report.
On November 22, 1963, Lyndon Johnson is sworn in aboard a U.S. Air Force aircraft following the assassination of John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas
The body of President John F. Kennedy is in a coffin in the East Hall of the White House. A guard of honor stands nearby, 23 November 1963
Official data on the Kennedy assassination is contradictory and contains a number of "blank spots". There are especially many different conspiracy theories about this case: it is questioned whether Oswald shot at the car at all or that he was the only shooter. It is assumed that the murder is connected with various major figures of politics and business, deliberate elimination of witnesses is seen, etc.
A huge number of social polls conducted across the country have shown that at least 60% of the American population does not believe that Oswald killed the president, or at least acted alone.
Family members and others attend the funeral procession for President John F. Kennedy in Washington on November 25, 1963. Photo: Robert F. Kennedy, Mrs. John F. Kennedy, Edward M. Kennedy, R. Sargent Shriver, Stephen E. Smith
A large number of objects, streets, schools, etc., are named after Kennedy in the United States ( for example, an international airport in New York).
Complete information about the person
Biography
The first training in the biography of Kennedy took place at a Connecticut boarding school, then he studied at Princeton, Harvard. For some time he lived in London, observing European politics.
In 1941, in the biography of John F. Kennedy, service in the US Navy began, he soon received the rank of lieutenant. During the fighting, when John F. Kennedy was the captain of a torpedo boat in the waters The Pacific hurt my back. In 1953 he married Jacqueline Lee Bouvier.
Kennedy represented the Democratic Party, then became Senator of Massachusetts. In 1956, there was the first political defeat in the biography of Kennedy: he did not win the election of vice president. In 1957, after publishing three of his books, he received Pulitzer Prize... In November 1960, John F. Kennedy was elected President of the United States, and took office in January 1961.
Kennedy's policy as president was aimed at improving relations between the USSR and the United States, space exploration. However, in addition to this, the time of reign in Kennedy's biography coincides with the Cuban missile crisis, as well as the US intervention in the Vietnam War.
On November 22, 1963, John F. Kennedy was shot twice while driving through Dallas. Murder suspect Lee Harvey Oswald was also killed while at the police station. The facts of the Kennedy assassination are still controversial.
Relationship with the Armenian lobby of America
The Kennedy family's acquaintance with the Armenian diaspora took place in Boston, Massachusetts. The father of the family, Joseph Kennedy, being a businessman, was well acquainted with the Armenian Mugar family, which are still considered one of the most successful business families in the United States.
It is no secret that the Armenian diaspora in California already possessed impressive resources by that time; in the period 1950-1970 more than 600 thousand ethnic Armenians lived in the state. Representatives of the Armenian diaspora already then played one of the key roles in the political and economic life of the state, and Armenian businessmen such as Kirk Kerkorian, Alex Yemenidzhian and Robert Artsivyan were considered the most successful. But,
The Armenian diaspora, represented by the Mugar family and leaders of Armenian organizations, supported the candidacy of young John F. Kennedy in the elections to the House of Representatives from Massachusetts.
In 1951, the newly minted congressman became one of the initiators of the adoption of the most important document on the facts of genocide. This document was prepared by a group of congressmen led by John F. Kennedy and sent to the international court in May 1951. This document noted:
| “The document on genocide is the result of the use of inhuman and barbaric actions that were committed in some countries before and during the Second World War, when entire groups of religious, racial and national minorities were threatened with deliberate annihilation and extermination. The phenomenon of genocide has existed throughout the history of mankind. The persecution of Christians by the Romans, the pogroms of Armenians by the Turks, the massacre of millions of Jews and Poles by the Nazis are vivid examples of the crime of genocide. " |
The adoption of this document can rightfully be considered the first major success in the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide veil. As Senator from Massachusetts, John F. Kennedy participated in the unveiling of a memorial plaque in memory of the victims of the Armenian Genocide in Boston.
During the same period, the Democratic Party nominated young Senator John F. Kennedy for the presidency of the United States. The Armenian diaspora supported the young senator from Boston, who, moreover, has already shown in practice his support for the Armenian side.
John F. Kennedy won the election by a narrow margin. Thus, he became the first Catholic president of the United States.
Images
miscellanea
- A close friend of John F. Kennedy, who, in particular, helped him in the election campaign for the Senate, was a famous Boston lawyer of Armenian origin Richard Owan.
- During the Cuban missile crisis, negotiations with the US President were conducted by Anastas Mikoyan. The USSR Ambassador to the USA Anatoly Dobrynin in his monograph "Strictly Confidential" says that Mikoyan and Kennedy quickly found mutual language... Mikoyan himself also notes in his memoirs that he had personal friendly relations with John and Robert Kennedy. It is not surprising that the only representative of the USSR participating in the farewell ceremony for President Kennedy (killed on November 22, 1963) was precisely Anastas Mikoyan.
