John Fitzgerald Kennedy. President, pleasant in every way
There are articles on Wikipedia about other people with that last name, see Kennedy.
| Senator from massachusetts |
Brookline, Massachusetts, USA
Dallas, Texas, USA
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John Fitzgerald Kennedy on 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 modern public consciousness, Kennedy is most often associated with his mysterious murder, which shocked the whole world, the numerous hypotheses of 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 crew of the torpedo boat PT-109. For courage shown during the hostilities, he was awarded many awards.
Immediately after the end of the war, he began a political career, in 1947 he was elected from the State of Massachusetts to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he remained until 1953. Then he became a senator in Massachusetts and held this position until 1960. At the beginning of the decade, Democrat 43-year-old Kennedy defeated Republican Richard Nixon by a marginal margin in the next presidential election, thus becoming the only U.S. Catholic president and first president born in the 20th century.
Kennedy’s almost three-year presidency was marked by the Caribbean crisis, the operation in the Gulf of Pigs, the space race between the USSR and the USA, which led to the launch of the Apollo space program, as well as serious steps to equalize blacks in their rights.
On November 22, 1963, while making a visit to Dallas, Texas, John F. Kennedy was wounded with a sniper rifle in his open limousine on one of the city's main streets. The president was immediately taken to Parkland Hospital, where, after unsuccessful resuscitation attempts, he was declared dead at about 13:00 local time. Warren’s specially created commission revealed that Kennedy’s killer was the lone shooter Lee Harvey Oswald. A huge number of social surveys conducted throughout the country showed that at least 60% of the American population did not believe that Oswald killed the president or at least acted alone.
Kennedy in the United States named a large number of objects, streets, schools and others (for example, the international airport in New York). According to most citizens, 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. He graduated from Boston College, in 1894 he was elected to the US Congress. From 1906 to 1914, he served as mayor of Boston, regularly giving way to other politicians with expiration dates. Until the end of his life, he remained one of the most prominent politicians in the area, John predicted to his grandson that he would become president. He was married to a second cousin Mary Josephine Hannon, six children were born in the marriage.
His paternal grandfather, Patrick Joseph Kennedy (1858-1929), an entrepreneur and politician, was elected to the US House of Representatives from Massachusetts. At the age of fourteen, he left school and began to work, as the family had nothing to live on. Over time, with the money earned, he opened a small network of bars and eateries, and founded an alcohol 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 - Rosa Elizabeth Fitzgerald (1890-1995), philanthropist, matriarch of the Kennedy clan. Studied at a Catholic school and college in Manhattanville.
Father - Joseph Patrick Kennedy (1888-1969), entrepreneur and politician, patriarch of the Kennedy clan, US ambassador to the UK. He studied at the Boston Latin school, graduated from Harvard University. At a young age he became president of the bank Columbia trustdoubled his capital.
Joseph and Rosa met in 1906, but the girl, according to the plan of her father, was to marry another young man, who categorically did not like her. In October 1914, Joseph and Rosa got married and moved to Brooklyn for permanent residence, where a year later their firstborn was born - Joseph Patrick Kennedy Jr.
Spouses Kennedy
in a New York restaurant,
November 1940
Kennedy Sr. believed that banking was paramount and, as he later wrote in his memoirs, "all roads are open to the banker, since he plays an 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. World War I destroyed his intentions; he left the bank and transferred to the steel and shipbuilding company Bethlehem steelthat in Quincy, thus avoiding a call to the front. One of his colleagues later said:
In the mid-1920s, Kennedy became a member of a brokerage firm. Bramin, thereby breaking into the ranks of the most successful investors of his generation.
Joseph's insistent climb up the career ladder repelled Rosa, she wanted a more orderly and calm family life. By the beginning of the 1930s, she had already given birth to nine children and was restless for her huge family after doctors discovered that the eldest daughter Rosemary was behind her peers in terms of mental development. To at least a little distract from family problems, Rose traveled a lot in the States and Europe. Joseph often cheated on his wife, in particular with a silent movie star, three times Oscar nominee Gloria Svenson, in films with which he often invested his own money.
At the peak of his career, Kennedy Sr. was friends with Pope Pius XII, newspaper tycoon U. R. Hurst, and was personal adviser to US President Franklin Roosevelt. Joseph expected that his eldest son, Jr. Jr., would take the same life path as himself, and he placed all his hopes in him, and not in John.
As historian Alan Brinkley, a longtime professor at Columbia University, notes, “long before the Kennedy clan became famous political figures, the family was already among America’s most famous Irish families.”
Birth and early years
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the second of Joseph and Rosa's children, was born in Brooklyn, on Beals Street, at 3 a.m. on May 29, 1917. The boy was named in honor of St. John the Evangelist. John the apostle) and Rosa's father, John Francis Fitzgerald. According to the old American tradition, relatives called John Jack.
Shortly after John was born, the family moved from a cramped house to a huge one on Abbotsford Road. There he went to Dexter School, where only he and his brother Joseph were among the Catholics. As a child, John was frail, caused by all kinds of diseases: from chickenpox to scarlet fever, from which he nearly died. Kennedy's most vivid childhood memory is a detour in constituencies with grandfather John in 1922, when he ran for governor.
Having become a big economic figure in the center of America and having a capital of $ 2 million, in 1927, Joseph Kennedy moved his family to the capital of the stock exchange trading - New York, more precisely, in its mini-district Riverdale, and then Bronxville. In Massachusetts, Kennedy Sr. left the property - a family estate in the small village of Hyannis Port. There, John began to attend Riverdale Country School, where he studied neither good nor bad.
Secondary education
In the fall of 1930, the thirteen-year-old John was sent to the Canterbury Catholic School, which was located away from home in New Milford, Connecticut. He continued to get sick regularly and missed his family, in letters he complained to them that he was “being harassed by religion at school; it is only possible to leave the territory when a team at Yale plays against Harvard, or against a team of the armed forces. ” John spent almost the entire academic year in the hospital, and in recent months he practiced home schooling. Despite his illnesses, he was active in the school, playing baseball, basketball, and athletics.
Kennedy began his ninth grade at the Chout Rosemary Hall private boarding school, where his brother Joseph, and before that his future political colleagues Adlai Stevenson II and Chester Bowles, were already studying. In Chowt, John also did not get high marks, according to historian Alan Brinkley, "his work was carelessly performed, and he had a reputation for being a frivolous and uncollected student in a school that put order in principle." Kennedy often called “Chout” a prison; his health did not improve; he lay for a long time in the famous Mayo Clinic.
A rebel by nature, Kennedy joined the so-called "Makeers Club", in which its members sang obscene songs regarding teachers and administration. Despite his defiant behavior, John was not expelled from school and he graduated from it, although not with an ideal certificate.
Higher education
With the receipt of secondary education, Kennedy thought 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 Laski, who later spoke warmly about 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 was already studying there.
Princeton seemed to Kennedy "an oppressively provincial small campus." Not having completed his first semester, he again lay down in one of the Boston hospitals with an ailment unknown to doctors. For several weeks, John went through examinations and tests, which he later called "the hardest test in all of my stormy life." In the end, the young man was diagnosed with leukemia. Kennedy did not believe and was right - soon the doctors admitted that they made a mistake.
John spent the rest of the school year at a resort in Palm Beach, at a ranch in Arizona and in Los Angeles. In August 1936 he was again admitted to Harvard University, whose admissions committee issued a verdict on Kennedy: “Jack has excellent mental abilities, but has no deep interest in studying ... There is reason to believe that he can do it.”
At Harvard, John studied better than at Chowt or Princeton, read a lot, did not leave sports. Kennedy spent the summer holidays of 1937 on a large-scale trip to European countries with Lem Billings, sponsored by his father. He also arranged for John to meet the future pope, Cardinal Pacelli, and several other major figures in the world. The young man was particularly impressed by the countries with the fascist regime, in particular Italy and Germany.
Upon returning from the cruise, startled Kennedy began to get seriously involved in history and political science. He longed to succeed not only in training, but also in student society, setting himself the goal of getting into one of Harvard social clubs. He soon became a member of the club Hasty puddingprinted in a university newspaper The harvard crimson. However, John was most proud of the club membership. Spee and spent most of his free time at school at his headquarters.
Kennedy found out about the beginning of World War II while relaxing at a resort in Antibes. Returning to Harvard, he titled his graduate work, The Peace Policy in Munich, which he helped write a whole team: from father's assistants to stenographers and typists. “A poorly written, but conscientious, interesting, and prudent analysis of a complex problem” was the verdict of Kennedy’s supervisors. Despite the mediocrity of this thesis, she, with the help of a newspaper journalist The new york times Arthur Krok, was released as a separate book under a different title, "Why England slept."
The analytical work of the young Kennedy caused a wide public outcry, which was dictated, according to Alan Brinkley, "by the almost complete lack of interest on the part of political analysts of that time to the readiness of democratic states to oppose 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 in order to bear the hardships of a long tense struggle with the growing communist world."
The Second World War
After graduating from Harvard, Bachelor of Science Kennedy pondered what he would do next. There was an idea to start studying law; in 1941, he applied to Yale and even studied for several months at Stanford, but America soon became officially involved in World War II. John knew that because of the constant ailments he would not be credited to the front. A year before the events at Pearl Harbor, he tried to undergo a medical examination, but was refused because of a back injury. Here, his father and his acquaintances (in particular, Admiral Alan Kirk) helped, with the help of which, in October, Kennedy was sent to the Washington Naval Intelligence Agency.
In the ranks of the Navy, Kennedy prepared reports for the headquarters and considered this work boring. He longed for real hostilities; as the historian Alan Brinkley believed:
| Jack considered it his duty to participate in hostilities. In addition, he knew that the biography of a military officer would help him move up the career ladder, no matter what profession he chose. Moreover, the life principles of his family, raising children in the spirit of rivalry and the desire for success, did not even allow him to think that during the war one could sit out somewhere in the rear. |
After a short stay at the intelligence headquarters, John was transferred to a military shipyard in the city of Charleston, South Carolina. In July 1942, became part of the naval school, which 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 this, dreaming of becoming his commander, Kennedy again turned for help to his father and senator from Massachusetts, David I. Walsh. John was immediately redirected to the Pacific Ocean, where the fighting between the United States and Japan was in full swing.
On August 2, Kennedy was tasked with another fifteen boats to attack Japanese ships. During a night raid, an enemy destroyer jumping out of the darkness rammed and cut PT-109 in half. When falling to the deck, John seriously injured his back, which had been injured so far. Of the thirteen sailors, two instantly died, the rest were saved thanks to the timely and clear action of Kennedy. For five hours, the boat crew sailed to the nearest shore, with Kennedy dragging one of the wounded.
On the island of Nauro, John cut out a small message on the coconut shell indicating the coordinates of the boat crew. A week later, Kennedy and his men went home on another New Zealand patrol torpedo boat from the islands of New Georgia.
Already in the following days, the American press, in which John was most often referred to as the “son of Kennedy,” wrote with admiration about the exploit of Kennedy and the whole team. For his courage shown during the hostilities, John was awarded many orders and medals, including the Purple Heart and the Navy and Marine Corps medals. The Kennedy Order of Honor was personally signed by Admiral William Halsey: "His courage, stamina, and leadership skills helped save several lives in full accordance with the high traditions of the United States naval service."
Ten days after the incident with PT-109 Kennedy returned to the front. In December 1943, he contracted malaria, again suffered an injury to his back, and because of 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, in which 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
You can easily understand how, just a few years later, overcoming the hatred surrounding him now, Hitler will turn into one of the most significant personalities in history. Cherishing the infinitely ambitious plans that he wanted to realize for his country, he posed a threat to humanity. But the mystery that envelops his life and death will survive him for a long time. There was something about him that made up legends.
John F. Kennedy notes on a tour of Europe, 1945
A few months after being transferred to the reserve, Kennedy went into journalism - covering in San Francisco the creation of the United Nations for media conglomerate U. R. Hurst Hearst corporation. Then he went on a regular tour of Europe, during which he again considered the key political events and personalities of that time.
After the death of the eldest child, Joseph, in August 1944, all hopes in the family were assigned to John. Upon his return from Europe, his father began to persuade him to take up politics, although he doubted his political inclinations. John knew for sure that he would not do journalism. Kennedy Sr. helped lay the foundation in his son's upcoming political career - he contacted Massachusetts Congressman in the US House of Representatives James Michael Curley, who proposed to vacate 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 a political career.
From 1947 to 1953, Kennedy represented Boston County in the US Congress as a Democratic congressman. In 1953, Kennedy became a senator, defeating Senator Lodge in a fierce battle. The most controversial decision of the future president during this period was the decision not to participate in the Senate vote on censuring Senator Joseph McCarthy about his leadership of the Anti-American Commission of Inquiry. Researchers offer different motivations for this step (in particular, staying in a hospital and unwillingness to undermine the trust 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
The official portrait of the presidential gallery of the White House
Election campaign
Main article: US Presidential Election (1960)
When John F. Kennedy, the Democratic presidential candidate, won the 1960 election, he was 43 years old. When Kennedy formally nominated his candidacy in early 1960, he was opposed 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, the Republicans elected Vice President Richard Nixon as their candidate. In television debates with his rival Richard Nixon, Kennedy made the impression of a business, eloquent, and energetic person. During the election campaign, he talked about the need to decisively strive forward in the new decade, because "new frontiers are near - are we looking for them or not." Kennedy concentrated his efforts on the densely populated states of the Northeast, hoping that his partner Senator Johnson would provide the Democrats with traditional support for the South. This strategy was successful, but the advantage was not significant. Kennedy defeated Nixon by a majority of 119 thousand votes (with 69 million votes). Kennedy and Johnson received 303 electoral votes, Nixon and Lodge - 219, Senator Harry Flud Bird - 15. The decisive role in ensuring Kennedy’s victory was played, according to the press, not by his party’s political platform and not by the expectation of “energetic leadership” and Kennedy’s promised policy “ flexible response ”to the challenges of the outside world, and how it looked on the television screen.
Kennedy was to become the first Catholic president in the history of the country.
Presidency
John F. Kennedy was elected President in November 1960.
“The Kennedy government will be able to take a number of steps“ in the right direction ”(regarding the possibility of improving US-Soviet relations), but this will be done only gradually. In the near future, it is difficult to expect fundamental changes in US policy, since Kennedy will be bound by certain obligations regarding the continuity of foreign policy ”(Cyrus Eaton, 1960).
On January 20, 1961, John F. Kennedy took the oath of office and thus became the 35th President of the United States. Kennedy concluded 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, together with the new president, includes completely new people who have connections in the financial and monopoly circles of the United States, or people who have already succeeded in the political arena.
Kennedy’s administration included: Vice President Lyndon Johnson, Secretary of State D. Rusk (political science specialist, served in the Pentagon, Department of State, since 1952 headed the Rockefeller Foundation), Secretary of Defense R. McNamara (professional businessman, president Ford concern), finance minister D. Dillon (served in the Eisenhower administration), justice minister Robert Kennedy (Kennedy’s brother, led the campaign).
Of the first 200 people appointed by Kennedy to senior government posts, about half were people from the state apparatus, 18% were university professors, 6% were businessmen, which contrasted sharply with 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 phase of cyclical recovery in the economy. However, by the spring of 1962, the economic situation had noticeably worsened: growth slowed, the level of unemployment that had begun to decline froze at around 5.5%, and the volume of new investments decreased. In May, the stock price drop on the stock exchange added to this - the sharpest since 1929. One of the primary tasks of the new administration was to end the economic downturn, but Kennedy lost the confidence of the business community, seeking in 1962 to lower steel prices, which the government found excessive. The administration entered into confrontation with steel companies led by United States Steel Corporation ( United States Steel Corporation), which, despite the insistence of the administration, which forced the steelworkers' union to limit their demands for higher wages to the "benchmarks", went to a pointedly sharp increase in steel prices. Only by using all levers of pressure, the White House managed to achieve the abolition of this decision at the cost of worsening relations with the monopolies.
He accomplished this immediate goal, but lost the strong support of the industrialists. For example, in January 1963, Kennedy sent Congress a program to reduce corporate income taxes (from 52 to 47%) and lower personal income tax rates (from 20-91 to 14-65%) for a total of about $ 10 billion in case of actual refusal from tax reform. When Kennedy tried to pass a law on tax cuts through Congress to stimulate savings and revitalize the economy, the conservative opposition deprived him of any hope of adopting a law creating a budget deficit. At the same time, he promised to reduce state spending on social needs and balance the federal budget.
Despite some successes, the Kennedy presidency as a whole cannot be called successful in the sense of legislation. He did not receive new allocations for the development of education and medical care for the elderly, and the minimum wage rose slightly. Thus, the extension of the term for the payment of unemployment benefits in 1961-1962. left overboard 3 million unemployed; 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 Act on Assisting Depressed Areas, the 1962 Law on Retraining Dismissed Workers, Appropriations for Public Works, etc. - did not lead to significant shifts for the better in employment. The movement for the reduction (35 hours) of the working week was gaining growth.
Kennedy advocated for a black rights equation, taking the model of Abraham Lincoln, supporting Martin Luther King and meeting with 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 price of silver. In 1963, on his initiative, Congress issued Public Law 88-36, allowing the Federal Reserve to issue banknotes of 1 and 2 dollars and prohibiting the Treasury from issuing silver certificates. Since the Treasury still had to issue these certificates during the transition period, Kennedy signed Executive Order No. 11110 on the same day, by which the President issued the right to issue silver certificates to the Treasury. There is a conspiracy thesis that mistakenly associates this decree with the issuance of US treasury notes in 1963. It is assumed, therefore, that Kennedy was going to deprive the Fed of a monopoly on money emissions, and therefore this decision allegedly led to a conspiracy against the president.
Foreign policy
Kennedy advocated improving relations between the US and the USSR, but his rule was also marked by great foreign political tensions: unsuccessful landing in the Gulf of Pigs, Berlin crisis, Caribbean crisis (one of the phrases recorded in the diary of the 35th president, “fear of loss gives rise to suspicion” - so Kennedy himself argued for this crisis).
Under Kennedy, there was an increase in US intervention in the 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 served there). By the end of 1963, the United States had spent billions of dollars on the Vietnam War.
In March 1961, an organization was created under the name Peace Corps, which volunteered to assist the people of developing countries in eliminating illiteracy and gaining basic labor skills and knowledge.
On March 13, 1961, Kennedy proclaimed the Union for Progress program, designed to promote the economic and political development of Latin America. The official goals of this program were: to ensure in Latin American countries an annual increase in industrial output of at least a year, to eliminate illiteracy on the continent, and to carry out agrarian reforms. It was planned to allocate billions of dollars to finance this program over a ten-year period, which was almost ten times the total amount of American assistance to Latin America from 1945 to 1960.
In 1961, Kennedy created the US Agency for International Development to help solve the economic and political problems of developing countries.
John F. Kennedy did a lot for space exploration, initiating the launch of the Apollo program (“We Decide to Go to the Moon”). He suggested that the First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Khrushchev 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 air, on land and under water. On October 17, representatives of the USSR and the United States voted in favor of a decision unanimously adopted by the UN General Assembly to ban the launch of objects with nuclear weapons on board.
Kennedy in a presidential limo, seconds before the assassinationMain article: The assassination of John Kennedy
John Kennedy was killed on November 22, 1963 in Dallas, Texas; During the presidential motorcade following the streets of the city, shots were heard. The first bullet hit the president in the neck from behind and came out from the front of the throat, the second hit the head and caused the destruction of the bones of the skull in the back of the head, as well as damage to the brain. President Kennedy was taken to the operating room, where, half an hour after the assassination attempt, his death was ascertained. In addition, the Texas Governor Connolly, who was traveling 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 dead two days later at a police station by Dallas resident Jack Ruby, who also subsequently died in prison.
An official Warren Commission report on the investigation into Kennedy’s assassination was published in 1964; according to this report, Oswald was the president’s killer, and all shots were fired from the top floor of the building. According to the report, no conspiracy aimed at killing could be identified.
The official Kennedy assassination figures are controversial and contain some white spots. There are many different conspiracy theological versions about this case: it is questioned that Oswald shot at the car at all or that he was the only shooter. The assumption is that the murder is connected with various large figures of politics and business, there is a deliberate elimination of witnesses, etc. One of these versions is presented in the movie “JFK” by Oliver Stone. About John F. Kennedy filmed including: "PT 109" (1963) - on the participation of Kennedy in World War II; the series "Kennedy" and "Clan Kennedy" ( Kennedyin 1983 and The kennedys in 2011); "John F. Kennedy: Impudent Youth" ( J.F.K .: Reckless Youth, 1993).
Private life
Brothers and sisters:
- Joseph Patrick Kennedy Jr. (1915-1944)
- Rosemary Kennedy (1918-2005)
- Kathleen Agnes 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 an 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, four children were born from this marriage, two died shortly after birth; daughter Carolina and son John survived. John died in 1999 in a plane crash.
- Arabella (born 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 of medical secrets, medical reports were published. Kennedy's physical illnesses were more serious than previously thought. He experienced constant pain from a damaged spine, despite repeated treatment, in addition to the troubles of serious digestive problems and Addison's disease. Kennedy had to inject novocaine many times 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 gives short biographies of people whom Kennedy considered models of courage in politics. AT 1957 year Kennedy received the Pulitzer Prize, the highest journalism award, for this book. In 1964, the book was reprinted..
Why england slept - NY, 1961.
The publication of the thesis of Kennedy.
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 Kennedy wrote down his sayings and thoughts.
Memory
Half dollar 1967 with the image of Kennedy. Silver
Postage stamp with the image of the eternal flame
- Kennedy's portrait is depicted on a 50-cent coin, issued in 1964.
- In 1963, New York Idleworld International Airport was renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport. At the same time, the airport code was replaced by a combination of letters JFK (based on the initials of John Fitzgerald Kennedy).
- In 1966, the name Kennedy received the Harvard Institute of Public Administration, one of the departments of Harvard University.
- The USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67) is named after him.
- Also named after him is the NASA Space Center, located on Cape Canaveral.
Awards
Received during the hostilities- Navy and Marine Corps Medal
- Purple heart
- US Defense Service Medal
- Campaign Medal
- Medal "For the Asia-Pacific Campaign"
- Medal of Victory in World War II
- 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, a Kennedy clone is present as a character.
- In April 2011, the premiere of the mini-series The Kennedy Clan, describing the life of the Kennedy family, took place.
- The novel of 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 series “Smash” (in the Russian translation of “Life as a Show”), a musical about the relationship of John F. Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe is staged.
- John F. Kennedy is mentioned in the film “Back to the Future,” when Marty McFly, having fallen into the past, asks Doc’s address from his ancestors, to which his grandfather replies “this is a block from Maple Street”, to which Marty says with surprise “this is an alley John F. Kennedy. "
John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born May 29, 1917 in Brooklyn, Massachusetts.
John F. Kennedy grew up in a Catholic Irish family, his father was a prominent businessman, diplomat and politician; his mother was responsible for raising children. In total, Joseph Patrick and Rosa Elizabeth Kennedy had nine children - four boys and five girls.
According to another version, the plot was headed by Vice President Lyndon Johnson, who was eager to become president, and FBI Director Edgar Hoover, a close friend of his. 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, brother of the president, took over as general attorney.
There are also theories that Kennedy was killed by Soviet and / or Cuban intelligence agencies.
They connect the reason for the president’s murder with his alleged interest in UFOs and aliens that arose shortly before his death.
John Kennedy The award went to him in 1957 for his biographical book Profiles in Courage, which tells about the outstanding Americans who went down in history because of their unwavering character.
John F. Kennedy was married to Jacqueline Bouvier, whom he met in 1952. From this marriage, four children appeared in the Kennedy family, two of whom died shortly after birth. The eldest daughter, Kennedy Caroline, studied law, worked at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, and was involved in charity work. In 2009, she claimed a Senate seat from New York State, but later withdrew.
In October 2013, Caroline Kennedy became the first woman to be the US ambassador to Japan. John Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr. was a journalist and lawyer, he died in 1999 at the age of 38 in a plane crash.
Material prepared on the basis of RIA Novosti information and open sources
The years of his reign - from 1961 to 1963, when he was killed. Kennedy was a member of the 1939-1945 war, as well as a member of the Senate.
Children and teenagers
According to local American tradition, he was called Jack. He was first elected to the Senate at the age of 43. In the history of the States, he was the youngest president. John F. Kennedy was born May 29, 1917 in a small town called Brookly in a family of Catholics. He was the second child in the family.
As a child, John F. Kennedy was very frail physique, often sick, and almost 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 to 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 Kennedy Jr. was very sick often, he continued to play sports intensively.
After graduating from school, he did the truth, held out there briefly due to health problems. Returning to the States, Kennedy continues his studies - now at Princeton. He soon becomes ill, and doctors diagnose him with leukemia. Kennedy does not believe doctors, and subsequently they themselves admit that they made the diagnosis incorrectly.
Traveling in Europe and participating in hostilities
In 1936, John F. Kennedy returned to Harvard University. In the summer he makes a trip to European countries, which further spurs his interest in politics and international relations. Under the patronage of his father, the future president gets acquainted with the head of the Catholic Church - Pope Pius XII.
Despite poor health, Kennedy takes part in hostilities, which lasted until 1945. At the front, he takes an active part in the battles, showing courage in saving the boat sunk by enemy troops. And after dismissal from the armed forces, he takes 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, his candidacy was first put forward for the presidency of the country, and finally in 1961 he became the head of the United States. Many contemporaries Kennedy was impressed by his determination, intelligence and wisdom in governing the country. For example, Kennedy managed to achieve a ban on nuclear testing. He also carried out many popular reforms and became a lover of the whole nation.
President’s personal life
John Fitzgerald Kennedy was married to Jacqueline Lee Bouvier, who was 12 years younger than him. Instead of flowers and sweets, Kennedy gave her books, which he himself considered the most valuable. Their wedding took place in the city of Newport. Subsequently, the Kennedy family had four children. However, the eldest girl and the youngest boy died. 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. Swedish aristocrat Gunilla von Post described her relationship with the president in a book. Also notorious Marilyn Monroe had a relationship with Kennedy.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy: Death
Before the upcoming elections in 1963, Kennedy begins a series of trips around the country. November 21, 1963 his procession was on the streets of Dallas. At exactly half past twelve three shots rang out. The first bullet went right through and also wounded the Texas Governor. Another shot hit the head and became fatal.
Five minutes later, the president was taken to the hospital. But the doctors were powerless against such injuries, and already about one o'clock in the afternoon the death of the president was reported. The Texas Governor, John Connally, survived. After two hours, the police arrested a suspect in the murder - Lee Harvey Oswald, and two days later he was shot dead by Jack Ruby, whom the authorities suspected of having connections with the mafia. 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 by which John Fitzgerald Kennedy could have been killed. According to one of them, the reprisal against the president was a response to his program to combat 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 crew of the torpedo boat PT-109. For courage shown during the hostilities, he was awarded many awards.
John F. Kennedy stands in a crowd from a kitchen chair in West Virginia, New York, where a boy about a meter away plays with a realistic looking toy gun
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 the State of Massachusetts to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he remained until 1953. Then he became a senator in Massachusetts and held this position until 1960.
From left to right: Vice President Johnson, Arthur Schlesinger, Admiral Arley Burke, President Kennedy and Mrs. Kennedy look at the launch of a spaceship into space with the first American on board May 5, 1961
President Kennedy aboard the Manitou Coast Guard yacht on August 26, 1962 at Narraganset Bay, Rhode Island
In the 1961 presidential election, the 43-year-old Democrat Kennedy defeated Republican Richard Nixon by a marginal margin, thus becoming the only U.S. Catholic president and first president born in the 20th century.
President Kennedy addresses the people of Berlin, Germany, June 26, 1963
In Miami, Florida, after President Kennedy and Mrs. Kennedy formally addressed the “2506 Brigade” of Cuban activists at the stadium, Mrs. Kennedy informally talks to some of their members on December 29, 1962.
Kennedy’s almost three-year presidency was marked by the Berlin crisis, the Caribbean crisis, the operation in the Gulf of Pigs, the space race between the USSR and the USA, which led to the launch of the Apollo space program, as well as serious steps to equate blacks in rights.
President Kennedy with his children Carolina and John Jr. in the Oval Office of the White House on October 10, 1962
President Kennedy Arrives in Massachusetts May 11, 1963
According to the World Bank, US GDP from 1960 to 1964 increased from 543 to 685 billion dollars, the average annual increase in GDP was 6%, and the average annual inflation was 1%.
A large group of photographers, including White House photographers, gathered around a nuclear test ban treaty to document President Kennedy's signature on October 7, 1963.
President Kennedy and Attorney General in the West Wing of the White House October 3, 1962
Despite some successes, the Kennedy presidency as a whole cannot be called successful in the sense of legislation. He did not receive new allocations for the development of education and medical care for the elderly, and the minimum wage rose slightly. Thus, the extension of the period for the payment of unemployment benefits in 1961-1962 left over 3 million unemployed; raising 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 peers into a space capsule at the NASA Medal of Excellence Award Ceremony for astronaut and Colonel John Glenn Jr. at Cape Canaveral, Florida, February 23, 1962
Florida Senator George Smaters and President John F. Kennedy at Cape Canaveral during the presentation of the Saturn launch vehicle, November 16, 1963
His government’s anti-unemployment measures — the 1961 Act on Assisting Depressed Areas, the 1962 Act on Retraining Dismissed 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 Equal Wage Act Prohibiting Sex Discrimination in Employer Payments
Mrs. Kennedy and John F. Kennedy Jr. at the end of 1962 in the White House children's room
Kennedy advocated for a black rights equation, taking the model of Abraham Lincoln, supporting Martin Luther King and meeting with him in Washington in 1963. On June 19, 1963, President Kennedy introduced a bill on civil rights to Congress prohibiting segregation in all public places.
President Kennedy Speaks at the University Stadium in Houston, Texas, September 12, 1962
First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy and her sister Princess Lee Radziwill ride an elephant during a tour to India in March 1962
It is assumed that Kennedy was going to deprive the Fed of a monopoly on money emission, and therefore this decision allegedly led to a conspiracy against the president.
President John F. Kennedy in the Oval Office of the White House July 11, 1963
Meeting with Khrushchev, Vienna, June 4, 1961
Kennedy advocated improving relations between the USA and the USSR, but his rule was also marked by great foreign policy tensions.
June 4, 1961 in Vienna, in the Schonbrunn Palace, Kennedy's only meeting with the Soviet leader Khrushchev took place. Among other things, he suggested that Khrushchev join forces in preparing the flight to the moon, but he refused. Kennedy’s political testament is a speech at American University on June 10, 1963, which calls for "to ensure peace not only in our time, but forever" by "expanding mutual understanding between the USSR and us."
President Kennedy at Cork, Ireland, June 28, 1963
November 22, 1963 - President Kennedy speaks to a crowd gathered in a hotel parking lot in Texas
Under Kennedy, there was an increase in US intervention in the civil war in South Vietnam; in 1961 he sent 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 16,000 US soldiers and officers were in South Vietnam.
Killing kennedy
The first moments after John Kennedy was shot. A limousine takes a mortally wounded president to a hospital in Dallas, Texas, November 22, 1963
John Kennedy was killed on November 22, 1963 in Dallas, Texas; During the presidential motorcade following the streets of the city, shots were heard. The first bullet hit the president in the neck from behind and came out from the front of the throat, the second hit the head and caused the destruction of the bones of the skull in the back of the head, as well as damage to the brain. President Kennedy was taken to the operating room, where, half an hour after the assassination attempt, his death was ascertained.
President Kennedy’s coffin is carried on a U.S. Air Force plane in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963. Of the mourners there are Laurence “Larry” O’Brien, Jacqueline Kennedy, and Dave Powers
Lee Harvey Oswald, arrested on suspicion of murder, was shot dead two days later at a police station by Dallas resident Jack Ruby, who also subsequently died in prison.
An official Warren Commission report on the investigation into Kennedy’s assassination was published in 1964; according to this report, Oswald was the president’s killer, and all shots were fired from the top floor of the building. According to the report, no conspiracy aimed at killing could be identified.
November 22, 1963, Lyndon Johnson takes the oath aboard a U.S. Air Force plane after 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. Nearby stands the guard of honor, November 23, 1963
The official Kennedy assassination figures are controversial and contain some white spots. There are many different conspiracy theological versions about this case: it is questioned that Oswald shot at the car at all or that he was the only shooter. The assumption is that the murder is connected with various large figures of politics and business, the intentional elimination of witnesses is seen, etc.
A huge number of social surveys conducted throughout the country showed that at least 60% of the American population did not believe that Oswald killed the president or at least acted alone.
Family members and others at the funeral procession of President John F. Kennedy in Washington November 25, 1963. Pictured: Robert F. Kennedy, Mrs. John F. Kennedy, Edward M. Kennedy, R. Sargent Shriver, Stephen E. Smith
Kennedy in the United States named a large number of objects, streets, schools, etc. ( for example, the international airport in New York).
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Biography
Kennedy's first biography was at Connecticut, and then he studied at Princeton, Harvard. For some time he lived in London, watching European politics.
In 1941, in the biography of John F. Kennedy, service began in the U.S. Navy, he soon received the rank of lieutenant. During the fighting, when John F. Kennedy was the captain of a torpedo boat in the Pacific, he injured his back. In 1953 he married Jacqueline Lee Bouvier.
Kennedy represented the Democratic Party, then became a Massachusetts Senator. In 1956, there was the first political loss in Kennedy's biography: he did not win the election of vice president. In 1957, after the publication of his three books, he received the 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 USA, space exploration. However, besides this, Kennedy’s reign coincides with the Caribbean crisis, as well as US intervention in the Vietnam War.
On November 22, 1963, John F. Kennedy was shot twice while driving in the city of Dallas. Suspect in the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald was also killed while already at the police station. The facts of Kennedy’s murder are still controversial.
Relations with the Armenian lobby of America
The Kennedy family met with the Armenian diaspora in Boston, Massachusetts. The family father Joseph Kennedy, as a businessman, was well acquainted with the Armenian Mugarov family, who 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 had 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 played one of the key roles in the political and economic life of the state, and Armenian businessmen such as Kirk Kerkorian, Alex Emenidzhyan and Robert Artsivyan were considered the most successful. However,
The Armenian diaspora, represented by the Mugarov family and leaders of Armenian organizations, supported the candidacy of young John F. Kennedy in the Massachusetts House of Representatives.
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 Kennedy and sent to the international court in May 1951. This document noted:
| “The document on genocide is the result of inhuman and barbaric acts that were committed in some countries before and during World War II, when entire groups of religious, racial and national minorities were threatened with deliberate destruction 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 a Senator from Massachusetts, John F. Kennedy attended the opening of a memorial plaque commemorating the victims of the Armenian Genocide in Boston.
In 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, had already shown in practice his support to the Armenian side.
John Kennedy won the election with the smallest margin. Thus, he became the first Catholic President of the United States.
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Miscellaneous
- A close friend of John F. Kennedy, who, in particular, helped him in the election campaign for the Senate, was Richard Brian, a well-known Boston lawyer of Armenian descent.
- During the Caribbean crisis, negotiations with the US President were conducted by Anastas Mikoyan. The USSR ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Dobrynin, in his monograph “Purely Confident” tells that Mikoyan and Kennedy quickly found a common language. Mikoyan himself in his memoirs also notes that he was connected with John and Robert Kennedy by personal friendships. It is not surprising that the only representative of the USSR participating in the farewell ceremony with President Kennedy (killed on November 22, 1963) was precisely Anastas Mikoyan.
