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U.S. Presidents: John Kennedy

This guide will give you information about the Presidents of the United States.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy

(1917-1963)

John F. Kennedy

Profile

Occupation

U.S. President (January 20, 1961 - November 22, 1963)

U.S. Representative

Civil Rights Actist
Date of Birth May 29, 1917
Date of Death November 22, 1963
Place of Birth Brookline, MA
Place of Death Dallas, TX
Education

Harvard College

The Choate College
Nicknames

"JFK"

"Jack"
Parents

Elizabeth Fitzgerald Kennedy

Joseph Patrick Kennedy
Spouse Jacqueline Lee Bouvier
Political Party

Democratic
Military Service
 

Allegiance 

United States

Service/Branch (Years)

United States Navy (1941-1945)

Rank

Lieuentant
Number of Children Three

Did You Know?

President Kennedy...

  • ...received last rites three times before his presidency.
  • ...donated his congressional and presidential salary to charity.
  • ....feared running for re-election against Mitt Romney's father.

Biography

Born on May 29, 1917, in Brookline, Massachusetts, John F. Kennedy served in both the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate before becoming the 35th president in 1961. As president, Kennedy faced a number of foreign crises, especially in Cuba and Berlin, but managed to secure such achievements as the Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty and the Alliance for Progress. On November 22, 1963, Kennedy was assassinated while riding in a motorcade in Dallas, Texas.

Quotes

“For time and the world do not stand still. Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past, or the present, are certain to miss the future."[stated during an address in the assembly hall at Paulskirche in Frankfurt on June 25, 1963.]”
—John F. Kennedy
 
“Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.”
—John F. Kennedy
 
“We need men who can dream of things that never were and not ask why.”
—John F. Kennedy
 
“If we cannot now end our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity.”
—John F. Kennedy
 
“Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.”
—John F. Kennedy
 
“A man does what he must—in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers, and pressures—and that is the basis of all human morality.”
—John F. Kennedy
 
“The times are too grave, the challenge too urgent, and the stakes too high—to permit the customary passions of political debate. We are not here to curse the darkness, but to light the candle that can guide us through that darkness to a safe and sane future. ... For the world is changing. The old era is ending. The old ways will not do.”
—John F. Kennedy
 
“If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.”
—John F. Kennedy
 
“The cost of freedom is always high—and Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender or submission.”
—John F. Kennedy
 
“We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”
—John F. Kennedy
 
“The greater our knowledge increases, the greater our ignorance unfolds.”
—John F. Kennedy
 
“Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.”
—John F. Kennedy
 
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.”
—John F. Kennedy
 
“[O]ur most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal.”
—John F. Kennedy

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