John F. Kennedy – 35

John F. Kennedy served as the 35th President of the United States. He served for only about three years before he was assassinated while visiting Texas. His assassination has become one of the most controversial events of American history, leading to various conspiracy theories.

Life before President

J. F. Kennedy was born to an affluent family. He graduated from the Harvard University and then had a career in the United States military from 1941 to 1945. He later joined politics and was elected as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts.

Kennedy served in the U.S. Senate from 1953 to 1960. He was able to gain a lot of followers because of his charismatic personality. He also became a quite popular and well-recognized face of American politics. By the time he contested the presidential elections in 1960, Kennedy already had a lot of support. His main opponent in the presidential elections was Richard Nixon.

Kennedy as President

Kennedy ran for the President during the 1960 presidential campaign. He was Catholic and his Catholic background created doubts in the minds of many Americans. However, Kennedy was able to diffuse these doubts. Thanks to his extensive campaigning, powerful rhetoric and charisma, Kennedy was able to win the presidential election.

The results were very close and Kennedy became the youngest person to be elected as the American president. He was also the only Roman Catholic to have reached the position.

American President John F Kennedy Official Portrait

Life as President

John F. Kennedy’s brief role as the President was marked with tensions with the Soviet Union. At the time, the Cold War was the main issue. Kennedy undertook an active role to combat the spread of communism. He increased the American presence in South Vietnam while also overseeing a failed coup attempt in Cuba during the Bay of Pigs invasion.

The Cuban Missile Crisis also took place during his presidency – a nuclear war was averted through the rigorous diplomatic efforts of President Kennedy and his administration.

President John F. Kennedy and Civil Rights

During his role as President for nearly three years, John F. Kennedy staunchly supported civil rights and liberties. He opposed discrimination on the basis of national origin or race. This encouraged more people to stat immigrating to United States from Asia and Latin America.

On the downside, President Kennedy allowed FBI’s Director, J. Edgar Hoover, to wiretap civil rights leader Martin Luther King. Hoover manipulated this permission which was granted for a month or so, and continued to wiretap King for many years.

Assassination of John F. Kennedy

On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. He was visiting the state of Texas and driving through a public place in a motorcade. Lee Harvey Oswald was later charged with shooting the President from a nearby building. The president was shot twice and died nearly 30 minutes later.

Oswald was later charged with the assassination but he was later killed publicly before he could be prosecuted. This led to many conspiracy theories surrounding the assassination and many people today believe that the truth is not yet revealed.

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