John F. Kennedy | |
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35th President of the United States | |
In office January 20, 1961 – November 22, 1963 |
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Vice President | Lyndon B. Johnson |
Preceded by | Dwight D. Eisenhower |
Succeeded by | Lyndon B. Johnson |
United States Senator from Massachusetts |
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In office January 3, 1953 – December 22, 1960 |
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Preceded by | Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. |
Succeeded by | Benjamin A. Smith II |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts's 11th district |
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In office January 3, 1947 – January 3, 1953 |
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Preceded by | James Michael Curley |
Succeeded by | Tip O'Neill |
Personal details | |
Born |
John Fitzgerald Kennedy May 29, 1917 Brookline, Massachusetts, U.S. |
Died |
November 22, 1963 (aged 46) Dallas, Texas, U.S. |
Cause of death | Ballistic trauma, assassination |
Resting place | Arlington National Cemetery |
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse(s) | Jacqueline Bouvier (m. 1953) |
Relations | See Kennedy family |
Children | Arabella, Caroline, John Jr., and Patrick |
Parents | |
Alma mater | Harvard University |
Profession | Politician |
Signature | |
Military service | |
Allegiance | United States of America |
Service/branch | United States Navy |
Years of service | 1941–1945 |
Rank | Lieutenant |
Unit |
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Battles/wars | |
Awards |
The Kennedy Cabinet | ||
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Office | Name | Term |
President | John F. Kennedy | 1961–1963 |
Vice President | Lyndon B. Johnson | 1961–1963 |
Secretary of State | Dean Rusk | 1961–1963 |
Secretary of Treasury | C. Douglas Dillon | 1961–1963 |
Secretary of Defense | Robert McNamara | 1961–1963 |
Attorney General | Robert F. Kennedy | 1961–1963 |
Postmaster General | J. Edward Day | 1961–1963 |
John A. Gronouski | 1963 | |
Secretary of the Interior | Stewart Udall | 1961–1963 |
Secretary of Agriculture | Orville Freeman | 1961–1963 |
Secretary of Commerce | Luther H. Hodges | 1961–1963 |
Secretary of Labor | Arthur Goldberg | 1961–1962 |
W. Willard Wirtz | 1962–1963 | |
Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare |
Abraham A. Ribicoff | 1961–1962 |
Anthony J. Celebrezze | 1962–1963 |
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), commonly referred to by his initials JFK, was an American politician who served as the 35th President of the United States from January 1961 until his assassination in November 1963. The Cuban Missile Crisis, the Bay of Pigs Invasion, the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, the establishment of the Peace Corps, developments in the Space Race, the building of the Berlin Wall, the Trade Expansion Act to lower tariffs, and the Civil Rights Movement all took place during his presidency. Kennedy was a member of the Democratic Party, and his New Frontier domestic program was largely enacted as a memorial to him after his death. Kennedy also established the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963.
Kennedy's time in office was marked by high tensions with Communist states. He increased the number of American military advisers in South Vietnam by a factor of 18 over President Dwight D. Eisenhower. In Cuba, a failed attempt was made at the Bay of Pigs to overthrow the government of Fidel Castro in April 1961. He subsequently rejected plans by the Joint Chiefs of Staff to orchestrate false-flag attacks on American soil in order to gain public approval for a war against Cuba. In October 1962, it was discovered Soviet ballistic missiles had been deployed in Cuba; the resulting period of unease, termed the Cuban Missile Crisis, is seen by many historians as the closest the human race has ever come to nuclear war between nuclear armed belligerents.