Basic Information
Name: President John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Nicknames: JFK, Jack
Born: May 29th, 1917
Died: November 22nd, 1963
Nationality: American
Hometown: Brookline, Massachusetts
WORK & EDUCATION
Occupation: president of the United States of America
Education: Princeton University, Harvard College
FAMILY & FRIENDS
Parents: Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy
Siblings: Joseph Kennedy Jr., Rosemary Kennedy, Kathleen Kennedy, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Patricia Kennedy Lawford, Robert Kennedy, Jean Kennedy Smith, and Ted Kennedy
Spouse: Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy
Children: Arabella Kennedy, Caroline Kennedy, John Kennedy Jr., and Patrick Kennedy
Friends: Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, bourbon, anyone fancy, and pretty ladies
Foes: Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, the Soviets, Fidel Castro, and Lee Harvey Oswald
Analysis
All smiles and nasally vowel pronunciation, John F. Kennedy was born into one of America's most privileged and affluent (though famously cursed) families. A staunch Democrat from Massachusetts, a sufferer of colitis, a lover of the ladies, and generically athletic, Kennedy was an accomplished academic and world traveler by the time he entered college—first at Princeton and then at Harvard.
Kennedy came of age during World War II, when he joined the Navy and was eventually posted in the Pacific Theater, where he commanded a motor torpedo boat that was attacked by the Japanese. He survived the assault and, despite being injured, saved the life of another crew member, an act of gallantry that earned him the Purple Heart.
Following his stint in the military, Kennedy entered the sphere of politics. Coming from an already politically influential family clan, this move wasn't particularly challenging, and he quickly scaled the ladder. He was first a member of the House of Representatives, from 1947 to 1953, and then a member of the U.S. Senate, from 1953 to 1960. In both instances, he represented Massachusetts.
It was also in 1953 that he married his iconic and glamorous wife, Jacqueline Bouvier. Together they became a symbol of a youthful and golden postwar America. They hobnobbed (and sometimes, ahem, hobnobbed) with movie stars, the intellectual elite, and the international aristocracy. To this day, their legacy as political celebrities remains a subject of fascination and carries with it a somewhat royal flair. After all, the "Kennedy years" are often referred to rather reverently as "Camelot."
In 1961, Kennedy became the 35th president of the United States (walloping his opponent, Richard Nixon). Kennedy's most major political efforts were focused on the Cold War. He had inherited from Eisenhower a complex international diplomatic situation with the Soviet Union and a culture saturated with atomic anxieties.
He initially struggled at the beginning of his administration. His first meeting with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev went poorly. Neither politician was impressed with the other, and the situation in Berlin was still a sore point for the USSR. Furthermore, the aftereffects of the failed Bay of Pigs invasion only served to make matters worse.
The Bay of Pigs invasion was a sloppy deal from the very beginning of Kennedy's involvement with it, which was super embarrassing for him. Initially, it was an operation designed by Eisenhower for overthrowing Cuban leader Fidel Castro. All was well until Kennedy altered the plan. The results were disastrous, and the invasion failed. Many people died, and more were imprisoned. It also sullied the global reputation of the United States at a time when displays of strength held extreme importance.
Cuba was, from then on, understandably wary of more U.S. aggression, so it joined forces with the USSR. The following year, the Soviets decided to deploy ballistic missiles containing nuclear warheads to the island nation. They did this party for show, partly for Cuba, and partly as retaliation for Eisenhower having placed similar weapons in Italy and Turkey in the late '50s. (Honestly, he knew better.) This resulted in the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.
For 13 days, the world was on edge as the U.S. and the USSR played a delicate (but not delectable) game of give-and-take, until finally the situation was resolved. The U.S. promised never to invade Cuba again and to remove its ballistic missiles from Italy and Turkey. In turn, the USSR removed its missiles from Cuba. This standoff between the two world powers is often considered a moment on the edge of nuclear war.
The resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis was viewed as a success for Kennedy (who needed a win), and it rebooted the discussion about placing limits on nuclear weapons development. Picking up where Eisenhower left off, Kennedy and his administration pursued both research and international negotiations on a test ban, which finally became the PTBT. Kennedy ratified the PTBT on October 7th, 1963. Three days later, the treaty went into full force.
A month and a half later, Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas while driving in his motorcade. The event shocked the nation, ruined a lot of clothes, and provided fodder for conspiracy theorists for decades.