View source for John F. Kennedy

{{Short description|President of the United States from 1961 to 1963}}
{{Redirect-several|John Kennedy|Jack Kennedy|JFK|John F. Kennedy}}
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{{Use American English|date=August 2019}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2024}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| image               = John F. Kennedy, White House color photo portrait.jpg<!--DO NOT change without gaining talk page consensus-->
| caption             = [[Oval Office]] portrait, 1963
| alt                 = President Kennedy smiling
| order               = 35th
| office              = President of the United States
| term_start          = January 20, 1961
| term_end            = November 22, 1963
| predecessor         = [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]]
| successor           = [[Lyndon B. Johnson]]
| vicepresident       = Lyndon B. Johnson
| jr/sr1              = United States Senator
| state1              = [[Massachusetts]]
| term_start1         = January 3, 1953
| term_end1           = December 22, 1960
| predecessor1        = [[Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.]]
| successor1          = [[Benjamin A. Smith II]]
| state2              = Massachusetts<!-- [[MOS:REPEATLINK]] -->
| district2           = {{ushr|MA|11|11th}}
| term_start2         = January 3, 1947
| term_end2           = January 3, 1953
| predecessor2        = [[James Michael Curley]]
| successor2          = [[Tip O'Neill]]
| birth_name          = John Fitzgerald Kennedy
| birth_date          = {{birth date |1917|5|29}}
| birth_place         = [[Brookline, Massachusetts]], U.S.
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1963|11|22|1917|5|29}}
| death_cause         = [[Assassination of John F. Kennedy|Assassination]]
| death_place         = [[Dallas]], Texas, U.S.
| resting_place       = [[Arlington National Cemetery]]
| party               = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
| spouse              = {{marriage|[[Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis|Jacqueline Bouvier]]|September 12, 1953|<!-- Omission per Template:Marriage instructions -->}}
| children            = 4, including [[Caroline Kennedy|Caroline]], [[John F. Kennedy Jr.|John&nbsp;Jr.]], and [[Patrick Bouvier Kennedy|Patrick]]
| parents             = {{plainlist|
* [[Joseph P. Kennedy Sr.]]
* [[Rose Kennedy|Rose Fitzgerald]]
}}
| relatives           = [[Kennedy family]] <br> [[Bouvier family]] (by marriage)
| education           = [[Harvard University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|AB<!-- per Harvard -->]])
| signature           = John F Kennedy Signature 2.svg
| signature_alt       = Cursive signature in ink
| allegiance          = [[United States]]
| branch              = [[United States Navy]]
| serviceyears        = 1941–1945
| rank                = [[Lieutenant (navy)|Lieutenant]]
| unit                = {{plainlist|
* Motor Torpedo Squadron 2
** [[Patrol Torpedo Boat 109]]
** [[Patrol Torpedo Boat 59]]
}}
| battles             = {{tree list}}
* [[World War II]]
** [[Solomon Islands campaign]]{{tree list/end}}
| mawards             = {{Indented plainlist|
* [[Navy and Marine Corps Medal]]
* [[Purple Heart]]
* [[American Defense Service Medal]]
* [[American Campaign Medal]]
* [[Asiatic–Pacific Campaign Medal]] (with 3 [[service star]]s)
* [[World War II Victory Medal]]<ref name="JFKlibrary.org misc">{{cite web |url=http://www.jfklibrary.org/Historical+Resources/Archives/Reference+Desk/John+F.+Kennedy+Miscellaneous+Information.htm |title=John F. Kennedy Miscellaneous Information |publisher=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum |access-date=February 22, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090831043852/http://www.jfklibrary.org/Historical%2BResources/Archives/Reference%2BDesk/John%2BF.%2BKennedy%2BMiscellaneous%2BInformation.htm |archive-date=August 31, 2009}}</ref>
}}
| module              = {{Listen|pos=center|embed=yes|filename=JFK Establishment of the Peace Corps.ogg|title=John F. Kennedy's voice|type=speech|description=Kennedy's speak on the establishment of the [[Peace Corps]]<br />Recorded March 1, 1961}}
}}

'''John Fitzgerald Kennedy''' (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to as '''JFK''', was the 35th [[president of the United States]], serving from 1961 until [[Assassination of John F. Kennedy|his assassination]] in 1963. He was the [[List of presidents of the United States by age|youngest]] person [[United States presidential election|elected]] president.{{efn|[[Theodore Roosevelt]] was nine months younger when he first rose to the office from the vice presidency on September 14, 1901, in the wake of his predecessor's [[Assassination of William McKinley|assassination]], but he was not elected to the office until 1904, when he was 46.<ref name=companionJFK>{{cite book| title=The Cambridge Companion to John F. Kennedy| series=Cambridge Companions to American Studies| editor-last=Hoberek| editor-first=Andrew| date=2015| publisher=Cambridge University Press| location=New York| isbn=978-1-107-66316-9| page=1}}</ref>}} Kennedy served at the height of the [[Cold War]], and the majority of his foreign policy concerned relations with the [[Soviet Union]] and [[Cuba]]. A [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]], Kennedy represented [[Massachusetts]] in both houses of the [[United States Congress]] prior to his presidency.

Born into the prominent [[Kennedy family]] in [[Brookline, Massachusetts]], Kennedy graduated from [[Harvard University]] in 1940, joining the [[U.S. Naval Reserve]] the following year. During [[World War II]], he commanded [[PT boat]]s in the [[Pacific War|Pacific theater]]. Kennedy's survival following the sinking of [[PT-109]] and his rescue of his fellow sailors made him a war hero and earned the [[Navy and Marine Corps Medal]], but left him with serious injuries. After a brief stint in journalism, Kennedy represented [[Massachusetts's 11th congressional district|a working-class Boston district]] in the [[U.S. House of Representatives]] from 1947 to 1953. He was subsequently elected to the [[U.S. Senate]], serving as the junior [[List of United States senators from Massachusetts|senator for Massachusetts]] from 1953 to 1960. While in the Senate, Kennedy published his book, ''[[Profiles in Courage]]'', which won a [[Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography|Pulitzer Prize]]. Kennedy ran in the [[John F. Kennedy 1960 presidential campaign|1960 presidential election]]. His campaign gained momentum after [[1960 United States presidential debates|the first televised presidential debates]] in American history, and he was elected president, narrowly defeating [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] opponent [[Richard Nixon]], the incumbent vice president.

Kennedy's presidency saw high tensions with communist states in the Cold War. He increased the number of [[Military advisor#US advisors in Vietnam|American military advisers]] in [[South Vietnam]], and the [[Strategic Hamlet Program]] began during his presidency. In 1961, he authorized attempts to overthrow the Cuban government of [[Fidel Castro]] in the failed [[Bay of Pigs Invasion]] and [[Operation Mongoose]]. In October 1962, U.S. spy planes discovered Soviet missile bases had been deployed in Cuba. The resulting period of tensions, termed the [[Cuban Missile Crisis]], nearly resulted in [[nuclear war]]. In August 1961, after [[East Germany|East German]] troops erected the [[Berlin Wall]], Kennedy sent an army convoy to reassure West Berliners of U.S. support, and delivered [[Ich bin ein Berliner|one of his most famous speeches]] in West Berlin in June 1963. In 1963, Kennedy signed the first [[Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty|nuclear weapons treaty]]. He presided over the establishment of the [[Peace Corps]], [[Alliance for Progress]] with Latin America, and the continuation of the [[Apollo program]] with the goal of [[We choose to go to the Moon|landing a man on the Moon]] before 1970. He supported the [[civil rights movement]] but was only somewhat successful in passing his [[New Frontier]] domestic policies.

On November 22, 1963, Kennedy was assassinated<!-- Please do not link; see [[WP:OVERLINK]] --> in [[Dallas]]. His vice president, [[Lyndon B. Johnson]], [[First inauguration of Lyndon B. Johnson|assumed the presidency]]. [[Lee Harvey Oswald]] was arrested for the assassination, but he was shot and killed by [[Jack Ruby]] two days later. The [[FBI]] and the [[Warren Commission]] both concluded Oswald had acted alone, but [[John F. Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories|conspiracy theories about the assassination]] persist. After Kennedy's death, Congress enacted many of his proposals, including the [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]] and the [[Revenue Act of 1964]]. Kennedy ranks highly in [[Historical rankings of presidents of the United States|polls of U.S. presidents]] with historians and the general public. His personal life has been the focus of considerable sustained interest following public revelations in the 1970s of his chronic health ailments and [[extramarital affair]]s. Kennedy is the most recent [[List of presidents of the United States who died in office|U.S. president to have died in office]].
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==Early life and education==
[[File:John F. Kennedy home, Brookline, Massachusetts LCCN2011630152.tif|thumb|upright=1.1|Kennedy's birthplace in [[Brookline, Massachusetts]]]]

John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born outside [[Boston]] in [[Brookline, Massachusetts]], on May 29, 1917,<ref>{{cite web |title=A History of 83 Beals Street, Brookline, Massachusetts: Birthplace of John Fitzgerald Kennedy |url=https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/a-history-of-83-beals-street-birthplace-of-john-fitzgerald-kennedy.htm |website=[[National Park Service]] |access-date=January 29, 2024 |archive-date=January 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240129231206/https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/a-history-of-83-beals-street-birthplace-of-john-fitzgerald-kennedy.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> to [[Joseph P. Kennedy Sr.]], a businessman and politician, and [[Rose Kennedy]] ([[née]] Fitzgerald), a philanthropist and socialite.{{sfn|Dallek|2003|p=20}} His paternal grandfather, [[P. J. Kennedy]], was an East Boston [[political boss|ward boss]] and [[Massachusetts Senate|Massachusetts state legislator]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Patrick Joseph Kennedy Personal Papers |url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/pjkpp |website=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum |access-date=January 29, 2024 |archive-date=January 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240129231207/https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/pjkpp |url-status=live }}</ref> Kennedy's maternal grandfather and namesake, [[John F. Fitzgerald]], was a U.S. congressman and two-term [[mayor of Boston]].{{sfn|Dallek|2003|pp=8−13}} All four of his grandparents were children of Irish immigrants.<ref name="JFKlibrary.org misc"/> Kennedy had an older brother, [[Joseph P. Kennedy Jr.|Joseph Jr.]], and seven younger siblings: [[Rosemary Kennedy|Rosemary]], [[Kathleen Kennedy Cavendish|Kathleen]], [[Eunice Kennedy Shriver|Eunice]], [[Patricia Kennedy Lawford|Patricia]], [[Robert F. Kennedy|Robert]], [[Jean Kennedy Smith|Jean]], and [[Ted Kennedy|Edward]].<ref>{{cite book|title=John F. Kennedy: A Biography|url=https://archive.org/details/johnfkennedybiog00phdm|url-access=limited|first=Michael|last=Meagher|page=[https://archive.org/details/johnfkennedybiog00phdm/page/n51 8]|year=2011|publisher=Greenwood}}</ref>

Kennedy's father amassed a private fortune and established [[trust funds]] for his nine children that guaranteed lifelong financial independence.<ref>{{cite web |title=John F. Kennedy |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-F-Kennedy |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |date=November 22, 2023 |access-date=January 16, 2017 |archive-date=January 18, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170118183301/https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-F-Kennedy |url-status=live }}</ref> His business kept him away from home for long stretches, but Joe Sr. was a formidable presence in his children's lives. He encouraged them to be ambitious, emphasized political discussions at the dinner table, and demanded a high level of academic achievement. John's first exposure to politics was touring the [[Neighborhoods in Boston|Boston wards]] with his grandfather Fitzgerald during his [[1922 Massachusetts gubernatorial election|1922]] failed gubernatorial campaign.<ref>{{cite book |last1=MacGregor Burns |first1=James |title=John Kennedy: A Political Profile |date=1960 |pages=22–23}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Logevall |first1=Fredrik |title=JFK Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917-1956 |date=2020 |publisher=Random House |isbn=978-0-8129-9713-2 |pages=50–51}}</ref> With Joe Sr.'s business ventures concentrated on [[Wall Street]] and [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]] and an outbreak of [[polio]] in [[Massachusetts]], the family decided to move from Boston to the [[Riverdale, Bronx|Riverdale]] neighborhood of New York City in September 1927.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Logevall |first1=Fredrik |title=JFK Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917–1956 |date=2020 |publisher=Random House |isbn=978-0-8129-9713-2 |page=57}}</ref><ref name="John F. Kennedy: Early Years">{{cite web | title = John F. Kennedy: Early Years | access-date = April 17, 2017 | url = http://www.sparknotes.com/biography/jfk/section1.rhtml | archive-date = April 29, 2017 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170429161744/http://www.sparknotes.com/biography/jfk/section1.rhtml | url-status = live }}</ref> Several years later, his brother Robert told [[Look (American magazine)|''Look'']] magazine that his father left Boston because of job signs that read: "[[No Irish Need Apply]]."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Thomas |first1=Evan |title=Robert Kennedy: His Life |publisher=Simon & Schuster |page=33}}</ref> The Kennedys spent summers and early autumns at [[Kennedy Compound|their home]] in [[Hyannis Port, Massachusetts]], a village on [[Cape Cod]],<ref name=Kennedy37>{{cite book|title=True Compass: A Memoir|first=Edward M.|last=Kennedy|page=[https://archive.org/details/truecompassmemoi00kenn/page/37 37]|year=2009|isbn=978-0-446-53925-8|publisher=Twelve|edition=1st|url=https://archive.org/details/truecompassmemoi00kenn/page/37}}</ref> where they swam, sailed, and played touch football.<ref name="jfklibrary.org">{{cite web|url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/life-of-john-f-kennedy|title=Life of John F. Kennedy|publisher=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum|access-date=February 7, 2019|archive-date=February 6, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190206235232/http://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/life-of-john-f-kennedy|url-status=live}}{{PD-notice}}</ref> Christmas and Easter holidays were spent at their [[La Querida (mansion)|winter retreat]] in [[Palm Beach, Florida]].{{sfn|O'Brien|2005|p=31}} In September 1930, Kennedy, 13 years old, was sent to the [[Canterbury School (Connecticut)|Canterbury School]] in [[New Milford, Connecticut]], for 8th grade. In April 1931, he had an [[appendectomy]], after which he withdrew from Canterbury and recuperated at home.{{sfn|Dallek|2003|p=34}}

In September 1931, Kennedy started attending [[Choate Rosemary Hall|Choate]], a preparatory boarding school in [[Wallingford, Connecticut]].{{sfn|Dallek|2003|p=33}} Rose had wanted John and Joe Jr. to attend a [[Catholic school]], but Joe Sr. thought that if they were to compete in the political world, they needed to be with boys from prominent [[Protestantism|Protestant]] families.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Logevall |first=Fredrik |title=JFK - Volume One |publisher=[[Penguin (publisher)|Penguin]] |year=2020 |isbn=978-0-241-97201-4 |page=81 |language=en}}</ref> John spent his first years at Choate in his older brother's shadow and compensated with rebellious behavior that attracted a clique. Their most notorious stunt was exploding a toilet seat with a firecracker. In the next chapel assembly, the headmaster, George St. John, brandished the toilet seat and spoke of "muckers" who would "spit in our sea," leading Kennedy to name his group "The Muckers Club," which included roommate and lifelong friend [[Lem Billings]].{{sfn|Kenney|2000|p=11}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Logevall |first=Fredrik |title=JFK – Volume One |publisher=[[Penguin (publisher)|Penguin]] |year=2020 |isbn=978-0-241-97201-4 |page=112 |language=en}}</ref> Kennedy graduated from Choate in June 1935, finishing 64th of 112 students.<ref name="John F. Kennedy: Early Years"/> He had been the business manager of the school yearbook and was voted the "most likely to succeed."{{sfn|Kenney|2000|p=11}}
[[File:TheKennedyFamily1.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|The Kennedy family in [[Hyannis Port, Massachusetts]], with JFK at top left in the white shirt, {{circa|1931}}]]

Kennedy intended to study under [[Harold Laski]] at the [[London School of Economics]], as his older brother had done. Ill health forced his return to the U.S. in October 1935, when he enrolled late at [[Princeton University]], but had to leave after two months due to gastrointestinal illness.<ref>{{cite web|title=John F. Kennedy's Princeton University undergraduate alumni file|url=https://blogs.princeton.edu/mudd/2013/11/john-f-kennedys-princeton-university-undergraduate-alumni-file/|website=Mudd Manuscript Library Blog|access-date=December 21, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160801185334/https://blogs.princeton.edu/mudd/2013/11/john-f-kennedys-princeton-university-undergraduate-alumni-file/|archive-date=August 1, 2016 |date=November 22, 2013}}</ref>

In September 1936, Kennedy enrolled at [[Harvard College]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Logevall |first=Fredrik |title=JFK – Volume One |publisher=[[Penguin (publisher)|Penguin]] |year=2020 |isbn=978-0-241-97201-4 |page=131 |language=en}}</ref> He wrote occasionally for ''[[The Harvard Crimson]]'', the campus newspaper, but had little involvement with campus politics, preferring to concentrate on athletics and his social life. Kennedy played football and was on the JV squad during his sophomore year, but an injury forced him off the team, and left him with back problems that plagued him for the rest of his life. He won membership in the [[Hasty Pudding Club]] and the [[Spee Club (Harvard)|Spee Club]], one of Harvard's elite "[[Harvard College social clubs#Origins|final clubs]]".{{sfn|Brinkley|2012|p=14}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wills |first1=Chuck |title=Jack Kennedy: The Illustrated Life of a President |date=2009 |publisher=Chronicle Books LLC |page=25}}</ref>

In July 1938, Kennedy sailed overseas with his older brother to work at the [[U.S. Embassy, London|American embassy in London]], where his father was serving as President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]'s ambassador to the [[Court of St. James's]].{{sfn|Dallek|2003|p=54}} The following year, Kennedy traveled throughout Europe, the [[Soviet Union]], the [[Balkans]], and the Middle East in preparation for his Harvard senior honors thesis.{{sfn|O'Brien|2005|p=93}} He then went to Berlin, where a U.S. diplomatic representative gave him a secret message about war breaking out soon to pass on to his father, and to [[Czechoslovakia]] before returning to London on September 1, 1939, the day that [[Invasion of Poland|Germany invaded Poland]]; the start of [[World War II]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Logevall |first=Fredrik |title=JFK – Volume One |publisher=[[Penguin (publisher)|Penguin]] |year=2020 |isbn=978-0-241-97201-4 |page=220 |language=en}}</ref> Two days later, the family was in the [[British House of Commons|House of Commons]] for speeches endorsing the United Kingdom's declaration of war on Germany. Kennedy was sent as his father's representative to help with arrangements for American survivors of the torpedoing of {{SS|Athenia|1922|6}} before flying back to the U.S. on his first transatlantic flight.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Logevall |first=Fredrik |title=JFK - Volume One |publisher=[[Penguin (publisher)|Penguin]] |year=2020 |isbn=978-0-241-97201-4 |pages=225–226 |language=en}}</ref>{{sfn|Dallek|2003|p=58}}

While Kennedy was an upperclassman at Harvard, he began to take his studies more seriously and developed an interest in [[political philosophy]]. He made the [[dean's list]] in his junior year.<ref name="Harvard Presidents">{{cite web | url = http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2008/11/obama-joins-list-of-seven-presidents-with-harvard-degrees/ | title = Obama joins list of seven presidents with Harvard degrees | work = Harvard Gazette | publisher = [[Harvard University]] | date = November 6, 2008 | access-date =February 24, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160801190338/http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2008/11/obama-joins-list-of-seven-presidents-with-harvard-degrees/|archive-date=August 1, 2016 }}</ref> In 1940, Kennedy completed his thesis, "Appeasement in Munich", about British negotiations during the [[Munich Agreement]]. The thesis was released on July 24, under the title ''[[Why England Slept]]''.{{sfn|Dallek|2003|pp=61–66}} The book was one of the first to offer information about the war and its origins, and quickly became a bestseller.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Logevall |first=Fredrik |title=JFK – Volume One |publisher=[[Penguin (publisher)|Penguin]] |year=2020 |isbn=978-0-241-97201-4 |pages=269–270 |language=en}}</ref> In addition to addressing Britain's unwillingness to strengthen its military in the lead-up to the war, the book called for an [[Anglo-American alliance]] against the rising totalitarian powers. Kennedy became increasingly supportive of U.S. intervention in World War II, and his father's isolationist beliefs resulted in the latter's dismissal as ambassador.{{sfn|Brinkley|2012|pp=15–17}}

In 1940, Kennedy graduated ''[[cum laude]]'' from Harvard with a Bachelor of Arts in government, concentrating on [[international affairs]].{{sfn|Brinkley|2012|pp=183}} That fall, he enrolled at the [[Stanford Graduate School of Business]] and audited classes,{{sfn|Kenney|2000|p=18}} but he left after a semester to help his father complete his memoirs as an American ambassador. In early 1941, Kennedy toured South America.{{sfn|Dallek|2003|p=68}}{{sfn|Kenney|2000|p=21}}

==U.S. Naval Reserve (1941–1945)==
Kennedy planned to attend [[Yale Law School]], but canceled when American entry into World War II seemed imminent.{{sfn|O'Brien|2005|pp=114, 117-118}} In 1940, Kennedy attempted to enter the army's [[Officer Candidate School (United States Army)|Officer Candidate School]]. Despite months of training, he was medically disqualified due to his chronic back problems. On September 24, 1941, Kennedy, with the help of the director of the [[Office of Naval Intelligence]] (ONI) and the former naval [[attaché]] to Joe Sr., Alan Kirk, joined the [[United States Naval Reserve]]. He was commissioned an [[ensign (rank)|ensign]] on October 26, 1941,<ref name="VT">{{cite web | url=http://www.veterantributes.org/TributeDetail.php?recordID=240 | title=John F. Kennedy, Jr. | publisher=Veteran Tributes | access-date=August 1, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160801193040/http://www.veterantributes.org/TributeDetail.php?recordID=240|archive-date=August 1, 2016 }}</ref> and joined the ONI staff in Washington, D.C.<ref name="maritimequest.com">{{cite web | url=http://www.maritimequest.com/warship_directory/us_navy_pages/pt_boats/uss_pt_109_john_f_kennedy.htm | title=President John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917–1963) | publisher=Michael W. Pocock and MaritimeQuest.com | access-date=August 1, 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160801193146/http://www.maritimequest.com/warship_directory/us_navy_pages/pt_boats/uss_pt_109_john_f_kennedy.htm|archive-date=August 1, 2016 }}</ref><ref name="history.navy.mil">{{cite web | url=http://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/biographies-list/bios-k/kennedy-john-f.html | title=John Fitzgerald Kennedy 29 May 1917 – 22 November 1963 | publisher=Naval History and Heritage Command | access-date=August 1, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160801194504/http://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/biographies-list/bios-k/kennedy-john-f.html|archive-date=August 1, 2016 }}</ref>{{sfn|Ballard|2002|pp=12, 36}}

[[File:PT-109 crew.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|[[Lieutenant (junior grade)]] Kennedy (standing at right) with his ''PT-109'' crew, 1943]]

In January 1942, Kennedy was assigned to the ONI field office at Headquarters, [[Sixth Naval District]], in [[Charleston, South Carolina]].<ref name="history.navy.mil"/> His hope was to be the commander of a [[PT boat|PT (patrol torpedo) boat]], but his health problems seemed almost certain to prevent active duty. Kennedy's father intervened by providing misleading medical records and convincing PT officers that his presence would bring publicity to the fleet.{{sfn|Brinkley|2012|pp=18}} Kennedy completed six months of training at the [[Naval Reserve Officer Training School]] in Chicago and at the [[Motor Torpedo Boat Squadrons Training Center]] in [[Melville, Rhode Island]].<ref name="maritimequest.com"/>{{sfn|Donovan|2001|pp=19, 20}} His first command was ''PT-101'' from December 7, 1942, until February 23, 1943.<ref name="history.navy.mil"/> Unhappy to be assigned to the [[Panama Canal]], far from the fighting, Kennedy appealed to Massachusetts senator [[David I. Walsh|David Walsh]], who arranged for him to be assigned to the [[Pacific Theater (World War II)|South Pacific]].{{sfn|Brinkley|2012|pp=18}}

===Commanding ''PT-109'' and ''PT-59''===
{{Main|Patrol torpedo boat PT-109}}

[[File:Lt. John F. Kennedy aboard the PT-109 - JFKPOF-132-012-p0113 (restored).jpg|thumb|upright|left|Kennedy on his navy patrol boat, the [[Motor Torpedo Boat PT-109|''PT-109'']], 1943]]
In April 1943, Kennedy was assigned to Motor Torpedo Squadron TWO,<ref name="maritimequest.com"/> and on April 24 he took command of ''[[Patrol torpedo boat PT-109|PT-109]]'',<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.maritimequest.com/warship_directory/us_navy_pages/pt_boats/uss_pt_109.htm | title=USS PT 109| publisher=Michael W. Pocock and MaritimeQuest.com | access-date=August 1, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160801200054/http://www.maritimequest.com/warship_directory/us_navy_pages/pt_boats/uss_pt_109.htm| archive-date=August 1, 2016}}</ref> then based on [[Tulagi]] Island in the [[Solomon Islands|Solomons]].<ref name="history.navy.mil"/> On the night of August 1–2, in support of the [[New Georgia campaign]], ''PT-109'' and fourteen other PTs were ordered to block or repel four Japanese destroyers and floatplanes carrying food, supplies, and 900 Japanese soldiers to the Vila Plantation garrison on the southern tip of the Solomon's [[Kolombangara]] Island. Intelligence had been sent to Kennedy's Commander Thomas G. Warfield expecting the arrival of the large Japanese naval force that would pass on the evening of August 1. Of the 24 torpedoes fired that night by eight of the American PTs, not one hit the Japanese convoy.{{sfn|Donovan|2001|pp=99, 100}} On that moonless night, Kennedy spotted a Japanese destroyer heading north on its return from the base of Kolombangara around 2:00&nbsp;a.m., and attempted to turn to attack, when ''PT-109'' was rammed suddenly at an angle and cut in half by the [[Japanese destroyer Amagiri (1930)|destroyer ''Amagiri'']], killing [[Andrew Jackson Kirksey and Harold William Marney|two ''PT-109'' crew]] members.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.maritimequest.com/warship_directory/us_navy_pages/pt_boats/uss_pt_109_final_crew_list.htm | title=USS PT-109 Final Crew List | publisher=Michael W. Pocock and MaritimeQuest.com | access-date=August 1, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160801201103/http://www.maritimequest.com/warship_directory/us_navy_pages/pt_boats/uss_pt_109_final_crew_list.htm |archive-date=August 1, 2016 }}</ref>{{sfn|Donovan|2001|pp=106}}<ref name="history.navy.mil"/>{{efn|After the war, Kennedy contacted the captain of the ''Amagiri'', Kohei Hanami, and formed a friendship with him. Hanami later supported Kennedy's election campaign.<ref>{{cite web|title=「きのうの敵は今日の友」― ケネディ大統領と日本人艦長の友情秘話|url=https://amview.japan.usembassy.gov/jfk-japanese-captain/|website=American View|date=April 5, 2015|access-date=July 26, 2020|language=ja|publisher=Embassy of the United States of America in Japan|archive-date=July 26, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200726142334/https://amview.japan.usembassy.gov/jfk-japanese-captain/|url-status=live}}</ref>}} Avoiding surrender, the remaining crew swam towards [[Plum Pudding Island]], 3.5 miles (5.6&nbsp;km) southwest of the remains of ''PT-109'', on August 2.<ref name="history.navy.mil"/>{{sfn|Donovan|2001|pp=106–107, 119}} Despite re-injuring his back in the collision, Kennedy towed a badly burned crewman to the island with a life jacket strap clenched between his teeth.{{sfn|Donovan|2001|pp=106–107, 124}} From there, Kennedy and his subordinate, Ensign George Ross, made forays through the coral islands, searching for help.{{sfn|Doyle|2015|pp=66–106, 134–139}} When they encountered an English-speaking native with a canoe, Kennedy carved his location on a [[coconut]] shell and requested a boat rescue. Seven days after the collision, with the coconut message delivered, the ''PT-109'' crew were rescued.{{sfn|Doyle|2015|pp=143–148}}{{sfn|Brinkley|2012|pp=19}}

Almost immediately, the ''PT-109'' rescue became a highly publicized event. The story was chronicled by John Hersey in ''[[The New Yorker]]'' in 1944 (decades later it was the basis of a successful [[PT 109 (film)|film]]).{{sfn|Brinkley|2012|pp=19}} It followed Kennedy into politics and provided a strong foundation for his appeal as a leader.<ref name="John F. Kennedy and PT 109">{{cite web | url=http://www.jfklibrary.org/JFK/JFK-in-History/John-F-Kennedy-and-PT109.aspx?p=3 | title=John F. Kennedy and PT 109 | publisher=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum | access-date=July 9, 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160801203240/http://www.jfklibrary.org/JFK/JFK-in-History/John-F-Kennedy-and-PT109.aspx?p=3 | archive-date=August 1, 2016}}</ref> Hersey portrayed Kennedy as a modest, self-deprecating hero.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Hersey |first1=John |title=Survival |date=June 17, 1944 |magazine=The New Yorker |pages=31–44}}</ref> For his courage and leadership, Kennedy was awarded the [[Navy and Marine Corps Medal]], and the injuries he suffered during the incident qualified him for a [[Purple Heart]].<ref name="John F. Kennedy and PT 109"/>

After a month's recovery Kennedy returned to duty, commanding the ''[[PT-59]]''. On November 2, Kennedy's ''PT-59'' took part with two other PTs in the rescue of 40–50 marines. The ''59'' acted as a shield from shore fire as they escaped on two rescue landing craft at the base of the Warrior River at [[Raid on Choiseul|Choiseul Island]], taking ten marines aboard and delivering them to safety.{{sfn|Donovan|2001|pp=172–184, 189}} Under doctor's orders, Kennedy was relieved of his command on November 18, and sent to the hospital on Tulagi.{{sfn|Doyle|2015|pp=193}} By December 1943, with his health deteriorating, Kennedy left the Pacific front and arrived in San Francisco in early January 1944.{{sfn|Brinkley|2012|pp=20}} After receiving treatment for his back injury at the [[Chelsea Naval Hospital]] in Massachusetts from May to December 1944, he was released from active duty.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq60-2.htm |title=Record of John F. Kennedy's Naval Service |work=[[Naval History & Heritage Command]] |date=June 18, 2002 |access-date=July 9, 2023 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120527184324/http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq60-2.htm |archive-date=May 27, 2012 }}</ref><ref name="maritimequest.com"/> Beginning in January 1945, Kennedy spent three months recovering from his back injury at [[Castle Hot Springs (Arizona)|Castle Hot Springs]], a resort and temporary military hospital in Arizona.{{sfn|O'Brien|2005|pp=179, 180}}<ref name="peoriaaz.gov">{{cite web| title=Peoria Open Space Master Plan: Chapter 4 – Historic and Cultural Resources| url=http://www.peoriaaz.gov/uploadedFiles/NewPeoriaAZ/About_Peoria/Sonoran_Preservation_Program/Chapter4_HistoricCulturalResources.pdf| access-date=January 22, 2014| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140201191814/http://www.peoriaaz.gov/uploadedFiles/NewPeoriaAZ/About_Peoria/Sonoran_Preservation_Program/Chapter4_HistoricCulturalResources.pdf| archive-date=February 1, 2014| df=mdy-all}}</ref> On March 1, 1945, Kennedy retired from the Navy Reserve on physical disability and was honorably discharged with the full rank of lieutenant.<ref name="sptimes.com">{{cite web | url=http://www.sptimes.com/News/111199/JFK/timeline.shtml | title=JFK: A Timeline of His Life 1917–1963 | publisher=St. Petersburg Times. | access-date=August 1, 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160801205613/http://www.sptimes.com/News/111199/JFK/timeline.shtml | archive-date=August 1, 2016}}</ref> When later asked how he became a war hero, Kennedy joked: "It was easy. They cut my PT boat in half."{{sfn|Dallek|2003|p=98}}

On August 12, 1944, Kennedy's older brother, [[Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr.|Joe Jr.]], a navy pilot, was killed on an air mission. His body was never recovered.{{sfn|Dallek|2003|p=106–107}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Joseph P. Kennedy Jr |url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/the-kennedy-family/joseph-p-kennedy-jr |website=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum |access-date=December 13, 2023 |archive-date=December 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231213012053/https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/the-kennedy-family/joseph-p-kennedy-jr |url-status=live }}</ref> The news reached the family's home in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, a day later. Kennedy felt that Joe Jr.'s reckless flight was partly an effort to outdo him.{{sfn|O'Brien|2005|pp=175}}{{sfn|Brinkley|2012|pp=21}} To console himself, Kennedy set out to assemble a privately published book of remembrances of his brother, ''As We Remember Joe''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Logevall |first=Fredrik |title=JFK – Volume One |publisher=[[Penguin (publisher)|Penguin]] |year=2020 |isbn=978-0-241-97201-4 |pages=379–380 |language=en}}</ref>

==Journalism (1945)==
In April 1945, Kennedy's father, who was a friend of [[William Randolph Hearst]], arranged a position for his son as a special correspondent for [[Hearst Communications|Hearst Newspapers]]; the assignment kept Kennedy's name in the public eye and "expose[d] him to journalism as a possible career."{{sfn|O'Brien|2005|p=180}} That May he went to Berlin as a correspondent,{{sfn|Daum|2008|page=127}} covering the [[Potsdam Conference]] and other events.{{sfn|Dallek|2003|p=104}}

==U.S. House of Representatives (1947–1953)==
Kennedy's elder brother Joe Jr. had been the [[Kennedy family|family's political standard-bearer]] and had been tapped by their father to seek the presidency. After Joe's death, the assignment fell to JFK as the second eldest.{{sfn|Dallek|2003|p=118}} Boston mayor [[Maurice J. Tobin]] discussed the possibility of John becoming his running mate in [[1946 Massachusetts gubernatorial election|1946]] as a candidate for [[Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts|Massachusetts lieutenant governor]], but Joe Sr. preferred a congressional campaign that could send John to Washington, where he could have national visibility.{{sfn|Dallek|2003|p=122}}

[[File:Portrait of congressional freshman class of 1947.jpg|thumb|Kennedy (back row, second from right) and Richard Nixon (far right) participate in a radio broadcast as 1947 freshmen House members.]]
At the urging of Kennedy's father, U.S. Representative [[James Michael Curley]] vacated his seat in the strongly Democratic [[11th congressional district of Massachusetts]] to become mayor of Boston in 1946. Kennedy established legal residency at 122 Bowdoin Street across from the [[Massachusetts State House]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Kennedy|url=https://archive.org/details/kennedysorerich|url-access=registration|first=Ted|last=Sorensen|page=[https://archive.org/details/kennedysorerich/page/21 21]|year=1965|isbn= 978-1-56852-035-3|publisher=Harper & Row}}</ref> Kennedy won the Democratic primary with 42 percent of the vote, defeating nine other candidates.<ref>{{cite book|title=Massachusetts Secretary of Commonwealth: Election Statistics 1946|url=https://archive.org/details/electionstatisti19461948mass/page/n75/mode/2up}}</ref> According to Fredrik Logevall, Joe Sr. <blockquote>spent hours on the phone with reporters and editors, seeking information, trading confidences, and cajoling them into publishing puff pieces on John, ones that invariably played up his war record in the Pacific. He oversaw a professional advertising campaign that ensured ads went up in just the right places the campaign had a virtual monopoly on [[MBTA subway|[Boston] subway]] space, and on window stickers ("Kennedy for Congress") for cars and homes and was the force behind the mass mailing of Hersey's ''PT-109'' article.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Logevall |first1=Fredrik |title=JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917–1956 |date=2020 |publisher=Random House |page=424}}</ref></blockquote> Though Republicans took control of the House in the [[1946 United States House of Representatives elections|1946 elections]], Kennedy defeated his Republican opponent in the general election, taking 73 percent of the vote.{{sfn|Brinkley|2012|pp=24–26}}

As a congressman, Kennedy had a reputation for not taking much interest in the running of his office or his constituents' concerns, with one of the highest absenteeism rates in the House, although much was explained by illness.<ref name="CaroPassage2">{{cite book |last1=Caro |first1=Robert |title=[[The Years of Lyndon Johnson|The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson]] |date=2012 |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group |chapter=2. The Rich Man's Son}}</ref> [[George Smathers]], one of his few political friends at the time, claimed that he was more interested in being a writer than a politician, and at that time he suffered from extreme shyness.<ref name="CaroPassage2" /> Kennedy found "most of his fellow congressmen boring, preoccupied as they all seemed to be with their narrow political concerns." The arcane House rules and customs, which slowed legislation, exasperated him.{{sfn|Dallek|2003|p=136–137}}

Kennedy served in the House for six years, joining the influential [[Education and Labor Committee]] and the [[Veterans' Affairs Committee]]. He concentrated his attention on international affairs, supporting the [[Truman Doctrine]] as the appropriate response to the emerging [[Cold War]]. He also supported [[public housing]] and opposed the [[Labor Management Relations Act of 1947]], which restricted the power of labor unions. Though not as vocally anti-communist as [[Joseph McCarthy]], Kennedy supported the [[Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952]], which required communists to register with the government, and he deplored the "[[loss of China]]."{{sfn|Brinkley|2012|pp=26–29}} During a speech in [[Salem, Massachusetts]] on January 30, 1949, Kennedy denounced Truman and the State Department for contributing to the "tragic story of China whose freedom we once fought to preserve. What our young men had saved [in World War II], our diplomats and our President have frittered away."{{sfn|Dallek|2003|p=160}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Remarks Of Representative John F. Kennedy At The Philip J. Durkin Testimonial Dinner, Salem, Massachusetts, January 30, 1949 |url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/archives/other-resources/john-f-kennedy-speeches/salem-ma-19490130 |website=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum |access-date=June 1, 2023 |archive-date=June 1, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230601210904/https://www.jfklibrary.org/archives/other-resources/john-f-kennedy-speeches/salem-ma-19490130 |url-status=live }}</ref> Having served as a [[Scouts BSA|boy scout]] during his childhood, Kennedy was active in the [[Scouting in Massachusetts|Boston Council]] from 1946 to 1955 as district vice chairman, member of the executive board, vice-president, and National Council Representative.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/life-of-john-f-kennedy/fast-facts-john-f-kennedy|title=Fast Facts about John F. Kennedy|publisher=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum|access-date=February 7, 2019|archive-date=July 30, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230730085947/https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/life-of-john-f-kennedy/fast-facts-john-f-kennedy|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dailyjfk.com/boy-scouts/|title=JFK John F. Kennedy boy scouts|date=January 2, 1961|access-date=April 14, 2018|archive-date=April 14, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180414092128/http://www.dailyjfk.com/boy-scouts/|url-status=live}}</ref>

To appeal to the large [[Italian-American]] voting bloc in Massachusetts, Kennedy delivered a speech in November 1947 supporting a $227 million aid package to Italy. He maintained that Italy was in danger from an "onslaught of the communist minority" and that the country was the "initial battleground in the communist drive to capture Western Europe."<ref>{{cite web |title=Remarks Of Representative John F. Kennedy In The House Of Representatives, Washington, D.C., November 20, 1947 |url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/archives/other-resources/john-f-kennedy-speeches/united-states-house-of-representatives-19471120 |website=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum |access-date=June 3, 2023 |archive-date=June 3, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230603060711/https://www.jfklibrary.org/archives/other-resources/john-f-kennedy-speeches/united-states-house-of-representatives-19471120 |url-status=live }}</ref> To combat Soviet efforts to take control in Middle Eastern and Asian countries like [[French Indochina|Indochina]], Kennedy wanted the United States to develop nonmilitary techniques of resistance that would not create suspicions of [[neoimperialism]] or add to the country's financial burden. The problem, as he saw it, was not simply to be anti-communist but to stand for something that these emerging nations would find appealing.{{sfn|Dallek|2003|p=159–165}}

Almost every weekend that Congress was in session, Kennedy would fly back to Massachusetts to give speeches to veteran, fraternal, and civic groups, while maintaining an index card file on individuals who might be helpful for a campaign for statewide office.<ref>{{cite book|title=John F. Kennedy: A Biography|url=https://archive.org/details/johnfkennedybiog00phdm|url-access=limited|first=Michael|last=Meagher|page=[https://archive.org/details/johnfkennedybiog00phdm/page/n51 35]|year=2011|publisher=Greenwood}}</ref> Contemplating whether to run for [[governor of Massachusetts|Massachusetts governor]] or the [[U.S. Senate]], Kennedy abandoned interest in the former, believing that the governor "sat in an office, handing out sewer contracts."{{sfn|Dallek|2003|p=168}}

==U.S. Senate (1953–1960)==
{{See also|1952 United States Senate election in Massachusetts|1958 United States Senate election in Massachusetts}}
[[File:JFK 52MA Senate.png|thumb|400px|Campaign slogan for Kennedy's [[1952 United States Senate election in Massachusetts|1952]] U.S. Senate campaign in Massachusetts]]

As early as 1949, Kennedy began preparing to run for the Senate in [[1952 United States Senate election in Massachusetts|1952]] against Republican three-term incumbent [[Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.]] with the campaign slogan "KENNEDY WILL DO ''MORE'' FOR MASSACHUSETTS".{{sfn|O'Brien|2005|p=254}} Joe Sr. again financed his son's candidacy (persuading the ''[[The Boston Post|Boston Post]]'' to switch its support to Kennedy by promising the publisher a $500,000 loan),{{sfn|Giglio|2006|p=9}} while John's younger brother [[Robert F. Kennedy|Robert]] emerged as campaign manager.{{sfn|Brinkley|2012|pp=29–31}} Kennedy's mother and sisters contributed as highly effective canvassers by hosting a series of "[[tea parties|teas]]" at hotels and parlors across Massachusetts to reach out to women voters.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Shaw |first1=John T. |url=https://archive.org/details/jfkinsenatepathw0000shaw_y7x0/page/41/mode/2up |title=JFK in the Senate |date=October 15, 2013 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |isbn=978-0-230-34183-8 |page=41 |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Kennedy |first1=Robert F. Jr.|title=American Values: Lessons I Learned from My Family |date= 2018 |publisher=Harper |isbn=978-0-06-084834-7 |page=142}}</ref> In the presidential election, Republican [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] carried Massachusetts by 208,000 votes, but Kennedy narrowly defeated Lodge by 70,000 votes for the Senate seat.<ref name="John F. Kennedy">{{cite encyclopedia |title=John F. Kennedy |access-date=January 16, 2017 |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-F-Kennedy |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |archive-date=January 18, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170118183301/https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-F-Kennedy |url-status=live }}</ref> The following year, he married [[Jacqueline Bouvier]].{{sfn|Kenney|2000|p=29}}

Kennedy underwent several spinal operations over the next two years. Often absent from the Senate, he was at times critically ill and received Catholic [[last rites]]. During his convalescence in 1956, he published ''[[Profiles in Courage]]'', a book about U.S. senators who risked their careers for their personal beliefs, for which he won the [[Pulitzer Prize for Biography]] in 1957.<ref name="Jean3" /> Rumors that this work was [[Ghostwriter|ghostwritten]] by his close adviser and [[speechwriter]], [[Ted Sorensen]], were confirmed in Sorensen's 2008 autobiography.<ref>{{cite web |last=Tofel |first=Richard J. |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB121029817046479539 |title=In His Own Words |work=The Wall Street Journal |date=May 9, 2008 |access-date=March 28, 2010 |archive-date=February 23, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150223071017/http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB121029817046479539 |url-status=live }}</ref>

At the start of his first term, Kennedy focused on fulfilling the promise of his campaign to do "more for Massachusetts" than his predecessor. Although Kennedy's and Lodge's legislative records were similarly liberal, Lodge voted for the [[Taft-Hartley Act of 1947]] and Kennedy voted against it. On [[NBC]]'s ''[[Meet the Press]]'', Kennedy excoriated Lodge for not doing enough to prevent the increasing migration of manufacturing jobs from Massachusetts to the South, and blamed the [[Right-to-work law|right-to-work]] provision for giving the South an unfair advantage over Massachusetts in labor costs.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Savage |first1=Sean J. |title=JFK, LBJ, and the Democratic Party |date=2004 |publisher=State University of New York Press |page=11}}</ref> In May 1953, Kennedy introduced "The Economic Problems of New England",<ref>{{cite web |title=Economic Problems Of New England, May 1953: 18–20 |url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/JFKSEN/0893/JFKSEN-0893-013 |website=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum |access-date=June 18, 2023 |archive-date=June 18, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230618052357/https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/JFKSEN/0893/JFKSEN-0893-013 |url-status=live }}</ref> a 36-point program{{sfn|Bryant|2006b|p=45}} to help Massachusetts industries such as [[Fishing industry|fishing]], [[textile manufacturing]], [[watchmaking]], and [[shipbuilding]], as well as the Boston seaport.{{sfn|Dallek|2003|pp=181–182}} Kennedy's policy agenda included [[protective tariffs]], preventing excessive [[speculation]] in raw wool, stronger efforts to research and market American fish products, an increase in the [[United States Fish and Wildlife Service|Fish and Wildlife Service]] budget, modernizing [[Reserve fleet|reserve-fleet vessels]], [[tax incentives]] to prevent further business relocations, and the development of [[Hydroelectric power in the United States|hydroelectric]] and [[Nuclear power in the United States|nuclear power]] in Massachusetts.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Savage |first1=Sean J. |title=The Senator from New England: The Rise of JFK |date=2015 |publisher=State University of New York Press |page=22}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=MacGregor Burns |first1=James |title=John Kennedy: A Political Profile |date=1960 |pages=120–121}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/Archives/JFKPPP-64.aspx|title=The U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy Story|publisher=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum|access-date=August 25, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160802120837/http://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/Archives/JFKPPP-64.aspx |archive-date=August 2, 2016}}</ref> Kennedy's suggestions for stimulating the region's economy appealed to both parties by offering benefits to business and labor, and promising to serve national defense. Congress would eventually enact most of the program.{{sfn|Dallek|2003|pp=181–182}} Kennedy, a [[Massachusetts Audubon Society]] supporter, wanted to make sure that the shorelines of [[Cape Cod]] remained unsullied by industrialization. On September 3, 1959, Kennedy co-sponsored the [[Cape Cod National Seashore]] bill with his Republican colleague Senator [[Leverett Saltonstall]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.audubon.org/magazine/may-june-2012/rachel-carson-and-jfk-environmental-tag-team|title=Rachel Carson and JFK, an Environmental Tag Team|date=May 8, 2012|website=Audubon|access-date=March 31, 2024|archive-date=January 7, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240107203923/https://www.audubon.org/magazine/may-june-2012/rachel-carson-and-jfk-environmental-tag-team|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Savage |first1=Sean J. |title=The Senator from New England: The Rise of JFK |date=2015 |publisher=State University of New York Press |page=71}}</ref>
[[File:John F. Kennedy nominates Adlai Stevenson 1956.JPG|thumb|left|Kennedy endorsing [[Adlai Stevenson II]] for the presidential nomination at the [[1956 Democratic National Convention]]]]

As a senator, Kennedy quickly won a reputation for responsiveness to requests from constituents (i.e., co-sponsoring legislation to provide federal loans to help rebuild communities damaged by the [[1953 Worcester tornado]]), except on certain occasions when the national interest was at stake.<ref>{{cite web |title=John F. Kennedy |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-F-Kennedy/Congressman-and-senator |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=June 5, 2023 |archive-date=June 5, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230605051832/https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-F-Kennedy/Congressman-and-senator |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Savage |first1=Sean J. |title=The Senator from New England: The Rise of JFK |date=2015 |publisher=State University of New York Press |pages=48, 54–55}}</ref> In 1954, Kennedy voted in favor of the [[Saint Lawrence Seaway]] which would connect the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean, despite opposition from Massachusetts politicians who argued that the project would hurt the [[Port of Boston]] economically.{{sfn|Dallek|2003|pp=182–183}}

In 1954, when the Senate voted to condemn [[Joseph McCarthy]] for breaking Senate rules and abusing an Army general, Kennedy was the only Democrat not to cast a vote against him.{{sfn|Dallek|2003|p=189}} Kennedy drafted a speech supporting the censure. However, it was not delivered because Kennedy was hospitalized for back surgery in Boston.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dallek |first1=Robert |title=Lone Star Rising: Lyndon Johnson and His Times, 1908–1960 |date=1991 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=458}}</ref> Although Kennedy never indicated how he would have voted, the episode damaged his support among members of the [[Modern liberalism in the United States|liberal]] community in the 1956 and 1960 elections.{{sfn|O'Brien|2005|pp=274–279, 394–399}}

In 1956, Kennedy gained control of the [[Massachusetts Democratic Party]],{{sfn|Dallek|2003|p=201}} and delivered the state delegation to the party's presidential nominee, [[Adlai Stevenson II]], at the [[1956 Democratic National Convention|Democratic National Convention]] in August.{{sfn|Brinkley|2012|pp=34–35}} Stevenson let the convention [[1956 Democratic Party vice presidential candidate selection|select the vice presidential nominee]]. Kennedy finished second in the balloting, losing to Senator [[Estes Kefauver]] of Tennessee, but receiving national exposure.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://us.macmillan.com/jfkinthesenatepathwaytothepresidency/johntshaw |title=JFK in the Senate: Pathway to the Presidency |publisher=Macmillan |access-date=August 3, 2016 |author=Shaw, John T. }}{{dead link|date=April 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}</ref>

In 1957, Kennedy joined the Senate's [[United States Senate Select Committee on Improper Activities in Labor and Management|Select Committee on Labor Rackets]] (also known as the McClellan Committee) with his brother Robert, who was chief counsel, to investigate [[racketeering]] in labor-management relations.<ref name="pophistorydig.com">{{Cite web|url=https://pophistorydig.com/topics/jfks-1957-campaign/|title="JFK's Early Campaign"1957 &#124; The Pop History Dig|website=pophistorydig.com|access-date=December 28, 2022|archive-date=December 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221228043518/https://pophistorydig.com/topics/jfks-1957-campaign/|url-status=live}}</ref> The hearings attracted extensive radio and television coverage where the Kennedy brothers engaged in dramatic arguments with controversial labor leaders, including [[Jimmy Hoffa]], of the [[Teamsters Union]]. The following year, Kennedy introduced a bill to prevent the expenditure of union dues for improper purposes or private gain; to forbid loans from union funds for illicit transactions; and to compel audits of unions, which would ensure against false financial reports.{{sfn|Dallek|2003|p=219}} It was the first major labor relations bill to pass either house since the Taft–Hartley Act of 1947 and dealt largely with the control of union abuses exposed by the McClellan Committee but did not incorporate tough Taft–Hartley amendments requested by President Eisenhower. It survived Senate floor attempts to include Taft-Hartley amendments and passed but was rejected by the House.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/life-of-john-f-kennedy/fast-facts-john-f-kennedy/voting-record-and-stands-on-issues-page2|title=John F. Kennedy's Pre-Presidential Voting Record & Stands on Issues (p. 2 of 9)|publisher=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum|access-date=March 31, 2024|archive-date=January 18, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240118001726/https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/life-of-john-f-kennedy/fast-facts-john-f-kennedy/voting-record-and-stands-on-issues-page2|url-status=live}}</ref> "Honest union members and the general public can only regard it as a tragedy that politics has prevented the recommendations of the McClellan committee from being carried out this year," Kennedy announced.{{sfn|Dallek|2003|p=220}}

That same year, Kennedy joined the Senate's [[Foreign Relations Committee]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Shaw |first1=John T. |url=https://archive.org/details/jfkinsenatepathw0000shaw_y7x0/page/183/mode/2up |title=JFK in the Senate |date= 2013 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |isbn=978-0-230-34183-8 |page=183 |url-access=registration}}</ref> There he supported [[Algerian War|Algeria's effort to gain independence]] from France and sponsored an amendment to the [[Mutual Defense Assistance Act]] that would provide aid to Soviet satellite nations. Kennedy also introduced an amendment to the [[National Defense Education Act]] in 1959 to eliminate the requirement that aid recipients sign a loyalty oath and provide supporting affidavits.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/life-of-john-f-kennedy/fast-facts-john-f-kennedy/voting-record-and-stands-on-issues|title=John F. Kennedy's Pre-Presidential Voting Record & Stands on Issues (p. 1 of 9)|publisher=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum|access-date=March 31, 2024|archive-date=December 5, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231205181944/https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/life-of-john-f-kennedy/fast-facts-john-f-kennedy/voting-record-and-stands-on-issues|url-status=live}}</ref>

Kennedy cast a procedural vote against President Eisenhower's bill for the [[Civil Rights Act of 1957]] and this was considered by some to be an appeasement of Southern Democratic opponents of the bill.{{sfn|O'Brien|2005|p=370}} Kennedy did vote for Title III of the act, which would have given the Attorney General powers to enjoin, but Majority Leader [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] agreed to let the provision die as a compromise measure.{{sfn|O'Brien|2005|pp=370, 371}} Kennedy also voted for the "Jury Trial Amendment." Many civil rights advocates criticized that vote as one which would weaken the act.{{sfn|O'Brien|2005|p=372}} A final compromise bill, which Kennedy supported, was passed in September 1957.{{sfn|O'Brien|2005|p=374}} As a senator from Massachusetts, which lacked a sizable Black population, Kennedy was not particularly sensitive to the problems of African Americans. Robert Kennedy later reflected, "We weren't thinking of the Negroes of Mississippi or Alabama—what should be done for them. We were thinking of what needed to be done in Massachusetts."{{sfn|Bryant|2006b|pp=23–24}}
[[File:1958 United States Senate election in Massachusetts results map by municipality.svg|thumb|upright=1.2|Results of the [[1958 United States Senate election in Massachusetts|1958]] U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts by [[List of municipalities in Massachusetts|municipality]]. Kennedy's margin of victory of 874,608 votes was the largest in Massachusetts political history.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-F-Kennedy|title=John F. Kennedy – Presidential candidate and president|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|date=July 4, 2023|access-date=January 16, 2017|archive-date=January 18, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170118183301/https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-F-Kennedy|url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|Brinkley|2012|p=37}}]]

Most historians and political scientists who have written about Kennedy refer to his U.S. Senate years as an interlude.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Shaw |first1=John T. |url=https://archive.org/details/jfkinsenatepathw0000shaw_y7x0/page/191/mode/2up |title=JFK in the Senate |date=2013 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |isbn=978-0-230-34183-8 |page=191 |url-access=registration}}</ref> According to [[Robert Dallek]], Kennedy called being a senator "the most corrupting job in the world." He complained that they were all too quick to cut deals and please campaign contributors to ensure their political futures. Kennedy, with the luxury of a rich father who could finance his campaigns, could remain independent of any special interest, except for those in his home state of Massachusetts that could align against his reelection.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dallek |first1=Robert |title=How Did We Get Here?: From Theodore Roosevelt to Donald Trump |date=2020 |publisher=Harper |pages=112–113}}</ref> According to [[Robert Caro]], Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson viewed Kennedy as a "[[Playboy lifestyle|playboy]]", describing his performance in the Senate and the House as "pathetic" on another occasion, saying that he was "smart enough, but he doesn't like the grunt work".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Caro |first1=Robert |title=[[The Years of Lyndon Johnson|The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson]] |date=2012 |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group |page=33}}</ref> Author John T. Shaw acknowledges that while his Senate career is not associated with acts of "historic statesmanship" or "novel political thought," Kennedy made modest contributions as a legislator, drafting more than 300 bills to assist Massachusetts and the New England region (some of which became law).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Shaw |first1=John T. |url=https://archive.org/details/jfkinsenatepathw0000shaw_y7x0/page/193/mode/2up |title=JFK in the Senate |date= 2013 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |isbn=978-0-230-34183-8 |page=193 |url-access=registration}}</ref>

In [[1958 United States Senate election in Massachusetts|1958]], Kennedy was re-elected to the Senate, defeating his Republican opponent, Boston lawyer Vincent J. Celeste, with 73.6 percent of the vote, the largest winning margin in the history of Massachusetts politics.<ref name="John F. Kennedy" /> In the aftermath of his re-election, Kennedy began preparing to run for president by traveling throughout the U.S. with the aim of building his candidacy for 1960.{{sfn|Brinkley|2012|pp=35–36}}<ref name="pophistorydig.com" />

==1960 presidential election==
{{main|John F. Kennedy 1960 presidential campaign}}
{{see also|1960 Democratic Party presidential primaries|1960 United States presidential election}}
[[File:Leadership for the 60s - John Fitzgerald Kennedy.jpg|thumb|left|upright|1960 presidential campaign poster]]
On January 2, 1960, Kennedy announced his candidacy for the [[1960 Democratic Party presidential primaries|Democratic presidential nomination]].<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/45981265/progress-bulletin/ |title=Sen. John Kennedy Formally Enters Presidential Race |date=January 2, 1960 |work=Progress-Bulletin |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200302155308/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/45981265/progress-bulletin/ |archive-date=March 2, 2020 |page=1 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> Though some questioned Kennedy's age and experience, his charisma and eloquence earned him numerous supporters. Kennedy faced several potential challengers, including Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson, [[Adlai Stevenson II]], and Senator [[Hubert Humphrey]].{{sfn|Brinkley|2012|pp=38–45}}

Kennedy traveled extensively to build his support. His campaign strategy was to win several primaries to demonstrate his electability to the [[party boss]]es, who controlled most of the delegates, and to prove to his detractors that a Catholic could win popular support.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hilty |first1=James |title=Robert Kennedy: Brother Protector |date=2000 |publisher=Temple University Press |pages=135–136}}</ref> Victories over Senator Humphrey in the Wisconsin and West Virginia primaries gave Kennedy momentum as he moved on to the [[1960 Democratic National Convention]] in Los Angeles.{{sfn|Brinkley|2012|pp=38–45}}<ref>{{cite web |title=The 1960 Democratic Presidential Race |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/1960-democratic-presidential-race/ |website=PBS American Experience}}</ref>

When Kennedy entered the convention, he had the most delegates, but not enough to ensure that he would win the nomination.<ref>{{cite web |title=The 1960 Democratic Presidential Race |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/1960-democratic-presidential-race/ |website=PBS American Experience |access-date=November 21, 2023 |archive-date=October 17, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231017204758/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/1960-democratic-presidential-race/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Stevenson—the 1952 and 1956 presidential nominee—remained very popular, while Johnson also hoped to win the nomination with support from party leaders. Kennedy's candidacy also faced opposition from former President [[Harry S. Truman]], who was concerned about Kennedy's lack of experience. Kennedy knew that a second ballot could give the nomination to Johnson or someone else, and his well-organized campaign was able to earn the support of just enough delegates to win the presidential nomination on the first ballot.{{sfn|Brinkley|2012|pp=45–47}}

Kennedy ignored the opposition of his brother Robert, who wanted him to choose labor leader [[Walter Reuther]],<ref>{{cite news|url=http://time.com/3491219/behind-the-picture-jfk-and-rfk-los-angeles-july-1960/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141114201919/http://time.com/3491219/behind-the-picture-jfk-and-rfk-los-angeles-july-1960/|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 14, 2014|title=Head to Head: JFK and RFK, Los Angeles, July 1960|last=Cosgrave|first=Ben|date=May 24, 2014|website=Time Magazine|access-date=March 19, 2018}}</ref> and other liberal supporters when he [[Democratic Party vice presidential candidate selection, 1960|chose Johnson]] as his vice-presidential nominee. He believed that the Texas senator could help him win support from the [[Southern United States|South]].{{sfn|Brinkley|2012|p=47}}<ref>{{cite web |title=John F. Kennedy: Campaigns and Elections |url=https://millercenter.org/president/kennedy/campaigns-and-elections |website=Miller Center |date=October 4, 2016 |access-date=August 17, 2024}}</ref> In accepting the presidential nomination, Kennedy gave his well-known "[[New Frontier]]" speech: <blockquote>For the problems are not all solved and the battles are not all won—and we stand today on the edge of a New Frontier. ... But the New Frontier of which I speak is not a set of promises—it is a set of challenges. It sums up not what I intend to offer the American people, but what I intend to ask of them.<ref name="JFKlibrary.org Accepting Dem Nom Pres">{{cite web | title = Address of Senator John F. Kennedy Accepting the Democratic Party Nomination for the Presidency of the United States | url = http://www.jfklibrary.org/About-Us/News-and-Press/Press-Releases/50-Years-Ago--Senator-John-F-Kennedy-of-Massachusetts-Wins-Presidential-Nomination-at-Democratic-Nat.aspx | date = July 15, 1960 | first = John F. | last = Kennedy | publisher = [[John F. Kennedy Library|John F. Kennedy Presidential Library]] | access-date = August 2, 2016 | archive-date = September 19, 2016 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160919103436/https://www.jfklibrary.org/About-Us/News-and-Press/Press-Releases/50-Years-Ago--Senator-John-F-Kennedy-of-Massachusetts-Wins-Presidential-Nomination-at-Democratic-Nat.aspx | url-status = live }}</ref></blockquote>

At the start of the fall general election campaign, the Republican nominee and incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon held a six-point lead in the polls.{{sfn|Brinkley|2012|p=49}} Major issues included how to get the economy moving again, Kennedy's Catholicism, the [[Cuban Revolution]], and whether the space and missile programs of the Soviet Union had [[missile gap|surpassed]] those of the U.S. To address fears that his being Catholic would impact his decision-making, he told the Greater Houston Ministerial Association on September 12: "I am not the Catholic candidate for president. I am the Democratic Party candidate for president who also happens to be a Catholic. I do not speak for my Church on public matters—and the Church does not speak for me."<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/jfkhoustonministers.html | title = Address to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association | access-date =September 17, 2007 | last = Kennedy | first = John F. | date = June 18, 2002 | work = American Rhetoric | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160802122054/http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/jfkhoustonministers.html | archive-date=August 2, 2016}}</ref> He promised to respect the [[separation of church and state]], and not to allow Catholic officials to dictate public policy.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Casey |first1=Shaun A. |title=The Making of a Catholic President: Kennedy vs. Nixon 1960 |date=2009 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York City}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Lacroix |first1=Patrick |title=John F. Kennedy and the Politics of Faith |date=2021 |publisher=University Press of Kansas |location=Lawrence |pages=21–44}}</ref>
[[File:Kennedy Nixon Debat (1960).jpg|thumb|Kennedy and Richard Nixon participate in the nation's second televised [[United States presidential election debates#1960 Kennedy–Nixon debates|presidential debate]], {{Circa|October 7, 1960}}.]]

The Kennedy and Nixon campaigns agreed to a series of [[1960 United States presidential debates|televised debates]].<ref name="auto2">{{cite web |title=Campaign of 1960 |url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/campaign-of-1960 |website=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum |access-date=October 15, 2023 |archive-date=October 17, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231017205150/https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/campaign-of-1960 |url-status=live }}</ref> An estimated 70 million Americans, about two-thirds of the electorate, watched the first debate on September 26.<ref name="museum.tv">{{cite web |url=http://www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=kennedy-nixon |title=THE KENNEDY-NIXON PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES, 1960 – The Museum of Broadcast Communications |publisher=[[The Museum of Broadcast Communications]] (MBC) |access-date=October 8, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100821064309/http://www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=kennedy-nixon |archive-date=August 21, 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Kennedy had met the day before with the producer to discuss the set design and camera placement. Nixon, just out of the hospital after a painful knee injury, did not take advantage of this opportunity and during the debate looked at the reporters asking questions and not at the camera. Kennedy wore a blue suit and shirt to cut down on glare and appeared sharply focused against the gray studio background. Nixon wore a light-colored suit that blended into the gray background; in combination with the harsh studio lighting that left Nixon perspiring, he offered a less-than-commanding presence. By contrast, Kennedy appeared relaxed, tanned, and telegenic, looking into the camera whilst answering questions.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Selverstone |first1=Marc J. |title=The Campaign and Election of 1960 |url=https://millercenter.org/president/kennedy/campaigns-and-elections |website=University of Virginia: Miller Center |date=October 4, 2016 |access-date=October 29, 2023 |archive-date=April 29, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170429092444/https://millercenter.org/president/kennedy/campaigns-and-elections |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="auto2"/> It is often claimed that television viewers overwhelmingly believed Kennedy, appearing to be the more attractive of the two, had won, while radio listeners (a smaller audience) thought Nixon had defeated him.<ref name="museum.tv"/><ref>{{cite episode|title=Nixon|series=American Experience|series-link=American Experience|network=[[PBS]]|station=[[WGBH-TV|WGBH]]|date=October 15, 1990|season=3|number=2|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/nixon/|access-date=June 15, 2022|archive-date=June 15, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220615213326/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/nixon/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite episode|title=JFK (Part 1)|series=American Experience|network=PBS|station=WGBH|date=November 11, 2013|season=25|number=7|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/jfk/|access-date=September 24, 2019|archive-date=September 25, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190925003921/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/jfk/|url-status=live}}</ref> However, only one poll split TV and radio voters like this and the methodology was poor.<ref name="dbk1">{{cite journal | url = https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0362331916300556 | title = Debunking Nixon's radio victory in the 1960 election: Re-analyzing the historical record and considering currently unexamined polling data | last1 = Bruschke | first1 = John | last2 = Laura | first2 = Divine | date = March 2017 | journal = The Social Science Journal | volume = 54 | issue = 1 | pages = 67–75 | doi = 10.1016/j.soscij.2016.09.007 | s2cid = 151390817 | access-date = October 22, 2022 | archive-date = October 22, 2022 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20221022224031/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0362331916300556 | url-status = live  | issn = 0362-3319 }}</ref> Pollster [[Elmo Roper]] concluded that the debates raised interest, boosted turnout, and gave Kennedy an extra two million votes, mostly as a result of the first debate.<ref>{{cite book |last1=White |first1=Theodore H. |title=The Making of the President, 1960 |date=1961 |page=294}}</ref> The debates are now considered a milestone in American political history—the point at which the medium of television began to play a dominant role.<ref name="Jean3">{{cite web | url = http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/aureview/1967/mar-apr/smith.html | title = Kennedy and Defense The formative years | access-date = September 18, 2007 | last = Edward Smith | first = Jean | date = March 1967 | work = Air University Review | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081212113925/http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/aureview/1967/mar-apr/smith.html | archive-date = December 12, 2008 | url-status = dead }}</ref>

[[File:ElectoralCollege1960.svg|thumb|1960 presidential election results]]
Kennedy's campaign gained momentum after the first debate, and he pulled slightly ahead of Nixon in most polls. On Election Day, Kennedy defeated Nixon in one of the closest presidential elections of the 20th century. In the national popular vote, [[United States presidential elections in which the winner lost the popular vote#1960 Alabama results ambiguity|by most accounts]], Kennedy led Nixon by just two-tenths of one percent (49.7% to 49.5%), while in the [[Electoral College (United States)|Electoral College]], he won 303 votes to Nixon's 219 (269 were needed to win).{{sfn|Dudley|Shiraev|2008|p=83}} Fourteen electors from Mississippi and Alabama refused to support Kennedy because of his support for the [[civil rights movement]]; they voted for Senator [[Harry F. Byrd]] of Virginia, as did an elector from Oklahoma.{{sfn|Dudley|Shiraev|2008|p=83}} Forty-three years old, Kennedy was the [[List of presidents of the United States by age|youngest person]] ever elected to the presidency (though [[Theodore Roosevelt]] was a year younger when he succeeded to the presidency after the [[assassination of William McKinley]] in 1901).{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=21}}

==Presidency (1961–1963)==
{{Main|Presidency of John F. Kennedy}}
{{For timeline|Timeline of the John F. Kennedy presidency}}
[[File:Jfk inauguration.jpg|thumb|left|[[Chief Justice of the United States|Chief Justice]] [[Earl Warren]] administers the [[oath of office of the President of the United States|presidential oath of office]] to Kennedy at [[United States Capitol|the Capitol]], January 20, 1961.]]

Kennedy was sworn in as the 35th president at noon on January 20, 1961. In [[Inaugural address of John F. Kennedy|his inaugural address]], he spoke of the need for all Americans to be active citizens: "Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country." He asked the nations of the world to join to fight what he called the "common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself."<ref name="JFKlibrary.org Inaugural Address">{{cite web|title=Inaugural Address |url=http://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Ready-Reference/JFK-Quotations/Inaugural-Address.aspx |date=January 20, 1961 |first=John F. |last=Kennedy |publisher=[[John F. Kennedy Library|John F. Kennedy Presidential Library]] |access-date=February 22, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120111193541/http://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Ready-Reference/JFK-Quotations/Inaugural-Address.aspx |archive-date=January 11, 2012 }}</ref> He added:

<blockquote>All this will not be finished in the first one hundred days. Nor will it be finished in the first one thousand days, nor in the life of this Administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin." In closing, he expanded on his desire for greater internationalism: "Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world, ask of us here the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you.<ref name="JFKlibrary.org Inaugural Address"/></blockquote>

The address reflected Kennedy's confidence that his administration would chart a historically significant course in both domestic policy and foreign affairs. The contrast between this optimistic vision and the pressures of managing daily political realities would be one of the main tensions of the early years of his administration.{{sfn|Kempe|2011|p=52}}

Kennedy scrapped the decision-making structure of Eisenhower,{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=22}} preferring an organizational structure of a wheel with all the spokes leading to the president; he was willing to make the increased number of quick decisions required in such an environment.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|pp=23, 25}} Though the cabinet remained important, Kennedy generally relied more on his staffers within the [[Executive Office of the President of the United States|Executive Office]].{{sfn|Giglio|2006|pp=31–32, 35}} In spite of concerns over [[nepotism]], Kennedy's father insisted that Robert Kennedy become [[United States Attorney General|U.S. Attorney General]], and the younger Kennedy became the "assistant president" who advised on all major issues.<ref>{{cite news|title=Bobby Kennedy: Is He the 'Assistant President'?|url=https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/06/05/bobby-kennedy-is-he-the-assistant-president|publisher=U.S. News & World Report|date=February 19, 1962|access-date=January 25, 2024|archive-date=September 15, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160915234045/http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/06/05/bobby-kennedy-is-he-the-assistant-president|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Foreign policy===
{{main|Foreign policy of the John F. Kennedy administration}}
[[File:US President John Kennedy Presidential Trips.PNG|thumb|upright=1.5|Foreign trips of Kennedy during his presidency]]

====Cold War and flexible response====
Kennedy's foreign policy was dominated by American confrontations with the Soviet Union, manifested by proxy contests in the global state of tension known as the [[Cold War]]. Like his predecessors, Kennedy adopted the policy of [[containment]] to stop the spread of communism.{{Sfn|Herring|2008|pp=704–705}} Fearful of the possibility of [[nuclear war]], Kennedy implemented a defense strategy known as [[flexible response]]. This strategy relied on multiple options for responding to the Soviet Union, discouraged [[massive retaliation]], and encouraged [[mutual deterrence]].{{sfn|Brinkley|2012|pp=76–77}}<ref>{{cite web |title=1961–1968: The Presidencies of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson |url=https://history.state.gov/milestones/1961-1968/foreword |website=U.S. Department of State |access-date=November 19, 2023 |archive-date=February 16, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240216105026/https://history.state.gov/milestones/1961-1968/foreword |url-status=live }}</ref> In contrast to Eisenhower's warning about the perils of the [[military-industrial complex]], Kennedy focused on rearmament. From 1961 to 1964 the number of [[nuclear weapons]] increased by 50 percent, as did the number of [[B-52]] bombers to deliver them.<ref>Stephen G Rabe, "John F. Kennedy" in Timothy J Lynch, ed., "The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Military and Diplomatic History" (2013) 1:610–615.</ref>

In January 1961, [[Premier of the Soviet Union|Soviet Premier]] [[Nikita Khrushchev]] declared his support for [[wars of national liberation]]. Kennedy interpreted this step as a direct threat to the "free world."<ref>{{cite book | last = Larres| first = Klaus|author2=Ann Lane|title =The Cold War: the essential readings| publisher = Wiley-Blackwell|year = 2001| page = 103| isbn = 978-0-631-20706-1}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Schlight |first1=John |title=A War Too Long: The USAF in Southeast Asia 1961–1975 |url=https://media.defense.gov/2010/May/25/2001330271/-1/-1/0/a_war_too_long.pdf |website=U.S. Department of Defense |access-date=January 27, 2024 |archive-date=January 27, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240127154428/https://media.defense.gov/2010/May/25/2001330271/-1/-1/0/a_war_too_long.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

====Decolonization and the Congo Crisis====
[[File:President John F. Kennedy Greets Prime Minister Cyrille Adoula of the Republic of the Congo (Leopoldville) (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|President Kennedy with Congolese Prime Minister [[Cyrille Adoula]] in 1962]]
Between 1960 and 1963, [[List of sovereign states by date of formation|twenty-four countries]] gained independence as the process of [[decolonization]] continued. Kennedy set out to woo the leaders and people of the "[[Third World]]," expanding economic aid and appointing knowledgeable ambassadors.{{Sfn|Herring|2008|pp=711–712}} His administration established the [[Food for Peace]] program and the [[Peace Corps]] to provide aid to [[developing countries]]. The Food for Peace program became a central element in American foreign policy, and eventually helped many countries to develop their economies and become commercial import customers.<ref>Robert G. Lewis, "What Food Crisis?: Global Hunger and Farmers' Woes." ''World Policy Journal'' 25.1 (2008): 29–35. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/40210191 online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200109103541/https://www.jstor.org/stable/40210191 |date=January 9, 2020 }}</ref>

During the election campaign, Kennedy attacked the Eisenhower administration for losing ground on the African continent,<ref>Michael O'Brien, ''John F. Kennedy: A biography'' (2005) pp. 867–68.</ref> and stressed that the U.S. should be on the side of anti-colonialism and self-determination.<ref name="auto1">{{cite web |title=John F. Kennedy and African Independence |url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/john-f-kennedy-and-african-independence |website=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum |access-date=November 19, 2023 |archive-date=November 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231112061214/https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/john-f-kennedy-and-african-independence |url-status=live }}{{PD-notice}}</ref> Kennedy considered the [[Congo Crisis]] to be among the most important foreign policy issues facing his presidency, and he supported a [[United Nations Operation in the Congo|UN operation]] that prevented the secession of [[State of Katanga|Katanga]].{{sfn|Giglio|2006|pp=239–242}} [[Moïse Tshombe]], leader of Katanga, declared its independence from the Congo and the Soviet Union responded by sending weapons and technicians to underwrite their struggle.<ref name="auto1"/> On October 2, 1962, Kennedy signed United Nations bond issue bill to ensure U.S. assistance in financing UN peacekeeping operations in the Congo and elsewhere.<ref>{{cite web |title=Remarks on signing U.N. Loan Bill, 2 October 1962 |url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/JFKPOF/040/JFKPOF-040-031 |website=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum |access-date=November 19, 2023 |archive-date=November 19, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231119222114/https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/JFKPOF/040/JFKPOF-040-031 |url-status=live }}</ref>

====Peace Corps====
{{main|Peace Corps}}
[[File:Kennedy greeting Peace Corps volunteers, 1961.jpg|thumb| Kennedy greets [[Peace Corps]] volunteers on August 28, 1961]]
In one of his first presidential acts, Kennedy signed [[Executive Order]] 10924 that officially started the [[Peace Corps]]. He named his brother-in-law, [[Sargent Shriver]], as its first director.{{sfn|Dallek|2003|pp=338–339}} Through this program, Americans volunteered to help developing countries in fields like education, farming, health care, and construction.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Peace Corps: Traveling The World To Live, Work, And Learn |url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/education/teachers/curricular-resources/the-peace-corps-traveling-the-world-to-live-work-and-learn |website=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum |access-date=January 31, 2024 |archive-date=January 31, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240131223635/https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/education/teachers/curricular-resources/the-peace-corps-traveling-the-world-to-live-work-and-learn |url-status=live }}</ref> Kennedy believed that countries that received Peace Corps volunteers were less likely to succumb to a communist revolution.<ref>{{cite web |title=Kennedy's Global Challenges |url=https://www.ushistory.org/us/56c.asp |website=U.S. History: From Pre-Columbian to the New Millennium. |access-date=November 19, 2023 |archive-date=November 19, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231119222120/https://www.ushistory.org/us/56c.asp |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Tanganyika (1961–1964)|Tanganyika]] (present-day [[Tanzania]]) and [[Ghana]] were the first countries to participate.<ref>{{cite web |title=Peace Corps |url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/peace-corps |website=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum |access-date=January 27, 2024 |archive-date=December 2, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231202085121/https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/peace-corps |url-status=live }}</ref> The organization grew to 5,000 members by March 1963 and 10,000 the year after.{{sfn|Schlesinger|2002|pp=606–607}} Since 1961, over 200,000 Americans have joined the Peace Corps, representing 139 countries.<ref>{{cite book| last1 = Meisler | first1 = Stanley | title = When the World Calls: The Inside Story of the Peace Corps and Its First Fifty Years | publisher = Beacon Press | year = 2011 | isbn = 978-0-8070-5049-1 | url = https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780807050491 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.peacecorps.gov/news/fast-facts/| title = Peace Corps, Fast Facts | access-date = August 2, 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160802133017/https://www.peacecorps.gov/news/fast-facts/ | archive-date=August 2, 2016}}</ref>

====Vienna Summit and the Berlin Wall====
{{see also|Vienna summit|Berlin Crisis of 1961}}
Kennedy anxiously anticipated a summit with Nikita Khrushchev. The proceedings for the summit got off to a problematic start when Kennedy reacted aggressively to a routine Khrushchev speech on Cold War confrontation in early 1961. The speech was intended for domestic audiences in the Soviet Union, but Kennedy interpreted it as a personal challenge. His mistake helped raise tensions going into the [[Vienna summit]].{{sfn|Kempe|2011|pp=76–78}} The summit would cover several topics, but both leaders knew that the most contentious issue would be [[Berlin]], which had been divided in two with the start of the Cold War. The enclave of [[West Berlin]] lay within Soviet-allied [[East Germany]], but was supported by the U.S. and other Western powers. The Soviets wanted to reunify Berlin under the control of East Germany, partly due to the large number of East Germans who had fled to West Berlin.{{sfn|Brinkley|2012|pp=74, 77–78}}
[[File:John Kennedy, Nikita Khrushchev 1961.jpg|thumb|left|Kennedy meeting with [[Soviet Premier]] [[Nikita Khrushchev]] in [[Vienna]] in June 1961]]

On June 4, 1961, Kennedy met with Khrushchev in Vienna and left the meeting angry and disappointed that he had allowed the premier to bully him, despite the warnings he had received. Khrushchev, for his part, was impressed with the president's intelligence but thought him weak. Kennedy did succeed in conveying the bottom line to Khrushchev on the most sensitive issue before them, a proposed treaty between Moscow and [[East Berlin]]. He made it clear that any treaty interfering with U.S. access rights in West Berlin would be regarded as an act of war.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|pp=161–171}} Shortly after Kennedy returned home, the Soviet Union announced its plan to sign a treaty with East Berlin, abrogating any third-party occupation rights in either sector of the city. Kennedy assumed that his only option was to prepare the country for nuclear war, which he thought had a one-in-five chance of occurring.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=175}}

In the weeks immediately following the summit, more than 20,000 people [[Republikflucht|fled from East Berlin]] to the western sector, reacting to statements from the Soviet Union. Kennedy began intensive meetings on the Berlin issue, where [[Dean Acheson]] took the lead in recommending a military buildup alongside NATO allies.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=185}} In a July 1961 speech, Kennedy announced his decision to add $3.25&nbsp;billion (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US|3.25|1961|r=2}}&nbsp;billion in {{Inflation-year|US}}) to the defense budget, along with over 200,000 additional troops, stating that an attack on West Berlin would be taken as an attack on the U.S. The speech received an 85% approval rating.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=201}}

A month later, both the Soviet Union and East Berlin began blocking any further passage of East Germans into West Berlin and erected [[barbed-wire]] fences, which were quickly upgraded to the [[Berlin Wall]]. Kennedy acquiesced to the wall, though he sent Vice President Johnson to West Berlin to reaffirm U.S. commitment to the enclave's defense. In the following months, in a sign of rising Cold War tensions, both the U.S. and the Soviet Union ended a moratorium on nuclear weapon testing.{{sfn|Giglio|2006|pp=85–86}} A brief stand-off between U.S. and Soviet tanks occurred at [[Checkpoint Charlie]] in October following a dispute over free movement of Allied personnel. The [[Berlin Crisis of 1961|crisis]] was defused largely through a backchannel communication the Kennedy administration had set up with Soviet spy [[Georgi Bolshakov]].{{sfn|Kempe|2011|pp=[https://archive.org/details/berlin1961kenned0000kemp/page/478 478–479]}} In remarks to his aides on the Berlin Wall, Kennedy noted that "it's not a very nice solution, but a wall is a hell of a lot better than a war."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Updegrove |first1=Mark K. |title=Incomparable Grace: JFK in the Presidency |date=2022 |publisher=Penguin Publishing Group |page=118}}</ref>

====Bay of Pigs Invasion====
{{main|Bay of Pigs Invasion}} {{See also|Kennedy's betrayal}}
[[File:JFK Brigade 2506 meeting.jpg|thumb|President Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy greet members of the [[Brigade 2506|2506 Cuban Invasion Brigade]] at Miami's [[Miami Orange Bowl|Orange Bowl]]; {{circa|December 29, 1962}}.]]
The Eisenhower administration had created a plan to overthrow [[Fidel Castro]]'s regime though an invasion of Cuba by a counter-revolutionary insurgency composed of U.S.-trained, anti-Castro [[Cuban exile]]s{{sfn|Schlesinger|2002|pp=233, 238}}{{sfn|Gleijeses|1995}} led by [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] paramilitary officers.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|pp=69–73}} Kennedy had campaigned on a hardline stance against Castro, and when presented with the plan that had been developed under the Eisenhower administration, he enthusiastically adopted it regardless of the risk of inflaming tensions with the Soviet Union.<ref name="fiftyyearslater">{{cite news|title=50 Years Later: Learning From The Bay Of Pigs|url=https://www.npr.org/2011/04/17/135444482/50-years-later-learning-from-the-bay-of-pigs|access-date=September 1, 2016|publisher=NPR|date=April 17, 2011|archive-date=November 1, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191101111423/https://www.npr.org/2011/04/17/135444482/50-years-later-learning-from-the-bay-of-pigs|url-status=live}}</ref> Kennedy approved the final invasion plan on April 4, 1961.<ref>Quesada, Alejandro de (2009). ''The Bay of Pigs: Cuba 1961''. Elite series #166. Illustrated by Stephen Walsh. Osprey Publishing. p. 17.</ref>

On April 15, 1961, eight CIA-supplied [[Douglas A-26 Invader|B-26]] bombers left Nicaragua to bomb Cuban airfields. The bombers missed many of their targets, leaving most of Castro's air force intact.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Bay of Pigs |url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/the-bay-of-pigs |website=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum |access-date=November 19, 2023 |archive-date=February 23, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210223162426/https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/the-bay-of-pigs |url-status=live }} {{PD-notice}}</ref> On April 17, the 1,500 U.S.-trained Cuban exile invasion force, known as [[Brigade 2506]], landed at beaches along the [[Bay of Pigs]] and immediately came under heavy fire.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|pp=71, 673}} The goal was to spark a widespread popular uprising against Castro, but no such uprising occurred.{{sfn|Brinkley|2012|pp=68–69}} No U.S. air support was provided.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Voss |first1=Michael |title=Bay of Pigs: The 'perfect failure' of Cuba invasion |work=BBC News |date=April 14, 2011 |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-13066561 |access-date=November 26, 2023 |archive-date=December 18, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231218143923/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-13066561 |url-status=live }}</ref> The invading force was defeated within two days by the [[Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces]];<ref>{{cite web |title=The Bay of Pigs Invasion and its Aftermath, April 1961–October 1962 |url=https://history.state.gov/milestones/1961-1968/bay-of-pigs#:~:text=Launched%20from%20Guatemala%2C%20the%20attack,the%20direct%20command%20of%20Castro. |website=U.S. Department of State |access-date=November 26, 2023 |archive-date=August 23, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160823123217/https://history.state.gov/milestones/1961-1968/bay-of-pigs#:~:text=Launched%20from%20Guatemala%2C%20the%20attack,the%20direct%20command%20of%20Castro. |url-status=live }}</ref> 114 were killed and Kennedy was forced to negotiate for the release of the 1,189 survivors.<ref>{{cite web |title=In Echo Park Many Local Cubans Celebrate Death Of Former President Fidel Castro |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/in-echo-park-many-local-cubans-celebrate-death-of-former-president-fidel-castro/ |website=CBS News |date=November 26, 2016 |access-date=November 26, 2023 |archive-date=November 26, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231126173920/https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/in-echo-park-many-local-cubans-celebrate-death-of-former-president-fidel-castro/ |url-status=live }}</ref> After twenty months, Cuba released the captured exiles in exchange for a ransom of $53&nbsp;million worth of food and medicine.{{sfn|Schlesinger|2002|pp=268–294, 838–839}} The incident made Castro wary of the U.S. and led him to believe that another invasion would take place.<ref>[[Jean Edward Smith]], "Bay of Pigs: The Unanswered Questions", ''The Nation'', April 13, 1964.</ref>

Biographer [[Richard Reeves (American writer)|Richard Reeves]] said that Kennedy focused primarily on the political repercussions of the plan rather than military considerations. When it proved unsuccessful, he was convinced that the plan was a setup to make him look bad.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|pp=95–97}} He took responsibility for the failure, saying, "We got a big kick in the leg and we deserved it. But maybe we'll learn something from it."{{sfn|Schlesinger|2002|pp=290, 295}} Kennedy's approval ratings climbed afterwards, helped in part by the vocal support given to him by Nixon and Eisenhower.{{sfn|Dallek|2003|pp=370–371}} He appointed Robert Kennedy to help lead a committee to examine the causes of the failure.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hayes|first=Matthew A.|date=2019|title=Robert Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis: A Reassertion of Robert Kennedy's Role as the President's 'Indispensable Partner' in the Successful Resolution of the Crisis|journal=History|language=en|volume=104|issue=361|pages=473–503|doi=10.1111/1468-229X.12815|s2cid=164907501|issn=1468-229X|url=https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10075581/1/Hayes_%20Robert%20Kennedy%20and%20the%20Cuban%20Missile%20Crisis%20Final%20Accepted%20Manuscript.pdf|access-date=March 31, 2024|archive-date=December 27, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211227173632/https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10075581/1/Hayes_%20Robert%20Kennedy%20and%20the%20Cuban%20Missile%20Crisis%20Final%20Accepted%20Manuscript.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> The Kennedy administration [[United States embargo against Cuba|banned all Cuban imports]] and convinced the [[Organization of American States]] (OAS) to expel Cuba.{{Sfn|Herring|2008|pp=707–708}}

====Operation Mongoose====
In late 1961, the White House formed the Special Group (Augmented), headed by Robert Kennedy and including [[Edward Lansdale]], Secretary [[Robert McNamara]], and others. The group's objective—to overthrow Castro via espionage, sabotage, and other covert tactics—was never pursued.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=264}} In November 1961, he authorized [[Operation Mongoose]].<ref name="eu.usatoday.com">{{cite web |url=https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/10/30/u-s-planned-261-000-troop-invasion-force-cuba-newly-released-documents-show/813376001/ |title=U.S. planned massive Cuba invasion force, the kidnapping of Cuban officials |work=USA Today |date=October 30, 2017 |access-date=April 15, 2019 |archive-date=April 12, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412004346/https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/10/30/u-s-planned-261-000-troop-invasion-force-cuba-newly-released-documents-show/813376001/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In March 1962, Kennedy rejected [[Operation Northwoods]], proposals for [[false flag]] attacks against American military and civilian targets,<ref name="1962USJCOS">{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/1962USJointChiefsOfStaffOperationNorthwoodsUnclassifiedDocument/page/n11|title=1962 US Joint Chiefs Of Staff Operation Northwoods Unclassified Document Bolsheviks NWO|date=1962|website=Internet Archive}}</ref> and blaming them on the Cuban government to gain approval for a war against Cuba. However, the administration continued to plan for an invasion of Cuba in the summer of 1962.<ref name="eu.usatoday.com"/>

====Cuban Missile Crisis====
{{main|Cuban Missile Crisis}}
[[File:President Kennedy - signing Cuba Quarantine Proclamation.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.85|Kennedy signs the [[Cuban Missile Crisis|Proclamation for Interdiction of the Delivery of Offensive Weapons to Cuba]] in the Oval Office; {{circa|October 23, 1962}}.]]

In the aftermath of the Bay of Pigs invasion, Khrushchev increased economic and military assistance to Cuba.{{sfn|Giglio|2006|pp=203–205}} The Soviet Union planned to allocate in Cuba 49 [[medium-range ballistic missile]]s, 32 [[intermediate-range ballistic missile]]s, 49 light [[Ilyushin Il-28|Il-28]] bombers and about 100 [[tactical nuclear weapon]]s.<ref>{{cite book | last = Giglio| first =James|author2=Stephen G. Rabe|title =Debating the Kennedy presidency| url = https://archive.org/details/debatingkennedyp00gigl_480| url-access = limited| publisher = Rowman & Littlefield|year = 2003| page = [https://archive.org/details/debatingkennedyp00gigl_480/page/n45 39]| isbn = 978-0-7425-0834-7}}</ref> The Kennedy administration viewed the growing [[Cuba–Soviet Union relations|Cuba-Soviet alliance]] with alarm, fearing that it could eventually pose a threat to the U.S.{{sfn|Brinkley|2012|pp=113–114}} On October 14, 1962, CIA [[Lockheed U-2|U-2]] spy planes [[Aerial reconnaissance#Cold War|took photographs]] of the Soviets' construction of intermediate-range ballistic missile sites in Cuba. The photos were shown to Kennedy on October 16; a consensus was reached that the missiles were offensive in nature and posed an immediate nuclear threat.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=345}}

Kennedy faced a dilemma: if the U.S. attacked the sites, it might lead to nuclear war with the Soviet Union, but if the U.S. did nothing, it would be faced with the increased threat from close-range nuclear weapons (positioned approximately 90&nbsp;mi (140&nbsp;km) away from the Florida coast).<ref>{{cite web |title=President John F. Kennedy - Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962 |url=https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/eyewitness/html.php?section=26#:~:text=On%20October%2016%2C%201962%2C%20President,come%20on%20very%20short%20notice. |website=National Archives |access-date=January 30, 2024 |archive-date=September 28, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928100637/https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/eyewitness/html.php?section=26#:~:text=On%20October%2016%2C%201962%2C%20President,come%20on%20very%20short%20notice. |url-status=live }}</ref> The U.S. would also appear to the world as less committed to the defense of the Western Hemisphere. On a personal level, Kennedy needed to show resolve in reaction to Khrushchev, especially after the Vienna summit.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=245}} To deal with the crisis, he formed an ad-hoc body of key advisers, later known as [[EXCOMM]], that met secretly between October 16 and 28.{{sfn|Giglio|2006|pp=207–208}}

More than a third of [[U.S. National Security Council]] (NSC) members favored an unannounced air assault on the missile sites, but some saw this as "[[Attack on Pearl Harbor|Pearl Harbor]] in reverse."{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=387}} There was some concern from the international community (asked in confidence) that the assault plan was an overreaction given that Eisenhower had placed [[PGM-19 Jupiter]] missiles in Italy and Turkey in 1958. It also could not be assured that the assault would be 100% effective.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=388}} In concurrence with a majority vote of the NSC, Kennedy decided on a [[naval blockade]] (or "quarantine"). On October 22, after privately informing the cabinet and leading members of Congress about the situation, Kennedy announced the naval blockade on national television and warned that U.S. forces would seize "offensive weapons and associated materiel" that Soviet vessels might attempt to deliver to Cuba.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=389}}

[[File:President confers with Attorney General. Attorney General Kennedy, President Kennedy. White House, West Wing Collonade. - NARA - 194239.jpg|thumb|Kennedy confers with Attorney General [[Robert Kennedy]]; {{circa|October 1962}}.]]
The U.S. Navy would stop and inspect all Soviet ships arriving off Cuba, beginning October 24. Several Soviet ships approached the blockade line, but they stopped or reversed course.{{sfn|Giglio|2006|p=220}} The OAS gave unanimous support to the removal of the missiles. Kennedy exchanged two sets of letters with Khrushchev, to no avail.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=390}} UN Secretary General [[U Thant]] requested both parties to reverse their decisions and enter a cooling-off period. Khrushchev agreed, but Kennedy did not.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=403}} Kennedy managed to preserve restraint when a Soviet missile unauthorizedly downed a U.S. Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance aircraft over Cuba, killing pilot [[Rudolf Anderson]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The World on the Brink: John F. Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis |url=https://microsites.jfklibrary.org/cmc/oct27/ |website=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum |access-date=November 26, 2023 |archive-date=November 24, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231124154618/https://microsites.jfklibrary.org/cmc/oct27/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

At the president's direction, Robert Kennedy privately informed Soviet Ambassador [[Anatoly Dobrynin]] that the U.S. would remove the Jupiter missiles from Turkey "within a short time after this crisis was over."{{sfn|Giglio|2006|pp=225–226}} On October 28, Khrushchev agreed to dismantle the missile sites, subject to UN inspections.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=426}} The U.S. publicly promised never to invade Cuba and privately agreed to remove its Jupiter missiles from Italy and Turkey, which were by then obsolete and had been supplanted by submarines equipped with [[UGM-27 Polaris]] missiles.{{sfn|Kenney|2000|pp=184–186}}

In the aftermath, a [[Moscow–Washington hotline]] was established to ensure clear communications between the leaders of the two countries.{{Sfn|Herring|2008|p=723}} This crisis brought the world closer to nuclear war than at any point before or after, but "the humanity" of Khrushchev and Kennedy prevailed.{{sfn|Kenney|2000|p=189}} The crisis improved the image of American willpower and the president's credibility. Kennedy's approval rating increased from 66% to 77% immediately thereafter.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=425}}

====Latin America and communism====
{{further|Presidency of John F. Kennedy#Latin America}}
{{see also|Alliance for Progress}}
[[File:Alliance for Progress in Venezuela 1961.jpg|thumb|Kennedy in December 1961 promoting the [[Alliance for Progress]] with Venezuelan President [[Rómulo Betancourt]]]]

Believing that "those who make peaceful revolution impossible, will make violent revolution inevitable,"<ref>JFK's "Address on the First Anniversary of the Alliance for Progress", White House reception for diplomatic cors of the Latin American republics, March 13, 1962. ''Public Papers of the Presidents''&nbsp;– John F. Kennedy (1962), p. 223.</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=http://name.umdl.umich.edu/4730892.1962.001|title=John F. Kennedy: 1962 : containing the public messages, speeches, and statements of the president, January 20 to December 31, 1962.|last=Kennedy|first=John F. (John Fitzgerald)|date=2005|access-date=December 29, 2018|archive-date=March 31, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240331040145/https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ppotpus;idno=4730892.1962.001|url-status=live}}</ref> Kennedy sought to contain the perceived threat of communism in Latin America by establishing the [[Alliance for Progress]], which sent aid to some countries and sought greater [[human rights]] standards in the region.{{sfn|Schlesinger|2002|pp=788–789}} In response to Kennedy's plea, Congress voted for an initial grant of $500 million in May 1961.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Glass |first1=Andrew |title=JFK proposes an Alliance for Progress for Latin America, March 13, 1961 |url=https://www.politico.com/story/2019/03/13/jfk-proposes-an-alliance-for-progress-for-latin-america-march-13-1961-1214880 |newspaper=Politico |date=March 13, 2019 |access-date=November 26, 2023 |archive-date=November 26, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231126175004/https://www.politico.com/story/2019/03/13/jfk-proposes-an-alliance-for-progress-for-latin-america-march-13-1961-1214880 |url-status=live }}</ref> The Alliance for Progress supported the construction of housing, schools, airports, hospitals, clinics and water-purification projects as well as the distribution of free textbooks to students.<ref name="auto">{{cite web |title=Alliance for Progress |url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/alliance-for-progress |publisher=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum |access-date=November 19, 2023 |archive-date=November 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231112173320/https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/alliance-for-progress |url-status=live }}{{PD-notice}}</ref> However, the program did not meet many of its goals. Massive land reform was not achieved; populations more than kept pace with gains in health and welfare; and according to one study, only 2 percent of economic growth in 1960s Latin America directly benefited the poor.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Alliance for Progress |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Alliance-for-Progress |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |access-date=November 19, 2023 |archive-date=November 18, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231118175215/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Alliance-for-Progress |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Alliance for Progress and Peace Corps, 1961–1969 |url=https://history.state.gov/milestones/1961-1968/alliance-for-progress |publisher=United States Department of State |access-date=November 19, 2023 |archive-date=November 18, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231118180616/https://history.state.gov/milestones/1961-1968/alliance-for-progress |url-status=live }}</ref> U.S. presidents after Kennedy were less supportive of the program and by 1973, the permanent committee established to implement the Alliance was disbanded by the OAS.<ref name="auto"/>

The Eisenhower administration, through the CIA, had begun formulating plans to assassinate Castro in Cuba and [[Rafael Trujillo]] in the [[Dominican Republic]]. When Kennedy took office, he privately instructed the CIA that any plan must include [[plausible deniability]] by the U.S. His public position was in opposition.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|pp=140–142}} In June 1961, the Dominican Republic's leader was assassinated; in the days following, Undersecretary of State [[Chester Bowles]] led a cautious reaction by the nation. Robert Kennedy, who saw an opportunity for the U.S., called Bowles "a gutless bastard" to his face.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=152}}

====Laos====
{{see also|Laotian Civil War}}

After the election, Eisenhower emphasized to Kennedy that the communist threat in Southeast Asia required priority; Eisenhower considered [[Laos]] to be "the cork in the bottle" in regards to the regional threat.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=75}} In March 1961, Kennedy voiced a change in policy from supporting a "free" Laos to a "neutral" Laos, indicating privately that [[Vietnam]] should be deemed America's tripwire for communism's spread in the area.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=75}} Though he was unwilling to commit U.S. forces to a major military intervention in Laos, Kennedy did approve [[CIA activities in Laos|CIA activities]] designed to defeat Communist insurgents through bombing raids and the recruitment of the [[Hmong people]].{{sfn|Patterson|1996|p=498}}

====Vietnam====
{{further|Presidency of John F. Kennedy#Vietnam}}
{{see also|Vietnam War}}
[[File:Press Conference, State Department Auditorium, JFKWHP-ST-C100-1-61.jpg|thumb|Kennedy speaking in a televised press conference on the situation in Southeast Asia, {{circa|March 23, 1961}}]]
[[File:CBS News Anchor, Walter Cronkite, Interviews President John F. Kennedy.jpg|thumb|[[Walter Cronkite]] of [[CBS News]] interviewing Kennedy on September 2, 1963, about U.S. involvement in Vietnam]]

During his presidency, Kennedy continued policies that provided political, economic, and military support to the [[South Vietnam]]ese government.{{sfn|Dunnigan|Nofi|1999|p=257}} Vietnam had been divided into a communist North Vietnam and a non-communist South Vietnam after the [[1954 Geneva Conference]], but Kennedy escalated American involvement in Vietnam in 1961 by financing the [[Army of the Republic of Vietnam|South Vietnam army]], increasing the number of U.S. [[military advisors]] above the levels of the Eisenhower administration, and authorizing U.S. helicopter units to provide support to South Vietnamese forces.{{sfn|Giglio|2006|pp=256–261}} On January 18, 1962, Kennedy formally authorized escalated involvement when he signed the National Security Action Memorandum (NSAM) – "Subversive Insurgency (War of Liberation)."{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=281}} [[Operation Ranch Hand]], a large-scale aerial defoliation effort using the herbicide [[Agent Orange]], began on the roadsides of South Vietnam to combat [[Guerrilla warfare|guerrilla defendants]].{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=259}}<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2019/07/agent-orange-cambodia-laos-vietnam/591412/ | title=The U.S.'s Toxic Agent Orange Legacy | publisher=The Atlantic | date=July 20, 2019 | access-date=May 13, 2023 | first=Charles | last=Dunst | archive-date=October 14, 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191014202833/https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2019/07/agent-orange-cambodia-laos-vietnam/591412/ | url-status=live }}</ref>

Though Kennedy provided support for South Vietnam throughout his tenure, Vietnam remained a secondary issue for the Kennedy administration until 1963.{{sfn|Giglio|2006|pp=256–257}} On September 2, Kennedy declared in an interview with [[Walter Cronkite]] of [[CBS News|CBS]]:

<blockquote>In the final analysis, it is their war. They are the ones who have to win it or lose it. We can help them, we can give them equipment, we can send our men out there as advisers, but they have to win it, the people of Vietnam, against the Communists... But I don't agree with those who say we should withdraw. That would be a great mistake... [The United States] made this effort to defend Europe. Now Europe is quite secure. We also have to participate—we may not like it—in the defense of Asia.<ref>{{cite web |title=50. Interview With the President |url=https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d50 |website=U.S. Department of State |access-date=November 12, 2023 |archive-date=November 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231112050354/https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d50 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Interview with Walter Cronkite, Inaugurating a CBS TV News Program, 2 September 1963|publisher=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum|url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/jfkwha-212-002|access-date=May 7, 2024}}</ref></blockquote>

Kennedy increasingly soured on the president of South Vietnam, [[Ngo Dinh Diem]], whose violent [[Buddhist crisis|crackdown on Buddhist practices]] galvanized opposition to his leadership. In August 1963, [[Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.]] replaced [[Frederick Nolting]] as the U.S. ambassador to South Vietnam. Days after his arrival in South Vietnam, Lodge reported that several South Vietnamese generals sought the assent of the U.S. government to their plan of removing Diem from power. The Kennedy administration was split regarding not just the removal of Diem, but also their assessment of the military situation and the proper U.S. role in the country. After the State Department sent a [[Cable 243|diplomatic cable]] to Lodge that ordered him to pressure Diem to remove military authority from his brother, [[Ngô Đình Nhu]], or face potential withdrawal of U.S. support and removal from power,{{sfn|Reeves|1993|pp=562–563}} Kennedy instructed Lodge to offer covert assistance to a coup d'état, excluding assassination.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=617}} On November 1, 1963, a junta of senior military officers executed the [[1963 South Vietnamese coup d'état|coup]] which led to the [[Arrest and assassination of Ngô Đình Diệm|arrest and assassinations of Diem and Nhu]] on November 2.{{sfn|Giglio|2006|pp=262–268}}

By November 1963, there were 16,000 American military personnel in South Vietnam, up from Eisenhower's 900 advisors;<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.swarthmore.edu/library/peace/conscientiousobjection/OverviewVietnamWar.htm |title=Vietnam War |publisher=Swarthmore College Peace Collection |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160803124531/http://www.swarthmore.edu/library/peace/conscientiousobjection/OverviewVietnamWar.htm |archive-date=August 3, 2016 }}</ref> more than one hundred Americans had been killed in action and no final policy decision was made.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.archives.gov/research/military/vietnam-war/casualty-statistics|title=Vietnam War U.S. Military Fatal Casualty Statistics|date=August 15, 2016|website=National Archives|access-date=January 30, 2024|archive-date=May 26, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200526173917/https://www.archives.gov/research/military/vietnam-war/casualty-statistics|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Track the rapid escalation of the Vietnam War under Pres. John F. Kennedy's administration |url=https://www.britannica.com/video/78017/John-F-Kennedy-number-Vietnam-Perspective-military |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=January 30, 2024 |archive-date=January 30, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240130021951/https://www.britannica.com/video/78017/John-F-Kennedy-number-Vietnam-Perspective-military |url-status=live }}</ref>{{sfn|Matthews|2011|pp=393–394}} In the aftermath of the aborted coup in September 1963, the Kennedy administration reevaluated its policies in South Vietnam. Kennedy rejected the full-scale deployment of ground soldiers but also the total withdrawal of U.S. forces.{{sfn|Giglio|2006|pp=265–266}} Historians disagree on whether the U.S. military presence in Vietnam would have escalated had Kennedy survived and been re-elected in 1964.<ref>{{cite journal | first = Joseph J. | last = Ellis | title = Making Vietnam History | journal = Reviews in American History | volume = 28 | issue = 4 | year = 2000 | pages = 625–629 | doi = 10.1353/rah.2000.0068 | s2cid = 144881388 }}</ref> Fueling the debate are statements made by Secretary of Defense McNamara in the 2003 documentary film ''[[The Fog of War]]'' that Kennedy was strongly considering pulling out of Vietnam after the 1964 election,<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1635958_1635999_1634954-5,00.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070628213900/http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1635958_1635999_1634954-5,00.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=June 28, 2007 | work=Time Magazine | title=Warrior For Peace | date=June 21, 2007 | access-date=March 1, 2012 | first1=David | last1=Talbot}}</ref> and comments made by Kennedy administration [[White House Counsel]] and speechwriter [[Ted Sorensen]] in a 2008 memoir suggesting that Kennedy was undecided about what policy direction to take.<ref>{{cite book|last=Sorensen|first=Ted|year=2008|title=Counselor: A Life at the Edge of History|place=New York|publisher=[[HarperCollins]]|page=359|isbn=978-0060798710}}</ref>{{sfn|Matthews|2011|pp=393–394}}

On October 11, 1963, Kennedy signed [[National Security Action Memorandum 263|NSAM 263]] ordering the withdrawal of 1,000 military personnel by the end of the year following the third recommendation of the [[McNamara–Taylor mission]] report, which concluded that the training program for the South Vietnamese military had sufficiently progressed to justify the withdrawal.<ref name="NSAM 263">{{cite web |url = http://www.jfklancer.com/NSAM263.html |work = JFK Lancer |last = Bundy |first = McGeorge| author-link=McGeorge Bundy |title = National Security Action Memorandum # 263 |date = October 11, 1963 |access-date =February 19, 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160803124810/http://www.jfklancer.com/NSAM263.html | archive-date=August 3, 2016}}</ref>{{sfn|Dallek|2003|p=680}}<ref name="McNamara-Taylor">{{cite report|title=McNamara–Taylor Report on Vietnam |website=[[Central Intelligence Agency|cia.gov]]|url=https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP80B01676R000100120009-1.pdf|access-date=May 6, 2024}}</ref> However, NSAM 263 also approved the first recommendation of the report to continue providing support to South Vietnam to prevent the spread of communism and until the [[Viet Cong]] was suppressed, while the third recommendation suggested that even if the majority of the U.S. military objective was completed by the end of 1965 that continued presence of U.S. training personnel in more limited numbers could be necessary if the insurgency was not suppressed.<ref>Logevall, Frederick (1998), "Vietnam and the Question of What Might Have Been," in Mark J. White, ed. ''Kennedy: The New Frontier Revisited'', New York: New York University Press, pp. 25, 27, 34–53</ref><ref>{{cite report|title=National Security Action Memoranda [NSAM]: NSAM 263, South Vietnam|publisher=[[John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum]]|url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/jfknsf-342-007#?image_identifier=JFKNSF-342-007-p0001|access-date=May 6, 2024}}</ref><ref name="McNamara-Taylor" />

====West Berlin speech====
[[File:JFKBerlinSpeech.jpg|thumb|Kennedy delivering his speech in [[West Berlin]]]]

In 1963, Germany was enduring a time of particular vulnerability due to Soviet aggression to the east as well as the impending retirement of West German Chancellor [[Adenauer]].{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=534}} At the same time, French President Charles de Gaulle was trying to build a Franco-West German counterweight to the American and Soviet spheres of influence.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=skWRAgAAQBAJ&q=de%2Bgaulle%2Band%2Bgermany%2Beuropean%2Bcounterweight&pg=PA96|title=Christian Democracy in Europe Since 19455|isbn=978-1-135-75385-6|last1=Gehler|first1=Michael|last2=Kaiser|first2=Professor of European Studies Wolfram|last3=Kaiser|first3=Wolfram|year=2004|publisher=Routledge|access-date=July 24, 2023|archive-date=July 24, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230724232650/https://books.google.com/books?id=skWRAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA96&q=de%2Bgaulle%2Band%2Bgermany%2Beuropean%2Bcounterweight|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4U6yAAAAQBAJ&q=de%2Bgaulle%2Band%2Bgermany%2Beuropean%2Bcounterweight&pg=PA204|title=The Militant Face of Democracy|isbn=978-1-107-03740-3|last1=Geis|first1=Anna|last2=Müller|first2=Harald|last3=Schörnig|first3=Niklas|year=2013|publisher=Cambridge University Press|access-date=July 24, 2023|archive-date=July 24, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230724232653/https://books.google.com/books?id=4U6yAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA204&q=de%2Bgaulle%2Band%2Bgermany%2Beuropean%2Bcounterweight|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/degaulleworld00kuls|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/degaulleworld00kuls/page/29 29]|quote=de gaulle and germany european counterweight.|title=De Gaulle and the World|publisher=Syracuse University Press|last1=Kulski|first1=W. W|year=1966}}</ref> To Kennedy's eyes, this Franco-German cooperation seemed directed against [[NATO]]'s influence in Europe.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IY3EAo4Tz1wC&q=de%2Bgaulle%2Bgermany%2Bcounterweight%2Bkennedy&pg=PA264|title=Modernity and Power|isbn=978-0-226-58650-2|last1=Ninkovich|first1=Frank|year=1994|publisher=University of Chicago Press|access-date=July 24, 2023|archive-date=July 24, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230724232651/https://books.google.com/books?id=IY3EAo4Tz1wC&pg=PA264&q=de+gaulle+germany+counterweight+kennedy|url-status=live}}</ref>

To reinforce the U.S. alliance with West Germany, Kennedy travelled to West Germany and West Berlin in June 1963. On June 26, Kennedy toured West Berlin, culminating in a public speech at the city hall in front of hundreds of thousands of enthusiastic Berliners.{{sfn|Daum|2008|pages=125–163}} He reiterated the American commitment to Germany and criticized communism and was met with an ecstatic response from the massive audience.{{sfn|Dallek|2003|p=624}} Kennedy used the construction of the Berlin Wall as an example of the failures of communism: "Freedom has many difficulties, and democracy is not perfect. But we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in, to prevent them from leaving us." The speech is known for its famous phrase ''"[[Ich bin ein Berliner]]"'' ("I am a Berliner").{{sfn|Daum|2008|pages=147–156}}

====Middle East====
{{further|Presidency of John F. Kennedy#Middle East}}
[[File:Kennedy with Shah of Iran, 1961.jpg|thumb|left|Shah [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi]] of Iran, Kennedy, and U.S. Defense Secretary [[Robert McNamara]] in the [[Cabinet Room (White House)|White House Cabinet Room]] on April 13, 1962]]

Kennedy ended the arms embargo that the Truman and Eisenhower administrations had enforced on [[Israel]] in favor of increased security ties, becoming the founder of the [[Israel–United States military relations|U.S.-Israeli military alliance]]. Describing the protection of Israel as a moral and national commitment, he was the first to introduce the concept of a 'special relationship' between the U.S. and Israel.<ref>{{cite book | title=Balancing Act: US Foreign Policy and the Arab-Israeli Conflict | publisher=Ashgate Publishing | author=Shannon, Vaughn P. | year=2003 | location=Aldershot | page=55 | isbn=0754635910}}</ref> In 1962, the Kennedy administration sold Israel a major weapon system, the [[MIM-23 Hawk|Hawk antiaircraft missile]]. Historians differ as to whether Kennedy pursued security ties with Israel primarily to shore up support with Jewish-American voters, or because of his admiration of the Jewish state.<ref>Zachary K. Goldman, "Ties that bind: John F. Kennedy and the foundations of the American–Israeli alliance: The Cold War and Israel." ''Cold War History'' 9.1 (2009): 23–58, quoting Ben-Zvi on p 25.</ref>

In December 1961, [[Abd al-Karim Qasim]]'s Iraqi government passed Public Law 80, which restricted the partially American-controlled [[Iraq Petroleum Company]] (IPC)'s [[concessionary holding]] to those areas in which oil was actually being produced (namely, the fields at [[Az Zubair]] and [[Kirkuk]]), effectively expropriating 99.5% of the IPC concession. British and U.S. officials demanded that the Kennedy administration place pressure on the Qasim regime.<ref>{{cite book|last=Little|first=Douglas|title=American Orientalism: The United States and the Middle East Since 1945|publisher=The [[University of North Carolina Press]]|page=62}}</ref> In April 1962, the State Department issued new guidelines on Iraq that were intended to increase American influence. Meanwhile, Kennedy instructed the CIA—under the direction of [[Archibald Bulloch Roosevelt Jr.]]—to begin making preparations for a military coup against Qasim.{{sfn|Gibson|2015|pp=43–45}}

The anti-imperialist and anti-communist [[Iraqi Ba'ath Party]] overthrew and executed Qasim in [[Ramadan Revolution|a violent coup]] on February 8, 1963. Despite persistent rumors that the CIA orchestrated the coup, declassified documents and the testimony of former CIA officers indicate that there was no direct American involvement.{{sfn|Gibson|2015|pp=45, 57–58}} The Kennedy administration was pleased with the outcome and ultimately approved a $55-million arms deal for Iraq.{{sfn|Gibson|2015|pp=60–61, 80}}

====Ireland====
[[File:President's Trip to Europe- Motorcade in Cork. President Kennedy, motorcade, spectators. Cork, Ireland - NARA - 194227.jpg|thumb|Kennedy's motorcade through [[Cork (city)|Cork]], Ireland on June 28, 1963]]

During his four-day visit to his ancestral home of Ireland beginning on June 26, 1963,<ref>{{cite web |title=President John F. Kennedy on His Historic Trip to Ireland |url=http://www.shapell.org/manuscript.aspx?kennedy-ireland-trip |work=Shapell Manuscript Collection |publisher=Shapell Manuscript Foundation |access-date=November 13, 2013 |archive-date=May 17, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200517120227/https://www.shapell.org/manuscript/kennedy-ireland-trip/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Kennedy accepted a grant of [[Achievement (heraldry)|armorial bearings]] from the [[Chief Herald of Ireland]], received honorary degrees from the [[National University of Ireland]] and [[Trinity College Dublin]], attended a State Dinner in Dublin, and was conferred with the freedom of the towns and cities of Wexford, Cork, Dublin, Galway, and Limerick.{{sfn|Sorensen|1966|p=656}}<ref name="homecoming">{{cite web |url=http://jfkhomecoming.com/timeline/introduction/ |title=Timeline |website=JFKhomecoming |date=2013 |access-date=March 31, 2024 |archive-date=November 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231111192717/http://jfkhomecoming.com/timeline/introduction/ |url-status=live }}</ref> He visited the cottage at Dunganstown, near [[New Ross]], County Wexford, where his ancestors had lived before emigrating to America.<ref name="BBC 1963">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/27/newsid_4461000/4461115.stm |title=1963: Warm welcome for JFK in Ireland |access-date=February 23, 2012 |work=[[BBC News]] | date=June 27, 1963 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160803125829/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/27/newsid_4461000/4461115.stm  |archive-date=August 3, 2016}}</ref>

Kennedy was the first foreign leader to address the [[Oireachtas|Houses of the Oireachtas]], the Irish parliament.<ref name="homecoming" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/lPAi7jx2s0i7kePPdJnUXA.aspx |title=Address Before the Irish Parliament in Dublin, June 28, 1963 (Text and audio) |website=[[John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum]] |date=June 28, 1963 |access-date=July 3, 2013 |archive-date=August 28, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180828040037/https://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/lPAi7jx2s0i7kePPdJnUXA.aspx |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rte.ie/archives/exhibitions/1722-john-f-kennedy/ |title=President Kennedy in Ireland (Text and video) |work=[[RTÉ]] Archives |access-date=July 3, 2013 |archive-date=September 20, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230920094442/https://www.rte.ie/archives/exhibitions/1722-john-f-kennedy/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Kennedy later told aides that the trip was the best four days of his life.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-20234703.html |title=The best four days of JFK's life |first=Ray |last=Ryan |date=June 21, 2013 |newspaper=[[Irish Examiner]] |issn=1393-9564 |location=Cork |language=en-ie |access-date=February 6, 2022 |archive-date=January 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220127230759/https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-20234703.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

====American University speech====
{{Listen
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| title        = ''World Peace'' Speech
| description  = Speech from [[American University]] by John F. Kennedy, June 10, 1963 (duration 26:47)
| format       = Ogg
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On June 10, 1963, Kennedy, at the high point of his rhetorical powers,<ref>{{cite news|last1=Mufson|first1=Steve|title=Obama will echo Kennedy's American University nuclear speech from 1963|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/obama-will-echo-kennedys-american-university-nuclear-speech-from-1963/2015/08/04/b037d0fe-3ab8-11e5-b3ac-8a79bc44e5e2_story.html|access-date=August 6, 2015|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=August 4, 2015|archive-date=August 5, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150805040413/http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/obama-will-echo-kennedys-american-university-nuclear-speech-from-1963/2015/08/04/b037d0fe-3ab8-11e5-b3ac-8a79bc44e5e2_story.html|url-status=live}}</ref> delivered the [[American University speech|commencement address at American University]]. Also known as "A Strategy of Peace", not only did Kennedy outline a plan to curb nuclear arms, but he also "laid out a hopeful, yet realistic route for world peace at a time when the U.S. and Soviet Union faced the potential for an escalating [[nuclear arms race]]."<ref>{{cite news|last1=Wang|first1=Joy Y.|title=Obama to follow in John F. Kennedy's historic footsteps|url=https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/obama-follow-john-f-kennedy-historic-footsteps|agency=MSNBC|access-date=August 6, 2015|date=August 4, 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160803125334/http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/obama-follow-john-f-kennedy-historic-footsteps | archive-date=August 3, 2016}}</ref> Kennedy also announced that the Soviets had expressed a desire to negotiate a nuclear test ban treaty, and that the U.S. had postponed planned atmospheric tests.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=514}}

====Nuclear Test Ban Treaty====
{{main|Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty}}
[[File:President Kennedy signs Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, 07 October 1963.jpg|thumb|left|Kennedy signs the [[Partial Test Ban Treaty]], a major milestone in early [[nuclear disarmament]], on October 7, 1963.]]

Troubled by the long-term dangers of [[radioactive contamination]] and [[nuclear proliferation]], Kennedy and Khrushchev agreed to negotiate a nuclear test ban treaty, originally conceived in Adlai Stevenson's 1956 presidential campaign.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=552}} In their Vienna summit meeting in June 1961, Khrushchev and Kennedy reached an informal understanding against nuclear testing, but the Soviet Union began testing nuclear weapons that September. In response, the United States conducted tests five days later.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=227}} Shortly afterwards, new U.S. satellites began delivering images that made it clear that the Soviets were substantially behind the U.S. in the arms race.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=229}} Nevertheless, the greater nuclear strength of the U.S. was of little value as long as the Soviet Union perceived itself to be at parity.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=243}}

In July 1963, Kennedy sent [[W. Averell Harriman]] to Moscow to negotiate a treaty with the Soviets.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=542}} The introductory sessions included Khrushchev, who later delegated Soviet representation to [[Andrei Gromyko]]. It quickly became clear that a comprehensive test ban would not be implemented, due largely to the reluctance of the Soviets to allow inspections to verify compliance.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=548}}

Ultimately, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union were the initial signatories to a limited treaty, which prohibited atomic testing on the ground, in the atmosphere, or underwater, but not underground. The U.S. Senate approved the treaty on September 23, 1963, and Kennedy signed it on October 7, 1963.<ref>{{cite web |title=Nuclear Test Ban Treaty |url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/nuclear-test-ban-treaty |website=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum |access-date=November 19, 2023 |archive-date=July 19, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190719110611/https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/nuclear-test-ban-treaty |url-status=live }} {{PD-notice}}</ref> France was quick to declare that it was free to continue developing and testing its nuclear defenses.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=550}}

===Domestic policy===
====New Frontier====
{{main|New Frontier}}
[[File:Bill Signing- Manpower Development and Training Act of 1962. President Kennedy, Secretary of Labor Arthur Goldberg... - NARA - 194205.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|Kennedy signing the [[New Frontier#Unemployment|Manpower Development and Training Act]], March 15, 1962]]

Kennedy called his domestic proposals the "[[New Frontier]]".{{sfn|Brinkley|2012|pp=63–65}} However, Kennedy's small margin of victory in the 1960 election, his lack of deep connections to influential members of Congress, and his administration's focus on foreign policy hindered the passage of New Frontier policies.{{sfn|Giglio|2006|pp=40–41, 100}}

In 1961, Kennedy prioritized passing five bills: federal assistance for education, medical insurance for the elderly, housing legislation, federal aid to struggling areas, and an increase in the federal minimum wage.{{sfn|Giglio|2006|p=99}} Kennedy's bill to increase the [[minimum wage in the United States|federal minimum wage]] to $1.25 an hour passed in early 1961, but an amendment inserted by conservative leader from Georgia, [[Carl Vinson]], exempted laundry workers from the law.{{sfn|Giglio|2006|pp=102–103}} Kennedy also won passage of the [[Area Redevelopment Administration|Area Redevelopment Act]] and the Housing Act of 1961. The Area Redevelopment Act, a $394 million program, provided federal funding to economically struggling regions (primarily in [[Appalachia]]), while the Housing Act of 1961 provided funds for [[urban renewal]] and [[public housing]] and authorized federal [[mortgage loans]] to those who did not qualify for public housing.{{sfn|Giglio|2006|pp=105–106}} Kennedy proposed a bill providing for $2.3 billion in federal educational aid to the states, with more money going to states with lower [[per capita income]]. Though the Senate passed the education bill, it was defeated in the House by a coalition of Republicans, Southern Democrats, and Catholics.{{sfn|Giglio|2006|pp=103–104}} Kennedy's health insurance bill, which would have paid for hospitalization and nursing costs for the elderly, failed to pass either house of Congress.{{sfn|Giglio|2006|pp=104–105}} A bill that would have established the [[Department of Housing and Urban Development|Department of Urban Affairs and Housing]] was also defeated.{{sfn|Giglio|2006|pp=106–107}}

In 1962, Kennedy won approval of the [[Manpower Development and Training Act]], a three-year program aimed at retraining workers displaced by new technology. Its impact on [[structural unemployment]], however, was minimal.{{sfn|Giglio|2006|pp=105–106}} At the urging of his sister [[Eunice Kennedy Shriver|Eunice]], Kennedy made [[intellectual disabilities]] a priority for his administration. In 1963, Congress passed the [[Community Mental Health Act]], which provided funding to local mental health community centers and research facilities.<ref>{{cite web |title=John F. Kennedy and People with Intellectual Disabilities |url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/john-f-kennedy-and-people-with-intellectual-disabilities |website=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum |access-date=November 19, 2023 |archive-date=January 21, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220121030950/https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/john-f-kennedy-and-people-with-intellectual-disabilities |url-status=live }}{{PD-notice}}</ref>

Trade policy included both domestic and foreign policy. The 1962 [[Trade Expansion Act]] passed Congress by wide majorities. It authorized the president to negotiate tariff reductions on a reciprocal basis of up to 50 percent with the [[European Common Market]].{{sfn|Giglio|2006|pp=107–109}} The legislation paved the way for the [[Kennedy Round]] of [[General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade]] negotiations, concluding on June 30, 1967, the last day before expiration of the Act.<ref>{{cite journal|first=John B.|last=Rehm|jstor=2196880|title=Developments in the law and institutions of international economic relations: the Kennedy Round of Trade Negotiations|journal=[[The American Journal of International Law]]|publisher=[[American Society of International Law]]|volume=62|issue=2|date=April 1968|pages=403–434|doi=10.2307/2196880}}</ref>

====Taxes====
{{further|Presidency of John F. Kennedy#Taxes and the Treasury}}
[[Walter Heller]], who served as the chairman of the CEA, advocated for a [[Keynesian economics|Keynesian]]-style tax cut designed to help spur economic growth, and Kennedy adopted this policy.{{sfn|Patterson|1996|pp=464–465}} The idea was that a tax cut would stimulate consumer demand, which in turn would lead to higher economic growth, lower unemployment, and increased federal revenues.{{sfn|Giglio|2006|p=125}} To the disappointment of liberals like [[John Kenneth Galbraith]], Kennedy's embrace of the tax cut shifted his administration's focus away from the proposed old-age health insurance program and other domestic expenditures.{{sfn|Giglio|2006|pp=136–137}} In January 1963, Kennedy proposed a tax cut that would reduce the top marginal tax rate from 91 to 65 percent, and lower the corporate tax rate from 52 to 47 percent. The predictions according to the Keynesian model indicated the cuts would decrease income taxes by about $10 billion and corporate taxes by about $3.5 billion. The plan included reforms designed to reduce the impact of [[itemized deduction]]s, as well as provisions to help the elderly and handicapped. Republicans and many Southern Democrats opposed the bill, calling for simultaneous reductions in expenditures, but debate continued throughout 1963.{{sfn|Giglio|2006|pp=139–141}} Three months after Kennedy died, Johnson pushed the plan through Congress. The [[Revenue Act of 1964]] lowered the top individual rate to 70 percent, and the top corporate rate to 48 percent.<ref>{{cite book |title=Why Budgets Matter: Budget Policy and American Politics |last=Ippolito |first=Dennis |year=2004 |publisher=Penn State Press |pages=173–175|isbn=0-271-02260-4}}</ref>

====Economy====
{{See also|Recession of 1960–1961|Kennedy Slide of 1962}}
[[File:JFK delivers State of the Union Address, 14 January 1963.jpg|thumb|President Kennedy delivers his State of the Union Address; {{circa|January 14, 1963}}.]]
Kennedy ended a period of tight fiscal policies, loosening monetary policy to keep [[interest rate]]s down and to encourage growth of the economy.{{sfn|Frum|2000|p=293}} He presided over the first government budget to top the $100&nbsp;billion mark, in 1962, and his first budget in 1961 resulted in the nation's first non-war, non-recession [[Government budget deficit|deficit]].{{sfn|Frum|2000|p=324}} The economy, which had been through two recessions in three years and was in one when Kennedy took office, accelerated notably throughout his administration. Despite low [[inflation]] and interest rates, the [[GDP]] had grown by an average of only 2.2% per annum during the Eisenhower administration (scarcely more than population growth at the time), and it had declined by 1% during Eisenhower's last twelve months in office.<ref name="Bureau of Economic Analysis">{{cite web | url = https://www.bea.gov/national/nipaweb/TableView.asp?SelectedTable=6&ViewSeries=NO&Java=no&Request3Place=N&3Place=N&FromView=YES&Freq=Qtr&FirstYear=1953&LastYear=1964&3Place=N&Update=Update&JavaBox=no | title = BEA: Quarterly GDP figures by sector, 1953–1964 | publisher = United States Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis | access-date = February 23, 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120306070717/http://www.bea.gov/national/nipaweb/TableView.asp?SelectedTable=6&ViewSeries=NO&Java=no&Request3Place=N&3Place=N&FromView=YES&Freq=Qtr&FirstYear=1953&LastYear=1964&3Place=N&Update=Update&JavaBox=no | archive-date = March 6, 2012 | url-status=dead | df = mdy-all }}</ref>

The economy turned around and prospered during Kennedy's presidency. The GDP expanded by an average of 5.5% from early 1961 to late 1963,<ref name="Bureau of Economic Analysis" /> while inflation remained steady at around 1% and unemployment eased.<ref name="GDP 1913 to 2002">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/statab/hist/HS-36.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050511134314/http://www.census.gov/statab/hist/HS-36.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 11, 2005 |title=Consumer and Gross Domestic Price Indices: 1913 to 2002 |publisher=U.S. Census Bureau |year=2003 |access-date=February 23, 2012 }}</ref> Industrial production rose by 15% and motor vehicle sales increased by 40%.<ref name="Statistical Abstract 1964">{{cite web | url = http://www2.census.gov/prod2/statcomp/documents/1964-01.pdf | title = Statistical Abstract of the United States, 1964 | publisher = U.S. Department of Commerce | date = July 1964 | access-date = March 28, 2010 | archive-date = May 17, 2020 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200517120228/https://www2.census.gov/prod2/statcomp/documents/1964-01.pdf?sec_ak_reference=18.1860fea5.1589716948.d31603e | url-status = live }}</ref> This sustained rate of growth in GDP and industry continued until around 1969.<ref name="Bureau of Economic Analysis" />

Kennedy was proud that his Labor Department helped keep wages steady in the steel industry, but was outraged in April 1962 when [[Roger Blough]], the president of [[U.S. Steel]], quietly informed Kennedy that his company would raise prices.{{sfn|Parmet|1983|p=238}} In response, Attorney General Robert Kennedy began a [[price-fixing]] investigation against U.S. Steel, and President Kennedy convinced other steel companies to rescind their price increases until finally even U.S. Steel, isolated and in danger of being undersold, agreed to rescind its own price increase.{{sfn|Giglio|2006|pp=130–134}} An editorial in ''The New York Times'' praised Kennedy's actions and stated that the steel industry's price increase "imperil[ed] the economic welfare of the country by inviting a tidal wave of inflation."<ref name="NY Times 1962">{{cite news | title = Inflation in Steel | date = April 12, 1962 | work = [[The New York Times]] | url = http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00615FD3F5C117B93C0A8178FD85F468685F9 | access-date = February 24, 2012 | archive-date = March 31, 2024 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20240331040143/https://www.nytimes.com/1962/04/12/archives/inflation-in-steel.html | url-status = live }}</ref> Nevertheless, the administration's Bureau of Budget reported the price increase would have caused a net gain for the GDP as well as a net budget surplus.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=300}} The stock market, which had steadily declined since Kennedy's election in 1960, dropped 10% shortly after the administration's action on the steel industry took place.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|pp=318–320}}

====Civil rights movement====
{{further|Presidency of John F. Kennedy#Civil rights}}
{{see also|Civil rights movement}}
[[File:Thurgood Marshall 1957-09-17.jpg|thumb|upright|In May 1961, Kennedy appointed [[Thurgood Marshall]] to the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit|U.S. Court of Appeals]].]]

Kennedy verbally supported [[civil rights]] during his 1960 presidential campaign; he telephoned [[Coretta Scott King]], wife of [[Martin Luther King Jr.]], who had been jailed while trying to integrate a department store lunch counter. Robert Kennedy called Georgia Governor [[Ernest Vandiver]] and obtained King's release from prison, which drew additional Black support to his brother's candidacy.{{sfn|Dallek|2003|pp=292–293}} Recognizing that conservative Southern Democrats could block legislation, Kennedy did not introduce civil rights legislation on taking office.{{sfn|Brauer|2002|p=487}} He needed their support to pass his economic and foreign policy agendas, and to support his reelection in 1964.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Kennedys and the Civil Rights Movement |url=https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/the-kennedys-and-civil-rights.htm |website=National Park Service |access-date=November 19, 2023 |archive-date=June 24, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230624125056/http://www.nps.gov/articles/000/the-kennedys-and-civil-rights.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Kennedy did appoint many Blacks to office, including civil rights attorney [[Thurgood Marshall]] to the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit|U.S. Court of Appeals]].{{sfn|Brauer|2002|p=490}}

Kennedy believed the grassroots movement for civil rights would anger many Southern Whites and make it more difficult to pass civil rights laws in Congress, and he distanced himself from it.{{sfn|Bryant|2006a|pp=60, 66}} As articulated by Robert Kennedy, the administration's early priority was to "keep the president out of this civil rights mess."{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=126}} Civil rights movement participants, mainly those on the front line in the South, viewed Kennedy as lukewarm,{{sfn|Brauer|2002|p=490}} especially concerning the [[Freedom Riders]]. In May 1961, the [[Congress of Racial Equality]], led by [[James Farmer]], organized integrated Freedom Rides to test a Supreme Court case ruling that declared segregation on interstate transportation illegal.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Modern Civil Rights Movement and The Kennedy Administration |url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/civil-rights-movement#:~:text=Kennedy%20defined%20the%20civil%20rights,of%20the%20right%20to%20vote. |website=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum |access-date=November 19, 2023 |archive-date=December 14, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181214123155/http://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/civil-rights-movement#:~:text=Kennedy%20defined%20the%20civil%20rights,of%20the%20right%20to%20vote. |url-status=live }}{{PD-notice}}</ref> The Riders were repeatedly met with mob violence, including by federal and state law enforcement officers.{{sfn|Brauer|2002|p=490}} Kennedy assigned [[federal marshal]]s to protect the Riders rather than using federal troops or uncooperative FBI agents.{{sfn|Brauer|2002|p=490}} Kennedy feared sending federal troops would stir up "hated memories of [[Reconstruction Era|Reconstruction]]" among conservative Southern whites.{{sfn|Brauer|2002|p=490}} The Justice Department then petitioned the [[Interstate Commerce Commission]] (ICC) to adhere to federal law. By September 1961, the ICC ruled in favor of the petition.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hilty |first1=James |title=Robert Kennedy: Brother Protector |date=2000 |publisher=Temple University Press |page=329}}</ref>

On March 6, 1961, Kennedy signed [[Executive Order 10925]], which required government contractors to "take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed and that employees are treated during employment without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin."<ref>[[s:Executive Order 10925|wikisource – Executive Order No. 10925]]</ref> It established the [[Equal Employment Opportunity Commission#Background|President's Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity]].{{sfn|Patterson|1996|pp=473–475}}

In September 1962, [[James Meredith]] enrolled at the all-White [[University of Mississippi]] but was prevented from entering. In response, Attorney General Robert Kennedy sent 400 federal marshals.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.usmarshals.gov/news/chron/2012/093012.htm|title=U.S. Marshals Mark 50th Anniversary of the Integration of 'Ole Miss'|website=www.usmarshals.gov|access-date=April 25, 2020|archive-date=May 23, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200523031013/https://www.usmarshals.gov/news/chron/2012/093012.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> The [[Ole Miss riot of 1962]] left two dead and dozens injured, prompting Kennedy to send in 3,000 troops to quell the riot.{{sfn|Bryant|2006a|p=71}} Meredith did finally enroll in class. Kennedy regretted not sending in troops earlier and he began to doubt whether the "evils of Reconstruction" he had been taught or believed were true.{{sfn|Brauer|2002|p=490}} On November 20, 1962, Kennedy signed [[Executive Order 11063]], which prohibited racial discrimination in federally supported housing.{{sfn|Dallek|2003|p=580}}

[[File:President Kennedy addresses nation on Civil Rights, 11 June 1963.jpg|thumb|left|Kennedy's [[Report to the American People on Civil Rights]], {{circa|June 11, 1963}}]]

On June 11, 1963, Kennedy intervened when Alabama Governor [[George Wallace]] blocked the [[Stand in the Schoolhouse Door|doorway]] to the [[University of Alabama]] to stop two Black students, [[Vivian Malone]] and [[James Hood]], from attending. Wallace moved aside only after being confronted by Deputy Attorney General [[Nicholas Katzenbach]] and the [[Alabama National Guard]], which had just been federalized by order of the president. That evening Kennedy gave his famous [[Report to the American People on Civil Rights]] speech on national television and radio, launching his initiative for civil rights legislation—to provide equal access to public schools and other facilities, and greater protection of voting rights.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|pp=521–523}}<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/jfkcivilrights.htm | title = Civil Rights Address | access-date = September 20, 2007 | last = Kennedy | first = John F. | work = AmericanRhetoric.com | archive-date = May 13, 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110513121702/http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/jfkcivilrights.htm | url-status = live }}</ref>

His proposals became part of the [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]]. The day ended with the murder of an NAACP leader, [[Medgar Evers]], in Mississippi.{{sfn|Schlesinger|2002|p=966}} As Kennedy had predicted, the day after his TV speech, and in reaction to it, House Majority leader [[Carl Albert]] called to advise him that his two-year signature effort in Congress to combat poverty in Appalachia had been defeated, primarily by the votes of Southern Democrats and Republicans.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=524}} When Arthur Schlesinger Jr. complimented Kennedy on his remarks, Kennedy bitterly replied, "Yes, and look at what happened to area development the very next day in the House." He then added, "But of course, I had to give that speech, and I'm glad that I did."{{sfn|Cohen|2016|p=357}} On June 16, ''The New York Times'' published an editorial which argued that while Kennedy had initially "moved too slowly and with little evidence of deep moral commitment" in regards to civil rights he "now demonstrate[d] a genuine sense of urgency about eradicating racial discrimination from our national life."{{sfn|Goduti|2012|p=206}}

[[File:John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson Meet with Organizers of "March on Washington".jpg|thumb|Kennedy meetings with leaders of the [[March on Washington]] in the Oval Office, {{circa|August 28, 1963}}]]

A crowd of over 250,000, predominantly African Americans, gathered in Washington for the civil rights [[March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom]] on August 28, 1963. Kennedy initially opposed the march, fearing it would have a negative effect on the prospects for the civil rights bills pending in Congress. These fears were heightened just prior to the march when FBI Director [[J. Edgar Hoover]] presented Kennedy with reports that some of King's close advisers, specifically [[Jack O'Dell]] and [[Stanley Levison]], were communists.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2002/07/the-fbi-and-martin-luther-king/302537/|title=The FBI and Martin Luther King|last=Garrow|first=David J.|work=The Atlantic|access-date=April 25, 2017|language=en-US|archive-date=April 25, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170425204832/https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2002/07/the-fbi-and-martin-luther-king/302537/|url-status=live}}</ref> When King ignored the administration's warning, Robert Kennedy authorized the FBI to [[wiretap]] King and other leaders of the [[Southern Christian Leadership Conference]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/federal-bureau-investigation-fbi | title=Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) | date=May 2, 2017 | publisher=Stanford University | access-date=December 3, 2019 | archive-date=April 15, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200415070003/https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/federal-bureau-investigation-fbi | url-status=live }}</ref> Although Kennedy only gave written approval for limited wiretapping of King's phones "on a trial basis, for a month or so,"{{sfn|Herst|2007|p=372}} Hoover extended the clearance so his men were "unshackled" to look for evidence in any areas of King's life they deemed worthy.{{sfn|Herst|2007|pp=372–374}}

The Department of Justice was assigned to coordinate the federal government's involvement in the March on Washington on August 28; several hundred thousand dollars to were channeled to the six sponsors of the March.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|pp=580–584}} To ensure a peaceful demonstration, the organizers and the president personally edited speeches that were inflammatory and collaborated on all aspects related to times and venues. Thousands of troops were placed on standby. Kennedy watched King's speech on TV and was very impressed. The March was considered a "triumph of managed protest," and not one arrest relating to the demonstration occurred. Afterwards, the March leaders accepted an invitation to the White House to meet with Kennedy and photos were taken. Kennedy felt that the March was a victory for him as well and bolstered the chances for his civil rights bill.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|pp=580–584}}

Three weeks later on Sunday, September 15, [[16th Street Baptist Church bombing|a bomb exploded]] at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham; by the end of the day, four Black children had died in the explosion, and two others were shot to death in the aftermath.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|pp=599–600}} Due to this resurgent violence, the civil rights legislation underwent some drastic amendments that critically endangered any prospects for passage of the bill, to the outrage of Kennedy. He called the congressional leaders to the White House and by the following day the original bill, without the additions, had enough votes to get it out of the House committee.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|pp=628–631}} Gaining Republican support, Senator [[Everett Dirksen]] promised the legislation would be brought to a vote preventing a [[Filibuster in the United States Senate|Senate filibuster]].{{sfn|Brauer|2002|p=492}} On July 2, 1964, the guarantees Kennedy proposed in his June 1963 speech became federal law, when President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act.{{sfn|Brauer|2002|p=492}}

====Status of women====
[[File:American Association of University Women members with President John F. Kennedy as he signs the Equal Pay Act into law.jpg|thumb|Kennedy signing the [[Equal Pay Act of 1963]] into law]]

During the 1960 presidential campaign, Kennedy endorsed the concept of [[equal pay for equal work]].{{sfn|Giglio|2006|p=142}} In December 1961, Kennedy signed an executive order creating the [[Presidential Commission on the Status of Women]] to advise him on issues concerning the status of women.<ref>{{cite web | last = Kennedy | first = John F. | url = http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=58918/ | title = Executive Order 10980 – Establishing the President's Commission on the Status of Women | date = December 14, 1961 | access-date = January 25, 2011 | others = Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project | archive-date = May 11, 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110511190703/http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=58918/ | url-status = live }}</ref> Former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt led the commission. The commission's final report was issued in October 1963; it documented the legal and cultural discrimination women in America faced and made several policy recommendations to bring about change.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=433}} On June 10, 1963, Kennedy signed the [[Equal Pay Act of 1963]], which amended the [[Fair Labor Standards Act]] and abolished wage disparity based on sex.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archive.eeoc.gov/epa/anniversary/epa-40.html |title=The Equal Pay Act Turns 40|publisher=Archive.eeoc.gov|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120626131413/http://archive.eeoc.gov/epa/anniversary/epa-40.html|archive-date=June 26, 2012}}</ref>

====Crime====
{{further|Presidency of John F. Kennedy#Crime}}
Under the leadership of the attorney general, the Kennedy administration shifted the focus of the Justice Department, the FBI, and the IRS to [[organized crime]]. Kennedy won congressional approval for five bills (i.e., [[Federal Wire Act]] of 1961) designed to crack down on interstate [[Racket (crime)|racketeering]], gambling, and the transportation of firearms.<ref>{{Cite journal | last=Schwartz | first=David | date=September 2010 | title=Not Undertaking the Almost-Impossible Task: The 1961 Wire Act's Development, Initial Applications, and Ultimate Purpose | journal=Gaming Law Review and Economics | volume=14 | issue=7 | pages=533–540 | doi=10.1089/glre.2010.14708 | url=https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1120&context=lib_articles | access-date=November 19, 2023 | archive-date=October 1, 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231001033310/https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1120&context=lib_articles | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Rothchild |first1=John A. |title=Research Handbook on Electronic Commerce Law |date=2016 |publisher=Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd. |page=453 |isbn=9781783479924 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r_MCDQAAQBAJ&dq=Robert+Kennedy+Wire+Act,+Travel+Act,+and+Interstate+Transportation+of+Paraphernalia+Act&pg=PA453 |access-date=November 19, 2023 |archive-date=November 18, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231118163351/https://books.google.com/books?id=r_MCDQAAQBAJ&dq=Robert%20Kennedy%20Wire%20Act%2C%20Travel%20Act%2C%20and%20Interstate%20Transportation%20of%20Paraphernalia%20Act&pg=PA453 |url-status=live }}</ref>

On March 22, 1962, Kennedy signed into law a bill abolishing the mandatory death penalty for [[First degree murder in the United States|first degree murder]] in the District of Columbia, the only remaining jurisdiction in the United States with such a penalty.<ref name="JFKlibrary.org leg">{{cite web | url = http://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Research-Aids/Ready-Reference/Legislative-Summary-Main-Page/District-of-Columbia.aspx | title = Legislative Summary: District of Columbia | access-date = June 8, 2015 | publisher = [[John F. Kennedy Presidential Library]] | archive-date = May 29, 2015 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150529072333/http://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Research-Aids/Ready-Reference/Legislative-Summary-Main-Page/District-of-Columbia.aspx | url-status = live }}</ref> The death penalty has not been applied in D.C. since 1957 and has now been abolished.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.norton.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=478 | title = Norton Letter to U.S. Attorney Says Death Penalty Trial That Begins Today Part of Troubling and Futile Pattern | date = January 8, 2007 | access-date = February 23, 2012 | publisher = Office of Congresswoman [[Eleanor Holmes Norton]] | archive-date = March 3, 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120303111530/http://www.norton.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=478 | url-status = dead }}</ref>

====Agriculture====
Kennedy had relatively little interest in agricultural issues, but he sought to remedy the issue of overproduction, boost the income of farmers, and lower federal expenditures on agriculture. Under the direction of Secretary of Agriculture [[Orville Freeman]], the administration sought to limit the production of farmers, but these proposals were generally defeated in Congress. To increase demand for domestic agricultural products and help the impoverished, Kennedy launched a pilot [[Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program|Food Stamp program]] and expanded the [[National School Lunch Act|federal school lunch program]].{{sfn|Giglio|2006|pp=109–118}}

====Native American relations====
{{further|Kinzua Dam#Native Americans|Seneca nation#Kinzua Dam}}

Construction of the [[Kinzua Dam]] flooded {{convert|10000|acre|sigfig=1|abbr=off}} of [[Seneca nation]] land that they had occupied under the [[Treaty of Canandaigua|Treaty of 1794]], and forced 600 Seneca to relocate to [[Salamanca (town), New York|Salamanca, New York]]. Kennedy was asked by the [[American Civil Liberties Union]] to halt the project, but he declined, citing a critical need for flood control. He expressed concern about the plight of the Seneca and directed government agencies to assist in obtaining more land, damages, and assistance to mitigate their displacement.{{sfn|Bilharz|2002|p=55}}<ref name="Kennedy letter 1961">{{cite web | last = Kennedy | first = John F. | url = http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=8279 | title = 320 – Letter to the President of the Seneca Nation of Indians Concerning the Kinzua Dam on the Allegheny River | publisher = The American Presidency Project | date = August 11, 1961 | access-date = February 25, 2012 | archive-date = January 12, 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120112105747/http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=8279 | url-status = live }}</ref>

====Space policy====
{{further|Presidency of John F. Kennedy#Space policy}}
{{see also|Space Race|Space policy of the United States}}
[[File:Werner Von Braun and President John F. Kennedy at Cape Canaveral Missile Test Annex - 1963 - 63PC-0095.jpg|thumb|left|[[Wernher von Braun]] explains the Saturn system to President Kennedy during his tour at the [[Cape Canaveral Space Force Station|Cape Canaveral Missile Test Annex]] on November 16, 1963]]

In the aftermath of the Soviet launch of ''[[Sputnik 1]]'', the first artificial Earth satellite, [[NASA]] proposed a crewed [[moon landing|lunar landing]] by the early 1970s.{{sfn|Giglio|2006|pp=150–151}} Funding for the program, known as the [[Apollo program]], was far from certain as Eisenhower held an ambivalent attitude.<ref>{{cite book| title=Apollo: The Race to the Moon| last1=Murray| first1=Charles| last2=Cox| first2=Catherine Bly| date=1989| publisher=Simon & Schuster| isbn=0671611011| page=60}}</ref> Early in his presidency, Kennedy was poised to dismantle the crewed space program, but he postponed any decision out of deference to Vice President Johnson, who had been a strong supporter of the program in the Senate.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=138}} With [[Jerome Wiesner]], Johnson was given a major role in overseeing the administration's space policy, and at Johnson's recommendation Kennedy appointed [[James E. Webb]] to head NASA.{{sfn|Giglio|2006|pp=151–152}}

In Kennedy's [[State of the Union]] address in 1961, he suggested international cooperation in space. Khrushchev declined, as the Soviets did not wish to reveal the status of their rocketry and space capabilities.{{sfn|Dallek|2003|p=502}} In April 1961, Soviet cosmonaut [[Yuri Gagarin]] became the first person to fly in space, reinforcing American fears about being left behind by the Soviet Union.{{sfn|Dallek|2003|p=393}} Less than a month later, [[Alan Shepard]] became the first American to travel into space, strengthening Kennedy's confidence in NASA.{{sfn|Giglio|2006|pp=152–153}} The following year, [[John Glenn]], aboard the [[Project Mercury|Mercury]] craft ''[[Friendship 7]]'', became the first American to orbit the Earth.<ref>{{cite web |title=Space Program |url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/space-program#:~:text=In%201961%2C%20President%20John%20F,the%20space%20race%20was%20on. |website=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum |access-date=November 21, 2023 |archive-date=November 21, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231121011242/https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/space-program#:~:text=In%201961%2C%20President%20John%20F,the%20space%20race%20was%20on. |url-status=live }}</ref>

In the aftermath of Gagarin's flight, as well as the failed Bay of Pigs invasion, Kennedy felt pressured to respond to the perceived erosion of American prestige. He asked Johnson to explore the feasibility of beating the Soviets to the [[Moon]]. Though he was concerned about the program's costs, Kennedy agreed to Johnson's recommendation that the U.S. commit to a crewed lunar landing as the major objective of the space program. In a May 25 speech to Congress, Kennedy declared,{{sfn|Giglio|2006|pp=152–153}}
{{Blockquote|... I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish.<ref name="Kennedy at Congress 1961">{{cite web |last=Kennedy |first=John F. |url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-350/ch-2-1.html |title=Apollo Expeditions to the Moon: Chapter 2 |work=history.nasa.gov |year=1961 |access-date=February 26, 2012 |archive-date=July 14, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190714121530/https://history.nasa.gov/SP-350/ch-2-1.html |url-status=live }}</ref> {{Cws |title=Full text |link=Special Message to the Congress on Urgent National Needs|nobullet=yes}}}}
[[File:John F. Kennedy speaks at Rice University.jpg|thumb|upright|Kennedy speaks at [[Rice University]] on September 12, 1962]]

Though Gallup polling showed that many in the public were skeptical of the necessity of the Apollo program,<ref>Young, Hugo; Silcock, Bryan; Dunn, Peter M. (1969). ''Journey to Tranquility''. London: Jonathon Cape. pp. 109–112</ref> members of Congress were strongly supportive in 1961 and approved a major increase in NASA's funding. Webb began reorganizing NASA, increasing its staffing level, and building two new centers: a [[Kennedy Space Center|Launch Operations Center]] for the [[Saturn V|large Moon rocket]] northwest of [[Cape Canaveral Air Force Station]], and a [[Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center|Manned Spacecraft Center]] in Houston. Kennedy took the latter occasion as an opportunity to deliver another [[We choose to go to the Moon|speech]] promoting the space effort on September 12, 1962, in which he said:

<blockquote> No nation which expects to be the leader of other nations can expect to stay behind in this race for space. ...&nbsp;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.<ref name="Kennedy at Rice 1961">{{cite web|url=http://webcast.rice.edu/speeches/19620912kennedy.html|title=President John F. Kennedy: The Space Effort|last=Kennedy|first=John F.|date=September 12, 1962|publisher=[[Rice University]]|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060708190606/http://webcast.rice.edu/speeches/19620912kennedy.html|archive-date=July 8, 2006}}</ref> {{Cws |title=Full text |link=We choose to go to the moon |nobullet=yes}}</blockquote>

On November 21, 1962, in a cabinet meeting with Webb and other officials, Kennedy explained that the Moon shot was important for reasons of international prestige, and that the expense was justified.<ref>{{cite news |year=2011 |title=JFK and the Space Race |last=Selverstone |first=Marc |publisher=White House Tapes–Presidential Recordings Program, Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia |url=http://whitehousetapes.net/exhibit/jfk-and-space-race |access-date=February 26, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120305205812/http://whitehousetapes.net/exhibit/jfk-and-space-race |archive-date=March 5, 2012 }}</ref> On July 20, 1969, almost six years after Kennedy's death, [[Apollo 11]] landed the first crewed spacecraft on the Moon.{{sfn|Giglio|2006|pp=153–155}}

===Judicial appointments===
{{main|John F. Kennedy Supreme Court candidates|List of federal judges appointed by John F. Kennedy}}

In 1962, Kennedy appointed justices [[Byron White]] and [[Arthur Goldberg]] to the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]].<ref>{{cite web| title=Supreme Court Nominations (1789–Present)| url=https://www.senate.gov/legislative/nominations/SupremeCourtNominations1789present.htm| publisher=United States Senate| location=Washington, D.C.| access-date=February 16, 2022| archive-date=October 7, 2019| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191007075720/https://www.senate.gov/legislative/nominations/SupremeCourtNominations1789present.htm| url-status=live}}</ref> Additionally, Kennedy appointed 21 judges to the [[United States Courts of Appeals]], and 102 judges to the [[United States district court]]s.<ref>{{cite web |title=Kennedy Nominees Still Serving Country |url=https://www.fedbar.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/feature2-july11-pdf-1.pdf |website=Federal Bar Association |access-date=December 13, 2023 |archive-date=December 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231213013042/https://www.fedbar.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/feature2-july11-pdf-1.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Assassination==
{{main|Assassination of John F. Kennedy}}
{{For timeline|Timeline of the John F. Kennedy assassination}}

Kennedy was assassinated in [[Dallas]] at 12:30&nbsp;p.m. [[Central Standard Time]] on November 22, 1963.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Wicker |first1=Tom |title=Kennedy Is Killed By Sniper As He Rides In Car In Dallas; Johnson Sworn In On Plane |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/98/04/12/specials/johnson-kennedy.html?scp=6&sq=johnson%20sworn%20in&st=cse |website=The New York Times |date=November 23, 1963}}</ref> He was in Texas on a political trip to smooth over frictions in the Democratic Party between liberals [[Ralph Yarborough]] and [[Don Yarborough]] (no relation) and conservative [[John Connally]].<ref>{{cite web |first1= |title=Why was U.S. Pres. John F. Kennedy in Texas on November 22, 1963? |url=https://www.britannica.com/question/Why-was-U-S-Pres-John-F-Kennedy-in-Texas-on-November-22-1963 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=August 17, 2024}}</ref> Traveling in a presidential [[motorcade]] through [[Dealey Plaza]], he was shot once in the back, the bullet exiting via his throat, and once in the head.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/press.htm|title=Doctors attending to Kennedy reported.|access-date=May 15, 2018|date=November 1963|archive-date=May 28, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180528043725/http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/press.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|Dallek|2003|p=694}}
[[File:JFK limousine.png|thumb|The Kennedys and the Connallys in the presidential limousine moments before the [[Assassination of John F. Kennedy|assassination]] in Dallas]]

Kennedy was taken to [[Parkland Hospital]], where he was pronounced dead 30 minutes later, at 1:00&nbsp;p.m.<ref name="auto3">{{cite web |title=November 22, 1963: Death of the President |url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/november-22-1963-death-of-the-president |publisher=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum |access-date=July 25, 2021 |archive-date=February 28, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120228190351/http://www.jfklibrary.org/JFK/JFK-in-History/November-22-1963-Death-of-the-President.aspx |url-status=live }}</ref> He was 46 years old. [[Lee Harvey Oswald]] was arrested for the murder of police officer [[J. D. Tippit]] and was subsequently charged with Kennedy's assassination.<ref>{{cite web |title=Lee Harvey Oswald |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lee-Harvey-Oswald |website=Encyclopedia Britannica|date=July 29, 2024 }}</ref> He denied shooting anyone, claiming he was a [[wikt:patsy|patsy]],<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZYAIiErTNg Lee Oswald claiming innocence (film)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140326151132/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZYAIiErTNg&feature=related |date=March 26, 2014 }}, YouTube</ref><ref>Warren Commission Hearings, vol. 20, p. 366, [http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh20/html/WH_Vol20_0193b.htm Kantor Exhibit No. 3 – Handwritten notes made by Seth Kantor concerning events surrounding the assassination] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190328231214/http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh20/html/WH_Vol20_0193b.htm |date=March 28, 2019 }}</ref> and was shot dead by [[Jack Ruby]] on November 24, before he could be prosecuted.<ref name="auto3"/> Ruby was arrested and convicted for the murder of Oswald. Ruby successfully appealed his conviction but died of cancer on January 3, 1967, while the date for his new trial was being set.<ref>{{cite web |title=Jack Ruby |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jack-Ruby |website=Encyclopedia Britannica}}</ref>

President Johnson quickly issued an [[executive order]] to create the [[Warren Commission]]—chaired by Chief Justice [[Earl Warren]]—to investigate the assassination. The commission concluded that Oswald acted alone in killing Kennedy and that Oswald was not part of any conspiracy.{{sfn|Brauer|2002|p=497}}{{sfn|Dallek|2003|p=698}} These conclusions are disputed by many.<ref name="Russo">[http://www.americanheritage.com/content/did-castro-ok-kennedy-assassination Gus Russo and Stephen Molton] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181119014218/http://www.americanheritage.com/content/did-castro-ok-kennedy-assassination |date=November 19, 2018 }} "Did Castro OK the Kennedy Assassination?," ''American Heritage'', Winter 2009.</ref> A [[Gallup Poll]] in November 2013 showed 61% believed in a conspiracy, and only 30% thought that Oswald did it alone.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gallup.com/poll/165893/majority-believe-jfk-killed-conspiracy.aspx |title=Majority in U.S. Still Believe JFK Killed in a Conspiracy: Mafia, federal government top list of potential conspirators |publisher=Gallup, Inc. |date=November 15, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160801184321/http://www.gallup.com/poll/165893/majority-believe-jfk-killed-conspiracy.aspx |archive-date=August 1, 2016 }}</ref> In 1979, the [[U.S. House Select Committee on Assassinations]] concluded, with one third of the committee dissenting, "that Kennedy was probably assassinated as a result of a [[John F. Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories|conspiracy]]." The committee was unable to identify the other gunmen or the extent of the conspiracy. This conclusion was based largely on audio recordings of the shooting.<ref>[https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/select-committee-report/ "Report of the Select Committee on Assassinations of the U.S. House of Representatives"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200403232215/https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/select-committee-report |date=April 3, 2020 }}. U.S. House of Representatives. Retrieved November 11, 2013.</ref> Subsequently, investigative reports from the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] and a specially appointed [[National Academy of Sciences]] Committee determined that "reliable acoustic data do not support a conclusion that there was a second gunman."<ref>{{cite book |title=Report of the Committee on Ballistic Acoustics |url=http://www.nap.edu/catalog/10264/report-of-the-committee-on-ballistic-acoustics |doi=10.17226/10264 |first=National Research |last=Council |year=1982 |isbn=978-0-309-25372-7 |access-date=January 11, 2022 |archive-date=March 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220314144159/https://www.nap.edu/catalog/10264/report-of-the-committee-on-ballistic-acoustics |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[United States Department of Justice|Justice Department]] concluded "that no persuasive evidence can be identified to support the theory of a conspiracy".<ref>{{cite web |title=PDF Justice Department of JFK-King Reinvestigation |url=http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg%20Subject%20Index%20Files/J%20Disk/Justice%20Department%20of/Justice%20Department%20of%20JFK-King%20Reinvestigation/Item%2014.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211109192941/http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg%20Subject%20Index%20Files/J%20Disk/Justice%20Department%20of/Justice%20Department%20of%20JFK-King%20Reinvestigation/Item%2014.pdf |archive-date=November 9, 2021 |access-date=January 17, 2022 |website=The Harold Weisberg Archive |page=5}}</ref>

===Funeral===
{{main|State funeral of John F. Kennedy|List of dignitaries at the state funeral of John F. Kennedy}}
[[File:JFK's family leaves Capitol after his funeral, 1963.jpg|thumb|left|Kennedy's family leaving his [[State funeral of John F. Kennedy|funeral]] at the [[U.S. Capitol Building]]]]
Kennedy's body was brought back to Washington. On November&nbsp;23, six military pallbearers carried the flag-draped coffin into the [[East Room|East Room of the White House]], where he lay in repose for 24&nbsp;hours.<ref>{{harvnb|Associated Press|1963|pp=36–37, 56–57, 68}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|The New York Times|2003|pp=197–201}}</ref> Then, the coffin was carried on a horse-drawn [[Limbers and caissons|caisson]] to the Capitol to lie in state. Throughout the day and night, hundreds of thousands lined up to view the guarded casket,<ref name="WhitePage16">{{harvnb|White|1965|p=16}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|NBC News|1966|pp=106–107, 110, 114–115, 119–123, 133–134}}</ref> with a quarter million passing through the rotunda during the 18 hours of lying in state.<ref name="WhitePage16"/>

Kennedy's funeral service was held on November 25, at [[Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle (Washington, D.C.)|St. Matthew's Cathedral]] in [[Washington, D.C.]]<ref name="WhitePage17">{{harvnb|White|1965|p=17}}</ref> The [[Requiem|Requiem Mass]] was led by [[Cardinal (Catholic Church)|Cardinal]] [[Richard Cushing]], then the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston|Archbishop of Boston]].<ref name="WhitePage17"/> It was attended by approximately 1,200 guests, including representatives from over 90 countries.<ref>{{harvnb|Associated Press|1963|p=93}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|NBC News|1966|p=126}}</ref> After the service, Kennedy was buried at [[Arlington National Cemetery]] in [[Arlington County, Virginia]].<ref>{{harvnb|White|1965|p=18}}</ref>

==Personal life, family, and reputation==
{{further|Kennedy family}}
[[File:ARC194238-JFK-Robert-Edward.jpg|thumb|The Kennedy brothers: Attorney General [[Robert F. Kennedy]], Senator [[Ted Kennedy]], and President John F. Kennedy in 1963]]
The Kennedy family is one of the most established political families in the United States, having produced a president, three senators, three ambassadors, and multiple other representatives and politicians. While a congressman, Kennedy embarked on a seven-week trip to India, Japan, Vietnam, and Israel in 1951, at which point he became close with his then 25-year-old brother Robert, as well as his 27-year-old sister Patricia. Because they were several years apart in age, the brothers had previously seen little of each other. This {{convert|25000|mi|km|-3|adj=on}} trip was the first extended time they had spent together and resulted in their becoming best friends.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=29}} Robert would eventually serve as his brother's [[United States Attorney General|attorney general]] and closest presidential advisor;{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=29}} he would later run for president in [[Robert F. Kennedy 1968 presidential campaign|1968]] before his [[assassination of Robert F. Kennedy|assassination]], while another Kennedy brother, Ted, ran for president in [[Ted Kennedy 1980 presidential campaign|1980]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The Kennedys in Politics |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/kennedys-politics/ |website=PBS American Experience |access-date=7 October 2024}}</ref>  

===Wife and children===
Kennedy met his wife, [[Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis|Jacqueline Lee "Jackie" Bouvier]], when he was a congressman. [[Charles L. Bartlett (journalist)|Charles L. Bartlett]], a journalist, introduced the pair at a dinner party.<ref>Cover story, ''Time magazine'', January 20, 1961</ref> They were married on September 12, 1953, at [[St. Mary's Church Complex (Newport, Rhode Island)|St. Mary's Church]] in [[Newport, Rhode Island]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Wedding of Jacqueline Bouvier and John F. Kennedy|url=http://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Research-Aids/Ready-Reference/JKO-Fast-Facts/Wedding-Details.aspx |publisher=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum|access-date=February 6, 2016}}</ref><ref>Specious allegations in 1997 by UK journalist Terry O'Hanlon {{cite web |title=JFK The Bigamist. ... . The Truth At Last; Kennedy was already married when he got wed to Jackie. ... . |url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/JFK+THE+BIGAMIST...+THE+TRUTH+AT+LAST%3b+Kennedy+was+already+married...-a061139564 |work=Sunday Mirror |access-date=October 31, 2010 |author=Golden, Andrew |date=July 27, 1997 |archive-date=September 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230906210243/https://www.thefreelibrary.com/JFK+THE+BIGAMIST...+THE+TRUTH+AT+LAST%3b+Kennedy+was+already+married...-a061139564 |url-status=live }} and by author Seymour Hersh {{cite news |last=Reingold |first=Joyce |title=JFK 'Secret Marriage' A Story With Legs |url=http://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/palmbeach/pbupd8/entries/2008/03/26/durie_appleton_spent_a_lifetim.html |newspaper=Palm Beach Daily News |access-date=October 31, 2010 |date=March 26, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110510034800/http://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/palmbeach/pbupd8/entries/2008/03/26/durie_appleton_spent_a_lifetim.html |archive-date=May 10, 2011 }} that Kennedy had married previously have been soundly disproven. Reeves states that [[Ben Bradlee]], then at ''[[Newsweek]]'', inspected FBI files on it, and confirmed the falsehood. {{harvnb|Reeves|1993|p=348}}; for further refutation, see {{harvnb|O'Brien|2005|p=706}}.</ref> The newlyweds honeymooned in Mexico, before settling in their new home, [[Hickory Hill (McLean, Virginia)|Hickory Hill]] in [[McLean, Virginia]].<ref>{{cite book| author = Smith, Sally Bedell |title=Grace and Power: The Private World of the Kennedy White House| url = https://archive.org/details/gracepowerprivat00smit | url-access = registration |year=2004 |publisher=Random House | isbn = 978-0-375-50449-5 |author-link= Sally Bedell Smith}}</ref> In 1956, they sold their Hickory Hill estate to Kennedy's brother Robert, and bought a townhouse in [[Georgetown (Washington, D.C.)|Georgetown]].<ref>O'Brien, p. 291.</ref>{{sfn|Brinkley|2012|p=36}} The Kennedys also resided at an apartment in [[Boston]], their legal residence during John's congressional career,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Logevall |first1=Fredrik |title=JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917-1956 |date=2020 |publisher=Random House |pages=443–444}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Shaw |first1=John T. |title=JFK in the Senate |date=2013 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |isbn=978-0-230-34183-8 |page=15}}</ref> and a summer home in [[Cape Cod, Massachusetts]].<ref>O'Brien, p. 292.</ref>

After a miscarriage in 1955 and a stillbirth in 1956 (their daughter Arabella), their daughter [[Caroline Kennedy|Caroline]] was born in 1957. [[John F. Kennedy Jr.|John Jr.]], nicknamed "John-John" by the press as a child, was born in late November 1960, 17 days after his father was elected. John Jr. died in 1999 when the [[John F. Kennedy, Jr. plane crash|small plane he was piloting crashed]].<ref>{{cite news | url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/jfkjr/stories/kennedy073199.htm | title = Kennedy Plane Found to Be Fully Functional | newspaper = The Washington Post | date = July 31, 1999 | access-date = January 2, 2010 | archive-date = May 25, 2010 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100525100145/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/jfkjr/stories/kennedy073199.htm | url-status = live }}</ref> In August 1963, Jackie gave birth to a son, [[Patrick Bouvier Kennedy|Patrick]]. However, he died after two days due to complications from birth.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Blair|first1=William M.|title=Kennedys Mourn Death of Infant – Kennedys Mourning Baby Son; Funeral Today Will Be Private|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1963/08/10/81822324.html?pageNumber=1|work=The New York Times|date=August 10, 1963|page=1|access-date=December 13, 2023|archive-date=October 20, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231020170113/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1963/08/10/81822324.html?pageNumber=1|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Popular image===
[[File:JFK and family in Hyannis Port, 04 August 1962.jpg|thumb|The First Family in [[Hyannis Port, Massachusetts]], 1962]]
Kennedy and his wife were younger than the presidents and first ladies who preceded them, and both were popular in the [[media culture]] in ways more common to pop singers and movie stars than politicians, influencing fashion trends and becoming the subjects of photo spreads in popular magazines. Although Eisenhower had allowed presidential press conferences to be filmed for television, Kennedy was the first president to ask for them to be broadcast [[Live television|live]] and made good use of the medium.<ref name="american chronicle">{{cite news|url=http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/6883|publisher=American Chronicle|date=March 15, 2006|title=Happy Anniversary to the first scheduled presidential press conference—93 years young!|first=Robert|last=Rouse|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080913094418/http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/6883|archive-date=September 13, 2008}}</ref> In 1961, the [[Radio Television Digital News Association|Radio-Television News Directors Association]] presented Kennedy with its highest honor, the [[Paul White (journalist)|Paul White]] Award, in recognition of his open relationship with the media.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rtdna.org/article/rtdna_s_kennedy_connections |title=RTDNA's Kennedy connections |publisher=[[Radio Television Digital News Association]], November 26, 2013 |access-date=May 27, 2014 |archive-date=August 19, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170819191945/http://www.rtdna.org/article/rtdna_s_kennedy_connections |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The Kennedys invited a range of artists, writers and intellectuals to White House dinners, raising the profile of the arts in America. On the White House lawn, they established a swimming pool and tree house, while Caroline attended a preschool with 10 other children inside the home.<ref>{{cite web |title=Life of Jacqueline B. Kennedy |url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/life-of-jacqueline-b-kennedy |website=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum |access-date=December 13, 2023 |archive-date=December 18, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231218061208/https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/life-of-jacqueline-b-kennedy |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The White House Restoration |url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/the-white-house-restoration |website=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum |access-date=December 13, 2023 |archive-date=December 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231213012052/https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/the-white-house-restoration |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Vaughn Meader]]'s ''First Family'' comedy album, which parodied the president, the first lady, their family, and the administration, sold about four million copies.<ref>{{cite web |title="The First Family" (1962) |url=https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/documents/first%20family.pdf |website=Library of Congress |access-date=December 20, 2023 |archive-date=January 17, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240117172643/https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/documents/first%20family.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Health===
Despite a privileged youth, Kennedy was plagued by childhood diseases, including [[whooping cough]], [[chicken pox]], [[measles]], and ear infections. These ailments compelled him to spend a considerable amount of time [[convalescing]]. Three months prior to his third birthday, in 1920, Kennedy came down with [[scarlet fever]], a highly contagious and life-threatening disease, and was admitted to [[Boston City Hospital]].{{sfn|Dallek|2003|p=32}}<ref name="jfklibrary.org"/>
[[File:John F. Kennedy after spinal surgery cph.3c33052.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Kennedy and Jackie leaving the hospital following his spinal surgery, December 1954]]

During his years at Choate, Kennedy was beset by health problems that culminated with his emergency hospitalization in 1934 at [[Yale New Haven Hospital]], where doctors suspected leukemia.<ref name = "Dallek">{{cite journal|last1=Dallek|first1=Robert|title=The Medical Ordeals of JFK|journal=The Atlantic|date=December 2002|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2002/12/the-medical-ordeals-of-jfk/305572/?single_page=true|access-date=March 29, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160801185019/http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2002/12/the-medical-ordeals-of-jfk/305572/?single_page=true|archive-date=August 1, 2016 }}</ref> While sick, he became a passionate reader and also a [[Fatalism|fatalist]].{{sfn|Matthews|2011|p=15}} In June 1934, he was admitted to the [[Mayo Clinic]] in Minnesota; the ultimate diagnosis was [[colitis]].<ref name = "Dallek"/> After withdrawing from Princeton University, Kennedy was hospitalized for observation at [[Brigham and Women's Hospital|Peter Bent Brigham Hospital]] in Boston. He then spent the spring of 1936 working as a ranch hand outside [[Benson, Arizona]] under [[Jack Speiden]].{{sfn|Dallek|2003|p=42}}

Years after Kennedy's death, it was revealed that in September 1947, when he was 30 and in his first term in Congress, he was diagnosed by Sir Daniel Davis at [[The London Clinic]] with [[Addison's disease]]. Davis estimated that Kennedy would not live for another year, while Kennedy hoped he could live for ten.<ref>{{cite episode|title=JFK (Part 1)|series=American Experience|series-link=American Experience|network=[[PBS]]|station=[[WGBH-TV|WGBH]]|date=November 11, 2013|season=25|number=7|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/jfk/|access-date=September 24, 2019|archive-date=September 25, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190925003921/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/jfk/|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1966, White House physician [[Janet Travell]] revealed that Kennedy also had [[hypothyroidism]]. The presence of two [[endocrine disease]]s raises the possibility that Kennedy had [[autoimmune polyendocrine syndrome type 2]].<ref name="Mandel, Lee R. 2009 350–354">{{cite journal | author = Mandel, Lee R. | title = Endocrine and Autoimmune Aspects of the Health History of John F. Kennedy | journal = Annals of Internal Medicine | year = 2009 | issue = 5 | pages = 350–354 | pmid = 19721023 | doi = 10.7326/0003-4819-151-5-200909010-00011 | volume = 151 | doi-access = free }}</ref>

Kennedy suffered from chronic severe back pain, for which he had surgery. His condition may have had diplomatic repercussions, as he appears to have been taking a combination of drugs to treat back pain during the 1961 [[Vienna Summit]]. The combination included hormones, animal organ cells, steroids, vitamins, enzymes, and amphetamines, and possible side effects included hyperactivity, [[hypertension]], impaired judgment, nervousness, and mood swings.{{sfn|Kempe|2011|p=213}} Kennedy at one time was regularly seen by three doctors, one of whom, [[Max Jacobson]], at first was unknown to the other two, as his mode of treatment was controversial<ref>[http://www.nysun.com/out-and-about/dr-feelgood/20251/ New York Sun September 20, 2005: "Dr. Feelgood"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190410040218/https://www.nysun.com/out-and-about/dr-feelgood/20251/ |date=April 10, 2019 }} Retrieved July 11, 2011</ref> and used for the most severe bouts of back pain.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|pp=42, 158–159}}

Into late 1961, disagreements existed among Kennedy's doctors concerning the balance of medication and exercise. Kennedy preferred the former because he was short on time and desired immediate relief.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=243}} The president's primary White House physician, [[George G. Burkley]], set up gym equipment in the White House basement, where Kennedy did stretching exercises thrice weekly.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=244}} Details of these and other medical problems were not publicly disclosed during Kennedy's lifetime.<ref>Online NewsHour with Senior Correspondent [[Ray Suarez]] and physician Jeffrey Kelman, [https://web.archive.org/web/20021122141641/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/health/july-dec02/jfk_11-18.html "Pres. Kennedy's Health Secrets"], ''[[The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer]]'' transcript, November 18, 2002</ref> Burkley realized that treatments by Jacobson and Travell, including excessive use of steroids and amphetamines, were medically inappropriate, and took action to remove Kennedy from their care.<ref name="jfkwhmd">{{cite web|last1=Ghaemi M.D., M.P.H.|first1=Nassir|title=What Jackie Kennedy Didn't Say—and Didn't Know|url=https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/mood-swings/201109/what-jackie-kennedy-didnt-say-and-didnt-know|website=Psychology Today|access-date=August 22, 2016|date=September 14, 2011|archive-date=March 31, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240331040111/https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/mood-swings/201109/what-jackie-kennedy-didnt-say-and-didnt-know|url-status=live}}</ref>
{{external media| float = right| video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?176034-1/an-unfinished-life-john-f-kennedy-1917-1963 Presentation by Robert Dallek on ''An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963'', May 20, 2003], [[C-SPAN]]}}
In 2002, [[Robert Dallek]] wrote an extensive history of Kennedy's health based on a collection of Kennedy-associated papers from 1955 to 1963, including X-rays and prescription records from Travell. According to Travell's records, during his presidential years Kennedy suffered from high fevers; stomach, colon, and prostate issues; abscesses; high cholesterol; and adrenal problems. Travell kept a "Medicine Administration Record", cataloging Kennedy's medications: <blockquote>injected and ingested corticosteroids for his adrenal insufficiency; procaine shots and ultrasound treatments and hot packs for his back; Lomotil, Metamucil, paregoric, phenobarbital, testosterone, and trasentine to control his diarrhea, abdominal discomfort, and weight loss; penicillin and other antibiotics for his urinary-tract infections and an abscess; and [[Tuinal]] to help him sleep.<ref name = "Dallek"/></blockquote>

===Affairs and friendships===
[[File:JFK and Marilyn Monroe 1962.jpg|thumb|Attorney General [[Robert F. Kennedy]], [[Marilyn Monroe]], and John F. Kennedy talk during the president's May 19, 1962, early birthday party, where Monroe publicly serenaded Kennedy with "[[Happy Birthday, Mr. President]]"]]

Kennedy was single in the 1940s while having relationships with Danish journalist [[Inga Arvad]]{{sfn|Dallek|2003|pp=83–85}} and actress [[Gene Tierney]].{{sfn|Osborne|2006|p=195}} During his time as a senator, he had an affair with [[Gunilla von Post]], who later wrote that the future president tried to end his marriage to be with her before having any children with his wife.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/jfk-love-letters-to-swedish-mistress-to-be-sold-at-auction/7ZN6EXIJSFDWFITDSABHEAO5L4/|title=JFK love letters to Swedish mistress to be sold at auction|first=William J.|last=Kole|newspaper=The Atlanta Journal-Constitution|date=May 5, 2021|access-date=May 8, 2021|archive-date=May 7, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210507111147/https://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/jfk-love-letters-to-swedish-mistress-to-be-sold-at-auction/7ZN6EXIJSFDWFITDSABHEAO5L4/|url-status=live}}</ref> Kennedy was also reported to have had affairs with [[Marilyn Monroe]],{{sfn|Reeves|1993|pp=315–316}} [[Judith Exner|Judith Campbell]],{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=289}} [[Mary Pinchot Meyer]],{{sfn|Dallek|2003|p=475}} [[Marlene Dietrich]],{{sfn|Dallek|2003|p=58}} White House intern [[Mimi Alford]],<ref name=nytimes_garrow>{{cite news|last=Garrow|first=David J.|title=Substance Over Sex In Kennedy Biography|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/28/books/books-of-the-times-substance-over-sex-in-kennedy-biography.html|access-date=January 20, 2013|newspaper=The New York Times|date=May 28, 2003|archive-date=January 3, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130103102155/http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/28/books/books-of-the-times-substance-over-sex-in-kennedy-biography.html|url-status=live}}</ref> and his wife's [[press secretary]], [[Pamela Turnure]].{{sfn|Dallek|2003|pp=475, 476}} There have been several conspiracy theories surrounding the deaths of Monroe and Meyer, alleging that Kennedy may have had a part in their deaths.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kimble |first=Lindsay |date=March 18, 2024 |title=Meet JFK's Alleged Mistresses – and How Some Met Mysterious Ends |url=https://people.com/politics/john-f-kennedys-mistresses/ |access-date=August 26, 2024 |website=[[Peoplemag]] |language=en}}</ref>

The full extent of Kennedy's relationship with Monroe (who in 1962 famously sang "[[Happy Birthday, Mr. President]]" at Kennedy's birthday celebration at [[Madison Square Garden (1925)|Madison Square Garden]]) is not known, though it has been reported that they spent a weekend together in March 1962 while he was staying at [[Bing Crosby]]'s house.{{sfn|Leaming|2006|pp=379–380}} Furthermore, people at the White House switchboard noted that Monroe had called Kennedy during 1962.{{sfn|Dallek|2003|p=581}} J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI director, received reports about Kennedy's indiscretions.{{sfn|Dallek|2003|p=376}} These included an alleged tryst with an [[East Germany|East German]] spy, [[Ellen Rometsch]]. According to historian [[Michael Beschloss]], in July 1963, Hoover reportedly informed Robert Kennedy about the affair with a woman "suspected as a Soviet intelligence agent, someone linked to East German intelligence." Robert reportedly took the matter sufficiently seriously to raise it with leading Democratic and Republican figures in Congress.<ref>''Booknotes'' interview with historian Michael Beschloss on ''[https://www.c-span.org/video/?19109-1/the-crisis-years-kennedy-khrushchev The Crisis Years: Kennedy and Khrushchev] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211102210203/https://www.c-span.org/video/?19109-1/the-crisis-years-kennedy-khrushchev |date=November 2, 2021 }}'' (C-SPAN: June 21, 1991)</ref><ref>Taylor Branch, "[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-12-18-vw-756-story.html Kennedys and Hoover: How Their Battles Affected King] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211102210202/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-12-18-vw-756-story.html |date=November 2, 2021 }}" ''Los Angeles Times'' (December 18, 1988)</ref> Former Secret Service agent Larry Newman recalled "morale problems" that the president's indiscretions engendered within the Secret Service.<ref>Larry Sabato, "[https://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2013/10/16/john-f-kennedys-final-days-reveal-a-man-who-craved-excitement/?sh=7c58c16e71a9 John F. Kennedy's Final Days Reveal A Man Who Craved Excitement] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211102210202/https://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2013/10/16/john-f-kennedys-final-days-reveal-a-man-who-craved-excitement/?sh=7c58c16e71a9 |date=November 2, 2021 }}" ''Forbes'' (October 16, 2013)</ref>

Kennedy inspired affection and loyalty from the members of his team and his supporters.{{sfn|Barnes|2007|p=116}} According to Reeves, this included "the logistics of Kennedy's liaisons ... [which] required secrecy and devotion rare in the annals of the energetic service demanded by successful politicians."{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=291}} Kennedy believed that his friendly relationship with members of the press would help protect him from public revelations about his sex life.{{sfn|Dallek|2003|p=478}}

=== Sports ===
[[File:President John F. Kennedy with the Boston Celtics (01) (A).jpg|thumb|President John F. Kennedy with the [[Boston Celtics]], January 1963]]

Kennedy was a fan of [[Major League Baseball]]'s [[Boston Red Sox]] and the [[National Basketball Association]]'s [[Boston Celtics]].<ref name="Shaping Up America: JFK, Sports and">{{cite web |title=Shaping Up America: JFK, Sports and the Call to Physical Fitness |url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/visit-museum/exhibits/past-exhibits/shaping-up-america-jfk-sports-and-the-call-to-physical-fitness |website=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum |access-date=March 19, 2024 |archive-date=February 13, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240213033135/https://www.jfklibrary.org/visit-museum/exhibits/past-exhibits/shaping-up-america-jfk-sports-and-the-call-to-physical-fitness |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Prince |first1=DeAntae |title=Satch Sanders Q&A: The NBA And the White House |url=https://www.si.com/nba/2017/01/20/nba-white-house-visit-satch-sanders-celtics-jfk-donald-trump |magazine=Sports Illustrated |date=January 20, 2017 |access-date=March 19, 2024 |archive-date=March 19, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240319212136/https://www.si.com/nba/2017/01/20/nba-white-house-visit-satch-sanders-celtics-jfk-donald-trump |url-status=live }}</ref> Growing up on Cape Cod, Kennedy and his siblings developed a lifelong passion for [[sailing]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Summertime Sailing |url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfkl-from-home/jfkl-from-home-puzzles/summertime-sailing |website=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum |access-date=March 19, 2024 |archive-date=March 19, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240319224056/https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfkl-from-home/jfkl-from-home-puzzles/summertime-sailing |url-status=live }}</ref> He also took up [[golf]]; playing  regularly at the [[Hyannisport Club]] in Massachusetts and the Palm Beach Country Club in Florida.<ref name="Shaping Up America: JFK, Sports and"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Buccellato |first1=Robert |title=Images of America: Presidential Vacations in Florida |date=2021 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |page=98}}</ref>

=== Religion ===
{{see also|John F. Kennedy 1960 presidential campaign#Religion}}
Kennedy was the first [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] elected to the presidency.<ref>{{cite web |title=Life of John F. Kennedy |url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/life-of-john-f-kennedy#:~:text=In%20the%20general%20election%20on,John%20Jr.%2C%20was%20born. |website=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum |access-date=March 21, 2024 |archive-date=March 21, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240321000448/https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/life-of-john-f-kennedy#:~:text=In%20the%20general%20election%20on,John%20Jr.%2C%20was%20born. |url-status=live }}</ref> During his childhood, he attended [[St. Aidan's Church (Brookline, Massachusetts)|St. Aidan's Church]] in Brookline, Massachusetts, where he was [[Baptism|baptized]] on June 19, 1917.<ref>{{cite web |title=Saint Aidan's Church |url=https://www.nps.gov/places/saint-aidans-church.htm |website=National Park Service |access-date=March 20, 2024 |archive-date=March 21, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240321000447/https://www.nps.gov/places/saint-aidans-church.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Historical evaluations and legacy==
[[File:JFK library Stitch Crop.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|The [[John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum]], in [[Boston]] ]]

===Presidency===
{{further|Presidency of John F. Kennedy#Historical reputation}}

Historians and political scientists tend to [[Historical rankings of presidents of the United States#Scholar survey summary|rank]] Kennedy as an above-average president, and he is usually the highest-ranking president who served less than one full term.{{sfn|Giglio|2006|pp=308–309}} A 2014 survey from ''[[The Washington Post]]'' of 162 members of the [[American Political Science Association]]'s Presidents and Executive Politics section ranked Kennedy 14th highest overall among the 43 persons who have been president, including then-president [[Barack Obama]]. The survey found Kennedy to be the most overrated U.S. president.<ref>{{cite news| title=New ranking of U.S. presidents puts Lincoln at No. 1, Obama at 18; Kennedy judged most overrated| last1=Rottinghaus| first1=Brandon| last2=Vaughn| first2=Justin| date=February 16, 2015| newspaper=The Washington Post| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2015/02/16/new-ranking-of-u-s-presidents-puts-lincoln-1-obama-18-kennedy-judged-most-over-rated/| access-date=April 28, 2017| archive-date=December 19, 2019| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191219195823/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2015/02/16/new-ranking-of-u-s-presidents-puts-lincoln-1-obama-18-kennedy-judged-most-over-rated/| url-status=live}}</ref> A 2017 [[C-SPAN]] survey has Kennedy ranked among the top ten presidents.<ref>{{cite web| title=Presidential Historians Survey 2017| publisher=C-SPAN| url=https://www.c-span.org/presidentsurvey2017/?personid=2419| date=2017| access-date=April 28, 2017| archive-date=April 27, 2017| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170427194630/https://www.c-span.org/presidentsurvey2017/?personid=2419| url-status=live}}</ref> A 2023 [[Gallup, Inc.]] survey showed Kennedy with a retrospective approval rating of 90 percent, the highest of all U.S. presidents in recent history.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Jones |first1=Jeffrey M. |title=Retrospective Approval of JFK Rises to 90%; Trump at 46% |date=July 17, 2023 |url=https://news.gallup.com/poll/508625/retrospective-approval-jfk-rises-trump.aspx#:~:text=Kennedy%20remains%20the%20most%20highly,second%2Dplace%20Ronald%20Reagan%27s%20rating. |publisher=Gallup, Inc. |access-date=January 7, 2024 |archive-date=January 7, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240107191323/https://news.gallup.com/poll/508625/retrospective-approval-jfk-rises-trump.aspx#:~:text=Kennedy%20remains%20the%20most%20highly,second%2Dplace%20Ronald%20Reagan%27s%20rating. |url-status=live }}</ref> Assessments of his policies are mixed.<ref name="JFK-IL">{{cite web| url= https://millercenter.org/president/kennedy/impact-and-legacy| title= John F. Kennedy: Impact and Legacy| date= October 4, 2016| publisher= Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia| access-date= April 28, 2017| archive-date= March 18, 2017| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170318043025/https://millercenter.org/president/kennedy/impact-and-legacy| url-status= live}}</ref><ref name="abrinkley1">{{cite magazine|last=Brinkley|first=Alan|title=The Legacy of John F. Kennedy|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/08/the-legacy-of-john-f-kennedy/309499/|access-date=September 1, 2016|magazine=The Atlantic|archive-date=August 29, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160829200547/http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/08/the-legacy-of-john-f-kennedy/309499/|url-status=live}}</ref> Many of Kennedy's legislative proposals were passed after his death, during the [[presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson|Johnson administration]], and Kennedy's death gave those proposals a powerful moral component.<ref name="tgillman">{{cite news| last=Gillman| first=Todd J.| title=JFK's legacy: Kennedy fell short of greatness, yet inspired a generation| url=http://ece.dallasnews.com/news/jfk50/reflect/20131116-jfks-legacy-kennedy-fell-short-of-greatness-yet-inspired-a-generation.ece| date=November 16, 2013| publisher=Dallas Morning News| access-date=April 28, 2017}}{{Dead link|date=May 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

Kennedy came in third (behind Martin Luther King Jr. and [[Mother Teresa]]) in [[Gallup's List of Widely Admired People]] of the 20th century.<ref>{{cite book | title = The Gallup Poll 1999 | url = https://archive.org/details/galluppollcumula0000gall | url-access = registration | publisher = Scholarly Resources Inc. | year = 1999 | location = Wilmington, DE | pages = [https://archive.org/details/galluppollcumula0000gall/page/248 248–249] }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title = Greatest of the Century | date = December 20–21, 1999 | publisher = Gallup/CNN/USA Today Poll | url = http://www.pollingreport.com/20th.htm | access-date = January 5, 2007 | archive-date = January 5, 2007 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070105022914/http://www.pollingreport.com/20th.htm | url-status = live }}</ref> In 1961, he was awarded the [[Laetare Medal]] by the [[University of Notre Dame]], considered the most prestigious award for [[American Catholics]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Recipients|url=https://laetare.nd.edu/recipients/#info1961|website=The Laetare Medal|publisher=University of Notre Dame|access-date=July 31, 2020|archive-date=February 4, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210204061838/https://laetare.nd.edu/recipients/#info1961|url-status=live}}</ref> He was posthumously awarded the [[Pacem in Terris Award|''Pacem in Terris'' Award]] ([[Latin]]: Peace on Earth) and the [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wetterau |first1=Bruce |title=The Presidential Medal of Freedom : winners and their achievements |date=1996 |publisher=Congressional Quarterly Inc. |location=Washington, D.C. |isbn=1-56802-128-3 |page=[https://archive.org/details/presidentialmeda00wett_0/page/58 58] |url=https://archive.org/details/presidentialmeda00wett_0 |url-access=registration |access-date=September 9, 2019}}</ref>

====Camelot====
[[File:John F Kennedy Official Portrait.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|Official White House portrait of Kennedy, by [[Aaron Shikler]]]]

The term "Camelot" is often used to describe his presidency, reflecting both the mythic grandeur accorded Kennedy in death and powerful nostalgia for that era of American history.<ref>Linda Czuba Brigance, "For One Brief Shining Moment: Choosing to Remember Camelot." ''Studies in Popular Culture'' 25.3 (2003): 1–12 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/23414940 online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230906210242/https://www.jstor.org/stable/23414940 |date=September 6, 2023 }}</ref> According to Richard Dean Burns and Joseph M. Siracusa, the most popular theme surrounding Kennedy's legacy is its replay of the legend of [[King Arthur]] and [[Camelot]] from [[Arthurian Literature]].<ref>Richard Dean Burns and Joseph M. Siracusa, ''Historical Dictionary of the Kennedy-Johnson Era'' (Rowman & Littlefield, 2015) pp. 75–76.</ref> In an interview following Kennedy's death, his widow Jacqueline mentioned his affection for the Broadway musical ''[[Camelot (musical)|Camelot]]'' and quoted its closing lines: "Don't let it be forgot, that once there was a spot, for one brief, shining moment that was known as Camelot."<ref name="JFKlibrary.org White. Series 11. Camelot Documents">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060906065903/http://www.jfklibrary.org/Historical%2BResources/Archives/Archives%2Band%2BManuscripts/fa_white_theodore.htm The Personal Papers of Theodore H. White (1915–1986): Series 11. Camelot Documents], ''John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum'' quotation:{{blockquote|The 1963 LIFE article represented the first use of the term "Camelot" in print and is attributed with having played a major role in establishing and fixing this image of the Kennedy Administration and period in the popular mind.}}</ref><ref>[{{GBurl|id=T1IEAAAAMBAJ|p=158}} ''An Epilogue''], in ''LIFE'', December 6, 1963, pp. 158–159</ref> Critics, especially historians, have mocked the Camelot myth as a distortion of Kennedy's actions, beliefs, and policies. However, in the public memory, the years of Kennedy's presidency are still seen as a brief, brilliant, and shining moment.<ref>Richard Dean Burns and Joseph M. Siracusa, ''Historical Dictionary of the Kennedy–Johnson Era'' (Rowman & Littlefield, 2015) pp. 75–76.</ref><ref>Jon Goodman, et al., ''The Kennedy Mystique: Creating Camelot'' (National Geographic Books, 2006).</ref>

===Memorials and eponyms===
{{main|List of things named after John F. Kennedy}}
Examples of the extensive list include:
* Idlewild Airport in [[Queens]], New York City, renamed [[John F. Kennedy International Airport]] on December 24, 1963
* NASA Launch Operations Center in [[Merritt Island, Florida]] named the [[John F. Kennedy Space Center]] on November 29, 1963.
* {{USS|John F. Kennedy|CV-67}}, U.S. Navy aircraft carrier ordered in April 1964, launched May 1967, decommissioned August 2007; nicknamed "Big John"
* [[Kennedy half dollar]], first minted in 1964
* [[John F. Kennedy School of Government]], part of [[Harvard University]], renamed in 1966
* [[John F. Kennedy Federal Building]] in the [[Government Center, Boston|Government Center]] section of [[Boston]], opened in 1966
* [[John Fitzgerald Kennedy Memorial]], opened in 1970 in [[Dallas]]
* National cultural center was named [[John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts]] in 1964, opened in 1971 in [[Washington, D.C.]]
* [[John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum]] on [[Columbia Point, Boston|Columbia Point]] in [[Boston]]; opened in 1979
* [[Statue of John F. Kennedy (Boston)|Statue of John F. Kennedy]] by Isabel McIlvain on the grounds of the [[Massachusetts State House]] in Boston; dedicated on May 29, 1990.

==Works==
===Books===
* {{cite book
| first = John F.
| last = Kennedy
| title = [[Why England Slept]]
| publisher = W. Funk
| isbn= 978-1-44-084990-9
| date = 1940
| ref = none}}
* {{cite book
| first = John F.
| last = Kennedy
| title = [[Profiles in Courage]]
| publisher = Harper & Brothers
| isbn= 978-0-06-095544-1
| date = 1956
| ref = none}}
* {{cite book
| last=Kennedy
| first= John F.
| title=[[A Nation of Immigrants]]
| publisher=Anti-Defamation League
| date=1958
| isbn=978-0-06-144754-9
| ref = none}}

===Select speeches===
{{listen
| filename = JFK ColdWarsOrigin.ogg
| title = Kennedy comments on the possible prevention of the Cold War
| description = President Kennedy comments on the possible prevention of the Cold War
| format = [[Vorbis]]
|pos=left
| filename2 = JFKennedy November1963.ogg
| title2 = Kennedy's message to Turkey
| description2 = Kennedy's message to Turkish President [[Cemal Gursel]] and The Turkish People on the Anniversary of the Death of [[Kemal Atatürk]], November 10, 1963 ([[:File:JFKennedy on Ataturk 1963.pdf|accompanying text]])
| format2 = [[Vorbis]]
}}
{{listen
|pos=right
| filename = Discurso de Kennedy.ogg
| title = Announcement to go to the Moon
| description = Announcement by John F. Kennedy to go to the Moon (duration 00:11)
| format = [[Vorbis]]
| filename2 = Secret_Societies_speech.flac
| title2 = Secret Societies speech
| description2 = JFK Secret Societies speech
| format2 = [[FLAC]]
}}
{{Clear left}}

==See also==
* [[Cultural depictions of John F. Kennedy]]
* [[Electoral history of John F. Kennedy]]
* [[History of the United States (1945–1964)]]
* [[Kennedy Doctrine]]
* [[Lincoln–Kennedy coincidences urban legend]]
* [[List of United States presidential assassination attempts and plots]]
* [[Presidential transition of John F. Kennedy]]
* [[Presidents of the United States on U.S. postage stamps]]
* "[[Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy]]" retort by Senator Lloyd Bentsen, 1988 VP debate

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==

===Citations===
{{Reflist|25em}}

===Works cited===
{{refbegin|20em}}
* {{cite book|last=Ballard|first=Robert D.|author-link=Robert Ballard|year=2002|title=Collision With History: The Search for John F. Kennedy's PT 109|publisher=National Geographic|location=Washington, D.C.|isbn=978-0-7922-6876-5|url=https://archive.org/details/collisionwithhis0000ball}}
* {{cite book|last=Barnes|first=John|year=2007|title=John F. Kennedy on Leadership|publisher=AMACOM|isbn=978-0-8144-7455-6|location=New York|url=https://archive.org/details/johnfkennedyonle00barn}}
* {{cite book|last=Bilharz|first=Joy Ann|year=2002|orig-year=1998|title=The Allegany Senecas and Kinzua Dam: Forced Relocation Through Two Generations|publisher=University of Nebraska Press|location=Lincoln|isbn=978-0-8032-1282-4}}
* {{cite book|last1=Blight|first1=James G.|last2=Lang|first2=Janet M.|year=2005|title=The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|location=Lanham, MD|isbn=978-0-7425-4221-1}}
* {{cite book
  |last=Brauer
  |first=Carl M.
  |chapter=John F. Kennedy
  |editor-last=Graff
  |editor-first=Henry
  |title=The Presidents: A Reference History
  |edition=2nd
  |year=2002
  |pages=481–498
  |publisher=Macmillan Library Reference USA
 |isbn=0-684-80551-0
  }}
* {{cite book|last=Brinkley|first=Alan|author1-link=Alan Brinkley|title=John F. Kennedy|publisher=Times Books|year=2012|isbn=978-0-8050-8349-1|location=New York}}
* {{cite journal|last=Bryant|first=Nick|date=Autumn 2006a|title=Black Man Who Was Crazy Enough to Apply to Ole Miss|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25073538|journal=The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education|issue=53|pages=31, 60–71|jstor=25073538|access-date=March 31, 2024|archive-date=February 10, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230210084459/https://www.jstor.org/stable/25073538|url-status=live}}
* {{cite book |last1=Bryant |first1=Nick |title=The Bystander: John F. Kennedy and the Struggle for Black Equality |date=2006b |publisher=Basic Books }}
* {{cite book|last=Cohen|first=Andrew|title=Two Days in June: John F. Kennedy and the 48 Hours That Changed History|publisher=McClelland & Stewart|edition=illustrated, reprint|location=Toronto|orig-year=2014|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jtIpDAAAQBAJ|year=2016|isbn=978-0-7710-2389-7|access-date=July 24, 2023|archive-date=March 31, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240331040228/https://books.google.com/books?id=jtIpDAAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}
* {{cite book|last=Dallek|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Dallek|year=2003|title=An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917–1963|publisher=Little, Brown and Co|location=Boston|isbn=978-0-316-17238-7|title-link=An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917–1963}}
* {{cite book|last=Daum|first=Andreas|author-link=Andreas Daum|year=2008|title=Kennedy in Berlin|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=New York|isbn=978-0-521-85824-3}}
* {{cite book|last=Donovan|first=Robert J.|author-link=Robert J. Donovan|year=2001|orig-year=1961|title=PT-109: John F. Kennedy in WW II|edition=40th Anniversary|location=New York|publisher=McGraw Hill|isbn=978-0-07-137643-3|url=https://archive.org/details/pt109johnfkenned00dono_0}}
* {{cite book|last=Doyle|first=William|year=2015|title=PT-109: An American Epic of War, Survival, and the Destiny of John F. Kennedy|publisher=Harper-Collins|location=New York|isbn=978-0-06-234658-2}}
* {{cite book|last1=Dudley|first1=Robert L.|last2=Shiraev|first2=Eric|year=2008|title=Counting Every Vote: The Most Contentious Elections in American History|url=https://archive.org/details/countingeveryvot0000dudl|url-access=registration|publisher=Potomac Books|location=Dulles, VA|isbn=978-1-59797-224-6}}
* {{cite book|last1=Dunnigan|first1=James|author-link1=Jim Dunnigan|last2=Nofi|first2=Albert|author-link2=Albert Nofi|year=1999|title=Dirty Little Secrets of the Vietnam War|publisher=St. Martin's|isbn=978-0-312-19857-2|location=New York}}
* {{cite book|last=Frum|first=David|author-link=David Frum|year=2000|title=How We Got Here: The '70s|url=https://archive.org/details/howwegothere70sd00frum|url-access=registration|publisher=Basic Books|isbn=978-0-465-04196-1|location=New York}}
* {{cite book|last=Gibson|first=Bryan R.|title=Sold Out? US Foreign Policy, Iraq, the Kurds, and the Cold War|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|year=2015|isbn=978-1-137-48711-7|location=New York}}
* {{cite book|last1=Giglio|first1=James N.|title=The Presidency of John F. Kennedy|date=2006|publisher=University Press of Kansas|edition=2nd}}
* {{cite journal|last=Gleijeses|first=Piero|title=Ships in the Night: The CIA, the White House and the Bay of Pigs|journal=Journal of Latin American Studies|date=February 1995|volume=27|issue=1|pages=1–42|issn=0022-216X|doi=10.1017/S0022216X00010154|s2cid=146390097}}
* {{cite book|last=Goduti|first=Philip A. Jr.|title=Robert F. Kennedy and the Shaping of Civil Rights, 1960–1964|publisher=McFarland|url=|year=2012|isbn=978-0-7864-4943-9|location=Jefferson, NC}}
* {{cite book|last1=Herring|first1=George C.|title=From Colony to Superpower; U.S. Foreign Relations Since 1776|date=2008|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-507822-0|url=https://archive.org/details/fromcolonytosupe00herr}}
* {{cite book|last=Herst|first=Burton|year=2007|title=Bobby and J. Edgar: The Historic Face-Off Between the Kennedys and J. Edgar Hoover That Transformed America|publisher=Basic Books|isbn=978-0-7867-1982-2|location=New York|url=https://archive.org/details/bobbyjedgarhisto00hers}}
* {{cite book|last=Kempe|first=Frederick|author-link=Frederick Kempe|year=2011|title=Berlin 1961|publisher=G.P. Putnam's Sons|location=New York|isbn=978-0-399-15729-5|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/berlin1961kenned0000kemp}}
* {{cite book|last=Kenney|first=Charles|year=2000|title=John F. Kennedy: The Presidential Portfolio|publisher=PublicAffairs|isbn=978-1-891620-36-2|location=New York|url=https://archive.org/details/johnfkennedypre00kenn}}
* {{cite book|last=Leaming|first=Barbara|year=2006|title=Jack Kennedy: The Education of a Statesman|publisher=W. W. Norton|isbn=978-0-393051-61-2|location=New York|url=https://archive.org/details/jackkennedy00barb}}
* {{cite book|last=Matthews|first=Chris|author-link=Chris Matthews|year=2011|title=Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero|publisher=Simon & Schuster|isbn=978-1-4516-3508-9|location=New York|url=https://archive.org/details/jackkennedyelusi00matt}}
* {{cite book|last=O'Brien|first=Michael|year=2005|title=John F. Kennedy: A Biography|publisher=Thomas Dunne|isbn=978-0-312-28129-8|location=New York|url=https://archive.org/details/johnfkennedybiog00obri}}
* {{cite book|last=Osborne|first=Robert|year=2006|title=Leading Ladies: The 50 Most Unforgettable Actresses of the Studio Era|publisher=Chronicle Books|isbn=978-0-8118-5248-7|location=San Francisco}}
* {{cite book | last = Parmet | first = Herbert S. | year = 1983 | title = JFK: The Presidency of John F. Kennedy | publisher = Dial Press | location = New York | isbn = 978-0-140-07054-5 | url = https://archive.org/details/jfkpresidencyofj00parm }}
* {{cite book |last1=Patterson |first1=James |author-link=James T. Patterson (historian) |title=Grand Expectations: The United States 19451974 |url=https://archive.org/details/grandexpectation00patt |url-access=registration |date=1996 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0195117974 }}
* {{cite book|last=Reeves|first=Richard|author-link=Richard Reeves (American writer)|year=1993|title=President Kennedy: Profile of Power|publisher=Simon & Schuster|location=New York|isbn=978-0-671-64879-4|url=https://archive.org/details/presidentkennedy00reev_0}}
* {{cite book|last=Schlesinger|first=Arthur M. Jr.|author-link=Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.|title=A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House|orig-year=1965|year=2002|publisher=Houghton Mifflin|location=Boston|isbn=978-0-618-21927-8|title-link=A Thousand Days (book)}}
* {{cite book|last=Sorensen|first=Theodore|author-link=Ted Sorensen|title=Kennedy|url=https://archive.org/details/kennedys00sore|url-access=registration|publisher=Bantam|location=New York|type=paperback|orig-year=1965|year=1966|oclc=2746832}}
* {{cite book|last1=Walton|first1=Hanes Jr.|last2=Smith|first2=Robert C.|title=American Politics and the African American Quest for Universal Freedom|publisher=Addison, Wesley, Longman|year=2000|isbn=978-0-321-07038-8|location=New York}}
* {{cite book|title=The Torch is Passed: The Associated Press Story of the Death of a President|publisher=Associated Press|location=New York|year=1963|isbn=978-0861015689|ref={{SfnRef|Associated Press|1963}}}}
* {{cite book|author=NBC News|title=There Was a President|location=New York|publisher=Random House|year=1966|author-link=NBC News}}
* {{cite book|title=The Making of the President, 1964|url=https://archive.org/details/makingofpresiden00whit|url-access=registration|last=White|first=Theodore Harold|location=New York|publisher=Atheneum|year=1965|author-link=Theodore H. White}}
* {{cite book|author=The New York Times|title=Four days in November|year=2003|location=New York|publisher=St. Martin's Press|authorlink=The New York Times|editor1-first=Robert B. Jr.|editor1-last=Semple|editor1-link=Robert B. Semple Jr.}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
{{Main|Bibliography of John F. Kennedy}}

==External links==
{{Sister project links|wikt=Kennedy |b=no |n=no |s=Author:John F. Kennedy |v=no}}
* [http://www.jfklibrary.org/ John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum]
* [http://www.nps.gov/jofi/index.htm John Fitzgerald Kennedy National Historic Site]
* {{C-SPAN|2419}}
* [https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/presidents/kennedy/index.html John F. Kennedy: A Resource Guide] – the Library of Congress
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070811134522/http://www.millercenter.virginia.edu/index.php/academic/americanpresident/kennedy Extensive Essays on JFK] with shorter essays on his cabinet and First Lady – [[Miller Center of Public Affairs]]
* [https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/kennedy Kennedy Administration] from [[Office of the Historian]], [[United States Government Printing Office]]
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=John Fitzgerald Kennedy |sopt=t}}
* {{Librivox author |id=2572}}
* {{Gutenberg author|id=1666}}
* [https://archivesspace.amherst.edu/repositories/2/resources/128 Kennedy Convocation Collection] at the Amherst College Archives & Special Collections, documenting one of his last visits before his assassination
{{CongBio|K000107}}

{{John F. Kennedy}}
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|title=Offices and distinctions
|list1=
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