This essay is just a basic outline of JFK -
A. Family and Educational Background
John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born of May 29, 1917 and was the second son of nine children of
Joseph Patrick Kennedy and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. The ancestors before him were of
Wexford County in Ireland. John F. Kennedy's father served as first chairman of the
Securities and Exchange Commission and a US ambassador to Great Britain during Franklin D.
Roosevelts administration. His mother was the daughter of John F. Fitzgerald who was also
a political figure.
John F. Kennedy attended elementary schools in Brookline and Riverdale,
Massachusetts until the age of thirteen. After that, he was sent to the Canterbury School
in New Milford, Connecticut. Later, he transferred to the Choate Academy in Wallingford,
Connecticut and graduated at eighteen. For a short period of time, he attended he
attended college at Princeton but left because he had developed a case of jaundice.
English: John F. Kennedy meeting with Nikita Khrus...
LeMay Cuban Missile Crisis
English: Civilian employees and dependents boarded...In
1936, he enrolled in Harvard and majored in international relations and in government.
After graduating in 1940, he enrolled in the Stanford University graduate business school
and dropped out six months later. Soon after, he joined the navy.
B. Political Background
Kennedy ran for the US House of Representatives in 1946 and took his seat in
Congress in 1947 and was reelected two more times in 1948 and in 1950. In 1952, with help
from his family, Kennedy campaigned for the Senate and won. In June of 1956, Kennedy ran
for Vice President only to lose to Estes Kefauver of Tennessee. After his loss, Kennedy
began a new campaign for the Presidency.
C. Presidential Elections
Kennedy's running mates for the Presidency in 1960 were Richard Nixon and Harry Byrd.
One of the major issues being debated at the time was the Cold...