| Bio |

Who they were

John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born on 29 May 1917^[4]. He went on to serve as a US naval officer in the Pacific during the Second World War^[1], commanding the patrol torpedo boat PT-109. In August 1943 the boat was lost in action, and Kennedy -- then a lieutenant -- was later awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for his conduct during the incident^{[6, p. 1][6, p. 2]}.

After the war, Kennedy moved into elected politics and went on to serve as a United States Senator before running for the presidency^[1]. He was elected the 35th President of the United States on 8 November 1960^{[7, p. 4]}, becoming one of the youngest men ever to hold the office, and was inaugurated on 20 January 1961^{[5, p. 2]}. His campaign and early presidency were shaped heavily by Cold War tensions with the Soviet Union, themes he addressed directly in his Inaugural Address^[8].

As president, Kennedy's defining crisis came in October 1962, when US intelligence discovered Soviet nuclear missiles being installed in Cuba, triggering the Cuban Missile Crisis, a tense standoff between the two Cold War superpowers^{[4, p. 249]}. His administration also became associated with the civil rights movement; listeners who heard him speak during his presidency described him growing into a stronger advocate for civil rights over time^{[7, p. 5]}. In June 1963 he travelled to divided Berlin and delivered his famous "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech in solidarity with West Berliners living beside the Iron Curtain^{[9, p. 1]}.

On 22 November 1963, Kennedy was shot while riding in a motorcade through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas^{[5, p. 6]}; Texas Governor John Connally, riding in the same car, was also wounded^{[4, p. 356]}. Kennedy was rushed to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where he died of his injuries^{[10, p. 2]}. Lee Harvey Oswald was identified and investigated as the rifleman responsible^{[11, p. 6][4, p. 356]}, and the President's Commission on the Assassination -- the Warren Commission -- produced an extensive report on the events^{[4, p. 249]}.

Kennedy's assassination remains one of the most exhaustively investigated events in American history, producing the multi-volume Warren Commission report and hearings addressing the shooting, Oswald's rifle, and the wider circumstances of that day in Dallas^{[4][4, p. 356]}. His handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis is often cited as an example of careful crisis diplomacy that helped avert direct nuclear conflict with the Soviet Union^{[4, p. 249]}. His Inaugural Address, including its call to civic duty, continues to be studied and quoted as a landmark of American political rhetoric^[8].

Kennedy's wife, Jacqueline Kennedy, and their daughter, Caroline, both later gave recorded oral history interviews about their lives together, now held by the John F. Kennedy Library^{[12, p. 1]}. Kennedy stayed in close contact with his family even from the war zone: two of his surviving letters home from the Pacific, dated August 1943, describe the aftermath of the loss of PT-109^{[6, p. 6][6, p. 7]}.

| Legacy & Reputation |

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