John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born the 29. May in 1917 in Brookline, Massachusetts. He was the second child of Joseph Patrick Kennedy and his wife Rose Fitzgerald’s flock of children. The Kennedy’s were a prosperous family. They had always been into politics; his grandfather was even elected mayor in Boston, in 1905. John or Jack, as his family and friends called him, had grandparents who had moved from Ireland during the potato famine.

In his childhood, Jack travelled around the USA, and visited other states; this gave him a knowledge of other lands and cultures. As a kid, jack was often bothered by diseases, and he was small and thin, and not what we would call the most popular. During his childhood his biggest ideal, was his older brother Joe. Joe was clever in almost everything, both athletics and school. Joe was also “the man” in the house when his father Joseph, was on business travels.

When Jack was thirteen years old, he began at Canterbury School, a catholic boarding school in New Milford, Connecticut. Young Kennedy had to quit school, never to return, because of a disease. Later on he graduated on Choate Preparatory School, and in 1935 he began at Princeton University, but once again disease made him quit school. Later he continued school at Harvard University.  Jack and Joe worked in the American Embassy in Great Britain just before and also during the start of WW2. Joe returned to Harvard after some time, but Jack continued to work in the embassy. At last, also Jack returned to Harvard. But the visit to Europe made him much more interested in Politics. In July, 1940 Jack passed his examination in political science.

The World War 2

While the war devastated Europe, Jack spent his summer in America as he always did. He travelled to the Southern states, but when he came back, John had enlisted himself in the US Air force and was transferred to an airport near Boston as a flight aspirant. Later Jack followed his brother and joined the army. Because of his back injuries from Harvard, he didn’t pass the medical test. Jack trained his back for some time before he joined the navy, and passed the tests. His first job was paperwork in Washington. December 7th 1941 Japan bombed Pearl Harbour, the American base on Hawaii. This was the start of the war between USA and Japan. Now John was appointed to lieutenant. In March 1943 he was sent to San Francisco, in the southerly part of the Pacific Ocean. He started on a boat called MTB109. John and his crew practiced on an island called Kenova. They also looked after that no Japanese ship came through the Blackett-lane. August 1st the Japanese’s tried to attack the base, by sending 25 bomb planes against the island. The mission was failed. Just 2 American boats sank. After this, the MTB’s got an order from the main quarter. They should patrol that night. Suddenly the cannon shooter discovered a Japanese ship, and it was too late to turn around. They were bombed, and the ship sank at once. Everything went wrong. John and the rest of the crew swam to the closest island. 2 days passed by and nobody had seen them yet….until some natives came by by boat. John and the rest of the crew were paddled to the mainland.

John F. Kennedy was awarded the Purple Heart for his brave appearance. After this he got the commando on MTB59 together with a new crew. Johns` back got worse. Early 1945 he was demitted by the navy. He’d done a very good job that gave him much respect. He was now 28 and was looking for a new job. Then a tragic message came to John and the rest of the family: Joe was dead. His airplane had exploded on a mission over the Belgian sea.

Political Carrier

After getting over the shock of his brothers death, he had a small job as a journalist, and then his political carrier started. He went through a campaigned to be elected as a congress member. He began to get respect from more and more people, and  he won the election against the republican representative. In January 1947 at an age of 29 years, he was a congress member. After 6 years Jack started to main even higher. He wanted to be a Senator. He won the election with over 70.000 votes. The 3rd January 1953, Jack entered his place in the American Senate.

One day Jack got a visit from a reporter named Jacqueline. They fell in love with each other, and got engaged. On the 12th September they  married. At this time Jack’s job in the senate gave him  a tremendous pain in his back. The doctors told him he had to have an operation, if not he would be totally disabled for the rest of his life. After the operation the back was hurting for weeks, and he had to do a new operation. This time it went well. Both these operations could have taken Jacks life.

The President

After eight months he made a comeback in the senate. He chose to try to be re-elected. His back was much better.
The 27th November 1957, he got his firstborn child, a girl named Caroline.
At his second elections he won more than  870.000 votes. Now he wanted to be the Democrat’s candidate for the president election. He started his land stretching campaign by visiting 48 states and 273 cities. He also supported Martin Luther King jr. which gave him many votes from Afro-Americans. He won the election over Nixon by 0,1%. The 20th January 1961, John F. Kennedy gave his oath in front of the nation. Afterwards he held a great speech were he said the famous words "Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country." After this he entered the white house as Americas 35th president, and the first catholicon ever, and also the youngest! Then his second child was  born, John F. Kennedy Jr.

In his time as President he made an American peace corps and fought for the rights of black people. This made his popularity sink, but the Afro Americans gave him even more respect.

The 3rd June 1961 Kennedy and the soviet leader Khrustsjov met in Wien. The main reason for the meeting was  an American Spy plane which had been shot down over Soviet, another reason was the failed invasion of Cuba. Without Kennedy knowing, fugitives were trained by the CIA to take back Cuba from the guerrillas. The guerrillas was waiting for the armed fugitives and they captured them and got medicine and food for $ 53 Millions in ransom. There was set no conclusion on this meeting, but Khrustsjov made it clear that Soviet would increase its war policy against the US.

There was a huge conflict in Berlin because of the big wall that divided the west (who was controlled by the Allied) and the east (who was controlled by the Soviets). The year was  1962 and the atmosphere between USA and Soviet was, and had been, pretty fretful since WW2. Two years earlier, in 1960, Khrustsjov had been placing nuclear weapons on the island Cuba. There had never been a nuclear war before, and whit these nuclear weapons on Cuba, Soviet could attack the USA. When Khrustsjov was asked if he had placed nuclear rockets on Cuba, he said no. His lies were reviled by a spy plane. The plane discovered launching ramps for middle distance rockets. The 22nd October the President told his fellow Americans about the nuclear rockets, and he demanded that Soviet removed them imediatelly, and then the seaway to Cuba was blocked by battleships.

Special Forces were sent to Florida and made ready to invade Cuba. Never had a nuclear missile been fired against another country, and the world waited in fear when it got trough that a ship from Soviet loaded whit nuclear weapons was sent to Cuba. Kennedy demanded that Soviet should pull out their nuclear weapons from Cuba. At last the Soviets followed Kennedy’s demands, knowing that USA had nuclear power to destroy the world 4 times. This was probably the most important moment in Kennedy’s carrier.

The Murder

A new president election was just ahead and Jack wanted to be president for another period. He therefore travelled to Dallas, in Texas. On Friday the 22nd November 1963, a day that has gone into the history books for ever, the President and his wife were driving trough the city. Crowds of people had come there to see their President. They drove slowly, and they were surrounded by 13 motorbikes and a car whit secret service personnel.

Suddenly, two shots were fired by a rifle. The first shot went trough the backside of Kennedy’s neck and hit the governor John B. Conally of Texas in the back. The second shot hit Kennedy directly in his head and he fell over in his wife’s lap. The car speeded and drove to the hospital where Kennedy died.
The vice-president was now made the President of the United States.

Two days after a man named Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested for the murder of the president. He was seen shooting from the 6th floor of a building nearby were also the murder weapon was found later. He claimed he was innocent, and even passed a lie detector test. When the police moved him to another prison, a man named Jack Ruby shot him on an open street, when millions of people were watching on TV. Oswald died.  Jack Ruby was arrested and sentenced for jail. Jack Ruby died in jail.

It has never been really clear who killed John Fitzgerald Kennedy, but as a president he got a royal ceremony, and he is remembered as a legend.

Kilder

Internett (URL: http://www.daria.no/skole/?tekst=205)