Essay/Term paper: Jfk: his life and legacy

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Biography

On November 22, 1963, while being driven through the streets



of Dallas, Texas, in his open car, President John F. Kennedy was



shot dead, apparently by the lone gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald. The



world had not only lost a common man, but a great leader of men.



>From his heroic actions in World War II to his presidency, making



the decisions to avert possible nuclear conflict with world



superpowers, greatness can be seen. Kennedy also found the time



to author several best-selling novels from his experiences . His



symbolic figure represented all the charm, vigor and optimism of



youth as he led a nation into a new era of prosperity.



From his birth into the powerful and influential Kennedy



clan, much was to be expected of him. Kennedy was born on May



29,1917 in Brookline, Massachusetts. His father, Joe, Sr., was a



successful businessman with many political connections. Appointed



by President Roosevelt, Joe, Sr., was given the chair of the



Securities and Exchange Commission and later the prestigious



position of United States ambassador to Great Britain(Anderson



98). His mother, Rose, was a loving housewife and took young John



on frequent trips around historic Boston learning about American





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revolutionary history. Both parents impressed on their children



that their country had been good to the Kennedys. Whatever



benefits the family received from the country they were told,



must be returned by performing some service for the



country(Anderson 12). The Kennedy clan included Joe, Jr., Bobby,



Ted and their sisters, Eunice, Jean, Patricia, Rosemary, and



Kathleen. Joe, Jr., was a significant figure in young John's life



as he was the figure for most of John's admiration. His older



brother was much bigger and stronger than John and took it upon



himself to be John's coach and protector. John's childhood was



full of sports, fun and activity. This all ended when John grew



old enough to leave for school.



At the age of thirteen, John left home to attend an away



school for the first time. Canterbury School, a boarding school in



New Milford, Connecticut and Choate Preparatory in Wallingford,



Connecticut completed his elementary education("JFK" 98). John



graduated in 1934 and was promised a trip to London as a



graduation gift. Soon after, John became ill with jaundice and



would have to go to the hospital. He spent the rest of the



summer trying to recover. He was not entirely well when he started



Princeton, several weeks later in the fall of 1935. Around



Christmas the jaundice returned and John had to drop out of



school. Before the next school year began, he told his father he



wanted to go to Harvard("JFK" 98). On campus, young people took



interest in politics, social changes, and events in Europe. The



United States was pulling out of the Great Depression. Hitler's



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Nazi Germany followed aggressive territorial expansion in Europe.



It was at this time that John first became aware of the vast



social and economic differences in the United States. In June



1940, John graduated cum laude(with praise or distinction) from



Harvard. His thesis earned a magna cum laude(great praise)( "JFK"



98). After graduation, John began to send his paper to publishers,



and it was accepted on his second try. Wilfrid Funk published it



under the title Why England Slept. It became a bestseller. John, at

twenty-five, became a literary sensation.



In the spring of 1941, both John and Joe, Jr., decided to



enroll in the armed services. Joe was accepted as a naval air



cadet but John was turned down by both the army and navy because



of his back trouble and history of illness("JFK" 98). After months



of training and conditioning, John reapplied and on September 19,



John was accepted into the navy as a desk clerk in Washington. He



was disgusted and applied for a transfer. In June 1941, Kennedy



was sent to Naval Officers Training School at Northwestern



University in Evanston, Illinois and then for additional training



at the Motor Torpedo Boat Center at Melville, Rhode Island.



In late April 1943, Lieutenant John F. Kennedy was put in



command of a PT 109, a fast, light, attack craft in the Solomon



Islands in the South Pacific. Kennedy saw action in the form of



night patrols and participated in enemy bombings. On August 1,



1943, during a routine night patrol, a Japanese destroyer collided



in the darkness with Kennedy's craft and the PT 109 was sunk.



Through superhuman effort, the injured Kennedy heroically swam





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back and forth rescuing his wounded crew. Two were killed in the



crash. The injury had once again aggravated his back. Still,



Kennedy pushed on swimming from island to island in the South



Pacific hoping for a patrol to come by. The lieutenant had no idea



he had been in the water for eight hours. Finally, an island was



spotted that could provided cover from Japanese planes. With no



edible plants or water, Kennedy realized that he and the crew must



move on.



The next day, he once again attempted to search for



rescue. After treading water for hours, the lieutenant was forced



to admit no patrol boats were coming. He turned back for the island

but was swept away by a powerful current. Kennedy collapsed on an



island and slept. He recovered enough energy to return to the



island and gathered the crew to move to another island in search



of food. JFK was now desperate enough to seek help from



natives on a Japanese controlled island. After making contact



with the natives, Kennedy persuaded the natives to deliver a



message written on the back of a coconut shell to allied forces.



The coconut fell into the hands of allied scouts and a patrol was



sent. The coconut would appear again on the desk of an American



President(Anderson 35).



The crew of the PT 109 were given a hero's welcome when they



returned to base, but Kennedy would have none of it. He refused



home leave and was given another boat. In constant pain from the



back injury, JFK soon contracted malaria, became very ill, and lost

twenty-five pounds. He was forced to give up command and was sent





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home to Chelsea Naval Hospital near Hyannis Port. The lieutenant



received the Purple Heart, the Navy and Marine Corps Medal, and a



citation from Admiral W. F. Halsey. John's back failed to recover



was an operation was performed on his spine in the summer of 1944.



During recovery, Kennedy received word that his brother Joe,



Jr. had been killed in action. Joe had been eligible for home



leave, but had volunteered for a special bombing mission. The bombs

had detonated early and Joe and his copilot were caught in the



explosion. Kennedy put his feelings onto paper and a second book



was published for the family and close friends. He called it As We



Remember Joe.



The family- particularly JFK's father- had assumed that



Joe, Jr. would carry on the family tradition and go into



politics. Both of his grandfathers had been active in



politics(Anderson 41). Now , suddenly, JFK was the oldest



Kennedy of his generation. Kennedy's first chance in politics



came when Congressman James Curley from the 11th District of



Massachusetts decided to retire in 1946(Gadney 42). JFK won



his first Congressional seat by a margin of more than two to



one. At the age if twenty-nine, JFK was placed on the front page of

the New York Times and in Time Magazine. He was often mistaken in



Congress as a Senate page or an elevator operator.



It was during this time period in which Kennedy met and fell



in love with Jacqueline Bouvier. "Jackie",as she was known, came



from a wealthy Catholic background as prestigious as the Kennedys.



She attended Vassar College and the Sorbonne in Paris, France. She





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spoke French, Italian, and Spanish fluently. They were wed on



September 12,1953, at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Newport, Rhode



Island. All seemed well, yet after three two-year terms as a



Congressman, Kennedy became frustrated with House rules and customs

and decided to run for Senate.



In 1952, Kennedy ran for Senate against Republican Senator



Henry Cabot Lodge. Fifteen years older than Kennedy, Lodge was



the incumbent of two terms in the Senate. JFK prevailed in the



victory but was soon stricken with Addison's disease during his



first year in the Senate and had to operate on a fifty-fifty



chance for survival procedure(Gadney 52). While recovering,



Kennedy wrote Profiles in Courage, a bestseller on examples of



moral courage in the lives of eight senators who risked their



careers for a great cause or a belief. Kennedy returned to Senate



and participated in the powerful Senate Foreign Relations



Committee. He was also chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on



Labor. JFK believed strongly in education, equal job opportunity,



and the civil rights movement. His biggest success came in the form

of his Labor Reform Bill which passed by a margin of 90 to 1 in



Senate debate. Kennedy's first child, Caroline, was born during



this time.



Due to his enormous success in Congress, the Democratic



party nominated him for the presidential ticket in 1960.



Lyndon Johnson was chosen as the running mate with Kennedy to



secure and build upon the democratic bases in the southern states



while the Kennedys sought out the younger voters, the factory





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workers, and the liberals(Gadney 61).



During the Kennedy Administration, a great deal of events



were going on.Jackie had given birth to JFK, Jr., while all over



the south, the civil rights movement was going in full force with



incidents breaking out. Specific attention gathered around a black



air force veteran, James Meredith, applied for admission to the



University of Mississippi. In Cuba both the Bay of Pigs occurred,



in which U.S. supported rebels revolted in a poorly laid out plan



of events that fell out beneath them, and the Cuban Missile



Crisis in which the Soviet Republic were building missile silos



in Cuba, 100 miles away from Florida. The Space Race was in full



force with both Russia and the U.S. in competition to reach the



moon. U.S. involvement in Vietnam was in the latter stages with



plans to withdraw after the 1964 election.



On a trip to Dallas to stir up support for the reelection,



the President's auto were coming down elm street when three shots



rang out. The first projectile entered at the base of Kennedy's



neck and exited through the back of his head. The second bullet



hit Texas Governor John Connally. Seconds later there was another



shot and the back of the president's head was torn away. The



assassin- Lee Harvey Oswald with a mail-order rifle fired from



the Texas School Book Depository(Warren 5). Oswald had recently



applied for a passport to Communist Russia which led to a series



of private meetings between Oswald and the Russian



Government(Warren 614). Oswald protested his innocence.



President Johnson set up what quickly became known as the





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Warren Commission headed by Chief Justice Warren to find the



motive behind the assassination, The Commission finds the lone,



depressed, mentally unstable, anti-social nut kills an American



president("Theories" 1). Other theories have evolved over time



such as the Grassy Knoll theory. Witnesses say that a man in



black was present and fired simultaneously with Oswald and



doubled the actual shots fired("Theories" 1) Another theory is that

the fired CIA director Allen Dulles used his considerable



connections and plotted revenge("Theories 2").



On Nov. 24, 1963 as Oswald was being escorted from the city



jail, Jack Ruby shot Oswald with a single shot from a Colt .38



revolver(Warren 350). Ruby was arrested and stood trial in Dallas.



He was found guilty and was sentenced to hang. He died in jail of



cancer, on January 3,1967.



Kennedy was the first President to be born in the twentieth



century and was very much a man of his time. He was restless,



seeking, with a thirst of knowledge, and he had a feeling of deep



commitment, not only to the people of the United States, but to



the peoples of the world. Many of the causes he fought for exist



today because of what he did for the rights of minorities, the



poor, the very old and the very young. He never took anything for



granted and worked for everything he owned. Perhaps Kennedy summed



up his life best in his own inaugural speech: "Ask not what your



country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country."