Biography of John F. Kennedy Paper Example

Thesis: The paper will provide a detailed biography of the 35th president of the United States, John F. Kennedy, covering his beginnings, his life as a Congressman, president and a Senator, his assassination and his achievements.

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Introduction

Various individuals undergo different experiences that impact their lives either positive or in a negative manner. The most significant influencers in the world that hold powerful positions significantly impact on their societies. Being a president of a nation like the United States is the most prominent position that an individual can hold since a person in searching a position determines the progress of the country and other events worldwide because of an increase in globalization. The United States experienced various influential movements and considerable changes during the 1960s. During the period, John F Kennedy was elected for office as the 35th president, which marked new beginnings for the United States. Therefore, this paper will provide a detailed biography of the 35th president of the United States, John F. Kennedy, covering his beginnings, his life as a Congressman, president and a Senator, his assassination and his achievements.

Beginnings

John F. Kennedy was born on 29th May 1917 and raised in Brookline by his parents Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. and Rose. John F. Kennedy's parents were preoccupied with social status in high society in Boston and aimed to offer their children with the best opportunities available. John F. Kennedy and other siblings enjoyed an advantaged life with numerous coast trips during the summer, sumptuous food, and high-class boarding school. Jack did not feel a great depression and economic hardships experienced during that period, he knew well that the private accountant for the family would settle all financial issues and depts. (Biography.com Editors, 2017). In 1960 in an interview, John F. Kennedy agreed that he was not aware of the economic crisis and the great depression the United States was undergoing until he read about it at Harvard University.

Despite being in a wealthy family and fame, Kennedy underwent a challenging childhood life as from 1919; he suffered from a continuous flow of illnesses with some of the being life-threatening (Barnes, 2005). Before Kennedy turned three, he contracted scarlet fever that made him admitted in hospital for two months. Although John F. Kennedy overcame the conditioned, it made Kennedy vulnerable to other diseases. During his young age, he suffered from a whooping cough, jaundice, asthma and other illnesses that remained a threat to his military life, college life as well as his period during leadership. His father was supportive of Kennedy, and his condition worried him.

Kennedy never really got to be his person before he was surrounded in politics and government. His grandfather was the Mayor of Boston, his father was a multi-millionaire, highly invested in the stock market, and a US Ambassador and his mother were given a vast fortune at an early age. Not only was this influence for him, but he was also pushed with expectations to continue this family legacy. His parents originally wanted his older brother to run for president, but he was killed in the war, so John Kennedy was next in line to run for this title. With these high expectations, Kennedy still lived up to them. JFK never lost an election throughout his whole career.

John resembled his dad because he was funny, concerned about his country's welfare, a resilient family loyalty, and he was very confident. During his high school studies, Jack was more of a troublemaker than his academic performance. He joined a group of rebellious students at elite boarding school in Connecticut and would organize practical jokes. John F. Kennedy had average results and had consistent poor results in sciences and Latin despite showing interest in History and English. He was more focused in his social standing than his studies. John F. Kennedy went to Canterbury Catholic School and passed well in History and English because they were the only subjects he liked hence referred to as a weak and bad student. Mostly, teachers recognized him because of his personality and not because of performing well academically. John Kennedy graduated from Choate and spent a single semester at Princeton before transferring to Harvard University to study government and history in the year 1936 (Kaiser, 2008). John grew up in an advantaged home and graduated from Harvard with honors. In 1938 he was his father's assistant, but after a short period, he joined the United States Navy just after he graduated from Harvard University. He was allocated to commanding a patrol boat in the S. Pacific. After the Japanese struck his ship, he was able to lead the survivors to the nearest island whereby they were later rescued. Because of the rescue mission, John Kennedy was awarded two medals; navy and Marine Corps for good leadership and Purple Heart because of the wounds he sustained. John suffered from his back pain since he was a teenager and also suffered from Addison disease.

Life as a Congressman and a Senator

Kennedy started his leadership in the United States Navy in 1941 as a Lieutenant, Commanding a Patrol Torpedo Boat (PT 109). Gravely Injured in battle during the Second World War, Kennedy trapped deep behind enemy lines helped his men to safety. Putting his life on the line for his men later earned him the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps Medal for Heroism, and well ahead requesting to return to duty. After Discharge in 1945, JFK found himself in constant pain, as he re-injured his back that he had problems with since he was a teen. He was also diagnosed with Addison Disease which caused hormonal imbalances, and low blood pressure caused even more pain throughout his body. But this did not stop him one bit, as he ventured into American Politics.

Kennedy's first run for a political seat was Congress in 1946 despite his injuries from war. Kennedy put all his time and effort into his campaign and received double the amount of votes than his nearest opponent. Kennedy was only 29 years old when he took the seat as a congressman and served three terms as a bread-and-butter liberal in the House of Representatives from 1947 to 1953. The term bread-and-butter liberal means he was open to new opinions and ideas to broaden his knowledge of politics while keeping it basic. Kennedy was for the people and listened to them carefully to better serve them. He took note to bring changed like increasing wages, lowering the cost of living and giving more social security to the elderly.

After World War 2, John decided against becoming a politician, and he was elected as a Democratic Congressman in 1947 where he served three terms in the House of Representatives. As a Congressman, he toured among the big continents and spoke with some presidents in various states. Being far too ambitious and motivated to make Americans happy and fulfill the American dream for many, he set his eyes for something bigger, The U.S. Senate. In 1952 he ran for Senator against Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. later defeating him by 70,000 votes (Dallek, 2003). He grew a status for his open-mindedness to the requests from the people. As a Senator Kennedy also focused a lot on preserving the Electoral College and Civil Rights. In 1958 Kennedy ran for re-election for Senate in Massachusetts to "test the waters" for his popularity. Surprising enough John won the election with 874,608 votes, the most in ever in the history of Massachusetts Politics. John Kennedy was voted to the U.S. Senate in 1952 and wedded Jaqueline Bouvier in 1953. The work of John Kennedy was passing laws and helping the citizens of the U.S. In the Senate, John won a reputation for approachability to appeals from constituents, excluding on particular occurrences when the national interest was at stake. In the year 1953, he was the only senator in New England to approve an extension of trade powers, and he energetically supported the opening of St. Lawrence Seaway, even though no member of Congress or senator had ever supported it in Massachusetts. As a senator, John Kennedy did not support the proposal of abolishing the Electoral College, campaigned for labor change, and became progressively dedicated to civil rights legislation. He also encouraged public external help to the developing countries in Africa and Asia, and John amazed his associates by calling upon France to grant Algerian independence.

The political thinking of Kennedy rotated around the idea that it was not right to let the party's pressure duty cloud you and make you change your response. He meant that even though the party has significant value, an individual is the one to make the decision regardless of the party's stand. As a Democrat, he was not satisfied with the way things were, and he believed that he could make them better. In 1958, he raced for Senate re-election to test for his reputation in Massachusetts and got a victory of over eight thousand votes making history in the Massachusetts politics. John Kennedy had an urge to become a president of the U.S. presidency was the center of the action, and he could have the chance to solve the challenges facing the United States.

President John F. Kennedy

In 1960, John Kennedy announced his running for a presidential seat. He traveled countrywide to meet citizens and give speeches about his agenda as the president. The Democratic Party chose John Kennedy as their candidate to run for the presidency. The young and charismatic Kennedy with his publicized speech of concession had made him very familiar to the Americans, and some people referred to him as "a young man in a hurry." John Kennedy worked very hard on his campaign to remove the notion that Roman Catholic candidate could not be voted as a president (Shanahan, 1966). John F. Kennedy got his campaign support from his father and his brothers. His father bought him an airplane that could transport him together with his campaign staffs around the country. His brothers, Bobby and Ted, were his chief campaigners. John Kennedy handled the Catholic challenge through affirming his belief in segregation of church and the nation. He chose Johnson as his running mate to balance his democratic ticket. At only forty-three years, John Kennedy became the youngest U.S. president by having over one hundred thousand votes than his opponent. On 20th January 1961, John Kennedy was inaugurated as the 35th president of the U.S. However, his leadership as a president was short-lived when a man by the name of Lee Harvey Oswald shot and killed him after just two years in the Presidential Seat. Although being a Democrat, Kennedy was not a Leader-Member Exchange type of leader but more of a Transformational leader. The real question is why was he a transformational leader and how did he become so loved throughout...