April 25, 1946
John announces his candidacy for the Democratic congressional seat from the Massachusetts Eleventh Congressional District.
June 18, 1946
John wins his party’s nomination.
November 5, 1946
John is elected to the House of Representatives.
November 2, 1948
John is elected for a second term.
June 25, 1950
North Korea invades the Republic of Korea.
November 7, 1950
John is elected for a third term.
April 7, 1952
John announces his candidacy for the U.S. Senate.
November 4, 1952
John is elected to the Senate. Eisenhower is elected to the presidency with Richard Nixon as his vice president.
September 12, 1953
John Fitzgerald Kennedy marries 24-year-old Jacqueline Lee Bouvier.
May 17, 1954
The Supreme Court rules in Brown v. Board of Education that racial segregation in public schools is illegal.
October 21, 1954
John has back surgery. He writes Profiles in Courage during his recovery.
February 1955
John has follow-up back surgery.
May 6, 1957
Profiles in Courage wins the Pulitzer Prize in the biography category.
October 4, 1957
Russia launches an artificial space satellite, Sputnik I.
November 27, 1957
Caroline Kennedy is born.
November 4, 1958
John is reelected to the Senate.
January 1, 1959
Fidel Castro becomes leader of Cuba in a coup.
January 2, 1960
John announces his candidacy for president.
September 26, 1960
Kennedy and Richard Nixon, the Republican candidate, have their first of four televised debates.
November 8, 1960
Kennedy is elected 35th president of the United States.
November 25, 1960
John Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr. is born.
January 20, 1961
Kennedy is inaugurated. He is 43 years old.
March 1, 1961
Kennedy signs a bill establishing the Peace Corps.
March 29, 1961
Kennedy reorganizes the Council on Youth Fitness.
April 17, 1961
Bay of Pigs invasion fails.
May 5, 1961
The United States sends its first astronaut, Alan Shepard, into space.
May 11, 1961
The United States sends 400 Special Forces and 100 advisers to Vietnam.
May 14–20, 1961
Freedom riders are attacked in Birmingham, Anniston, and Montgomery, Alabama.
August 13, 1961
The Berlin Wall closes the border between East and West Berlin.
March 26, 1962
Kennedy gives Robert Frost the Congressional Medal of Honor.
September 30, 1962
Kennedy sends federal marshals to protect James Meredith, the first black student at the University of Mississippi.
October 16–28, 1962
The Cuban missile crisis unfolds.
Robert Frost, standing behind the microphones, was one of Kennedy’s favorite poets. He often quoted from the poem “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.” [JFK Presidential Library and Museum]
June 19, 1963
Kennedy sends a civil rights bill to Congress.
June 26, 1963
Kennedy visits West Berlin and delivers a speech at the Berlin Wall.
July 25, 1963
The Soviet Union, England, and the United States agree on a Limited Nuclear Test Ban treaty.
August 28, 1963
Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his famous “I Have a Dream” speech at the March on Washington.
October 26, 1963
Kennedy delivers a speech in tribute to Robert Frost, whose poem “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” is one Kennedy often quotes.
November 22, 1963
President John Fitzgerald Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas, Texas. He is 46 years old.
November 25, 1963
John Kennedy is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
An eternal flame burns at the grave site of John and Jackie Kennedy. [© Larry Downing/Reuters/Corbis]
PLACES TO VISIT
THERE ARE HUNDREDS, PERHAPS THOUSANDS, of places around the world named for President John F. Kennedy. There are plazas, bridges, squares, and highways. There are schools and office buildings. His face has been on coins and stamps. Here is a selection of places that you can visit.
John F. Kennedy Space Center
www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/home/
NASA’s Launch Operations Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida, was renamed the John F. Kennedy Space Center. You can tour the center in person, go to an astronaut training camp, and watch NASA launches online at their website.
The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
www.JFKlibrary.org
The JFK Library on Columbia Point in Dorchester, Massachusetts, opened in 1979 as Kennedy’s official presidential library. It has exhibits about the life of President Kennedy; his wife, Jackie; and his brother Robert, as well as displays about Kennedy’s campaigns and his interest in the space program. You can visit in person or take a virtual tour of the museum online at their website. The website is the best source of information about John Kennedy, his life, and his political career.
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, D.C.
www.Kennedy-center.org
This grand building opened in 1971 in Washington, D.C., on the Potomac River near the Lincoln Memorial. Its many stages showcase the performing arts: ballet, theater, orchestra, and opera. Free tours are offered every day.
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. [Douglas Litchfield/Shutterstock.com]
The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas
Jfk.org
Maintained by the Dallas County Historical Foundation, the sixth floor of the building that was the Texas School Book Depository now houses a permanent exhibit on the assassination and legacy of John Kennedy.
The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas. [Natalia Bratslavsky/Shutterstock.com]
John F. Kennedy Memorial Plaza in Dallas, Texas
Jfk.org
This square is not far from the site of President Kennedy’s assassination. The memorial consists of an empty platform with “John Fitzgerald Kennedy” engraved along its side, surrounded by a concrete square enclosure with two openings. The architect said it symbolizes an open tomb, a tribute to JFK’s living legacy.
John F. Kennedy Memorial Plaza in Dallas, Texas. [Carolyn DeVar/Shutterstock.com]
The John Fitzgerald Kennedy National Historic Site
Nps.gov/jofi
This National Parks site includes Kennedy’s birthplace and childhood home at 83 Beals Street in Brookline, Massachusetts. From April through November you can tour his home and the neighborhood he grew up in. The president’s mother, Rose Kennedy, restored the house to the way it was in 1917 when John Kennedy was born.
The White House
www.whitehouse.gov
Tours of the White House are available. You must ask your member of Congress for a ticket. To find your member of Congress, go to the website www.house.gov/representatives/find and type in your zip code. You may ask for a ticket up to six months in advance but not closer than twenty-one days before you want to visit. An interactive tour of the White House is available at www.whitehouse.gov/about/inside-white-house/interactive-tour.
THE AUTHOR RECOMMENDS …
RECOMMENDED READING
Byrne, Paul J. The Cuban Missile Crisis: To the Brink of War. Minneapolis, Minn.: Compass Point Books, 2006.
Cooper, Ilene. Jack: The Early Years of John F. Kennedy. New York: Dutton
Children’s Books, 2003.
Harrison, Barbara, and Daniel Terris. A Twilight Struggle: The Life of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. New York: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, 1992.
Heiligman, Deborah. High Hopes: A Photobiography of John F. Kennedy. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic, 2003.
Hossell, Karen Price. John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Speech. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann-Raintree, 2005.
Kennedy, John F. Profiles in Courage. New York: Harper, 1956.
Levine, Ellen S. Freedom’s Children: Young Civil Rights Activists Tell Their Own Stories. New York: Putnam, 1993.
Levinson, Cynthia. We’ve Got a Job: The 1963 Birmingham Children’s March. Atlanta, Ga.: Peachtree Books, 2011.
McWhorter, Diane. A Dream of Freedom: The Civil Rights Movement from 1954 to 1968. New York: Scholastic, 2004.
Sandler, Martin W. Kennedy Through the Lens: How Photography and Television Revealed and Shaped an Extraordinary Leader. New York: Walker & Company, 2011.
Tougas, Shelley. Birmingham 1963: How a Photograph Rallied Civil Rights Support. North Mankato, MN: Compass Point Books, 2011.
RECOMMENDED WEBSITES
The single best place to find information, images, audio recordings, TV and news film footage, and lesson plans and suggestions for projects is the website of the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum: www.jfklibrary.org.
Biographies of John F. Kennedy
www.jfklibrary.org/JFK/Life-of-John-F-Kennedy.aspx
www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/johnfkennedy
Biographies of Jacqueline Kennedy
www.jfklibrary.org/JFK/Life-of-Jacqueline-B-Kennedy.aspx
www.whitehouse.gov/about/first-ladies/jacquelinekennedy
One is on the JFK Library site, the other is the official United States government biography on the White House website.
The History Channel
www.history.com/topics/john-f-kennedy
A good overview of Kennedy’s life and career with very good live links to people, historical events, and places.
Brainy Quote
www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/john_f_kennedy.html
www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/jackie_kennedy.html
Many interesting words spoken and written by the president and first lady.
Kennedy’s Career in the U.S. Navy
www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq60-2.htm
These pages on the official site of the U.S. Navy are not pretty to look at, but there is great information about PT boats and Kennedy’s missions.
Warren Commission Report
www.archives.gov/research/jfk/warren-commission-report
The full text of the report and images of all the exhibits that were presented.
Hear and Watch John F. Kennedy
www.presidency.ucsb.edu/medialist.php?presid=35
A rich, fascinating list of 41 live links to Kennedy’s radio remarks, TV interviews, inaugural address, speeches before the United Nations, addresses to the country about the Cuban missile crisis, and much more.
RECOMMENDED VIEWING
Cuban Missile Crisis: Three Men Go to War. Murray and Emer Reynolds, directors. DVD. PBS, 2012. 60 minutes, NR.
The JFK-Nixon Debates, 1960. DVD. Soundworks Recording Studio, 2011. 76 minutes, NR.
The Presidents: The Kennedys. DVD. PBS, 1992. 221 minutes, NR.
The Speeches Collection, Vol. 1. DVD. MPI Home Video, 2002. 240 minutes, NR. (Contains important speeches by John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan.)
The Search for Kennedy’s PT-109. Peter Getzels, producer and writer. Warner, 2002. 60 minutes, NR.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Anthony, Carl Sferrazza. As We Remember Her: Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, in the Words of Her Friends and Family. New York: HarperCollins, 1997.
_____. The Kennedy White House: Family Life and Pictures, 1961–1963. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001.
Ballard, Robert D., and Michael Hamilton Morgan. Collision with History: The Search for John F. Kennedy’s PT 109. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic, 2002.
Blaine, Gerald, and Lisa McCubbin. The Kennedy Detail: JFK’s Secret Service Agents Break Their Silence. New York: Gallery Books, 2010.
Byrne, Paul J. The Cuban Missile Crisis: To the Brink of War. Minneapolis, Minn.: Compass Point Books, 2006.
Caro, Robert A. The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2012.
Clarke, Thurston. Ask Not: The Inauguration of John F. Kennedy and the Speech That Changed America. New York: Henry Holt and Co., 2004.
Connally, Nellie, and Mickey Herskowitz. From Love Field: Our Final Hours with President John F. Kennedy. New York: Rugged Land, 2003.
Cooper, Ilene. Jack: The Early Years of John F. Kennedy. New York: Dutton Children’s Books, 2003.
Corrigan, Jim. The 1960s Decade in Photos: Love, Freedom, and Flower Power. Berkeley Heights, N.J.: Enslow Publishers, 2010.
Dobbs, Michael. One Minute to Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2008.
Donovan, Robert. PT-109: John F. Kennedy in World War II. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2001 (40th anniversary edition).
Gitlin, Todd. The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage. New York: Bantam Books, 1987.
Goodwin, Doris Kearns. The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys: An American Saga. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1987.
Harrison, Barbara, and Daniel Terris. A Twilight Struggle: The Life of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. New York: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, 1992.
Heiligman, Deborah. High Hopes: A Photobiography of John F. Kennedy. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic, 2003.
Hill, Clint, and Lisa McCubbin. Mrs. Kennedy and Me. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2012.
Hossell, Karen Price. John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Speech. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann-Raintree, 2005.
Kennedy, Caroline, and Michael Beschloss. Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy. New York: Hyperion, 2011.
Kennedy, John F. Profiles in Courage. New York: Harper, 1956.
Kennedy, Robert F., and Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. Thirteen Days: A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis. New York: W. W. Norton, 1969.
King, Martin Luther Jr. A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr. New York: Harper & Row, 1986.
Levine, Ellen S. Freedom’s Children: Young Civil Rights Activists Tell Their Own Stories. New York: Putnam, 1993.
Levinson, Cynthia. We’ve Got a Job: The 1963 Birmingham Children’s March. Atlanta, Ga.: Peachtree Books, 2011.
Lieberson, Goddard, ed. John Fitzgerald Kennedy: As We Remember Him. New York: Atheneum, 1965.
McWhorter, Diane. Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama: The Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001.
Manchester, William. One Brief Shining Moment: Remembering Kennedy. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1983.
O’Reilly, Bill. A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity. New York: Broadway Books, 2008.
O’Reilly, Bill, and Martin Dugard. Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot. New York: Henry Holt & Company, 2012.
Panitt, Merrill, ed. TV Guide. “America’s Long Vigil: A Permanent Record of What We Watched on Television from November 22 to 25, 1963.” January 25, 1964.
Reeves, Richard. Portrait of Camelot: A Thousand Days in the Kennedy White House. New York: Abrams, 2010.
Rubin, Gretchen. Forty Ways to Look at JFK. New York: Ballantine Books, 2005.
Sandler, Martin W. Kennedy Through the Lens: How Photography and Television Revealed and Shaped an Extraordinary Leader. New York: Walker & Company, 2011.
Schlesinger, Arthur M. A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House. Boston: Houghton Mifflin and Co., 1965.
Sorensen, Theodore C. Kennedy. New York: Harper & Row, 1965.
Tougas, Shelley. Birmingham 1963: How a Photograph Rallied Civil Rights Support. North Mankato, MN: Compass Point Books, 2011. br />
White, Theodore H. The Making of the President, 1960. New York: Atheneum Publishers, 1969.
Widmer, Ted, selector. Listening In: The Secret White House Recordings of John F. Kennedy. New York: Hyperion, 2012.
SOURCES
THIS BOOK REQUIRED BOTH primary and secondary source research. Much of the primary material came from interviews and reporting that the author has done over the years. In fact, he won a Press Club of Dallas Award for his reporting on the JFK assassination while at WFAA-TV. Extensive new information was gathered from a variety of law enforcement agents, in particular Richard Wiehl, the FBI agent assigned to investigate and debrief Marina Oswald after the shooting. We are grateful to Mr. Wiehl, who has never spoken before on the record about his findings.