John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born on May 29, 1917 in Brookline Massachusetts. He was the second child of Joseph Patrick Kennedy and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. Both of John's grandfathers were political powers in the Irish sections of Boston. John was one of nine children. He graduated from Harvard in 1940. After graduating, he joined the Navy. His PT boat was rammed by a Japanese destroyer in 1943. Even though he was very badly injured he still led the survivors safely to land. He became a war hero in that war but the back injuries he sustained lasted for the rest of his life and caused him pain thoughout his presidency.
After the war, he returned and went into politics. In the Boston area, he was elected as a Democratic congressmanand reelected three times to the House of Representatives. In the 1953 he advanced into the Senate. John married a woman named Jacqueline Bouvier, who was from a prominent family, on September12, 1953. He became very influential and popular in a short period of time. In 1956 he was almost nominated as a represenative for Vice President by the Democrats. Just four years after that he was a first-ballot nominee for President. He became the first Irish Roman-Catholic President. This would not have been if it was not for the slight edge he had in the popular vote.
In his campaign he vowed to get America moving again. Once he was President, he launched the longest expansion this country had ever seen since World War II. John took action to try and achieve equal rights. He called for new civil rights legislature. Kennedy did all he could to make America resume its old mission for the revolution of human rights. They brought aid to the developing nations of the world at the time because of the Communism that existed. He allowed trained Cuban exiled to invade and try to overthrow Fidel Castro. The mission unfortunately was a failure. After this, Kennedy helped Berlin defend themselves against the Soviet Union.
