He was born in Boston, Massachusetts
The second son of Joseph P Kennedy and Rose Fitzgerald
Everyone called him "Jack"
He had to fight and to compete
for what he wanted
His father wanted what was best for them
He wanted the Kennedy´s to dominate American public life
Changed John life forever
He was the captain of a
gunboat called PT 109
In august 1943 a Japanese destroyer rammed PT 109
and cut it in half.
There was a huge explosion, and part of the boat went down.
In august 1944
Joe plane took off from the south of England
Kennedy´s older brother, Joe junior,
He flew bombing missions for the U.S Air Force.
After only 20 minutes in the air
The plane blew up.
Joe Kennedy body was never found
In 1946 Jack Kennedy went into politics as s democrat.
He was in favor of higher wages, lower prices, lower rents and more help for the elderly
In 1952, Massachusetts voters elected Kennedy to the United States senate.
In 1953 the popular senator married Jacqueline.
In 1960, Kennedy was the democratic candidate for president of the United States.
The turning point came in four television debates between the two men.
Kennedy seemed relaxed. He was calm and clever in the debates.
Nixon looked tired and uncomfortable
It was the first time television had played a part in an election.
Kennedy took the oath in January 1961.
The new president was 43 years old
In a few months Kennedy made his first big mistake.
On April 17, 1961, 15000 Cuban exiles landed in the bay of pigs in Cuba.
They wanted to bring down Fidel Castro.
The raid was a flop.
In 1961 Kennedy started the peace corps. They work in other countries. They help people lead better lives.
In October U.S planes spotted nuclear missiles, built by the Soviet Union,
in Cuba very close to the U.S
President Kennedy told the Soviet to remove the rockets.
If they didn´t remove the U.S would bomb them.
This would start a nuclear war.
For 13 day, the world held its breath
After the Cuban missile crisis, Kennedy had plans to become more friendly with the Soviet Union.
He had plans for getting the U.S out of the war Vietnam. And he wanted to give more rights to black people and poor people all over the country.
Kennedy went to Texas because he had political enemies there and he wanted to win them to his side.
At noon a line of cars left the Dallas/Fort Worth airport,
In the car with him were his wife Jackie,
There were no security men in the car to protect the president
For the next six seconds, the air was full of rifle fire.
The president fell back, spattering his wife with blood
The president car raced to the hospital
A few hours later, police arrested Lee Harvey Oswald for the murder of John F Kennedy
Oswald was a poor, strange loner
he was mixed up in crime.
Did Oswald really shoot Kennedy?
Did he work alone or did he have help?
The facts of JFK death have never been very clear.
Two days after his arrest, Oswald was shot and killed by Jack ruby, a Dallas nightclub owner
Mike Wilson
Jamestown Publishers
ISBN 0-8092-0088-OE
The president
World war ll
Young Jack