Wikipedia has articles about other people with this surname, see Kennedy.
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John Fitzgerald Kennedy on Wikimedia Commons
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy(English) John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , also known as JFK; May 29, 1917, Brookline - November 22, 1963, Dallas) - American politician, 35th President of the United States (1961-1963). In modern public consciousness Kennedy is most often associated with his mysterious murder, which shocked the whole world, numerous hypotheses for the resolution of which are put forward to this day.
A World War II veteran who rose to the rank of lieutenant, Kennedy spent the entire Solomon Islands campaign commanding the torpedo boat PT-109. He was awarded many awards for his bravery during hostilities.
Immediately after the end of the war, he began his political career, in 1947 he was elected from Massachusetts to the US House of Representatives, where he remained until 1953. At the same time he became a Massachusetts senator and held this position until 1960. At the beginning of the decade at the next presidential elections Democrat 43-year-old Kennedy narrowly defeated Republican Richard Nixon, thus becoming the only Catholic US president and the first president born in the 20th century.
Kennedy's almost three-year presidency was marked by the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Bay of Pigs operation, the space race between the USSR and the USA, which led to the start of the Apollo space program, as well as serious steps towards equal rights for blacks.
On November 22, 1963, while visiting Dallas, Texas, John F. Kennedy was wounded by a sniper rifle in his open limousine on one of the city's central streets. The President was immediately taken to Parkland Hospital, where, after unsuccessful attempts at resuscitation, he was pronounced dead at about 13:00 local time. The specially created Warren Commission showed that Kennedy's killer was lone shooter Lee Harvey Oswald. A huge number of social polls conducted across the country showed that at least 60% of the American population did not believe that Oswald killed the president or at least acted alone.
A large number of objects, streets, schools and others are named after Kennedy in the United States (for example, the international airport in New York). According to the majority of the country's citizens, Kennedy is one of the ten greatest American presidents in history.
Main article: Kennedy family
Maternal grandfather - John Francis Fitzgerald (1863-1950), eloquent politician, three times mayor of Boston. He graduated from Boston College and was elected to the US Congress in 1894. From 1906 to 1914, he served as mayor of Boston, regularly giving up this position to other politicians as their terms expired. Until the end of his life he remained one of the most prominent political figures in the area; he predicted to his grandson John that he would become president. He was married to his second cousin, Mary Josephine Hannon, and had six children.
Paternal grandfather - Patrick Joseph Kennedy (1858-1929), entrepreneur and politician, was elected to the US House of Representatives from Massachusetts. At the age of fourteen he left school and started working, since his family had nothing to live on. Over time, with the money he earned, he opened a small chain of bars and eateries, and founded an alcohol and coal company. He was married to the daughter of a bar owner, Mary Hickey, and the marriage produced four children.
Mother - Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald (1890-1995), philanthropist, matriarch of the Kennedy clan. She attended Catholic school and Manhattanville College.
Father - Joseph Patrick Kennedy (1888-1969), entrepreneur and politician, patriarch of the Kennedy clan, US Ambassador to Great Britain. He studied at the Boston Latin School and graduated from Harvard University. At a young age he became president of the bank's board Columbia Trust, doubled his capital.
Joseph and Rose met in 1906, but the girl, according to her father’s plan, was to marry another young man who she categorically did not like. In October 1914, Joseph and Rose married and moved permanently to Brookline, where a year later their first child, Joseph Patrick Kennedy, Jr., was born.
The Kennedys
in a New York restaurant
November 1940
Kennedy Sr. believed that banking was above all and, as he later wrote in his memoirs, “all roads are open to the banker, since he plays an important role in the development of any business activity.” Joseph did not plan to be a major figure in his own city, he wanted to reach a larger high level - banking sector Boston and New York. His intentions were destroyed by the First World War, he left the bank and moved to a steel and shipbuilding company Bethlehem Steel, that in Quincy, thus avoiding conscription to the front. One of his colleagues later said:
In the mid-1920s, Kennedy became a member of a brokerage firm Bramin, thereby becoming one of the most successful investors of his generation.
Joseph's persistent climb up the career ladder repulsed Rose; she wanted a more orderly and calm family life. By the early 1930s, she had already given birth to nine children and was worried about her huge family after doctors discovered that her eldest daughter Rosemary was lagging behind. mental development from their peers. To take a little break from family problems Rose has traveled extensively throughout the States and Europe. Joseph often cheated on his wife, in particular with silent film star, three-time Oscar nominee Gloria Swanson, in whose films he often invested his own money.
At the peak of his career, Kennedy Sr. was friendly with Pope Pius XII, newspaper magnate W.R. Hearst, and was a personal adviser to US President Franklin Roosevelt. Joseph expected the same life path, like himself, his eldest son Joe Jr. will pass away and pinned all his hopes on him, and not on John.
As historian and longtime Columbia University professor Alan Brinkley notes, “long before members of the Kennedy clan became prominent political figures, the family was already among the most famous Irish families in America.”
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the second of Joseph and Rose's children, was born in Brookline, on Beales Street, at 3 a.m. on May 29, 1917. The boy was named after John the Evangelist. John the Apostle) and Rose's father, John Francis Fitzgerald. According to the old American tradition, John was called Jack by his loved ones.
Soon after John was born, the family moved from a cramped house to a huge one on Abbotsford Road. There he went to the Dexter school, where only he and his brother Joseph were Catholics. As a child, John was frail, caused by all sorts of illnesses: from chicken pox to scarlet fever, from which he almost died. Kennedy's most vivid childhood memory was touring constituencies with his grandfather John in 1922, when he was running for governor.
Having become a major economic figure in the center of America and possessing a capital of $2 million, in 1927 Joseph Kennedy moved his family to the capital of stock trading - New York, more precisely, to its mini-district Riverdale, and then Bronxville. In Massachusetts, Kennedy Sr. still had property - a family estate in the small village of Hyannis Port. There John began going to Riverdale Country School, where he studied neither well nor poorly.
In the fall of 1930, thirteen-year-old John was sent to Canterbury Catholic School, which was located far from home - in the city of New Milford, Connecticut. He continued to get sick regularly and missed his family; in letters he complained to them that at school he was “being pestered about religion; The only time you can go outside is when the Yale team is playing Harvard, or the Armed Forces team." John spent almost the entire school year in the hospital, and recent months practiced homeschooling. Despite his illnesses, he was active in sports at school, participating in baseball, basketball and track and field.
Kennedy began his ninth grade at the private boarding school Choate Rosemary Hall, where his brother Joseph had already studied, and before that his future political colleagues Adlai Stevenson II and Chester Bowles. At Choate, John also did not receive high grades; according to historian Alan Brinkley, "his work was sloppily completed, and he had a reputation for being unserious and unfocused in a school that made order a principle." Kennedy often called Choate a prison; his health did not improve; he spent a long time in the famous Mayo Clinic.
A rebel by nature, Kennedy joined the so-called “Maker Club,” in which its members sang obscene songs concerning teachers and administration. Despite his defiant behavior, John was not expelled from school and he graduated, although not with a perfect certificate.
After completing his secondary education, Kennedy began to think about further education. In 1935, he entered Harvard University, but at the very end of August he took his documents and went to the London School of Economics and Political Science, personally to the prominent economist, Professor Harold Laski, who later spoke warmly of Kennedy. In the capital of England, John fell ill again, this time with jaundice, and returned to his homeland, where he was enrolled at Princeton University, in particular because he was already studying there best friend Lem Billings.
Princeton seemed to Kennedy "a depressingly provincial little university town." Having not completed his first semester, he again fell ill in one of the Boston hospitals with an illness unknown to doctors. For several weeks, John underwent examinations and tests, which he later called “the most difficult test in my entire storm-battered life.” Eventually the young man was diagnosed with leukemia. Kennedy did not believe it and turned out to be right - soon the doctors admitted that they had made a mistake.
Remainder academic year John spent time at a resort in Palm Beach, at a ranch in Arizona and in Los Angeles. In August 1936, he was again accepted into Harvard University, whose admissions committee issued its verdict about Kennedy: “Jack has excellent mental abilities, but does not have a deep interest in studying... There is reason to believe that he can enroll.”
At Harvard, John studied better than at Choate or Princeton, read a lot, and did not give up sports. Kennedy spent the summer holidays of 1937 on a large-scale trip to European countries with Lem Billings, which was sponsored by his father. He also arranged for John to meet the future Pope Cardinal Pacelli and several other major world figures. The young man was especially impressed by countries with fascist regimes, in particular Italy and Germany.
Upon returning from the cruise, the amazed Kennedy began to become seriously interested in history and political science. He was eager to succeed not only academically, but also in student society, setting himself the goal of getting into one of Harvard's social clubs. He soon became a member of the club Hasty Pudding, published in the university newspaper The Harvard Crimson. However, John was most proud of being a member of the club Spee and spent almost all his free time from studying at his headquarters.
Kennedy learned about the outbreak of World War II while vacationing at a resort in Antibes. Returning to Harvard, he entitled his senior thesis “The Politics of Appeasement in Munich,” with the help of a whole team, from his father’s assistants to stenographers and typists. “Poorly written, but conscientious, interesting and intelligent analysis of a complex problem” was the verdict scientific supervisors Kennedy. Despite the mediocrity of this thesis, she, with the help of a newspaper journalist The New York Times Arthur Crock, was released as a separate book under a different title, “Why England Slept.”
The analytical work of the young Kennedy caused a wide public response, which was dictated, according to Alan Brinkley, “almost complete absence interest on the part of political analysts of that time in the question of the readiness of democratic states to resist totalitarian regimes.” In it, John also first mentioned the thesis, which later became one of the key points of his political doctrine: “Democracy must be strong and combat-ready to endure the hardships of a long, intense struggle with the increasingly powerful communist world.”
After graduating from Harvard, Kennedy, B.S., wondered what he should do next. There was an idea to start studying law; in 1941, he applied to Yale University and even studied for a few months at Stanford, but soon America was officially involved in the Second world war. John knew that due to constant illnesses he would not be enlisted at the front. A year before the events at Pearl Harbor, he attempted to undergo a medical examination, but was denied due to a back injury. Here his father and his acquaintances (in particular, Admiral Alan Kirk) helped, with the help of whose influence in October Kennedy was sent to the Washington intelligence department of the US Navy.
While in the Navy, Kennedy prepared reports for headquarters and found the job boring. He longed for real military action; as historian Alan Brinkley believed:
| Jack considered it his duty to participate in hostilities. In addition, he knew that the biography of a combat officer would help him move up the career ladder, no matter what profession he chose. In addition, the life principles of his family, raising children in the spirit of competition and the desire for success, did not allow him to even think about the fact that during the war he could sit somewhere in the rear. |
After spending a short time at intelligence headquarters, John was transferred to a naval shipyard in Charleston, South Carolina. In July 1942, he became part of the naval school that trained officers. In Portsmouth and Newport he was trained in the basics of operating a fast torpedo boat and in the spring of 1943 he took command of the boat PT-109. Before this, dreaming of becoming his commander, Kennedy again turned to his father and Massachusetts Senator David I. Walsh for help. John was immediately reassigned to the Pacific Ocean, where hostilities between the United States and Japan were in full swing.
On August 2, Kennedy received the task of attacking Japanese ships as part of fifteen other boats. During a night raid, an enemy destroyer that jumped out of the darkness rammed and cut PT-109 in half. When he fell onto the deck, John severely injured his previously injured back. Of the thirteen sailors, two died instantly; the rest were saved thanks to Kennedy’s timely and clear actions. For five hours, the boat crew swam to the nearest shore, with Kennedy dragging one of the wounded along with him.
On the island of Nauro, John carved a small message on a coconut shell indicating the coordinates of the boat crew. A week later, Kennedy and his men sailed home on another New Zealand patrol torpedo boat from the New Georgia Islands.
In the following days, the American press wrote with admiration about the feat of Kennedy and the entire team, in which John was most often referred to as “Kennedy’s son.” For his courage during combat, John was awarded numerous orders and medals, including the Purple Heart and the Navy and Marine Corps Medal. The order honoring Kennedy was signed personally by Admiral William Halsey: “His courage, endurance and leadership helped save several lives, in full accordance with the high traditions of the United States maritime service.”
Ten days after the incident with PT-109 Kennedy returned to the front. In December 1943, he contracted malaria, his back injury reappeared, and due to his critical health, John decided to return home. Already in the new year, 1944, Kennedy arrived in San Francisco and was hospitalized at the Mayo Clinic, where he remained for several many months. In March 1945, a few months before the end of the war, he was officially transferred to the reserve.
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John F. Kennedy on the personality of Adolf Hitler
One can easily understand how in just a few years, having overcome the hatred that now surrounded him, Hitler would turn into one of the most significant figures in history. Cherishing boundless ambitions that he wanted to realize for his country, he posed a threat to humanity. But the mystery that shrouds his life and death will long outlive him. There was something about him about which legends are made.
Recordings of John F. Kennedy during a tour of Europe, 1945
A few months after leaving the reserve, Kennedy took up journalism - covering the creation of the United Nations in San Francisco for the media conglomerate W. R. Hearst Hearst Corporation. Then he went on another tour of Europe, during which he again reflected on the key political events and personalities of that time.
After the death of the eldest child, Joseph, in August 1944, all hopes in the family were placed on John. Upon returning from Europe, his father began to persuade him to enter politics, although he doubted his political inclinations. John knew for sure that he would not engage in journalism. Kennedy Sr. helped lay the foundation for his son's future political career - he contacted Massachusetts Congressman in the US House of Representatives James Michael Curley, to whom he offered to vacate his seat in the House in exchange for resolving some of his problems. So John F. Kennedy entered the US House of Representatives and began his political career.
From 1947 to 1953, Kennedy represented Boston in the US Congress as a Democratic congressman. In 1953, Kennedy became a senator, winning a bitter battle with Senator Lodge. The future president's most controversial decision during this period was the decision not to participate in the Senate vote to censure Senator Joseph McCarthy over his leadership of the House Un-American Activities Committee. Researchers have suggested various motivations for this move (including hospital stays and a reluctance to undermine the trust of conservative voters), but Kennedy himself famously said in 1960:
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Official portrait of the White House Presidential Gallery
Main article: US Presidential Election (1960)
When John F. Kennedy, the Democratic presidential candidate, won the 1960 election, he was 43 years old. When Kennedy officially announced his candidacy in early 1960, he was opposed in the Democratic primary by Senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota, Senator Stuart Symington of Missouri, Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson of Texas, and Adlai Stevenson. By the time the convention opened in Los Angeles, Kennedy had already secured victory and was confirmed in the first round of voting. Two weeks later, the Republicans elected Vice President Richard Nixon as their candidate. In televised debates with his rival Richard Nixon, Kennedy came across as businesslike, eloquent and energetic. During the election campaign, he spoke of the need to move decisively forward into the new decade, because “new frontiers are at hand - whether we are looking for them or not.” Kennedy concentrated his efforts on the populous states of the Northeast, counting on his running mate Senator Johnson to provide the Democrats with traditional Southern support. This strategy brought success, but the advantage was insignificant. Kennedy defeated Nixon with a majority of 119 thousand votes (out of 69 million voters). Kennedy and Johnson received 303 electoral votes, Nixon and Lodge - 219, Senator Harry Flood Bird - 15. The decisive role in ensuring Kennedy's victory was played, according to the press, not by the political platform of his party and not by the expectations of "energetic leadership" and the policies promised by Kennedy " flexible response" to the challenges of the outside world, but how it looked on the television screen.
Kennedy was to become the first Catholic president in the country's history.
John Kennedy was elected president in November 1960.
“The Kennedy administration will be able to take a number of steps 'in the right direction' (regarding the possibility of improving US-Soviet relations), but this will be done only gradually. It is difficult to expect fundamental changes in US policy in the near future, since Kennedy will be bound by certain obligations regarding the continuity of foreign policy" (Cyrus Eaton, 1960).
On January 20, 1961, John Kennedy took the oath of office and thus became the 35th President of the United States. Kennedy ended his first inaugural address with the exhortation: “Think not of what the country can give you, but of what you can give it.” Along with the new president, the government included completely new people with connections in US financial-monopoly circles, or people who had already succeeded in the political field.
The Kennedy administration included: Vice President Lyndon Johnson, Secretary of State D. Rusk (specialist in the field of political science, served in the Pentagon, State Department, since 1952 headed the Rockefeller Foundation), Secretary of Defense R. McNamara (professional businessman, president Ford concern), Secretary of the Treasury D. Dillon (served in the Eisenhower administration), Secretary of Justice Robert Kennedy (Kennedy's brother, led the election campaign).
Of Kennedy's first 200 appointments to senior government positions, about half were government officials, 18% were university professors, 6% were businessmen, which contrasted sharply with the composition of his predecessor Eisenhower's administration, where only 6% were university professors, and 42% were businessmen.
The beginning of Kennedy's presidency coincided with a phase of cyclical recovery in the economy. However, by the spring of 1962, the economic situation had become noticeably more complicated: growth rates had slowed, the level of unemployment, which had begun to decline, froze at 5.5%, and the volume of new capital investments had also decreased. In May, this was compounded by a drop in stock prices on the stock exchange - the sharpest since 1929. One of priority tasks The new administration was committed to ending the economic downturn, but Kennedy lost the confidence of the business community by pushing in 1962 to lower steel prices, which the government found excessive. The administration entered into a confrontation with steel companies led by the United States Steel Corporation ( United States Steel Corporation), who, despite the insistence of the administration, which had previously forced the steelworkers' union to limit its demands for a wage increase to the framework of “benchmarks”, went for a demonstratively sharp increase in steel prices. Only by using all the levers of pressure, White House managed to achieve the reversal of this decision at the cost of worsening relations with monopolies.
He achieved this immediate goal, but lost the strong support of industrialists. For example, in January 1963, Kennedy sent Congress a program to reduce taxes on corporate profits (from 52 to 47%) and lower tax rates. income tax from citizens (from 20-91 to 14-65%) for a total amount of about 10 billion dollars with the actual refusal of tax reform. When Kennedy tried to pass a tax cut through Congress to stimulate savings and revive the economy, conservative opposition dashed any hope of passing legislation that would create a budget deficit. At the same time, he promised to reduce government spending on social needs and balance the federal budget.
Despite individual successes, Kennedy's presidency as a whole cannot be called successful in terms of legislation. He received no new allocations for the development of education and medical care the elderly, and the minimum wage increased slightly. Thus, the extension of the payment period for unemployment benefits in 1961-1962. left more than 3 million unemployed behind; increases in the minimum hourly wage (to $1.15 in 1961 and $1.25 in 1963) affected only 3.6 million of the 26.6 million low-wage workers. The government's measures to combat unemployment - the 1961 law to help depressed areas, the 1962 law to retrain displaced workers, appropriations for public works, etc. - did not lead to significant changes for the better in the field of employment. The movement for a shorter (35 hours) working week was gaining momentum.
Kennedy advocated for equal rights for blacks, taking the model of Abraham Lincoln, supported Martin Luther King and met with him in Washington in 1963.
One of President Kennedy's decisions was to stop issuing silver coins and certificates due to the constant rise in price of silver. In 1963, on his initiative, Congress passed Public Law 88-36, authorizing the Federal Reserve to issue $1 and $2 notes and prohibiting the Treasury from issuing silver certificates. Since the Treasury still had to issue these certificates during the transition period, Kennedy signed Executive Order 11110 on the same day, which delegated the authority to issue silver certificates to the Treasury. There is a conspiracy theory that erroneously connects this decree with the issuance of US Treasury notes in 1963. It is therefore assumed that Kennedy was going to deprive the Fed of its monopoly on the issue of money, and therefore this decision allegedly became the reason for the conspiracy against the president.
Kennedy advocated for improved relations between the US and the USSR, but his reign was also marked by great foreign policy tensions: the failed Bay of Pigs landings, the Berlin Crisis, Cuban missile crisis(one of the phrases recorded in the diary of the 35th president is “fear of loss gives rise to suspicion” - this is how Kennedy himself argued for this crisis).
Under Kennedy there was increased US involvement in the South Vietnamese Civil War; in 1961, he sent the first regular units of the US armed forces to South Vietnam (previously only military advisers served there). By the end of 1963, the United States had spent billions of dollars on the Vietnam War.
In March 1961, an organization called the Peace Corps was created, which on a voluntary basis provided assistance to the population of developing countries in eliminating illiteracy and acquiring basic labor skills and knowledge.
On March 13, 1961, Kennedy proclaimed the Alliance for Progress program, designed to promote the economic and political development of countries Latin America. The official goals of this program were: to ensure an annual increase in industrial output in Latin American countries of at least a year, to eliminate illiteracy on the continent, to carry out agrarian reforms. It was planned to allocate billions of dollars to finance this program over a ten-year period, which was almost ten times the entire amount of American aid to Latin America from 1945 to 1960.
In 1961, Kennedy created the US Agency for International Development to help solve the economic and political problems of developing countries.
John Kennedy did a lot for space exploration, initiating the launch of the Apollo program (“We decide to go to the moon”). He proposed to the First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, Khrushchev, to join forces in preparing a flight to the Moon, but he refused.
In Moscow, on August 5, 1963, an agreement was signed between representatives of the USSR, the USA and Great Britain banning nuclear weapons tests in three areas - in the air, on land and under water. On October 17, representatives of the USSR and the USA voted for the unanimous decision of the UN General Assembly to ban the launch into orbit of objects with nuclear weapons on board.
Kennedy in the presidential limousine, moments before the assassinationMain article: Assassination of John Kennedy
John Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963 in Dallas, Texas; While the presidential motorcade was moving through the city streets, shots were heard. The first bullet hit the president in the back of the neck and came out of the front of the throat, the second hit the head and caused destruction of the skull bones in the back of the head, as well as damage to the brain matter. President Kennedy was taken to the operating room, where he was pronounced dead half an hour after the assassination attempt. In addition, Texas Governor Connolly, who was riding in the same car, was seriously injured, and one of the passers-by was also slightly injured.
Lee Harvey Oswald, arrested on suspicion of murder, was shot two days later in police custody by Dallas resident Jack Ruby, who also later died in prison.
The Warren Commission's official report into the Kennedy assassination was published in 1964; According to this report, Oswald was the president's killer, and all the shots were fired by him from the top floor of the building. According to the report, no murder plot could be identified.
Official data on the Kennedy assassination is contradictory and contains a number of “blank spots”. There are many different conspiracy theories about this case: it is questioned whether Oswald even fired at the car or that he was the only shooter. It is assumed that the murder is connected with various major figures in politics and business, the deliberate elimination of witnesses is seen, etc. One of these versions is presented in the film “JFK” by Oliver Stone. Films about John Kennedy included: “PT 109” (1963) - about Kennedy’s participation in World War II; TV series "The Kennedys" and "The Kennedy Clan" ( Kennedy, in 1983 and The Kennedys in 2011); "John F. Kennedy: Daring Youth" ( J.F.K.: Reckless Youth, 1993).
Brothers and sisters:
In 1953, Kennedy married Jacqueline Lee Bouvier, from this marriage four children were born, two died shortly after childbirth; survived by daughter Caroline and son John. John died in 1999 in a plane crash.
After the death of John Kennedy, Jacqueline married Aristotle Onassis.
In November 2002, after the expiration of medical secrets, medical reports were made public. Kennedy's physical illnesses turned out to be more serious than previously thought. He experienced constant pain from a damaged spine, despite repeated treatment, in addition to troubles from serious digestive problems and Addison's disease. Kennedy repeatedly had to take Novocaine injections before press conferences in order to appear healthy.
He was the richest US president.
Profiles in courage(Profiles of Courage). - NY-Evanston: Harper & Raw, 1957.
The book provides short biographies of people whom Kennedy considered models of courage in politics. IN 1957 Kennedy received the Pulitzer Prize for this book, the highest award in journalism. The book was republished in 1964.
Why England slept- NY, 1961.
Edition of Kennedy's thesis.
A nation of immigrants- NY-Evanston: Harper & Raw, 1964.
America the beautiful in the worlds - 1964
“Personal Diary of the 35th President of the United States” - After Kennedy’s death, a diary was published in which John Kennedy wrote down his sayings and thoughts.
Half dollar 1967 with the image of Kennedy. Silver
Postage stamp with the image of the Eternal Flame
The 35th President of the United States was born on May 9, 1917. John Kennedy. His life was the dream of many Americans: a good upbringing, an excellent education, a beautiful wife and a dizzying career. Could anyone even imagine that all this would end in one second?
John, or Jack as he was affectionately known in his family, was the second of nine children in the family Roses Elizabeth Fitzgerald And Joseph Patrick Kennedy. The father of the future president of America knew how to make money and make connections, which helped him create a good fortune. Family life parents was not smooth. Rose was frankly frightened by Joseph's excessive passion for his career. The mother of the future president wanted stability for her children, especially considering that they were not different good health. Kennedy's eldest daughter Rosemary she lagged behind her peers in mental development, and John grew up as a sickly boy. Later, when he becomes president, doctors will even have to inject painkillers before public speaking to make Kennedy Jr. look healthy. To escape from family problems, Rose Fitzgerald traveled a lot in Europe and the USA, which caused the children who missed their mother to suffer greatly. Her husband, meanwhile, continued to expand the empire, while cheating on his wife. His most famous mistress was a silent film star. Gloria Swanson.
The Kennedys in a New York restaurant, November 1940. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
However, few people knew about Kennedy’s internal troubles; from the outside, they seemed to be an idyllically happy family, basking in luxury. At the peak of his career, Kennedy Sr. was friendly with many influential people of the time and was a personal adviser to US President Franklin Roosevelt. Of course, Joseph dreamed of such success for his son, but then we were not talking about John. All hopes in the Kennedy family were connected with the eldest son Joseph.
From birth, Kennedy Jr. was not in good health. He was sick a lot, was in hospitals more often than he was at school. Sometimes he was transferred to home schooling. At school, the boy was not the most diligent student, but one of the most active. Despite his poor health, John participated in baseball, basketball and track and field. During his childhood, the future president always lived in the shadow of his older brother, who could boast of success not only in sports, but also in studies. Perhaps this was the reason that John grew up a rebel - at school he joined the “Makers Club”, whose members constantly organized all sorts of pranks.
Lieutenant John F. Kennedy in full dress, 1942 Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
Despite his mischief, he was loved at school. As the director of the Choate School, where John Kennedy studied, later recalled, the boy was incredibly charming and witty: “Jack didn’t like being serious. He always had a delightful sense of humor... He was very endearing and inspired great sympathy.”
Having received secondary education, the young man decided to continue his studies at Harvard. His plans were disrupted by another illness - jaundice. John returned home and entered Princeton, his studies there did not inspire him, and in August 1936 Kennedy Jr. returned to Harvard, where he tried not to miss lectures. As his father later wrote, the future president’s problem was not a lack of talent: “Jack brilliantly masters things that interest him, but he lacks the perseverance and diligence to study what is not interesting to him.”
During one of his summer holidays, Kennedy Jr. went on a trip to European countries and was greatly impressed when he saw Nazi Germany and Italy. After the trip, the young man became seriously interested in history and politics; his diploma work was called “The Policy of Appeasement in Munich.” The work did not impress Harvard professors: “Poorly written, but a conscientious, interesting and intelligent analysis of a complex problem.” However, Kennedy received an “excellent” for his effort and relevance. But the topic was relevant, and the father of the future president had great connections. His work was later published as a separate book and called Why England Slept. The famous New York Times columnist helped Kennedy Jr. rewrite his diploma into a book. Arthur Kroc. The extent of his involvement is unknown, but the book sold well. It is possible that this was facilitated by the foreword by the publisher of Time, Fortune and Life magazines Henry Luca: “I can’t remember a single person in my college who could, as a fourth-year student, write such an adult book on such a vital topic.”
Kennedy aboard PT-109, 1943. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
After graduating from Harvard, John thought about the future. America was officially involved in World War II, and he knew he had to go serve. Of course, poor health did not give any chance of passing a medical examination and being enlisted in the troops. But his father’s connections helped him in this matter. First, Kennedy ended up in the Washington intelligence department of the US Navy, then at the naval shipyard in Charleston, South Carolina. He studied at the naval school and already in the spring of 1943 took command of the torpedo boat PT-109. With the help of his father, John was sent to the Pacific Ocean, where at that time there were active hostilities with Japan. On August 2, 1943, during one of the night raids, an enemy destroyer rammed a torpedo boat in half. The impact caused John to fall to the deck and severely injure his previously injured back. Despite this, he clearly gave orders and was able, along with most of his team, to reach the shore, with Kennedy Jr. dragging one of the wounded soldiers on himself. For his courage that night, John was subsequently awarded many orders and medals.
However, in December of the same year he fell ill with malaria and was sent home. In 1945, a few months before the end of the war, he was officially transferred to the reserve.
After graduating military service, Kennedy began working as a journalist. In August 1944, his brother Joseph, who was destined for a political career, died. His place in the eyes of Kennedy Sr. was taken by John, whom his father, with the help of his own connections, helped build a political career.
At the age of 29, the young man becomes a congressman from the Democratic Party. After this, he stands as a candidate for election to the Senate. It was at this time that the Jacqueline.
Jacqueline Kennedy at Hammersmith Farm in Newport, Rhode Island on her wedding day, September 12, 1953. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org/Commons.wikimedia.org
The future spouses met in the spring of 1952: a 35-year-old politician and a 22-year-old newspaper journalist. Strong, handsome and very promising John easily conquered Jacqueline. However, this relationship was not romantic; the future president made the proposal by telegraph. Having gotten married, the girl immediately realized that she would never take first place in her husband’s life; he was completely absorbed in his career. In addition, John was greedy for female beauty and, since school, was not used to limiting himself in sexual contacts. The future president, without hesitation, had affairs left and right. In most cases, Jacqueline did not pay attention to her husband's affairs. The only woman who made her fear for her marriage was the gorgeous Marilyn Monroe, who, according to historians, did not hesitate to call his legal wife and demand that she pack her things and leave the White House.
However, John Kennedy himself, apparently, never intended to divorce Jacqueline. Monroe was a constant, but still a lover. His official wife was an excellent screen for him, which for a long time helped “cover up vices” in front of the electorate. And yet, despite numerous novels, outwardly this couple personified a real fairy tale and for a long time was exemplary for many Americans. Jacqueline Lee Bouvier did a very good job playing the role of the First Lady.
John Kennedy with his family. August 14, 1963. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
One of his administration's top priorities was ending the economic downturn. However, his policy did not bring strong positive changes: the minimum wage rose slightly, measures to combat unemployment were not as effective as he would have liked.
Meeting between John Kennedy and Khrushchev, Vienna, June 3, 1961. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
The foreign policy of the energetic and ambitious Kennedy proceeded in a very tense environment of confrontation with the USSR. However, he was not considered a "radical anti-Soviet". The Cuban missile crisis, which threatened nuclear war, kept the whole world on edge, although it ultimately became a turning point in the Cold War. John Kennedy always advocated improving relations between the USSR and the USA, and in 1962 the countries entered into the first Nuclear Test Limitation Treaty.
Kennedy also advocated equal rights for blacks, did a lot for space exploration, and it was with his instigation that the Apollo program was launched.
Perhaps he would have been able to do much more in his post if not for the fateful trip to Dallas. This visit was supposed to be preparation for the fight for re-election in 1964. While the presidential motorcade was passing through the streets of the city, the president was killed by several shots: the first bullet hit the back of the neck and came out of the front of the throat, the second bullet hit the head and caused destruction of the skull bones in the back of the head, as well as brain damage. After Kennedy was taken to the hospital, he lived only half an hour.
Kennedy in the presidential limousine moments before the assassination. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org This tragic incident was investigated by a specially convened commission headed by the chairman Supreme Court USA Earl Warren. The work lasted ten months, and the verdict became historic. According to the commission, Kennedy was killed by a lone criminal Lee Harvey Oswald, who two days after the assassination attempt in a police station was shot by a Dallas resident Jack Ruby. The latter subsequently died in prison.
It is worth noting that the majority of Americans (according to polls - more than 70%) do not believe the official government conclusion. And there are reasons for this. There are still many blind spots in the investigation. So, after studying the recordings of conversations on the radio of Dallas police officers, experts came to the conclusion that a total of four shots could have been fired. Eyewitnesses claim that they were all heard from different sides, which makes it possible to assume that Oswald did not act alone. There are many versions about who could have ordered this murder. The conspiracy theory of the mafia, the KGB, Cuban exiles and the CIA seems more plausible to Americans. However, none of these versions has been officially confirmed. Perhaps the real name of the killer of one of the most charismatic US politicians will remain a mystery.
His reign was from 1961 to 1963, when he was assassinated. Kennedy was a participant in the war of 1939-1945, as well as a member of the Senate.
According to local American tradition, he was called Jack. He was first elected to the Senate at the age of 43. In the entire history of the United States, he was the youngest president. John Kennedy was born on May 29, 1917 in a small town called Brooklay into a Catholic family. He was the second child in the family.
As a child, John Kennedy had a very frail build, was often ill, and almost died due to scarlet fever. When he grew up, many women, on the contrary, were crazy about him. When the boy was ten years old, his family moved to a twenty-room house. At school, the future president was distinguished by his rebellious spirit, and his academic performance left much to be desired. Despite the fact that John Kennedy Jr. was often ill, he continued to play sports intensively.
After graduating from school, he entered the truth, but did not stay there for long due to health problems. Returning to the States, Kennedy continued his studies - now at Princeton. He soon falls ill and doctors diagnose him with leukemia. Kennedy does not believe the doctors, and later they themselves admit that the diagnosis was incorrect.
In 1936, John Kennedy returned to Harvard University. In the summer he travels to European countries, which further fuels his interest in politics and international relations. Under the patronage of his father, the future president meets the head catholic church- Pope Pius XII.
Despite poor health, Kennedy took part in hostilities, which lasted until 1945. At the front, he takes an active part in battles, showing courage in rescuing a boat sunk by enemy troops. And after leaving the armed forces, he takes up work as a journalist.
In 1946, John F. Kennedy was elected to the House of Congress. Then the same post is occupied by him three more times. In 1960, his candidacy was first nominated for the post of president of the country, and finally, in 1961, he became the head of the United States. Many of Kennedy's contemporaries were impressed by his determination, intelligence and wisdom in governing the country. For example, Kennedy managed to achieve a ban on nuclear testing. He also carried out many popular reforms and became the lover of the entire nation.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy was married to Jacqueline Lee Bouvier, who was 12 years younger than him. Instead of flowers and chocolates, Kennedy gave her books, which he himself considered the most valuable. Their wedding took place in the city of Newport. Subsequently, the Kennedy family had four children. However, the older girl and younger boy died. Middle daughter Caroline became a writer. Son John died under tragic circumstances in a plane crash.
John Kennedy also had a large number of extramarital affairs. Among his passions was Pamela Turner, who worked as a press secretary for his wife Jacqueline. Swedish aristocrat Gunilla von Post described her relationship with the president in a book. Also, the infamous Marilyn Monroe had an affair with Kennedy.
Before the upcoming elections in 1963, Kennedy began a series of trips around the country. On November 21, 1963, his procession was on the streets of Dallas. Exactly at half past one, three shots rang out. The first bullet went through and also wounded the governor of Texas. Another of the shots hit the head and became fatal.
Within five minutes the president was taken to the hospital. But the doctors were powerless against such wounds, and already at about one o'clock in the afternoon the death of the president was reported. The governor of Texas, John Connally, survived. After two hours, the police arrested a murder suspect, Lee Harvey Oswald, and two days later he was shot dead by Jack Ruby, whom authorities suspected of having connections with the mafioso. Ruby was sentenced to death.
But after filing an appeal, he managed to get a pardon. Before a new trial date had been set, Ruby was diagnosed with cancer. He died in January 1967. There are many versions according to which John Fitzgerald Kennedy could have been killed. According to one of them, the reprisal against the president was a response to his program to combat organized crime.
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The first training in Kennedy's biography took place at a boarding school in Connecticut, then he studied at Princeton and Harvard. He lived in London for some time, observing European politics.
In 1941, John Kennedy's biography began serving in the US Navy, and he soon received the rank of lieutenant. During the fighting, when John Kennedy was the captain of a torpedo boat in the waters of the Pacific Ocean, he injured his back. In 1953 he married Jacqueline Lee Bouvier.
Kennedy represented the Democratic Party and then became a Massachusetts senator. In 1956, the first political loss in Kennedy's biography occurred: he did not win the election for vice president. In 1957, after publishing three of his books, he received the Pulitzer Prize. In November 1960, John Kennedy was elected President of the United States and took office in January 1961.
Kennedy's policy as president was aimed at improving relations between the USSR and the USA and space exploration. However, in addition to this, the reign in Kennedy’s biography coincides with the Cuban Missile Crisis, as well as US intervention in the Vietnam War.
On November 22, 1963, John Kennedy was shot twice while driving in Dallas. Murder suspect Lee Harvey Oswald was also killed while in police custody. The facts of Kennedy's assassination are still controversial.
The Kennedy family's acquaintance with the Armenian diaspora occurred in Boston, Massachusetts. The father of the family, Joseph Kennedy, being a businessman, was very familiar with the Armenian Mugar family, who are still considered one of the most successful business families in the United States.
It is no secret that the Armenian diaspora in California already had impressive resources by that time; in the period 1950-1970, more than 600 thousand ethnic Armenians lived in the state. Representatives of the Armenian diaspora even then played one of the key roles in the political and economic life of the state, and Armenian businessmen such as Kirk Kerkorian, Alex Yemenidzhyan and Robert Artsivian were considered the most successful. However,
The Armenian diaspora, represented by the Mugar family and leaders of Armenian organizations, supported the candidacy of young John Kennedy in the elections to the House of Representatives from Massachusetts.
In 1951, the newly appointed congressman became one of the initiators of the adoption of the most important document on the facts of genocide. This document was prepared by a group of congressmen led by John Kennedy and sent to the international court in May 1951. This document noted:
| “The Genocide Document is the result of inhumane and barbaric acts that were committed in some countries before and during the Second World War, when entire groups of religious, racial and national minorities were threatened with deliberate destruction and extermination. The phenomenon of genocide has existed throughout human history. The persecution of Christians by the Romans, the pogroms of Armenians by the Turks, the massacre of millions of Jews and Poles by the Nazis are clear examples of the crime of genocide.” |
The adoption of this document can rightfully be considered the first major success in the cause of international recognition of the Armenian Genocide. As a senator from Massachusetts, John Kennedy participated in the unveiling of a plaque commemorating the victims of the Armenian Genocide in Boston.
During the same period, the Democratic Party nominated the young Senator John Kennedy for the presidency of the United States. The Armenian diaspora supported the young senator from Boston, who, moreover, had already shown in practice his support for the Armenian side.
John Kennedy won the election by a narrow margin. Thus, he became the first Catholic US president.
KENNEDY (Kennedy) John Fitzgerald (1917-63), American statesman, 35th President of the United States (1961-63), from the Democratic Party. In 1941-45, a naval officer. In 1947-61 in the US Congress. As president, he put forward a program of socio-economic reforms. He advocated strengthening military blocs and the US armed forces. At the same time, he was inclined towards a more realistic course in relations with the USSR. Killed in Dallas.
KENNEDY (Kennedy) John Fitzgerald (May 29, 1917, Brookline, Massachusetts November 22, 1963, Dallas, Texas), American statesman, 35th President of the United States (1961-63), from the Democratic Party. He was the youngest American president, as well as the only Catholic president in US history. Kennedy managed to overcome the inertia of the Cold War policy and, demonstrating statesmanship, achieved a mitigation of international tension. An important step in this direction was the signing (August 1963) by the USA, Great Britain and the USSR of the Treaty Banning Atmospheric Tests of Nuclear Weapons, in outer space and under water (the Moscow Treaty), which began the process of curbing the nuclear arms race.
His affiliation with the wealthy and influential Kennedy family played a big role in Kennedy’s political fate. His father, Joseph Patrick Kennedy, a prominent banker and businessman, was the American ambassador to Great Britain (1937-40). John attended a number of exclusive private schools and completed his secondary education in 1935. Due to illness, he had to interrupt his studies at the London School of Economics. From 1936-40 he studied at Harvard University while serving as his father's secretary. During World War II, young Lieutenant Kennedy served in the US Navy (1941-45) in the Pacific.
Beginning of a political career
Kennedy's career as a politician began in 1946, when he campaigned vigorously to become a Democratic member of the House of Representatives. During his three terms in the House of Representatives (1947-53), Kennedy served on the Labor and Education Committees.
In November 1952 he successfully ran for the Senate. As a senator (1953-61), Kennedy gradually leaned (although he was accused of condoning McCarthyism) toward liberal positions, especially on the issue of civil rights and liberties. He was a member of the Senate Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, and, since 1957, the influential Committee on Foreign Affairs. In 1953, Kennedy married the daughter of New York banker Jacqueline Bouvier. The Kennedys had a daughter and a son. In 1954 and 1955 he underwent two complex spinal surgeries; During his long convalescence, Kennedy wrote a book about eight US senators (1956), for which he received a Pulitzer Prize.
Presidency
Kennedy's victory in the 1960 presidential election was largely facilitated by the powerful financial support of his family, although the image of a young, energetic politician of the new generation, who told Americans of his intention to take the United States to “new frontiers,” played an important role.
Kennedy's domestic election program outlined a number of socio-economic reforms - tax reduction, legislation on civil rights for people of color, health insurance for the elderly, raising the minimum wage, etc., which, however, were only implemented by the L. Johnson administration. The novelty of “new frontiers” diplomacy consisted in updating and expanding the range of both peaceful and military methods of protecting US interests in the global confrontation with the USSR. Special attention allocated to third world countries. In March 1961, the Peace Corps was created to serve American volunteers in developing countries. After the failure of the CIA-prepared invasion of Cuba by anti-Castro forces in the Bay of Cochinos (April 1961), the Union for Progress program for the socio-economic development of Latin American countries was created.
The military aspect of the “new frontiers” policy was the doctrine of “flexible response,” which, along with waging a total nuclear war, provided for “local” and “anti-guerrilla wars” using nuclear and conventional weapons. In foreign policy, Kennedy faced great challenges: the Berlin Crisis (August 1961) and the Cuban Missile Crisis contributed to the manifestation of his best qualities: responsibility and realism. Since the spring of 1963, the president increasingly spoke out in favor of peaceful coexistence with Soviet Union. At the same time, the signing of the Moscow Treaty, supplemented by an agreement on the refusal to place nuclear weapons and other means of mass destruction into Earth orbit (October 1963), caused dissatisfaction and criticism of Kennedy by supporters of the Cold War.
In a tense domestic political situation, complicated by worsening racial conflicts, Kennedy traveled to Dallas, where he was shot while driving through the city in open car. The Warren Commission, created to investigate the assassination of the President, came to the conclusion that a lone killer acted - Lee Harvey Oswald (in 1997, the last surviving member of the Warren Commission - Gerald Ford - admitted that the commission deliberately included incorrect data in the autopsy reports bodies: the trajectory of the bullet has been distorted). After Kennedy's death, Vice President L. Johnson became President of the United States. John Kennedy is buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington.
