Not too long ago, the 50 year anniversary of the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy was remembered. Many historians claim that his policies were mediocre and average. But what makes Kennedy stand out among the rest of the presidents? Historians suggest that he is among the most popular presidents, if not the most popular one. So what makes Americans see Kennedy as such a memorable president? Was it his childhood and his family history? Was it the series of unfortunate events that led to his path to the presidency? Was it his policies? Or was it the way most Americans remember him, because of the way he died? John Fitzgerald Kennedy could be among the most memorable presidents because of all these ideas combined. If one little thing about the way he grew up hadn’t happened the way it did then he may not be the incredible president we remember him as. Although born into a politically prominent family on May 29, John Fitzgerald Kennedy’s path to presidential popularity had begun way before he was born. In 1849, JFK’s great grandfather emigrated from Ireland to Boston and worked for minimum wage for all of his life that he resided in America (Historic World Leaders). Starting with JFK’s grandfather, Patrick Joseph (P.J.) Kennedy, the life of a Kennedy, from birth to death, revolved around ideas of the want for power and stature. His grandfather, born into a poor family, worked his way up from poverty “to successes in the saloon and liquor-import businesses, branched out into banking, and became a backroom political operator” (Historic World Leaders) becoming a man of prestige just as his family had hoped. Blossoming from a business partnership, PJ Kennedy’s son, Joseph married Rose Fitzgerald in 1914. Joseph Kennedy was quite ... ... middle of paper ... ...dith S. Baughman, et al. Vol. 7: 1960-1969. Detroit: Gale, 2001. U.S. History in Context. Web. 17 Jan. 2014. Source. "John Fitzgerald Kennedy." Dictionary of American Biography. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1981. U.S. History in Context. Web. 17 Jan. 2014. Source. Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy. "Warren Commission Report." Terrorism: Essential Primary Sources. Ed. K. Lee Lerner and Brenda Wilmoth Lerner. Detroit: Gale, 2006. 30-34. Biography in Context. Web. 15 Jan. 2014. Source. "John Fitzgerald Kennedy." Historic World Leaders. Gale, 1994. Biography in Context. Web. 9 Jan. 2014. Article. "Kennedy, John F." Television in American Society Reference Library. Ed. Laurie Collier Hillstrom and Allison McNeill. Vol. 3: Primary Sources. Detroit: UXL, 2007. 65-76. U.S. History in Context. Web. 13 Jan. 2014. Source.
John F. Kennedy, of Irish decent, was born in Brookline, Massachusetts on May 29,1917. He entered the Navy, after graduation from Harvard in 1940. In 1946, home from World War II, Kennedy became a Democratic Congressman and in 1953, he joined the Senate. A "privileged aristocrat," his father's wealth and influence contributed largely to Kennedy's political career. 1 John's father, Joseph Kennedy was a self-made millionaire. "In Joseph's political career, he accompanied President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal, as the chairman of the new Securities and Exchange Commission. Joseph was also chairman of the Maritime Commission and from 1937- 1940, he was ambassador to Great Britain." 2 John's mother, Rose (Fitzgerald) Kennedy, was daughter to John F. Fitzgerald, Mayor of Boston. John's paternal grandfather, Patrick J. Kennedy, had served in the Massachusetts Senate.
Kennedy, J. F. (1962, December 14). JFK Presidential Library and Museum. Retrieved from Address to the Economic Club of New York: www
There are many contributions to Kennedy’s success, but his charisma was the most notable. Growing up Joseph Kennedy Sr. believed keeping his family in the public eye was important. This gave John an advantage in being in the media. He was able to portray the best of himself to the public at all times, without seeing bad sides of the future president the world only saw what he wanted them to see. He gained popularity by being consistently in the media and was a friendly face to most of the
"John F. Kennedy Biography - 35th President of the United States." About.com American History. http://americanhistory.about.com/od/johnfkennedy/p/pkennedy.htm (accessed April 29, 2014).
The Kennedy clan is embedded in American political and social culture of the past half-century like no other family. They arrived at that power base through cold calculation and the blunt instrument of their immense wealth but also because of honorable service to the nation, their reckless exuberance, and glamour and family tragedy beyond measure. The founding father of the clan, Joseph Kennedy, came from immigrant stock with all the eccentric genius and anger of his ruined kin, but he was touched by the magic of America. He went to the superior Boston Latin School; on to Harvard; and then in the roaring twenties, with little regard for ethics or even the law, plunged into the worlds of banking and moviemaking, but fortunately he cashed in before the market crash of 1929. When Franklin Roosevelt called Joe to Washington to clean up the Securities and Exchange Commission, but whe...
"Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names"(Brainy Quotes). John F Kennedy said this during one of his speeches, and ironically no one will ever forget the name of the person who murdered him, Lee Harvey Oswald, an enemy of the American Public. When Kennedy ran for office, he had to seem like the more experienced candidate and appeal to all of the people. During his speeches, Kennedy engaged his audiences and they hung on his every word. However, the tragic event of his assassination devastated the country and is something that is still talked about and remembered fifty years later. John F. Kennedy had a major impact on the 1960's and today through his election, influential public speeches, and his heartbreaking assassination.
...S. Baughman, et al. Vol. 7: 1960-1969. Detroit: Gale, 2001. U.S. History in Context. Web. 17 Jan. 2014. Source.
Swisher, Clarice, People Who Made History: John F. Kennedy (San Diego: Greenhaven Press, Inc. 2000)
... a great leader or an effective president. Perhaps the mystique surrounding Kennedy is related to his untimely death, his charismatic personality, or the "Camelot image" that he and his family portrayed. This War veteran sacrificed many things for this country that most political leaders today wouldn’t care about. It takes a true hero to change the world for the better good. John F. Kennedy is a bittersweet reminder of an innocent era that has long since passed.( Petersen 24).
corners of the world show the extent of Kennedy’s inspiration on his generation and the ones to
...nk to his immortality and his legacy that will survive for anther fifty years and most likely for the rest of our recorded history. We lost and have continued to lose since his death. He is gone but his legacy lives as it stands. What we lost could never be calculated, it is immeasurable and it has tainted the threads that weave through the very fabric of our lives. To summarize the theory woven throughout this paper is best summed up by JFK himself. “A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces but by the men it honors, the men it remembers.” John Fitzgerald Kennedy is buried in Arlington National Cemetery under the “Eternal Flame.” That flame burning for eternity is a representation of a light extinguished, and it has been rekindled to burn bright in the collective conscious of this country and the world. That is his legacy. One unfulfilled.
Throughout the twentieth century, there were vigorous leaders and inauspicious leaders. One of the top leaders happen to be John Fitzgerald Kennedy of the United States of America.
John F. Kennedy was a president from 1961 to 1963, the year of his assassination. His hair is a shiny, dark brown, his face features are memorable, and unique. Also, he has a good posture, wears formal outfits which match his job as a president. He doesn’t wear unusual shoes, in addition a word that comes in my mind when I see him in his pictures is ‘generous.’
A young boy, just breaking into his adolescence, at Choate boarding school was living in the shadow of his older brother. Unlike his older sibling he had no spectacular athletic talent and was often plagued with many different illnesses. The fact that his grades stuck strictly in the average margin only cast the shade further over him. It also didn’t help the young boys case that he defied authority on campus on a regular basis. One day while sitting in chapel, he took comments about the undisciplined boys on campus, branded “muckers”, as a personal challenge and created a crew of “miscreants” and dubbed the clique “The Muckers Club”. Ultimately, as a result of his leader status in the group his father was summoned to speak with the headmaster directly. It may seem hard to believe but this young boy would become one of the most memorable and effective president’s in American history. John F. Kennedy would grow to posses an arsenal of leadership qualities that was wide in scope and used with the precision of clockwork. Jack, as he is also called, exhibited theses attributes simultaneously during his presidency in his speeches as well as dealing with foreign affairs, and through actions in and out of office.
Known as the youngest and most popular president in our history, John F. Kennedy accomplished a lot in the short time of his time in office. On November 22, 1963 as he rode throu...