In September 1941, Kennedy joined the US Navy after medical disqualification from the US Army because of his lower back problems. He was assigned duty in Panama and later in the Pacific theatre where he earned the rank of lieutenant, commanding a patrol torpedo boat. On August 2nd 1943, Kennedy’s boat was assigned night-time duty near New Georgia. That night, his boat was rammed by the Japanese destroyer boat, ‘Amagiri’. Refusing surrender, the men swam towards a small island. Despite re-injury to his back, Kennedy pulled a badly burned crewman to shore with the strap of his life jacket clenched between his teeth. John received a ‘Navy and Marine Corps Award’. Later when asked by a reporter how he became a war hero, he replied jokingly, ‘it was involuntary, they sank my boat.’
Congressional Career.
When John was still serving, his older brother Joseph Kennedy Jr. was killed in action on the 12th August 1944. Since Joe Jr. was the family’s political standard bearer, the task now fell on John. In 1946, the representative for the U.S vacated his seat in the Democratic 10th Congressional district in Massachusetts to become mayor of Boston. Kennedy ran for the seat and bet his opponent by a large margin. He was a congressman for six years. In 1952, he defeated republican candidate, for the US Senate. At the 1956 Democratic National Convention, Kennedy was nominated for Vice President but came second to the Senate of Tennessee. JFK was doing well, work wise, and his social life was coming on a treat too.
Jacqueline Lee Bouvier.
It was May 1951 and JFKs political career was starting to take-off, he was at a friend’s party in Georgetown when he met Jacqueline Lee Bouvier. The two started dating soon afterwards. Jackie was from Rhode Island and had come from a wealthy family but was an independent woman. She worked as a photographer for The Washington Times-Herald. When Jackie returned from the Queen’s Coronation in London, John proposed on the 24th of June with an engagement ring that had a square cut 2.88 carat diamond and a 2.84 carat emerald. They quickly announced their engagement on the 25th of June.
The wedding took place on the 12th of September 1953 in Newport, Rhode Island at St Marys’ Roman Catholic Church. The Arch Bishop of Boston celebrated the marriage. John and Jackie also received a blessing from Pope Pius XII. Bobby Kennedy was best man and Jackie’s sister, Lee Bouvier Canfield was matron of honour. Jackie wore a choker of pearls and a diamond bracelet which was a present from John. The bride’s bouquet was of pink and white spray orchids and gardenias. The reception was at Jackie’s parents’ house, Hammersmith Farm, a 300-acre estate on Narragansett Bay. Guests were served a luncheon of fruit cup, creamed chicken, and ice cream. Their five-tier wedding cake was four feet tall. They honey-mooned in Mexico before going to a hill-side suite in California.
1960 Election.
On January 2nd 1960, Kennedy initiated his campaign for President in the Democratic primary election. His opponents for this election were Lyndon B. Johnson, Hubert Humphrey and Wayne Morse. He defeated Humphrey and Morse and his main opponent then became Johnson. On July 13th the Democratic Convention nominated Kennedy as its candidate for president. JFK said in one of his speeches. ‘I am not the Catholic candidate for President; I am the Democratic candidate who happens to be Catholic.’ In September and October, Kennedy appeared with Republican candidate. Richard Nixon, then vice president in the first ever televised presidential debate in American History. During these programmes, Nixon with a sore injured leg and a shadow of stubble on his chin, looked tense, uncomfortable and perspiring, while Kennedy had decided to avail himself of make-up services, appeared relaxed. This made the large television audience favour Kennedy as the winner of this debate. These debates are seen as a mile-stone in American political history-the point in which the television began to play a dominant role in American politics. After the first debate, Kennedy started to gain votes and pull ahead of Nixon in most polls. On November 8th, JFK defeated Nixon in one of the closest elections of the twentieth century! He was the youngest man ever to become president and also, the first catholic man.
Presidency.
John F. Kennedy was sworn in as the 35th President of the United States of America at noon on the 20th of January 1961. In his inaugural speech, he famously said, ‘Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.’ He also asked the nations of the world to come together to fight what he called ‘common enemies of man, tyranny, disease, poverty and war itself.’ This speech made Kennedy’s plans for a new domestic and foreign policies and his confidence in them clear. It would be his New Frontier.
JFK faced his first serious crisis just four months after being inaugurated. In 1959, a man named Fidel Castro had made himself ruler of Cuba, a small island nation just south of Florida. Over the next two years to Washington’s alarm, he began to move towards a communist-style government, while seeking aid from the Soviet Union. Under the former president, Eisenhower, the US government had set up a plan to topple the Cuban dictator, using anti-Castro Cuban CIA agents. When Kennedy took over he allowed the plan to go forward in April 1961, but tried to reduce US involvement. The result was a fiasco, as the invasion force was slaughtered and any survivors taken prisoner, the American Warships watched, helplessly from a few miles out to sea. The Bay of Pigs invasion (named after the ill-fated landing area) was a disaster for the US’s image overseas. President Kennedy took full responsibility for what happened.
The USSR’s leader Khrushchev, who saw America as a ‘threat’ to the Soviet Union saw this as a chance to probe America for weakness, authorized the construction of Soviet missile bases in Cuba, from which, the entire United States could be threatened with attack. When JFK was presented with pictures of these missiles he held out for a peaceful settlement but on October 22nd, he announced that a United Stated naval and air quarantine would be put around Cuba to stop any more missiles from the Soviet Union to be put in Cuba. He also demanded that the Soviets remove any and all nuclear weapons already in place.
So began the Cuban Missile Crisis, in which the world teetered on the verge of a nuclear war. Khrushchev claimed he was only protecting Cube from an invasion from the US, and then suggested that his missiles might be removed if the US were to remove their missiles in Turkey, just across the Black Sea from the Soviet Union. On Wednesday, October the 24th, Russian ships that had been steaming towards Cuba turned back. A week later, an agreement had been struck; Khrushchev would remove the missiles from Cuba and the US would remove the missiles from Turkey. This was called the Cold War. The Cold War was not the only part of JFK’s foreign policy, one of JFK's first initiatives was the creation of the Peace Corps, a service organization that sent young Americans overseas to do volunteer work in less-developed countries. Still in existence today, the Peace Corps stands as one of JFK's most enduring legacies.
Kennedy was also determined to carry out the Domestic Policies he had set when he became President. One of his biggest ambitions was to attack the Civil Rights in America. The Supreme Court of America had ruled that that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. Many schools, especially in southern states, did not obey the Supreme Court's decision. Segregation had also been prohibited by the Court at other public facilities (e.g. buses, restaurants, theatres, courtrooms, bathrooms, and beaches) but continued nonetheless. Kennedy verbally supported racial integration and civil rights; during the 1960 campaign he telephoned Coretta Scott King, wife of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., who had been jailed while demonstrating for equal access of African Americans; Kennedy secured the early release of King, which drew additional black support to his candidacy. JFK also fought for the rights of the people who lived in poverty in America. He wanted an equal education for all Americans as well as equal housing.
Another one of President Kennedy’s domestic policies was the Space Race. The Apollo Programme had been conceived early in 1960, under President Eisenhower’s time. JFK continued with the Space programme but realised that the US were far behind the USSR in the space technology field. On April 26th the Soviet Union sent the first man into space, reinforcing the US’s fears about being left behind in a Space Race with the Soviet Union. Kennedy then became determined to be the first ones to send a man to land on the moon and return to Earth safely. On June 20, 1969, almost six years after President Kennedy’s death, the US succeeded in doing this.
JFK’s Assassination.
On November 22nd 1963, President Kennedy was on a campaign trip to Dallas, Texas with his wife, Jackie, vice President, Lyndon B. Johnson and his wife, Ladybird Johnson. The President and Jackie were travelling in the Presidential Limousine with Governor Connally and his wife, Nellie, the driver, Greer and a secret serviceman. The route the car was taken was planned so that it would give the President maximum exposure to the Dallas crowds. The choice to go through Elm Street was chosen because it was the traditional parade route.
After a breakfast speech in Fort Worth, where Kennedy had spent the night arriving from Washington D.C the night before, President Kennedy boarded Air Force 1 which left at 11:10 and arrived at Love Air Field approximately 15 minutes later. At about 11:40, the presidential motorcade left Love Field for the trip through Dallas, which was running on a schedule about 10 minutes longer than the planned 45 minutes, due to enthusiastic crowds and an unplanned stop directed by the president. By the time they reached Dealey Plaza however, they were only 5 minutes away from their destination.
At 12:30 pm, the uncovered presidential limousine entered Dealey Plaza. From Houston Street, the presidential limousine made the planned left turn to put it on Elm Street to allow it to pass to the Stemmons Freeway exit. As it turned on Elm, the motorcade passed the Texas School Book Depository. As it continued down Elm Street, shots were fired at Kennedy.
The first shot hit Kennedy in the back. The Zapruder film shows the president bring his arms up appearing to attempt to loosen his tie knot. Connally turned around slightly and then brought his arms up in almost the same way. He had been shot too. The president seemed to lean towards Jackie when another shot sounded, Mrs Connally testifies she turned around to see fragments of skin, skull and brain matters spattered round the rear of the car. The president had been shot in the head.
Clint Hill, a secret serviceman had ran up to the presidential limousine and jumped on the back. Jackie had helped pull him on the car, Clint Hill and Jackie covered the Presidents body with their own as they sped towards the hospital. President Kennedy was dead on arrival, Jackie shouted “They’ve murdered my husband, they’ve murdered my husband!” The world stood still. The president was announced dead at 1:00pm.
Lee Harvey Oswald.
Lee Harvey Oswald, who was reported missing by his supervisor at the Texas School Book Depository Building, was arrested approximately 70 minutes after the assassination on suspicion of shooting police officer J.D Tippet. Tippet had spotted Oswald walking along a side-walk in the neighbourhood of Oak Cliff, after an exchanging of words; Officer Tippet got out the car and walked towards Oswald. Oswald turned and shot Tippet three times. Officer Tippet fell to the ground; Oswald walked over and shot him one more time in the head. Oswald was captured in a near-by movie theatre after entering without buying a ticket. Oswald resisted attempting to shoot arresting officer but was struck and held down by the police. He was charged with the murder of Kennedy and Tippet later that night. Oswald denied shooting anyone and claimed he was a ‘patsy’ who had been arrested because he had lived in the Soviet Union. Oswald’s case never came to trial because two days later, while being transferred from Dallas Police Headquarters to Dallas County Jail, he was shot and killed by Jack Ruby, a local nightclub owner, when questioned later, Ruby claimed he was distraught over the presidents’ death. An Italian Rifle was found on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository Building soon after the assassination of President Kennedy. The Carcano Rifle had been bought by Oswald under a different name and sent to a post office box Oswald rented in Dallas. According to the Warren Commission, a palm print from Oswald was found on the barrel of the rifle and the bullet fragments found in the Presidential Limousine were matched to the rifle.
The Warren Commission and Other Conspiracy Theories.
The Warren Commission was established on the 27th of November by President Lyndon B. Johnson. Its 888 page final report was presented to President Johnson on the 24th of September 1964 and made public three days later. The report concluded that:
- The shots that killed Kennedy and wounded Connally were fired from the sixth window of the southeast corner of the Texas Schoolbook Depository Building,
- The weight of the evidence suggests that three shots were fired.
- There is very persuasive evidence that the shot that hit Kennedy in the throat is the same bullet that hit Connally in the back.
- The shots which killed Kennedy and wounded Connally were fired by Lee Harvey Oswald.
- Oswald killed Dallas Police Patrolman J.D Tippet approximately 45 minutes after the assassination.
- Within 80 minutes of the assassination and 35 minutes of the Tippit killing, Oswald was arrested at the theatre by attempting to shoot another police officer.
- The Commission has found no evidence that Lee Harvey Oswald or Jack Ruby were part of any conspiracy, domestic or foreign to assassinate.
- In its entire investigation the Commission has found no evidence of conspiracy, subversion, or disloyalty to the U.S. Government by any Federal, State, or local official.
- On the basis of the evidence before the Commission it concludes that, Oswald acted alone.
However, these findings have proved controversial over the years, some of the other theories that have been proposed are:
- Numerous researchers have pointed out what they characterize as inconsistencies, oversights, exclusions of evidence, errors, changing stories, or changes made to witness testimony in the official Warren Commission investigation, which could suggest a cover-up, without putting forward a theory as to who actually committed the murder.
- Some believe that there was more than one gun man, saying that the president’s head appears to move back when he gets shot, suggesting that the bullet was shot from the front. In addition, some say the bullet would have had to change course to pass through the Governor as well as the President the way it did.
- Some researchers have claimed that the CIA are to blame for the assassination saying that CIA leader, David Atlee Phillips, was working with Maurice Bishop who was part of Alpha 66, an organization of anti-Castro Cubans. Alpha 66’s founder, Antonio Veciana, claims that during one of his meetings with Bishop, Lee Harvey Oswald was attending.
- According to author, James Douglass, Kennedy was assassinated because he was turning away from the Cold War and seeking a peaceful agreement with the Soviet Union which Douglass argues, ‘was not the kind of leadership the CIA, the Joints Chiefs of Staff and the military industrial complex would have wanted in the White House.’
- With the 1959 Cuban Revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power, thousands of Cubans left their homeland to take up residence in the United States. Many exiles hoped to overthrow Castro and return to Cuba. Their hopes were dashed with the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion in 1961, and many exiles blamed President Kennedy for the failure.
- Mafia criminals may have wished to retaliate for increasing pressure put upon them by Bobby Kennedy (who had increased by 12 times the number of prosecutions under President Dwight Eisenhower). Documents never seen by the Warren Commission have revealed that some Mafia members were working very closely with the CIA on several assassination attempts of Fidel Castro.
Conclusion.
To conclude, I think JFK was a great man who had the potential to be a great leader of America and it was a great shame he never got to show this potential. However, I do see the side of JFK that might have lead others not to trust him. I believe that Lee Harvey Oswald didn’t work alone in the assassination of JFK.
I have thoroughly enjoyed learning about JFK and have developed a great interest in his life. I hope you found my investigation interesting and I hope it provided enough information. Thank you for reading it.
Bibliography.
These are the sources that I used for information:
-
www.wikipedi
- My school textbooks.
- My teachers.
By Rachael Brogan ☺