John F. Kennedy

Described as

president of the United States from 1961 to 1963 (1917–1963)

Other names

Kennedy, John F Kennedy, President Kennedy, John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy, JF Kennedy, John Kennedy, J. F. Kennedy, JFK, Jack Kennedy, John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Born

May 29, 1917 · 18 references

Died

November 22, 1963 · 17 references

Born in

John Fitzgerald Kennedy National Historic Site · 4 references

Died in

Parkland Memorial Hospital · 2 references

Buried in

Arlington National Cemetery (1963) · 1 reference

Cause of death

shot to the head

Name at birth

John Fitzgerald Kennedy · 1 reference

Citizen of

United States

Occupation

politician · 1 reference; journalist; statesperson; writer · 1 reference; naval officer; anti-communist

Positions held

President of the United States (1961–1963) · 1 reference; United States representative (1947–1953); United States senator (1953–1960) · 1 reference; President-elect of the United States (1960–1961)

Political party

Democratic Party · 2 references

Education

Harvard College (1936–1940) · 5 references; Choate Rosemary Hall (1931–1935) · 3 references; Riverdale Country School · 2 references; Stanford Graduate School of Business (1940–1941) · 5 references; Princeton University (1935–1936) · 3 references; Edward Devotion School (1922–)

Member of

American Academy of Arts and Sciences; American Legion; Veterans of Foreign Wars

Known for

We choose to go to the Moon (1962); Ich bin ein Berliner (1963); Profiles in Courage (1955)

Awards

Navy and Marine Corps Medal (1944) · 3 references; Purple Heart (1943) · 1 reference; American Defense Service Medal (1945) · 1 reference; American Campaign Medal (1945) · 1 reference; Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (1945) · 1 reference; World War II Victory Medal (1945) · 1 reference; Pacem in Terris Award; Grand Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (1957) · 1 reference; Presidential Medal of Freedom (1963) · 1 reference; Pulitzer Prize for Biography (1957) · 2 references; Grand Officer of the Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity (1951) · 1 reference; Laetare Medal (1961) · 1 reference; Time Person of the Year (1961) · 2 references; Jane Addams Children's Book Award (1964); James Cardinal Gibbons Medal

Field

politician · 1 reference; opinion journalist · 1 reference; military personnel · 1 reference

Spouse

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (1953–1963) · 3 references

Children

John F. Kennedy Jr. · 1 reference; Patrick Bouvier Kennedy · 2 references; Arabella Kennedy · 1 reference; Caroline Kennedy · 2 references

Father

Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. · 2 references

Mother

Rose Kennedy · 2 references

Siblings

Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. · 1 reference; Rosemary Kennedy · 1 reference; Kathleen Cavendish · 1 reference; Eunice Kennedy Shriver · 1 reference; Patricia Kennedy Lawford · 1 reference; Robert F. Kennedy · 1 reference; Jean Kennedy Smith · 1 reference; Ted Kennedy · 1 reference

Religion

Catholicism · 2 references

Military branch

United States Navy (1941–1945) · 2 references

Military rank

lieutenant (1943–1945) · 2 references; lieutenant (junior grade) (1942–1943) · 1 reference; ensign (1941–1942) · 1 reference

Lived in

John Fitzgerald Kennedy National Historic Site (1917–1920) · 1 reference

Nickname

Jack · 1 reference

Height

1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) · 1 reference

Website

https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/john-f-kennedy/ · 2 references

Wikipedias with a page

252

Wikidata item Q9696 (wikidata.org/wiki/Q9696), public domain (CC0). Copied November 13, 2026.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented Massachusetts in both houses of the U.S. Congress before his presidency. Kennedy was the youngest elected president at 43 years, and the first Roman Catholic president.
Born into the prominent Kennedy family in Brookline, Massachusetts, Kennedy graduated from Harvard University in 1940, joining the U.S. Naval Reserve the following year. During World War II, he commanded PT boats in the Pacific theater. Kennedy's survival following the sinking of PT-109 and his rescue of his fellow sailors made him a war hero and earned the Navy and Marine Corps Medal, but left him with serious injuries. After a brief stint in journalism, Kennedy represented a working-class Boston district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1947 to 1953. He was subsequently elected to the U.S. Senate, serving as the junior senator from Massachusetts from 1953 to 1960. While in the Senate, Kennedy published his book Profiles in Courage, which won a Pulitzer Prize. Kennedy ran in the 1960 presidential election. His campaign gained momentum after the first televised presidential debates in American history, and he was elected president, narrowly defeating Republican opponent Richard Nixon, the incumbent vice president.
Kennedy's presidency saw high tensions with communist states in the Cold War. He increased the number of American military advisers in South Vietnam, and the Strategic Hamlet Program began during his presidency. In 1961, he authorized attempts to overthrow the Cuban government of Fidel Castro in the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion and Operation Mongoose. In October 1962, U.S. spy planes discovered Soviet missile bases had been deployed in Cuba. The resulting period of tensions, termed the Cuban Missile Crisis, nearly resulted in nuclear war. In August 1961, after East German troops erected the Berlin Wall, Kennedy sent an army convoy to reassure West Berliners of U.S. support, and delivered one of his most famous speeches in West Berlin in June 1963. In 1963, Kennedy signed the first nuclear weapons treaty. He presided over the establishment of the Peace Corps, Alliance for Progress with Latin America, and the continuation of the Apollo program with the goal of landing a man on the Moon before 1970. He supported the civil rights movement but was only somewhat successful in passing his New Frontier domestic policies.
On November 22, 1963, Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. His vice president, Lyndon B. Johnson, assumed the presidency. Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested for the assassination, but Jack Ruby shot and killed him two days later. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Warren Commission both concluded Oswald had acted alone, but conspiracy theories about the assassination persist. After Kennedy's death, Congress enacted many of his proposals, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Revenue Act of 1964. He ranks highly in polls of U.S. presidents with historians and the general public. His personal life has been the focus of considerable sustained interest following public revelations in the 1970s of his chronic health ailments and extramarital affairs. Kennedy is the most recent U.S. president to have died in office.

Born, in its opening lines

May 29, 1917

Died, in its opening lines

November 22, 1963

From the Wikipedia article “John F. Kennedy” (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Kennedy), by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Copied November 13, 2026; not changed.