John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born in 1917 into a wealthy Irish Catholic family in Brookline, Massachusetts. After service in the Pacific during World War II, he entered Congress and then the Senate, building a reputation as a articulate Cold War liberal. His 1960 presidential campaign, aided by televised debates, made him the youngest person elected to the office and the first Catholic president of the United States.

In office Kennedy confronted nuclear confrontation during the Cuban Missile Crisis, expanded the space race by pledging a manned Moon landing, created the Peace Corps, and sent military advisers into Vietnam. Domestically he proposed civil rights legislation and tax cuts, though many signature programs passed under Lyndon Johnson after his death. His rhetoric—'ask not what your country can do for you'—projected vigor and global engagement at a moment when television was reshaping political life.

On November 22, 1963, Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. The shock of his murder, the subsequent Warren Commission report, and enduring public fascination with his family turned his thousand-day presidency into one of the most mythologized chapters of twentieth-century American history.

1. 1917

   Birth in Brookline

   Kennedy was born into the politically ambitious Joseph P. Kennedy family, the second of nine children.

2. 1943

   PT-109 Service

   As a Navy lieutenant in the Solomon Islands, he led survivors to safety after his patrol torpedo boat was sunk by a Japanese destroyer.

3. 1960

   Presidential Election

   He narrowly defeated Richard Nixon, benefiting from strong organization, Catholic turnout, and the first nationally televised debates.

4. 1962

   Missile Crisis

   Thirteen days of confrontation with the Soviet Union over Cuba brought the world closer to nuclear war than at any point in the Cold War.

5. 1963

   Assassination in Dallas

   Shot while riding in a motorcade, Kennedy died within hours; Vice President Johnson was sworn in aboard Air Force One.