John Fitzgerald Kennedy Born into a large, wealthy family His father made millions in the stock market and later became ambassador to Great Britain Naval hero during WWII (PT-109) US Senator (1953 – 1960) Won the Pulitzer Prize for his book “Profiles in Courage” John Fitzgerald Kennedy

In 1956, he almost won the Democratic nomination for Vice President In 1960, he was the first-ballot nominee for President His Republican opponent was Richard Nixon, vice president to President Eisenhower Until 2000, this was the closest Presidential election in US history Kennedy became the youngest ever elected President Also, the 1st (and only) Roman Catholic

JFK AND CIVIL RIGHTS 1961 - Ordered US marshals to protect Freedom Riders after mobs attacked buses in Alabama 1962 – Ordered federal marshals to escort James Meredith into the University of Mississippi after he won a federal court case to attend that college June 1963 – Ordered federal troops into Alabama to honor a court-ordered desegregation of the University of Alabama Demanded that Congress start taking action on the development of a civil rights bill covering all people August 1963 – March on Washington attended by more than 250,000 MLK delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech

BAY OF PIGS INVASION (April 1961) President Eisenhower approved CIA training of Cuban exiles for an invasion of Fidel Castro’s Cuba before he left office Kennedy inherited the plan and on advise from CIA approved its continuation Approximately 1400 exiles landed at Bahia de Cochinos - the Bay of Pigs CIA did not have correct information about forces Exiles faced about 20,000 Cuban troops with Soviet weapons Kennedy accepted the blame for the failed invasion and the USA paid ransom to free jailed exiles

BERLIN WALL (August 1961) Between 1948 and 1961 almost 20% of the population of East Germany had fled to the West USSR threatened to close routes into West Berlin but Kennedy refused to evacuate American troops At midnight on August 13th, East German troops started putting up a barbed wire fence Within days a concrete wall topped with barbed wire divided the two Berlins Beginnings of the Berlin Wall Kennedy travelled to Berlin to convince people that Americans would not leave Greeted by tens of thousands of Berliners

CUBAN MISSLE CRISIS (October 1962) Oct 14 - US spy planes took pictures of missile bases being built in Cuba Less than 250 miles from the US mainland and 1200 miles from DC The USSR sent ships with nuclear weapons on board towards Cuba US found out about the shipments Oct 22 - Kennedy gave a televised speech saying he would not allow missiles into Cuba and would stop them, no matter the cost Oct 24 - Kennedy implemented a naval blockade or “quarantine” of Cuba

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“THE MISSLES OF OCTOBER” Standoff in the Atlantic brought the US and USSR to the brink of nuclear warfare US alert status went to DEFCON 2, one below WAR Kennedy and Soviet Premier Khrushchev constantly on the “Red Line” to each other Oct 25 - Soviet ships suddenly stopped their movement towards Cuba Soviets agreed to remove missiles if the US promised not to invade Cuba “For a moment the world stood still, and now it was going around again” Robert Kennedy, Attorney General “We are eyeball to eyeball and the other fellow just blinked” Dean Rusk, Secretary of State

ASSASSINATION On November 22nd, 1963 JFK and wife were in Texas visiting various parts of the state Trip taken to prepare for the 1964 election year Home state of Vice President Lyndon Johnson Critical southern state for re-election Riding in an open car through downtown Dallas, the President and Governor Connolly of Texas were both shot The President died almost instantly from a head wound Homemade film by Abraham Zapruder became critical to examining events

Accused assassin was identified as Lee Harvey Oswald On November 24th Oswald was fatally shot as he was escorted out of the Dallas police station The person who shot him, Jack Ruby, died a year later in jail from cancer Conspiracy theorists believed Oswald was killed to cover the “real persons” behind the assassination

LYNDON BAINES JOHNSON - 36th President Johnson took the oath of office in Air Force One in Dallas with his wife at his right side Widow Jacqueline Kennedy at his left side, still wearing her blood-stained suit The body of JFK was returned to Washington The President was buried at Arlington National Cemetery

JFK Gravesite in Arlington