John F Kennedy example essay topic

John Fitzgerald Kennedy Date: April 19, 2001 November 22, 1963, from Dallas, Texas, gunshots rang out in Dealey Plaza around 12: 15 in the afternoon, causing the entire world to stand on edge as the last fatal bullet burst through the young man's head. "The President has been shot" were the cries from the on looking civilians there in Texas that day who witnessed the horrid sight of the President's life being swept away from him! On this day in 1963 one or more assassins shot John F. Kennedy to death; on this day the President of the United States was killed! A sad fact also is that most Americans only have the knowledge of Mr. Kennedy's death and not about his entire life. John Kennedy had many great events occur in his young life. For a man to have lived as short of a life as John did, he sure did some outstanding things, many of which are discussed in this paper.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, and was the second of nine children by Joseph Patrick and Rose Kennedy. The Kennedy family had long been active in politics and Joseph Kennedy had attained a fortune through motion pictures, shipbuilding, real estate, and stock-market speculation. In short, the Kennedy family was used to wealth and popularity. When John was thirteen years old Joseph, his father, enrolled John at Canterbury School in New Milford, Connecticut. John however became very ill and never returned to the school; later he would graduate from Choate Preparatory school in Wallingford, Connecticut. Kennedy entered college at Princeton for a short while, yet his illnesses forced him to leave school and finish his studies later at Harvard College.

John also, despite his very frequent illnesses, was a good athlete, participating in football and swimming. Swimming however was John's favorite sport and he won the intercollegiate sailing title along with his older brother, Joe. John was forced to retire from football, however, because of a spine injury he received in practice. December 1941, enemy Japanese planes attacked Pearl Harbor, a United States naval base.

This act forced the United States into World War II. Young Kennedy hoped to fly in the war, yet in the spring of 1941 the army rejected him because of his back injury. Seeking to see the action of war, Kennedy passed the United States Navy physical examination after a five-month program of special exercise. Kennedy assumed the role of commander on PT boat 109 in the South Pacific. John was an excellent captain, while he also maintaining a friendly atmosphere with his crewmen. On August of 1943 disaster struck again, as a Japanese destroyer rammed Kennedy's boat in waters off the coast of New Georgia in the Solomon Islands.

The boat was nearly sliced in half like a hot knife through butter! Two of the twelve crewmen were killed! The surviving members of the crew desperately clung to the wreckage of the PT boat, as they waited for help to come, unfortunately help never came. After giving up hope for a rescue the crew swam to shore on a small island three miles away.

John clinched the life jacket of a wounded crewmember in his teeth and towed the man to shore! If this bravery wasn't enough, for the next four days John swam along the water route that he knew American ships used, until finally meeting friendly natives on Cross Island. The natives took Kennedy's message of help, engraved on a coconut shell, to the United States infantry patrol and finally a rescue was made. For his heroism Kennedy received the U. S Navy and Marine Corps Medal. Unfortunately, an attack of malaria and the recurrence of his back problem forced him to the U.S. to undergo medical treatment. Joe Kennedy, John's brother, had been killed in 1944 on a bombing mission over Belgium.

Up until this point Joe had been the one in the family who hoped to have a career in politics, yet when Joe died it was then John's turn to assume this role. John sought and did win the Democratic nomination for Representative in the 11th Congressional District of Massachusetts, by 42% of the votes. John then moved on to beat his Republican opponent and became a congressmen at the young age of only twenty-nine! Kennedy often supported legislation that would serve the interests of his constituents. Kennedy did not particularly like the Truman doctrine, so often time he would vote with the Republican's against bills and such sponsored by the Truman administration. Kennedy also rebuked the Truman administration because of the lack of support against China.

The Nationalist government of Chiang Kai-shek, once supported by the United States, was unable to bear the advance of the dreaded Communist forces. Around the end of 1949 Chiang Kai-shek's troops had been utterly defeated by Mao Zedong's Communists forces. Kennedy felt like if he were in power as president, then these situations would have been handled with much more care and concern. Little did John know, he would soon have his opporuninty to deal with foreign affairs of the world, such as the "Bay of Pigs" invasion. In 1952 John Kennedy decided to run against Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., a Republican Senator, as a candidate for the Senate from Massachusetts. Kennedy however was not known very well outside his congressional district, so he began campaigning, meeting thousands of people in the two years before the election.

Kennedy took the seat for the Senate by defeating Lodge by about 70,000 votes, and promising to do more for the state of Massachusetts than Lodge had ever done. In John's first two years as senator he backed legislation beneficial to Massachusetts fishing, textile, and its transportation systems. In 1953, much to the dismay of many, John supported the Saint Lawrence Seaway project. Also in 1955, he supported the Reciprocal Trade Agreement Act which gave the president the power to lower United States taxes on imported goods.

Kennedy began to speak out on his views on foreign affairs with the United States, and in 1957 John Kennedy became a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Gradually John became more and more accustom to speaking out about these foreign entanglements. Kennedy believed and spoke about increasing the United States economic aid for the underdeveloped countries. Little by little Kennedy began to grow in fame and began to gather a following due to his beliefs on the handling of foreign affairs. Kennedy's ideas helped contribute to the Landrum-Griffin Law, which guaranteed the rights of union members to union meetings, free speech and assembly, and the election of union officers by secret ballot.

As chairman of the Senate Reorganization Subcommittee, John Kennedy supported many of the proposals of the commissions led by President Herbert Hoover on improving the federal government and also translating it into law. John also served on the Senate Committee on Improper Activities in the Labor Field, of which his brother Robert was the chief counsel. Often the family would help their brother John out by campaigning for him or just helping make decisions on the troubles at the time. Almost as soon as the 1956 election was over John Kennedy began working to become the 1960 Democratic presidential nominee, yet he faced many obstacles.

Many of the party leaders considered him too young and inexperienced for the role of becoming the president. Also Kennedy was a Roman Catholic and many doubted if he could even win with this "monkey" on his back. Nevertheless, Kennedy still announced his candidacy very early in 1960, and by the time the Democratic National Convention opened, he had already won seven primary victories. Kennedy even managed to win in the Protestant State of West Virginia, even though he was a Catholic. Lyndon Johnson, Kennedy's strongest challenge, was persuaded to become Kennedy's running mate. A few days later, the Republicans nominated the Vice President, Richard Nixon, for president.

Kennedy and Nixon would have the closest race ever up until the 2000 election between Al Gore and George W. Bush. Kennedy would end up defeating Richard Nixon by only 113,000 votes. He won 49.7% of the popular vote, and Nixon won 49.6%! The race was won by Kennedy, because he won most of the larger states in the northeastern United States, receiving 303 electoral votes to Nixon's 219.

John F. Kennedy was inaugurated on January 20, 1961. In his speech that day Kennedy said this, "Let the word go forth from this time and place to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans-born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage-and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed and to which we are committed today at home and around the world". In this speech Kennedy issued a challenge to the citizens of the United States. We should all rise up and know that the "torch has been passed", and we all should pick up the torch and run with it, carrying the pride of the "red, white, and blue."Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country", were Kennedy's exact words in this challenge he gave the American people. During Kennedy's first year in office he began to enact a new type of legislature, this also increased his popularity with the people. The most original piece of legislation that Kennedy put together through Congress was the bill that created the Peace Corps.

This organization was a group of trained American volunteers who helped people in foreign lands deal with many hardships. After just a few years volunteers from the Peace Corps were working in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. One of the things Kennedy did, while in the office of President, that most people remember was that he proposed many of our civil rights laws. Kennedy was in no way responsible for the outburst of the civil rights movement, yet he did try to control it with all the new laws he passed. Kennedy particularly wanted to end discrimination in federally financed projects or in companies that were doing business with the government. In June of 1963, Governor George Wallace of Alabama prevented two blacks from enrolling at the University of Alabama.

This act forced Kennedy to send the Alabama National Guard to aid in the uproar that was proceeding at the university. Kennedy also projected the right for blacks to vote in some of his civil rights bills. Also John Kennedy asked that congress pass other civil rights bills for blacks to have equal access to jobs, to attend public schools, and to have access to public accommodations. In one of his civil rights speeches Kennedy stated that "Now the time has come for this nation to fulfill its promises...

To act, to make a commitment it has not fully made in this century to the proposition that race has no place in American life or law". In opinion polls taken at that time, Kennedy was shown to have be losing much of his popularity because of all stand on the civil rights. This fact however did not stop John F. Kennedy, although it was true that he was not a perfect man, it was true that he stood for what he believed in and practiced what he preached. Sadly though after only about three years in the office of president, John F Kennedy was shot to death on November 22, 1963. No one knows John F Kennedy as an old man.

We still have him pictured, today, as a young handsome hero, just like all the storybook pictures have him depicted. For this fact, we shall never know what John Kennedy was like when he grew older. This is why the legacy of John Fitzgerald Kennedy lives on in our minds even today. Even today he is that handsome looking president who shall always live in our hearts as invincible!

Bibliography

Page Wood, James Plays ted. 1964.
The Life and Words of John F Kennedy. Waukesha, Wisconsin: Country Beautiful Corporation, 20-25, 34-37, 39-43 Levine, i.e. 1964.
Young Man in the White House. New York, New York: Division of Pocket Books, Inc, 64-77 MacSiccar, I. 1995.
John F. Kennedy. Greenwich, Connecticut: JG Press, Inc Scott Fetzer Company. 2000.
World Book. Chicago, Illinois: World Book Inc. 260-269 F.E. Compton Company. 1984.
Compton's Encyclopedia. Chicago, Illinois: Division of Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc, 197-205 1961.