essay on john f kennedy

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The Life and Presidency of John F. Kennedy

The Official 2020 White House Christmas Ornament historical essay

• William Seale Author & Historian

This photograph by White House photographer Robert Knudsen shows President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy next to the Blue Room Christmas tree. This photograph was taken in 1961 before the extensive renovations initiated by the first lady.

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The White House Historical Association’s 2020 Official White House Christmas Ornament honors John Fitzgerald Kennedy , the thirty-fifth president of the United States. The youngest president since Theodore Roosevelt , Kennedy took office in January 1961, at age 43. Before his vibrant presidency was cut short by an assassin’s bullet on November 22, 1963, he had reinvigorated the American spirit. His legacy lives on in his youthful belief in America and his faith in America’s responsibilities to the world.

With this ornament we remember President Kennedy through his posthumous official White House portrait, made in 1970 by Aaron Shikler, the artist selected by the president’s widow, Jacqueline Kennedy . The portrait, symbolic of his unfinished presidency, hangs in the White House today. Shikler recalled that Mrs. Kennedy did not want the portrait to look the way other artists had portrayed him. “I painted him with his head bowed, not because I think of him as a martyr,” Shikler said, “but because I wanted to show him as a president who was a thinker. . . . All presidential portraits have eyes that look right at you. I wanted to do something with more meaning. I hoped to show a courage that made him humble.”

The reverse of the ornament features the dates of President Kennedy’s brief term, 1961–1963, on either side of an engraving of the White House. The White House as it is today is another Kennedy legacy. First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy restored the furnishings and decor of the State Rooms to the era of the early presidents and invited the public to view them in a television special. “The White House belongs to the American people,” she said. The White House Historical Association, which Mrs. Kennedy founded in 1961 continues today to fulfill the mission she envisioned: “to enhance understanding, appreciation, and enjoyment of the historic White House.” The Association remains a lasting legacy of a presidential term unfinished.

The portrait of President John F. Kennedy by Aaron Shikler in the Cross Hall on the State Floor of the White House, 2019.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 1917–1963

John Fitzgerald Kennedy, born in Brookline, Massachusetts, was the second son in a prominent Irish Catholic family. His father, Joseph Kennedy, was a well-known businessman, and his mother, Rose Fitzgerald, the daughter of a U.S. congressman and mayor of Boston. The family, eventually with nine children, was close knit and political, and regarded public service as a calling. They spent summers on Cape Cod, swimming, sailing, and playing touch football, and their cottage in Hyannis Port was eventually enlarged to become the Kennedy Compound, with several additional residences. Joe Kennedy had high expectations for his children, and he encouraged his sons, especially, to be athletic and competitive. All four Kennedy sons played football at Harvard. In his junior year, John Kennedy took an extended visit to London, where his father was serving as ambassador to Great Britain. Graduating from Harvard in 1940, John expanded his senior thesis into a book, Why England Slept , which examined that country’s lack of preparation for war.

World War II had already begun, and although the United States was not yet directly involved, both John and his older brother, Joe Jr., joined the U.S. Navy in 1941. Joe went to pilot school and John received special training for patrol torpedo boats, the famous PTs. In 1943 he was sent to the South Pacific and assumed command of PT 109, with a mission to agitate and sink Japanese supply ships. On patrol the night of August 1–2, 1943, his boat was struck in the inky darkness by a Japanese destroyer. Two crew members died in the fiery collision, but eleven, one badly injured, clung to the hull until morning. Despite his own injuries, Kennedy managed to get all of them to shore and then secure their rescue, six days later, with the help of native islanders friendly to the Allies. For his courage and leadership, Kennedy was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal and a Purple Heart. He was assigned to another PT boat but contracted malaria and was sent back to the United States. During his recovery came word that his older brother, Joe Jr., had died in an airplane accident over England. Joe had been the one his father always said would be president someday.

Joe’s death changed the trajectory of John’s life. John had thought of being a writer, but at his father’s urging, in 1946 he ran for a Boston seat in the U.S. House of Representatives and won. In Congress he represented his working-class district with a strong stand for labor and unions. He also supported U.S. foreign aid and military assistance. Well-liked and well respected, he was reelected twice before winning a seat in the U.S. Senate in 1952, defeating incumbent Henry Cabot Lodge of the old Boston aristocracy.

Kennedy now had a national reputation. In the Senate he pursued his interests in foreign affairs and in history, writing a second book that won the Pulitzer Prize, Profiles in Courage , stories of eight senators who placed service to country above their careers. In 1953 he married Jacqueline Bouvier, and their first child, Caroline, was born in 1957. Consideration as a potential vice-presidential candidate at the Democratic Convention of 1956 positioned him for a run for president in 1960.

No Roman Catholic had ever won the presidency, but Kennedy’s forceful statements about placing public service over private religious affiliation proved convincing. In his acceptance speech at the Democratic Convention he introduced what he called the New Frontier, a promise to move the nation forward by increasing economic opportunity, civil rights, and military preparedness as Cold War tensions with the communist Soviet Union escalated. Facing Republican Richard M. Nixon in the nation’s first televised debate, Kennedy appeared both poised and commanding. In November he won the presidency by a narrow majority.

Portrait by Aaron Shikler of President John F. Kennedy, 1970.

The Kennedy Administration, 1961–63

Inauguration Day dawned bright and cold following a snowstorm. Standing bare headed in the sun, the new president offered not promises but a challenge. He called on foreign adversaries to “begin anew the quest for peace” and on his “fellow Americans” to “ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.”

One of Kennedy’s first acts as president was to create the Peace Corps, a program that sent young people to developing nations, to live among the people they helped. In addition to technical assistance for projects in health, sanitation, and education, their objective was “to promote peace and friendship.” More than seven thousand idealistic Americans, young and old, signed up. Kennedy asked Congress for legislation that increased the minimum wage, provided health insurance for the aged, and scholarship aid for those studying medicine, dentistry, and nursing. He reinvigorated America’s space program with a commitment to landing a man on the moon, and bringing him safely back to earth, “before this decade is out.”

But several months into his administration Kennedy’s attention to domestic issues was interrupted by a foreign crisis. He had approved an Eisenhower-era plan for overthrowing Cuba’s communist dictator, Fidel Castro. But when CIA-trained Cuban exiles landed at the Bay of Pigs, they were captured. Kennedy accepted full responsibility, then turned to his predecessor for wisdom, inviting former President Dwight D. Eisenhower to Camp David. Sobered by failure, Kennedy stood firm when he met Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev in Vienna in June. Khrushchev sought to force the Allied powers out of Berlin, which had been divided at the end of World War II. When Kennedy would not withdraw, Khrushchev ordered a wall built between the Soviet and Allied zones of the city. Cold War tensions escalated, and a nuclear arms race resumed.

The next year brought a much more dangerous crisis. In October, when the Soviets began to install missile sites in Cuba, just 90 miles from the U.S. shores, the superpowers were brought to the brink of nuclear war. Putting the U.S. military on high alert and assembling a panel of security advisers, Kennedy considered possible responses. On October 22 he announced a quarantine of the island and sent the U.S. Navy to enforce it. As Soviet ships with supplies for the missile sites approached, the whole world was watching. At the last minute the ships turned around, and in the next days behind the scenes communications between Kennedy and Khrushchev opened a resolution. Khrushchev agreed to remove the Cuban missiles if Kennedy would promise that the United States would not invade Cuba and, in an agreement secret at the time, would remove U.S. missiles in Turkey, aimed at the Soviet heartland. On November 2 Kennedy announced that “progress is now being made toward peace in the Caribbean.”

Meanwhile Kennedy and the nation faced a series of domestic crises over civil rights. In 1954 the Supreme Court had ordered that racial segregation in schools be ended, but southern resistance was strong. Violence against protests by young people sitting in at lunch counters, riding interstate buses, and attempting to attend previously all-white state colleges led Attorney General Robert Kennedy, John Kennedy’s younger brother and closest adviser, to send in federal marshals, again and again. In June 1963, when the governor of Alabama, George Wallace, “stood in the schoolhouse door,” as he promised, to prevent African Americans from registering at the University of Alabama, President Kennedy went on television to address the issue of civil rights head on. It is not a sectional issue, he said, not a partisan issue, or even just a legal or legislative issue, but “a moral issue.” “The heart of the question,” he continued, “is whether all Americans are to be afforded equal rights and equal opportunities, whether we are going to treat our fellow Americans as we want to be treated.” He called on Congress to enact legislation protecting the rights of all Americans to be served in places of public accommodation and to vote without penalty or intimidation.

Kennedy’s comprehensive civil rights bill was under debate in Congress, when, in August, a March on Washington brought a quarter of a million supporters to the National Mall. From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Joan Baez and the Freedom Singers led the crowd in “We Shall Overcome,” and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. challenged the nation “to rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed . . . ‘that all men are created equal.’” In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson shepherded the Civil Rights Act through Congress in tribute to Kennedy, and a Voting Rights Act followed the next year.

Kennedy’s confidence in the purpose of America and in Americans’ ability to solve problems seemed on the way to being realized that summer. In June, at a commencement address at American University, he announced that his topic would be “the most important on earth: world peace.” “Not the peace of the grave or the security of the slave. I’m talking about genuine peace,” he said, “the kind of peace that makes life on earth worth living, the kind that enables men and nations to grow and to hope and to build a better life for all their children—not merely peace for Americans but peace for all men and women—not merely peace in our time but peace for all time.” He called on Americans to “reexamine our attitude toward the Soviet Union,” not to give in to propaganda and distorted views that “see conflict as inevitable, accommodation as impossible, and communication as nothing more than an exchange of threats.” “Let us direct our attention to our common interests,” he said, “for, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal.”

At the end of the speech Kennedy announced negotiations under way for a nuclear test ban treaty with the Soviets; it was signed in August, and a few weeks later a “hot line” was installed, a direct link between Washington and Moscow that would permit instantaneous communication between the superpowers. Visiting the Berlin Wall that summer, Kennedy repeated his themes of freedom and peace. “Freedom is indivisible,” he said. “Lift your eyes beyond the dangers to today, to the hopes of tomorrow . . . to the advance of freedom everywhere, beyond the wall to the day of peace with justice, beyond yourselves and ourselves to all mankind.”

The Kennedy Family in the White House

Not since the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt had there been little children in the White House. Caroline was three when the Kennedys moved in, and John just two months old. Photographs of them romping with their father in the Oval Office and of Caroline riding her pony, Macaroni, on the White House lawn endeared this young family to all Americans, of all political persuasions. When Khrushchev sent Caroline a white puppy, Pushinka, and when Pushinka and the family’s beloved Welsh terrier, Charlie, had puppies together, the photo ops were irresistible.

Yet Jacqueline Kennedy was protective of her children, wanting to preserve for them as normal a childhood as possible. She established a preschool for Caroline on the Third Floor of the White House and invited friends’ children to join. Always she sought to carve out a private, affectionate life for her family, even as she recognized her responsibilities as America’s first lady.

This photograph shows President John F. Kennedy with Caroline, John, Jr., and Caroline's pony, Macaroni. They stand just outside of the Oval Office, beside the Rose Garden and West Colonnade.

Summers the family spent in the Kennedy Compound on Cape Cod, with cousins and all the outdoor games that the Kennedys had always played with vigor. At other times of the year they escaped, when they could to a farm called Glen Ora, near Middleburg, Virginia, where Mrs. Kennedy, an excellent horsewoman, enjoyed the freedom of riding through open fields. Palm Beach, where Joe Kennedy had a large stucco house, was another sanctuary, and often where the Kennedys spent holidays with their many relatives.

Jacqueline Kennedy wanted a comfortable home for her family, and her first task on moving into the White House was to remake the upstairs quarters with her children in mind. A kitchen and private dining room were added, and the furnishings changed to suit the domestic life of a young family. But her lasting contributions were to the decor of the State Floor rooms , which she restored and furnished with antiques as well as some original pieces donated back to the White House with the encouragement of her advisory committee. As much as possible, she hoped the public spaces could be a repository for American fine arts and decorative arts. She pushed Congress for legislation that made certain the furnishings were not sold off again at auction, as had been the practice in the past.

She established the White House Historical Association , hired the mansion’s first curator, and edited its first guidebook—proceeds from which continue to be used to acquire furnishings and preserve the historic fabric of the White House. The Executive Residence’s historic setting on Lafayette Square led to yet another project. Together the Kennedys preserved the square as a nineteenth-century residential neighborhood, its central park a green retreat in marble Washington. Outside the Oval Office they planted a Rose Garden that was both a private retreat and a ceremonial platform.

To this elegant setting the Kennedys invited the nation’s famous writers, artists, and musicians for both formal and informal events. They wanted the White House to showcase American performing arts and to serve as a stage for symbolizing the best of America and the American presidency. Their commitment to federal support for the arts would, in the years ahead, be realized in the National Endowments for the Arts and for the Humanities and in the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts , built on the shore of the Potomac River in Washington.

First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy stands before television cameras in the State Dining Room during her televised tour of the White House, 1962.

The Kennedy Christmas Celebrations

For the family’s first Christmas in the White House, Jacqueline Kennedy decorated the official White House Christmas tree, set up in the Blue Room, with tiny toys, birds, sugarplum fairies, and angels that evoked Petr Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker ballet. Thus began a tradition of White House tree decorations that carry out a specific theme. The 1962 tree, in the North Entrance, continued the children’s theme with brightly wrapped packages, candy canes, gingerbread cookies, and straw ornaments made by disabled and senior citizens from across the United States. Mrs. Kennedy visited a local children’s hospital to give presents to sick children who would not be home for Christmas. The Kennedys generally traveled to Palm Beach for Christmas Day, where members of the large extended family often gathered. The children hung stockings and put on Christmas pageants, and all went to Christmas Mass together. In 1962 the personal gifts were chosen with great care. Knowing her love of French art, John Kennedy gave his wife a drawing by the French Impressionist Pierre Auguste Renoir. Knowing his love of the sea, Jacqueline Kennedy gave her husband a piece of scrimshaw carved with the Presidential Seal. Caroline wanted a doll, and John a helicopter.

Planning for Christmas 1963 was almost completed by November 21, when John and Jacqueline Kennedy flew to Texas for a three-day visit. The annual Christmas card was already printed—a color photograph of an eighteenth-century crèche that was displayed for the holidays in the East Room— and cards for thirty friends and supporters had been signed. John Kennedy had purchased a fur coverlet as a present for his wife, and he had learned to speak enough French to surprise her on Christmas Day.

The Kennedy Legacy

News of Kennedy’s death shocked Americans and shook the entire world. Leaders from more than ninety nations attended the funeral . It was too soon to speak of a legacy, but it is clear now that the Kennedys changed the character of the White House forever. John Kennedy’s daring and optimism inspired Americans to take pride in their achievements and to commit to public service. Kennedy was president in a dangerous time, and his leadership, both clear-eyed and calm, worked always toward peace.

President John F. Kennedy's flag-draped casket is seen carried on a horse-drawn caisson as his funeral procession leaves the White House, 1963.

After she left the White House, Jacqueline Kennedy sought the private life she had always wanted, for herself and her children. She returned only once , on February 3, 1971, privately and in secret, to view the official portraits by Aaron Shikler. “The day I always dreaded,” she wrote in a thank-you to First Lady Pat Nixon , “turned out to be one of the most precious ones I spent with my children.”

This was originally published on February 17, 2020

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JFK's Very Revealing Harvard Application Essay

At 17 years old, the future president seemed to understand that the value of an elite education is in the status it offers.

John F. Kennedy is one of the most mythologized figures in contemporary American history. At age 17, though, he was just a kid trying to get into college (a kid with a wealthy, famous father, of course).

The Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum has a digitized version of Kennedy's 1935 Harvard application, which includes his grades and his response to the essay prompt, "Why do you wish to come to Harvard?" Here's how the future president answered:

The reasons that I have for wishing to go to Harvard are several. I feel that Harvard can give me a better background and a better liberal education than any other university. I have always wanted to go there, as I have felt that it is not just another college , but is a university with something definite to offer. Then too, I would like to go to the same college as my father. To be a "Harvard man" is an enviable distinction, and one that I sincerely hope I shall attain. April 23, 1935 John F. Kennedy

Business Insider dismisses the essay for being five sentences long (I'm not sure how much more he could have written given the space) and implies that his answer wasn't carefully considered. That's probably true—Kennedy's grades show that he wasn't an especially good student in high school, and there's not much evidence that he took his education seriously at this point in his life. Plus, as Gawker points out , Kennedy wrote nearly exactly the same essay for his Princeton application.

Still, Kennedy's essay shows a profound, if implicit, understanding of the primary value of attending an elite school: status and personal connections, rather than mastery of academic skills and knowledge. Notice that he only makes one mention of the education he'd receive at Harvard—a passing reference to the school's superior "liberal education." The rest of the paragraph focuses on the the non-academic benefits: having a "better background," sharing the same alma mater with his dad, and enjoying the "enviable distinction" of being a Harvard Man.

And it is, indeed, an enviable distinction. Harvard has produced eight United States presidents, more than any other school. The school's website has a whole section devoted to all the alumni who've won Nobel prizes. Two of its dropouts are among the richest people in America. Whether these glories are due to the school's excellent education or its impressive alumni network and name recognition, who knows? But Kennedy clearly thought he knew the answer.

Help inform the discussion

John F. Kennedy: Life in Brief

John F. Kennedy was born into a rich, politically connected Boston family of Irish-Catholics. He and his eight siblings enjoyed a privileged childhood of elite private schools, sailboats, servants, and summer homes. During his childhood and youth, “Jack” Kennedy suffered frequent serious illnesses. Nevertheless, he strove to make his own way, writing a best-selling book while still in college at Harvard University and volunteering for hazardous combat duty in the Pacific during World War II. Kennedy's wartime service made him a hero. After a short stint as a journalist, Kennedy entered politics, serving in the US House of Representatives from 1947 to 1953 and the US Senate from 1953 to 1961.

Kennedy was the youngest person elected US president and the first Roman Catholic to serve in that office. For many observers, his presidency came to represent the ascendance of youthful idealism in the aftermath of World War II. The promise of this energetic and telegenic leader was not to be fulfilled, as he was assassinated near the end of his third year in office. For many Americans, the public murder of President Kennedy remains one of the most traumatic events in memory; countless Americans can remember exactly where they were when they heard that President Kennedy had been shot. His shocking death stood at the forefront of a period of political and social instability in the country and the world.

Marc J. Selverstone

Associate Professor of History Miller Center, University of Virginia

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Course: US history   >   Unit 8

John f. kennedy as president.

• Bay of Pigs Invasion
• Cuban Missile Crisis
• The Cuban Missile Crisis
• Lyndon Johnson as president
• Vietnam War
• The Vietnam War
• The student movement and the antiwar movement
• Second-wave feminism
• The election of 1968
• 1960s America
• John F. Kennedy narrowly won the 1960 presidential election against Richard Nixon by carefully cultivating the news media and crafting an effective public image.
• Once in office, Kennedy prioritized domestic economic growth, cutting taxes and boosting federal spending.
• During Kennedy’s brief presidency, the United States experienced both foreign policy triumphs and tragedies, including the Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis .
• Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963.

The election of 1960

Kennedy's assassination, what do you think.

• See Gary A. Donaldson, The First Modern Campaign: Kennedy, Nixon, and the Election of 1960 (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2007).
• See W.J. Rorabaugh, The Real Making of the President: Kennedy, Nixon, and the 1960 Election (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2008).
• “ Kennedy and Cuba ,” The American Yawp, Chapter 27: The Sixties.
• See John Maynard Keynes, The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 1936).
• Paul S. Boyer, Promises to Keep: The United States since World War II (Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1999), pp. 193-195.
• John Hope Franklin and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans (New York: McGraw Hill, 2011), 541-545.
• For more on the Vietnam War, see Mark Atwood Lawrence, The Vietnam War: A Concise International History (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010).
• See James T. Patterson, Grand Expectations: The United States, 1945-1974 , (New York: Oxford University Press), 518-522.

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JOHN F. KENNEDY

Excerpted from an essay by Richard Reeves : Were there ever aspects of his character at war with each other? There certainly were. John Kennedy did not think that the rules applied to him and he did whatever he could get away with, including getting into the U.S. Navy without a physical examination, since there was no way he could have passed any standard medical examination. He sensed, correctly, I think, that if he did not participate in World War II, in the great adventure, the great shared experience of his generation, then he was not going to have much of a public life in this country. So he wanted in. But, of course, to have a man with such frail health as his was as your commander could be dangerous; the John Kennedy who got to be commander of a PT-109 never should have been there. However, when PT-109 was run down by a Japanese destroyer, the lieutenant who never should have been there swam six miles holding the belt, in his teeth, of a badly burned man named Pappy McNulty, and saved his life -- and then went back into the dark Pacific to try to save others. He lost his boat, but saved most of his crew... Could a person of Kennedy's character survive the kind of political climate that now exists? No. There is no way, not so much because of his character but, .. because of his health.... John Kennedy had Addison's disease (a withering of the adrenal glands), which was a terminal disease until maintenance treatment was discovered in 1940. That year, before Kennedy knew he had the illness, a British doctor discovered that it could be treated with cortisone, which would replace adrenaline... The cortisone was extremely expensive at the beginning, and the Kennedys kept quantities of the drug in safety deposit boxes around the world. Until artificial cortisone was developed years later, only a rich person could survive on the regime that JFK did -- day by day for the rest of his life. In addition to that, he had a degenerative back problem that had nothing to do with football or the war -- those campaign stories were not true. It was a birth defect, and it was so bad that at a point in 1954, when he was a senator, he gambled on surgery in New York Hospital. He was told he probably would not survive because trauma triggers Addison's episodes. No Addisonian had ever survived traumatic surgery. But the back pain was so great, he said he would rather die than live with it. He did survive the operation, though he was in the hospital for nine months afterward. That bit of medical history was significant enough that the Journal of the American Medical Association , in November 1955, ran a report without names on Kennedy's operation. The patient was identified as "the 37-year-old man." But anybody who knew his history, knew that John Kennedy was the thirty-seven-year-old man.... In the five years after that, and all the years after that, John Kennedy always denied that he had Addison's disease. But in fact, there was a public record that could have revealed his lie. No one in the press ever put two and two together. In the political and journalistic climate today he could not have hidden that information and thus could not have become a candidate, much less President of the United States.... Robert Louis Stevenson once said that politics is perhaps the only profession for which no preparation is considered necessary. It was true then -- it's true now. And John Kennedy has something to do with that. Whatever one thinks of him as a political figure, John Kennedy was a soaring cultural figure. On a level, I think, with the Picassos, the Freuds, the artists and scholars who change the way we look at things. And the most significant thing about John Kennedy, transcending politics, was this: he did not wait his turn. And now, no one does. Part of that was because he thought he would die young -- and he had to make his move the first chance he got. He went after the presidency out of turn and essentially destroyed the old system of selecting presidents. Kennedy controlled every person who came in contact with him. He was a Brueghel in the sense that he created a world of his own, but instead of squeezing oil paint, he squeezed people to create his own personal world. He was at the center of all he surveyed. He enjoyed using people, and setting them against each other for his own amusement. He lived life as a race against boredom.

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104 John F. Kennedy Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best john f. kennedy topic ideas & essay examples, 📌 simple & easy john f. kennedy essay titles, 👍 good essay topics on john f. kennedy, ❓ john f. kennedy questions.

• Comparing Kennedy’s New Frontier and Johnson’s Great Society On the other hand, the great society was a term used by President Lyndon Johnson as set of domestic policies and programs in the United States. The initiative was later approved by the congress as […]
• The Conspiracy Theories Regarding Assassination of John F. Kennedy At the time of JFK’s death, his relationship with the CIA was strained, which could have possibly led the agency to conspire and eliminate the president.
• John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address, 1961 President Kennedy’s address showed that he was committed to the welfare of his people; a trait which many modern political leaders do not have.
• John F. Kennedy Assassination John Fitzgerald Kennedy’s assassination is considered to be one of the most mysterious events in the history of the United States of America.
• John F. Kennedy: What Made Him a Good Communicator? Considered one of the greatest Presidents of the United States he had only one focus that was to see his nation in the driver’s seat of the world.
• The Presidency of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson Thus, the problems that he wanted to address concerning education, poverty, urbanization, and healthcare, for which he suggested improvements in the form of 355 legislative requests within his first year. The move by Johnson, which […]
• Historical Impact of John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Speech The principal setting to Kennedy’s Inaugural location is the Cold War. Kennedy was initiated at the tallness of the Cold War.
• Did the Mafia Kill John F. Kennedy? Conspiracy Proved Besides, these theories correlate with one of the latest versions, according to which the murder of JFK was a conspiracy of the CIA and mafia members, including Jack Ruby and Lee Harvey Oswald.
• American History Since 1945: Assassination of John F Kennedy This paper discusses on the possibility that the president’s death was a conspiracy and the facts that suggest it could have been the case.
• The John F. Kennedy International Airport The airport links the United States with the rest of the world being the main entry and exit point from the U.S.the JKF airport got its name from the 35th U.
• The Public Speeches by Kennedy, Mac Arthur and King The main aim of the present paper is to identify the functions and explain the use of important rhetorical devices in three famous speeches of the prominent American leaders: “Ich bin ein Beliener” by John […]
• John Kennedy, Martin Luther King, and Abraham Lincoln: Principles of Leadership In this regard, John Kennedy stated in general that, “We have the power to make this the best generation of mankind in the history of the world or make it the last”.
• John F. Kennedy’s Tragedy However, the general rule that applies not only to assassinations but also to all controlled information is ‘the fewer people know about it, the better.’ The preparation of Kennedy’s assassination appears to have been a […]
• Kennedy and Monroe Conspiracy and Connection Kennedy was killed, one would have to be present in that period of time, to understand the politics and the general atmosphere that existed in the country, nation.
• John F. Kennedy and Vietnam Kennedy believed in communism and decided at once to support the policy of his predecessor, Dwight Eisenhower, who was a supporter of the government of Diem.
• Kennedy’s and Martin Luther King’s Assassination in 1960’s The American history of assassinations in the 1960’s left an indelible mark in the minds of many people. Similar to the assassination of John F.
• President Kennedy’s Inaugural Address Additionally, Barack Obama’s inauguration speech was under a much greater microscope; Kennedy had television, radio, and newspapers to report his words; Obama’s words are under the scrutiny of the aforementioned media sources, in addition to […]
• The Murder of President Kennedy From the information received from the Warren inquiry and the Committee on murders, the President was shot from the upper back.
• J.F. Kennedy’s People-Oriented Leadership For one to qualify as a leader, he has to be the person who has the ability to entrust one’s duties in regards to the political control, as well as to be to make effective […]
• The US Foreign Policy by Kennedy: Cuban Missile Crisis When John F Kennedy resumed power, the US foreign policy was based on containment implying that the major aim of the US was to contain the influence of communism in the world.
• Kennedy’s Doctrine and US Diplomacy The sour relationship that existed between the USSR and the US immediately after the end of the Second World War was referred to as the Cold War.
• Reading Response Paper: Lyndon Johnson and John Kennedy The political environment of the 1960s was characterized by calls of self-determination and self-preservation of states and governments around the world. However, all the assertions of the president in the speech are founded on the […]
• Kennedy and the Bay of Pigs The invasion failed since the US made a major assumption concerning the reaction of the Fidel administration and the general republic to the US backed invasion.
• Political Leadership: Bill Clinton and John Kennedy On the other hand, the paper will also compare the great leaders and bad leaders in this regard, the New York mayor Mr.
• The Assassination of President Kennedy in 1963 The assassination of President John Kennedy was a great turning point in the history of Americans and the world. After the death or assassination of President John Kennedy, there were increase in violence and deaths […]
• History of John F. Kennedy Assassination When the Oliver Stone picture, JFK, was released in 1991, it generated enormous interest in the possibility that elements of the federal government and the military-industrial complex, including the CIA, might have been behind the […]
• John Fitzgerald Kennedy His alleged authorship of the Pulitzer Prize winning book, Profiles in Courage, cannot be ascertained, and many critics and historians agree that his participation in the actual writing and research of the content of the […]
• The Vietnam War: Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy Leadership Roles On November 1, 1995, Eisenhower’s action to give military training to the government of South Vietnam marked the official start of the U.S.involvement in the Vietnamese conflict.
• “An Unfinished Life, John F. Kennedy 1917-1963” by Robert Dallek Kennedy as the 35th president of the United States is an important figure in the history of the country. The title of the book is self explanatory, showing the author’s position as to the president’s […]
• The Assassination of John F. Kennedy: Conspiracy Theories Investigations that were carried out by to the CIA revealed that Carlos Marcello, a suspected member of the mafia could have organized and implemented the conspiracy.
• The Important Roles and Responsibilities of the American People in the Inaugural Address of President John F. Kennedy
• The Successes and Failures of John F. Kennedy
• President John F. Kennedy And The Sickness And Pain He Endured During His Time In Office
• The Presidential Debates Between John F. Kennedy And Richard Nixon
• The Life, Political Career and Assassination of John F. Kennedy
• The Significant Contributions of John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon to America
• The Importance of Appearance in John F. Kennedy’s Victory During the Presidential Election
• John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address and Communication Rhetoric
• Warren Commission’s Report on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy
• The Cuban Embargo Was Established And Approved By John F. Kennedy
• The Ability of Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy to Lead a Nation in the Grueling Time of War
• Fact and Fantasy Regarding the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy
• The Influence of the Cold War Concerns on the Vietnam Policy of President John F. Kennedy
• The Politically Courageous Men as Portrayed in John F. Kennedy’s Book Profiles in Courage
• An Analysis of Colonialism and Government from the Perspective of John F. Kennedy
• The Role of President John F. Kennedy in the Cuban Missile Crisis
• The Controversy Surrounding President John F. Kennedy’s Death
• The Leadership Styles Of John F. Kennedy And Ronald Reagan
• The Misconception of President John F. Kennedy’s Assassination
• The Lasting Impact of Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lindon B. Johnson
• The Transformation of the United States Foreign Policy Under the Administration of President John F. Kennedy
• The Role of John F. Kennedy during the Cuban Missile Crisis
• The Political Importance of the Equal Pay Act of 1963 by John F. Kennedy
• President John F. Kennedy and the United States’ Decision in Preventing Another World War
• The Use of Rhetoric in the Inaugural Address of John F. Kennedy
• How Did John F. Kennedy Act Through the Cuban Missile Crisis
• The Greatest Contribution of John F. Kennedy as a President of America
• The Inspiring Effect Of John F. Kennedy ‘s Address Essay
• The Mafia Did Not Kill John F. Kennedy
• The Policies of John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon before the Cold War
• The Good Use of Rhetorical Devices in the Speeches of President John F. Kennedy
• Yellow Journalism: The Assassination of John F. Kennedy
• Why John F. Kennedy Did More For America Than Lyndon B. Johnson
• The Life and Dreams of John F. Kennedy for America
• The Warren Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy
• Tragedy or Conspiracy Regarding the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy
• The Immigration and the John F. Kennedy as the First United States President in the 20th Century
• The Power of Language in the Use of Diction by John F. Kennedy in His Inaugural Address
• Theories Of JFK Assassination Of John F. Kennedy
• An Analysis of the Declining Trust of Americans in the Government After John F. Kennedy’s Assassination
• The Early Life and Influences of John F. Kennedy
• An Analysis of Courageous Politicians in Profiles in Courage by John F. Kennedy
• An Analysis of the Important Moments in John F. Kennedy’s Presidency
• When Did John F. Kennedy Win the Presidential Election?
• What Is the Contrast Between Barack Obama and John F. Kennedy?
• What Was the Purpose of John F Kennedy’s Civil Rights Address?
• What Are Some Common Misconceptions About President John F. Kennedy?
• What Changes Occurred After the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy?
• What Was John F. Kennedy’s Leadership Style?
• When Was John F. Kennedy Killed?
• What Factors Helped Kennedy Win the 1960 Election?
• What Are the Conspiracy Theories and the Assassination of John F. Kennedy?
• What Was John F. Kennedy’s Role in the Cold War?
• What Were the Disadvantages of John F. Kennedy’s Presidency?
• What Was John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address?
• How Successful Was Kennedy’s Foreign Policy?
• What Are the Historical Misconceptions About John F. Kennedy?
• What Goals Did Kennedy Declare in 1961?
• What Scandals Are Associated With John F. Kennedy?
• What Was the Relationship Between Marilyn Monroe and John F. Kennedy?
• What Is John F. Kennedy’s Negotiating Style?
• What Are Some Famous Quotes From John F. Kennedy?
• Was the Assassination of John F. Kennedy Planned by the CIA?
• Why Is Kennedy Blamed for the Cuban Missile Crisis?
• Was the Cuban Embargo Established and Approved by John F. Kennedy?
• What Were John F Kennedy’s Outstanding Achievements as President?
• What Was John F. Kennedy’s Path to the Presidency?
• What Was Kennedy’s Program to Improve the US?
• What Was the Election Campaign of John F. Kennedy?
• What Rhetorical Devices Are Used in John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Speech??
• How Did John F. Kennedy Improve the US Economy?
• How Was the Political Career of John F. Kennedy?
• When Did the First Nixon and Kennedy Presidential Debate Happen?
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IvyPanda . "104 John F. Kennedy Essay Topic Ideas & Examples." February 28, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/john-f-kennedy-essay-topics/.

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Here's The 5-Sentence Personal Essay That Helped JFK Get Into Harvard

Without a doubt, John F. Kennedy is one of Harvard University's most accomplished and impressive graduates.

However, the former POTUS was not the best applicant when he decided he wanted to take up residence in Cambridge, Mass. He had poor grades from high school, and while he had spent two months at Princeton University before leaving due to an illness, even his own father called him "careless."

In anticipation of the 50th anniversary of JFK's assassination, The Washington Post has highlighted many of his school records , including a handwritten Harvard application. You can check out the digitized originals at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. 

As part of the Harvard application — which at the time was a mere three pages — students were asked to give a "careful answer" to the question "Why do you wish to come to Harvard?" Here's what a young JFK had to say:

The reasons that I have for wishing to go to Harvard are several. I feel that Harvard can give me a better background and a better liberal education than any other university. I have always wanted to go there, as I have felt that it is not just another college, but is a university with something definite to offer. Then too, I would like to go to the same college as my father. To be a "Harvard man" is an enviable distinction, and one that I sincerely hope I shall attain. April 23, 1935 John F. Kennedy

From the JFK library, here's the original:

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John f. kennedy’s harvard entrance essay resurfaces online 87 years later.

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It’s no “Ask not… ” speech, that’s for sure.

John F. Kennedy’s college admissions letter to Harvard University has resurfaced on social media some 87 years later, and the Twitterati are hardly impressed with the iconic 35th president of the United States.

The note, penned by the young White House hopeful on April 23, 1935, is currently archived at the  John F. Kennedy Presidential Museum and Library in Boston, Massachusetts.

His prompt was simple — “Why do you wish to come to Harvard?” — but his answer was even simpler.

In an indisputably underwhelming statement composed of just five sentences, the 17-year-old Bay State native answered the query that would determine his educational future.

He wrote, “The reasons that I have for wishing to go to Harvard are several. I feel that Harvard can give me a better background and a better liberal education than any other university.” 

He continued: “I have always wanted to go there, as I have felt that it is not just another college, but is a university with something definite to offer. Then too, I would like to go to the same college as my father. To be a ‘Harvard man’ is an enviable distinction, and one that I sincerely hope I shall attain.”

Kennedy eventually wound up at Harvard and graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in government in 1940.

“ ’Harvard is a whole vibe. And I’m tryna catch the wave. Lemme in.’ — JFK,” one reader joked . The reaction garnered more than 59,000 likes on Twitter.

"Harvard is a whole vibe. And I'm tryna catch the wave. Lemme in." – JFK — C.E. Little, Ph.D. (@ItsDrLittle) February 1, 2022

“If you want to see peak white mediocrity, here’s JFK’s Harvard admission essay,” added another.

Even the Velveeta cheese brand chimed in : “LOL OUR PRODUCT DESCRIPTION FROM OUR WEBSITE IS 28 WORDS LONGER THAN JFK’S HARVARD COLLEGE ESSAY!”

The Democrat’s short but influential term as the nation’s youngest elected president began in 1961. JFK was assassinated on Nov. 22, 1963 at the age of 46.

But his family’s academic legacy continues until this day . Jack Schlossberg, Kennedy’s grandson via daughter Caroline Kennedy, recently graduated from Harvard Law and Harvard Business School.

Schlossberg, 29, previously attended Yale University and graduated in 2015 with a degree in history with a concentration in Japanese history.

He also appeared at the 2020 Democratic National Convention where he voiced support of now-president Joe Biden and touched upon JFK’s career.

“Times have changed, but the themes of my grandfather’s speech — courage, unity and patriotism — are as important today as they were in 1960,” he said. “Once again, we need a leader who believes America’s best days are yet to come. We need Joe Biden.”

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The Complex Puzzle of John F Kennedy Assassination

This essay about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy explores the various theories surrounding his death. It examines the possibilities of government involvement, organized crime, and international intrigue, shedding light on the enduring mystery that has captivated the public for decades. Despite numerous investigations and inquiries, the truth remains elusive, leaving historians and researchers to ponder the reasons behind JFK’s untimely demise. Through careful analysis and scrutiny of the evidence, the essay delves into the complex puzzle of JFK’s assassination, highlighting the enduring fascination with one of the most pivotal events in American history.

How it works

In the annals of American history, few events have captured the public imagination and fueled conspiracy theories quite like the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. On that fateful day in November 1963, the nation was plunged into shock and grief as the beloved leader’s life was tragically cut short in Dallas, Texas. Yet, more than half a century later, the question still lingers: why was JFK killed?

One prevailing theory suggests a conspiracy orchestrated by powerful entities within the government or intelligence agencies.

This narrative posits that JFK’s push for civil rights reforms, his pursuit of détente with the Soviet Union, and his skepticism towards military intervention in Vietnam made him a target for those who sought to maintain the status quo. Proponents of this theory point to inconsistencies in the official investigation, such as the infamous “magic bullet” theory, as evidence of a cover-up.

Another angle explores the role of organized crime, specifically the Mafia, in JFK’s assassination. It’s well-documented that the Kennedy administration’s crackdown on organized crime, led by Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, earned the ire of mob bosses across the country. Some theorists argue that the Mafia, in collaboration with rogue elements of the CIA or anti-Castro Cuban exiles, conspired to eliminate JFK as payback for his administration’s aggressive stance against their illicit activities.

Additionally, the specter of international intrigue looms large in the JFK assassination saga. As tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union reached a fever pitch during the Cold War, some speculate that foreign actors may have had a hand in the president’s death. Whether motivated by a desire to destabilize American democracy or to prevent JFK’s proposed rapprochement with the USSR, these shadowy figures allegedly orchestrated the assassination through proxies or pawns.

However, amidst the myriad theories and conjecture, the truth remains elusive. Despite numerous investigations, including the landmark Warren Commission report, no single explanation has garnered consensus among historians and researchers. The passage of time has only served to deepen the mystery, as key witnesses have passed away and classified documents remain shielded from public view.

Ultimately, the assassination of John F. Kennedy stands as a testament to the enduring power of historical intrigue and the human fascination with unsolved mysteries. As new evidence emerges and old theories are reexamined, the quest to unravel the truth behind JFK’s death continues to captivate the public imagination. Yet, until all the pieces of this complex puzzle fall into place, the mystery of why JFK was killed will likely remain one of the greatest enigmas in American history.

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John F. Kennedy’s $50,000 mortgage note for Cape Cod house up for auction

A mortgage note between John F. Kennedy and his father, Joseph P. Kennedy, for the former president’s “Summer White House” on Cape Cod, is up for auction, according to Boston-based RR Auction.

“I promise to pay Joseph P. Kennedy of North Ocean Boulevard, Palm Beach, Florida, or order, the principal sum of Fifty Thousand ($50,000.00) Dollars, without interest,” the one-page note reads.

In the note, signed on Jan. 2, 1957, the younger Kennedy agrees to pay his father back within five years for the purchase of a home on Irving Avenue in Hyannisport. During Kennedy’s presidency, the home would be known as the “Summer White House.”

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The 9-bed, 6.5-bath home was built in 1925 and is now appraised at around $3.7 million, according to Barnstable assessing records.

Kennedy spent much of his childhood at his parents’ summer cottage in Hyannisport, according to RR Auction’s description of the mortgage note. The Irving Avenue home is two doors down from that cottage.

Less than nine months after Kennedy signed the mortgage note, a handwritten note at the bottom of the document was added with the words, “Paid in Full,” along with an unknown signature, according to Bobby Livingston, executive vice president at RR Auction.

“The old man got his money back,” Livingston said.

The note is among more than 40 pieces of Kennedy memorabilia up for auction and is “drawing lots of attention,” he said.

“John F. Kennedy, Jacqueline Kennedy, they were as close to a royal family that we had in America,” Livingston said. “To have the young president murdered with his beautiful wife next to him, it’s just one of those emotional connections that people want to possess things that belonged to the president and Mrs. Kennedy.”

The other items include signed photographs, a family-signed book, a cake knife from Kennedy’s inaugural celebration, and original pages from his Peace Corps legislation, according to RR Auction.

Bidding on the items began April 26 and ends May 15, Livingston said. On Friday morning, the mortgage note had 14 bids, with the highest at $3,999.

RR Auction has had “specialty Kennedy” memorabilia before, including Kennedy’s diary from 1945 to 1946 which sold for more than $700,000 in 2017, according to RR auction’s website .

The mortgage note and other Kennedy items were given to RR Auction by multiple private collectors, Livingston said. Still stapled to the original blue legal folder, the document is in “great condition,” Livingston said.

At the time of the loan, Kennedy was serving in the Senate, three years before he launched a successful campaign for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. His father, then 68, had been a movie mogul in Hollywood and started a liquor import business, according to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum’s website .

The note “shows a fascinating dynamic” between the two men, and a “little mystery,” Livingston said.

“Joe Kennedy was one of the richest men in the world at this point,” Livingston said. “It’s interesting to me that his father didn’t just buy the house and wanted an actual signed note saying ‘I’m gonna pay you back.’”

Ava Berger can be reached at [email protected] . Follow her @Ava_Berger_ .

Final thesis: Harvard copy

About folder.