 On
November 22, 1963, when he was hardly past his first thousand days in
office, John Fitzgerald Kennedy was killed by an assassin's bullets as his
motorcade wound through Dallas, Texas. Kennedy was the youngest man
elected President; he was the youngest to die.Of Irish descent, he was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, on May 29, 1917. Graduating from Harvard in 1940, he entered the Navy. In 1943, when his PT boat was rammed and sunk by a Japanese destroyer, Kennedy, despite grave injuries, led the survivors through perilous waters to safety. His Inaugural Address offered the memorable injunction: "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country." As President, he set out to redeem his campaign pledge to get America moving again. His economic programs launched the country on its longest sustained expansion since World War II. Although a well kept secret at the time, John Kennedy had Addison's disease. On more than one occasion it is known to have significantly affected his ability to function. No doubt the stress of the presidency contributed to the multiple exasperations of his condition. |