John F. Kennedy was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, on May 29, 1917. He graduated from Harvard in 1940 and shortly after joined the army. In 1943, his boat was rammed and sunk by a Japanese destroyer. Despite great injuries, he led the survivors through dangerous waters to safety.

After the war, he became a Democratic Congressman from the Boston area, advancing in 1953 to Senate. He married Jacqueline on September 12, 1953. In 1955 he wrote Profiles in Courage, which he won the Pulitzer Prize in history.

In 1956 Kennedy almost won the Democratic nomination for Vice President, and four years later was a first-ballot nominee for President. He won against Nixon by a narrow margin being the first Roman Catholic President. As President he wanted the U.S. to resume its old mission as the first nation dedicated to the revolution of human rights. His party had new hope for both the equal rights of Americans and the peace of the world.

After taking office, he set out to get America moving again. His economic programs launched the country on its longest nonstop expansion since World War II; before his death, he laid plans for massive assault on persisting pockets of hardship and poverty. He also permitted a band of Cuban soldiers, already armed and trained, to invade their homeland. The attempt to overthrow their leader (Fidel Castro) was a failure.

On November 22, 963, he was killed by a bullet as he paraded through Dallas, Texas. He was the youngest man elected President, and was the youngest to die.