Kennedy, John Fitzgerald

Kennedy, John Fitzgerald (1917-63), President of the United States.

In January 1961, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, aged forty-three, became the youngest President of the United States.

He was the son of a millionaire and, in the Second World War (1939-45), had been in command of a US Navy torpedo-boat in the Pacific.

He was charming, handsome, vigorous and intelligent, and his statesmanship soon made him known and respected throughout the world.

On 22 November, 1963, he paid a visit to Dallas, Texas with the Vice-President, Lyndon B. Johnson. At 12.30 pm, he was being driven with his wife Jacqueline through the streets in an open car. Two shots rang out and Kennedy fell forward into his wife's arms. He had two bullet wounds, one in the neck and one in the head. He was rushed to hospital but died there.

Later a man named Lee Harvey Oswald was accused of killing the President. Before he was tried, he himself was shot dead by another man, Jack Ruby.

See Robert Dallek An Unfinished Life