50th Anniversary of JFK

By Sarah

November 23,2013 marked the 50th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy. John F. Kennedy was born on May 29, 1917. He grew up with eight brothers and sisters. His father Joseph Patrick Kennedy was a senator and also a United States ambassador to England. John F. Kennedy’s older brother, Joe, grew to follow in his father’s footsteps.

After graduating college, Joe and Jack joined the navy. Then, on August 2, 1943 Jack’s PT boat 109 was hit by a Japanese destroyer. Jack and the survivors clung to a piece of the sinking PT boat. Jack gathered the men together and decided they should swim to a nearby island to get help. One of the men, who had been burned badly during the attack, could not swim. Jack took the strap of the man’s lifejacket and pulled him to the nearby island.

Finally, after six days, natives found them and took with them a message that the survivors had written on a coconut to find help. The crew was rescued the next day. John F. Kennedy was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal after he returned home.  

When Kennedy was 36, he married Jacqueline Bouvier. On November 8, 1960 Kennedy won the election for President of the United States. He had become the youngest president ever elected. By the time of the election he and Jacqueline had two children, Caroline and John Jr. (nicknamed John-John).  JFK worked on the subjects of civil rights and the Cuban Missile Crisis. He established the Peace Corp Program.

Then, on November 21, 1963, John and Jacqueline traveled by plane to Texas to campaign for the election. As they were riding in the motorcade Lee Harvey Oswald shot Kennedy in the head. The wound was fatal.  Americans mourned the loss of the nation's youngest president. Today we remember John F. Kennedy as a strong political leader and the 35th president of The United States.