John F. Kennedy- Rise to the Presidency
Background
Born May 29th 1917
Father was Joseph Kennedy. He was dedicated to FDR and served as Ambassador to Great Britain.
JFK originally attended Princeton University where he was a C student during his first two years.
He would transfer to Harvard and graduate with Honors.
WWII
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, JFK attempted to enlist in the Navy. He was rejected due to a bad back.
JFK worked out for 6 months to strengthen his back and pass the physical.
Within a year, JFK was out to sea.
On August 2nd, 1943 JFK was in command of PT Boat 109
Late at night, his boat was split in half by a Japanese battleship.
2 members of the crew died. The other 10 were ordered to aid each other in swimming to an island. The trip took 5 hours.
Kennedy swam to nearby islands looking for help while the Japanese patrolled the waters. During one trip he passed out and only survived due to a life vest.
Help was eventually found by scratching a message on a coconut and having two island natives deliver it to a navy base.
Kennedy and his crew were rescued after 5 days.
JFK received a citation for valor.
The Path to the Presidency
JFK was elected to the House of Representatives and served from 1947 until 1953.
He was then elected to the US Senate as a Senator from Massachusetts and served from 1953 until 1960.
In 1953, JFK married Jacqueline Bouvier. He was 36 and she was 24.
He was almost selected to be a vice presidential candidate by Adali Stevenson in 1956.
In 1960, JFK ran for the Presidency of the United States.
He won the Democratic Party nomination on the first ballot.
JFK ran against the former Vice-President Richard Nixon. Nixon was 47 years old and Kennedy was 43.
JFK's slogan was "Nixon says we've never had it so good. I say we can do better".
Religion became an issue in the election. JFK was a Roman Catholic and Nixon was Protestant. No Catholics had ever been elected President.
The campaign for President would include the first ever televised Presidential debate.
JFK would defeat Richard Nixon by a very slim margin in the popular vote. He did however win the Electoral College quite convincingly.
|
1960 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION RESULTS |
|||
|
Candidate |
Party |
Popular Vote |
Electoral Votes |
|
John F. Kennedy |
Democratic |
34,226,731 (49.9%) |
303 ** |
|
Richard M. Nixon |
Republican |
34,108,157 (49.7%) |
219 |
JFK would still have a Democratic majority in both the House and Senate however the majority had been reduced.
He took office on January 20th 1961.