Abraham Lincoln, the first President of the US, occupied a peerless place inthe pantheons of American politics. He was a great politician. His death was very tragic.
And then…
History dared to repeat itself.
The names Lincoln and Kennedy each contain seven letters.
Both were particularly concerned with civil rights. Both their wives lost their children while living in the White House.
Both Presidents were shot dead on a Friday.
Both were accompanied by their wives at the time of death.
Both were shot in the head from behind.
Lincoln’s secretary was named Kennedy.
Kennedy’s secretary was named Lincoln.
Both were assassinated by Southerners.
Both were succeeded by Southerners.
Both their successors were named Johnson. Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln, was born in 1808. Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, was born in 1908.
John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Lincoln, was born in 1839. Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated Kennedy, was born in 1939.
Both assassins were known by their full names. Both names comprise 15 letters.
Booth ran from the theatre and was caught in a warehouse. Oswald ran from the warehouse and was caught in a theater.
Booth and Oswald were both assassinated before their trials.
LIFE
John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born on May 29, 1917, in Brookline,Massachusetts in the USA. He was brought up in Bronxville, New York, where his father Joseph Kennedy had moved the entire family. John was the second of Joseph and Rose Kennedy’s nine children.
He was reared in a family that demanded intense physical and intellectual competition among children and was schooled in the religious teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. John attended private elementary schools, including a year at Canterbury School in New Milford, Connecticut and four years at Choate School in Wallingford, Connecticut. He entered Princeton University, but was forced to leave during his freshman year as he suffered from jaundice. In 1936, he enrolled at the Harvard University, graduating cum laude in June 1940. At Harvard he wrote an honors thesis on British Foreign Policies of the 1930s, which was published in 1940 under the title Why England Slept, which went on to become one of the best-selling books of those days. For six months in 1938, he served as secretary to his father, the then US ambassador of Great Britain.
His Family
The most important people in Kennedy’s life were his family members. Their contribution to the development of Kennedy’s personality was immense. His father Joseph Kennedy, was an American businessman and financier who served on government commissions in Washington DC, and as an ambassador to Great Britain. From him, John acquired a fierce competitive drive and yearning for distinction.
Father and son had much in common: a delightful sense of humor, a fierce family loyalty, endless vitality, and a constant air of confidence no matter how great the odds or the pressures be. They admired and respected each other’s political judgment. His father was strict, and however domineering his manner may have seemed, he had instilled in his children a will to win, without ever breaking their spirits. He permitted each child to choose his own career, companions and political philosophy, however different they may have.
Until his stroke in 1961, Joseph Kennedy was the center of the Kennedy family life – a constant source of praise and criticism, advice and command, laughter and anger. He constantly goaded his children to march ahead and they were encouraged to read The New York Times at an early age. The family discussed national issues at the dinner table.
The tragedies in John Kennedy’s life produced in him both, the desire to enjoy the world and make the most of it. His father never got over his eldest son Joe’s death. Joe had been a young man of many qualities – handsome, husky, gregarious, talented, aggressive, and adored by his eight younger siblings, as also by his parents. Joseph Kennedy had expected Joe to be the first Kennedy to run for public office, but unfortunately, he died in 1944, when his plane loaded with explosives blew up in smithereens. Joe’s loss was a great shock to the entire family.
John cared a lot for his parents and siblings. He took genuine interest in their travels, schooling and individual careers. Family gatherings at Hyannis Port or Palm Beach were occasions of great merriment.
Despite many similarities, each of the Kennedys differed from John and from each other. But they were bound by ties of genuine filial affection.
Close Encounter With Death
In the fall of 1941, Kennedy joined the US Navy and two years later was sent to the South Pacific. During World War II, he commanded the US Navy’s high-powered ship, PT-109. While on active duty in the Blackett Strait, North Solomon Islands, in the Pacific, the boat was rammed into and was sunk by the Japanese. Kennedy survived, however, he was gravely injured. Marooned far behind enemy lines, he led his crew back to safety. He was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal and the Purple Heart for his heroic feat.
The Sprouting Leader
After the war, Kennedy worked for several months in 1945 as a reporter. After his elder brother Joe’s death, his father expected him to run for the President’s office. His first opportunity came in 1946, when he ran successfully for the Congress. Though still physically weak, he campaigned aggressively, but the campaign still was an amateur's show. He actually missed to file his name for the election, which came to his notice almost two hours after the deadline for filing ones candidature had passed. It was finally accomplished with the help of a clerk, obviously in favor of some money. And in 1947, became a Democratic Congressman representing Boston. He was re-elected in 1948 and 1950. In 1952, he successfully campaigned against Henry Cabot Lodge in Massachusetts to advance to the Senate.
Family and friends volunteered for John’s political campaign. His mother Rose, and sisters Eunice, Pat, and Jean held ‘tea parties’ across the state. His brother Robert managed the entire campaign. That fall, Republican Presidential candidate, Eisenhower, won Massachusetts by 2,08,000 votes; but Kennedy defeated Lodge by 70,000 votes.
Marriage
He married Jacqueline Bouveir on September 12, 1953; thus ending his bachelorhood. Jacqueline Bouveir Kennedy was a beautiful, intelligent, and irresistibly charming lady. Politics kept John away from her and politicians invaded their privacy too often.
Jackie (as she was famously known) was a great support to her husband. Jackie’s presence enhanced John’s electoral appeal. Her beauty and smile intensified crowd interest in John. In the early years of their marriage, she assisted in by translating French works on Indo-China and providing him with a relaxing home life in which he could shed the worries of the world.
His Health
For most of their first two years of married life, he suffered tremendous physical pain. The chief cause of this discomfort was his back, but the cause of his near encounter with death in 1954, was a spinal operation and his malfunctioning adrenal system.
Injured in 1939 while playing football at Harvard, and another one suffered in a boat accident, caused him a lot of back pain. He underwent a disc operation in 1944 and frequently needed crutches to ease the pain during the 1952 political campaign.
For all his vitality and endurance, John had suffered a number of physical ailments from childhood. As a boy he had required 28 stitches after a bike collision with his brother Joe. He survived from cases of scarlet fever and appendicitis, and almost died of diphtheria. At 14, he had to stop attending school temporarily on account of illness. In the Navy, he had apparently suffered from malaria and had also spent considerable time in hospital because of back pain. A football injury on his right knee in his youth, brought him pain from time to time, and he often walked with a slight limp. His stomach was always sensitive and so his lunches had to be prepared at home. The year following his marriage, he had a serious back operation. While recuperating, he wrote a book about several US senators who had risked their careers to fight for the things they believed. The book, Profiles in Courage, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for biography, in 1957. That same year his first child Caroline was born.
The Senator
On November 4, 1952, he was elected Senator from Massachusetts and re-elected in 1958. Liked and respected by all Senators, fellow Democrats appreciated his never-ending willingness to help. From the beginning, the pace was frantic and the hours long for his office staff. They worked hard because their Senator worked hard and also because his vitality and enthusiasm were infectious. He disliked complainants and procrastinators. He was patient with his employees, but impatient with any kind of inefficiency or incompetence.
He was always accessible and ready to listen and quick to grasp a recommendation. He never raised his voice whilst expressing disagreement or dissatisfaction over his staff’s work.
He would never blindly accept or deliver a text he had not seen and edited. He always discussed the topic, the approach, and the conclusions well in advance. He always had quotations or historical allusions to include. He always altered, deleted, or added phrases, paragraphs, or pages in his speeches. At times, he would reject them entirely. According to him, the test of a text was not how it appeared to the eye, but how it sounded to the ear. His speech was lean and crisp. No speech was more than 20 to 30 minutes. He wanted both, message and language, to be plain and unpretentious. His major policy statements were positive, specific and definite.
His text wasted no words and his words wasted no time. He moved from one solid fact or argument to another without mincing words, bereft of the usual repetition and elaboration.
The Campaign
Kennedy’s campaign for the 1960 Presidential nomination had already begun. He felt that he had to redouble his efforts because of the widespread conviction that no Roman Catholic candidate could be elected President. A steady flow of speeches and periodical articles followed. His brothers rendered all help he needed for the campaign.
In January 1960, Kennedy formally announced his presidential candidacy. Kennedy dealt the religious taboo against Roman Catholics by winning in Protestant West Virginia. He tackled the Catholic issue again by avowing his belief in the separation of church and state in a televised speech before a group of Protestant ministers.
Kennedy won the general election, narrowly defeating the Republican candidate, Vice President Richard M Nixon.
The President
On November 8, 1960, he became the 35th President of the United States, also the youngest to be sworn in as the President and the first Roman Catholic ever elected to the presidency of the US.
He was a man of action with an air of immediacy around him. He wanted to be a participant and not an observer. He desired to be the President of the US, just because he felt that, that was the one place where the main action was being staged. He knew the responsibilities of the office would be heavy and demanding. But he had confidence in himself, in his judgement, his courage, his knowledge of public affairs, his years of experience at the House and Senate, with his background of world travel behind him.
He wanted to prove it to the people that politics was – or could be – the noblest profession.
The qualities he sought in his staff, largely mirrored his own : an outlook more practical than theoretical, and more logical than ideological, an ability to be precise and concise, a willingness to learn, to do, to dare, to change, and an ability to work hard and long, creatively, imaginatively and successfully.
Kennedy always kept his cool, even under stress. He was always pestered by the press and their tricky questions. But at no time did he lose his temper or control of the situation.
Life was not a bed of roses for him. But it was personal physical adversity that affected him more deeply than any political attacks.
His son Patrick died in August 1963. His own aching back was a growing cause for concern.
Neither pain nor stress could dim his sense of humor. His humor was largely an integral part of his own thinking rather than a deliberate attempt to amuse others. It flowed naturally, good-naturedly and casually. He did not pause after delivering his witty remarks for appreciation, but simply dropped them as part of his comments. At no time did he show disrespect to anyone, but no subject was spared from making fun at. Above all, he could still laugh at himself. He took his problems seriously, but never himself.
The Man
Kennedy had a multi-faceted personality. To the politicians, he was an able administrator. To the intellectuals, his qualities of mind were adorable. His grace, wit, elegance, youthful looks and demeanor will be greatly remembered. The essence – the strength of his ideas and ideals, his courage and judgment mattered most to him. This as the pitch and purpose of his presidency, of which style was but an overtone.
He was an enormously complex and extraordinarily competent man. His ability to look at his own strengths and weaknesses with utter detachment, and his candid and objective responses to public questions was marvelous. He had a disciplined and analytical mind, stimulated by a warm and compassionate heart.
His unlimited capacity for growth, his willingness to learn, his determination to explore and to inquire and to profit by experience were his additional assets. He was always interested in a new challenge or competition.
Disappointments made him more determined to succeed. The discipline of his mind and emotions was in pace with his self-knowledge and his knowledge of time and trials.
Power did not change him. The attitudes of everyone around him changed, his life became more privileged and powerful, and every word of his became history. Yet, he remained natural and candid as he measured his own deeds and words with doubt and amusement, as well as pride.
He knew that power was there in the White House, to be used, without any sense of guilt or greed, as a means of getting things done. He felt neither uplifted nor weighed down by power. He enjoyed the Presidency, thinking not of its power but of its opportunities. He was a strong President primarily because he was a strong person.
JOHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY
There goes a Chinese saying, "It is better to light a little candle than curse the darkness." Most of us curse the darkness and are frustrated at the surrounding gloom. But, the man who wants to achieve, lights a candle, and in time the candle grows in number and the light grows.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy’s life best exemplifies this saying. His character was an extraordinary combination of elements that enabled him to lead his country from the front. His charismatic personality, leadership qualities, and his intellect raised his stature in the world community.
He possessed great moral courage, high ideals, extraordinary speed of thought and decision-making, crystal-clear vision and most of all, a personal vitality and will to succeed. The world at large and USA in particular, was fortunate to have such a leader. But, not for long. He was silenced by an assassin’s bullet.
A good orator, he is regarded as one of the best in the world. He quotes the famous lines of Robert Frost in one of his specihes:
"The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep."
His miles were cut short but promises he did keep. His life is an example worth for emulating.
May 29, 1917
John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born in Brookline, Massachusetts.
1930
Attended the private Canterbury school in New Milford, Connecticut.
1935
Graduated from Choate Preparatory School in Willingford, Connecticut.
1936
Entered the Harvard University.
June 1940
Graduates cum laude with a Bachelor of Science degree from Harvard University.
July 1940
Kennedy’s college thesis Appeasement in Munich, about Britain’s failure to prepare against Nazi Germany,
published as a book titled Why England Slept.
September 1941
He was sworn in as an ensign in the US Navy, at the young age of 24.
March 1943
Given command of the US Navy’s ship PT-109 as a lieutenant.
August 3, 1943
While on active duty in Blackett Strait, North Solomon Islands in the Pacific, PT-109 was sunk by the Japanese. Kennedy bravely rescued his crew.
June 11, 1944
Awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal and the Purple Heart for his heroic deeds, while at command of PT-109.
August 12, 1944
Kennedy’s elder brother Joe Kennedy was killed when his Air Force plane exploded shortly after take-off.
March 1, 1945
Discharged from the Navy with full honor, with the rank of lieutenant.
November 5, 1946
Elected as US representative for the 11th Congressional District in Boston at the age of 29. He is re-elected in 1948 and 1950.
November 4, 1952
Elected as senator from Massachusetts and re-elected in 1958.
September 12, 1953
Marries Jacqueline Lee Bouvier in Newport.
October 21, 1954
Undergoes a spinal operation for an injury he received during the PT-109 incident. He recuperated after several months.
February 1955
Undergoes another back operation during which he almost dies. While recuperating, he writes Profiles in Courage, which won a Pulitzer Prize for biography in 1957.
August 17, 1956
Narrowly misses the Vice Presidential nomination of his party.
August 23, 1956
John and Jacqueline’s first born daughter, Arabella, was stillborn in Newport.
November 27, 1957
Daughter Caroline Bouveir Kennedy born in New York.
January 2, 1960
Announces his candidacy for President of the United States.
July 13, 1960
Receives the Democratic nomination for President.
November 8, 1960
Defeats Richard Nixon to become the 35th President of the United States of America.
November 25, 1960
John Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr is born.
January 20, 1961
At age 43, becomes the 35th President of the United States. He is the youngest elected President and the first President to be Roman Catholic.
April 17, 1961
The Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba. Kennedy supported the invasion, but it fails. Kennedy was heavily criticized.
August 7, 1963
Kennedy’s second son, Patrick, born five weeks premature and dies on August 9.
October 7, 1963
Signed the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in Washington D C
November 22, 1963 (Friday)
John Fitzgerald Kennedy is shot while riding in an open-top limousine in a motorcade through downtown Dallas. Eighty minutes after the assassination, Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested and later charged with murder.
November 24, 1963
Jack Ruby shoots Lee Harvey Oswald before his trial.
November 25, 1963
John Kennedy buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
November 29, 1963
President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed the Warren Commission to investigate the assassination.
September 29, 1964
The Warren Commission’s report published. It finds that Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone gunman and they find no evidence of any conspiracy.
May 19, 1994
Jacqueline Bouveir Kennedy died of cancer. She was buried next to John F. Kennedy in Arlington.
July 16, 1999
John F. Kennedy Jr. died in a plane crash.
• Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.
• I am certain that after the dust of centuries has passed over our cities, we, too, will be remembered not for victories or defeats in battle or in politics, but for our contribution to the human spirit.
• Our problems are man-made, therefore they may be solved by man. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings.
• When power leads man towards arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the area of man’s concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of his existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses.
• The quality of American life must keep pace with the quantity of American goods. This country cannot afford to be materially rich and spiritually poor.
• Those who make peaceful revolutions impossible will make violent revolutions inevitable.
• When written in Chinese, the word ‘crisis’ is composed of two characters – one represents danger, and the other represents opportunity.
• If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.
• There is a new world to be won – a world of peace and goodwill, a world of hope and abundance. And I want America to lead the way to that new world.
• Give me your help and your hand, and your voice and your vote.
• Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind.
• Each President, is the President not only of all who live, but in very real sense, of all those who have yet to live.
• The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life.
