John F Kennedy :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Across the centuries and across the continents, important figures have played key roles in the upbringing of our beloved America. As a country we have grown through the strengths of many people. John F. Kennedy has made his mark in America’s political and social society.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  On the histories plains of the state of Massachusetts, May 29, 1917 marked an important day in history. The birth of America’s 35th president: John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, his mother, would bear four boys and five girls. â€Å"She kept note cards for each of them in a small wooden file box and made a point of writing down everything from a doctor’s visit to the shoe size they had at a particular age (Menendez). John’s father, Joseph Patrick Kennedy, was appointed United States Ambassador to England and moved their with the family. There was always something going on in the Kennedy family. During the summer, the Kennedy children’s childhoods consisted of rendezvous’ to their summer home in cape cod. Jack attended a boarding school for boys named Choate. He was very popular with the other boys, though his head master once quoted, â€Å"He wasn’t the best student† (Menendez). In 1936, John graduat ed from Choate, where he ventured into his first year at Harvard, where his brother Joe was already a student.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  After graduating from Harvard, John joined the Navy with his brother. Jack was made Lieutenant and assigned to the South Pacific as commander of a patrol torpedo boat, the PT-109. Lieutenant Kennedy had a crew of twelve men whose mission was to stop the enemy Japanese ships from delivering supplies to their soldiers. On August 2, 1943, Kennedy and his crew were patrolling the waters looking for enemy ships to sink and suddenly a Japanese destroyer traveling at full speed towards them became visible. With Kennedy at the wheel, he tried his best to veer sharply out of the way, but time proved no friend to him. The destroyer cut the PT – 109 straight in half and killed two of Kennedy’s men. With John’s keen and clever tactics he was able to get the surviving men to an island and get help. â€Å" Kennedy’s political apprenticeship began when he sought the nomination for the eleventh congressional district in the Democratic Party primary of Massachusetts† ( Silvestri 03 ). As the years went on, John F. Kennedy, a Democrat, served three terms in the House of Representatives, and in 1952 he was elected to the U.