1917: Born in Massachusetts

1943: Awarded a U.S. Navy and Marine Corps medal for heroism in a noncombat situation

1947-53: Serves as U.S. representative from Massachusetts

1953-61: Serves as U.S. senator from Massachusetts

1957: Awarded Pulitzer Prize for Biography for his book, Profiles in Courage

1961-63: Serves as thirty-fifth U.S. president

1961: Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba fails

1962: Soviet Union and United States lock heads in Soviet missile crisis

1963: Assassinated in Dallas, Texas