John Fitzgerald Kennedy

John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born in Brook-line, Massachusetts, to Joseph P. and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy on May 29, 1917, the second of nine children in a wealthy, prominent family in business and politics. Kennedy was educated at Choate Academy, Princeton University, Harvard College, and Stanford Business School. In 1940, Kennedy published Why England Slept, a book based on his Harvard senior thesis. A year later, he joined the navy. In 1943, Kennedy was injured when a Japanese destroyer attacked the patrol torpedo (PT) boat he was commanding. He was awarded the Purple Heart and spent the rest of the war recovering from his injuries.

Kennedy was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1946, and the U.S. Senate in 1952. In 1954, he married Jacqueline Bouvier, with whom he had three children: Caroline, John Jr., and Patrick, who died a few days after his birth. Kennedy wrote Profiles...