From an early age John Kennedy was an avid reader and he became one of the most eloquent writers ever to serve in the presidency. His first book, Why England Slept, was originally written as his Harvard undergraduate thesis. It became a bestseller and gained Kennedy international attention. Here the young author poses at his typewriter, probably in 1940. (All photographs, unless otherwise indicated, are from the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.)
The Kennedys were an extremely close-knit family. And from an early age, love of the sea was instilled in each of the children. The family gathered on the beach at Hyannis Port in 1931, with young Jack in white at left. Others (left to right) are Bobby, Eunice, Jean (in Joseph Sr.’s lap), Rose, Patricia, Kathleen, Joseph Jr., and Rosemary.
Even as a youngster, John Kennedy possessed a winning smile, something that would serve him well throughout his life. Here, he manages to flash a grin at a moment when his sisters were less cheerful.
A young John Kennedy (back row, second from left) poses with his parents and siblings in the Vatican before receiving an audience with Pope Pius XII in 1939. Kennedy’s religion would play a major role in the 1960 presidential campaign.
Sailing was in John Kennedy’s blood. It was a skill that he passed on to his younger brother Edward.
Kennedy’s Harvard yearbook entry. Nothing in this early résumé indicates the greatness that lay ahead.
Before going to the Pacific, Kennedy had an intense romance with a beautiful Danish journalist, Inga Arvad, who was then working for the Washington Times-Herald.
Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. in his naval aviator’s uniform. His father had groomed him from the time he was a young man to run for president, but Joe Jr. was killed on a dangerous mission in World War II.
The crew of PT-109 poses with its commander, Lieutenant John Kennedy (far right). Kennedy showed courage and grit when his boat was sunk, rescuing injured men and swimming for hours to get help. When he was sworn in as president, several of his crew members took part in the inaugural festivities.
Although he would always remain modest about his actions following the sinking of PT-109, Kennedy would return home a war hero. Here he receives the Navy and Marine Corps Medal in June 1944.
The Kennedys in Hyannis Port, 1948. Jack is at far left, with (left to right) Jean, Rose, Joseph Sr., Patricia, Bobby, Eunice, and, in the foreground, Ted.
Despite his youth and political inexperience, Kennedy surprised the pundits with the effectiveness of his campaign for Congress in 1946. Here the candidate (at far left) marches in Boston’s Bunker Hill Day Parade.
During his campaigns for Congress and the Senate, Kennedy was aided immeasurably by the support of his mother and sisters. Here the smiling candidate looks on as his mother extols his virtues.
Kennedy’s ability to inspire young people was one of his greatest attributes. He signs copies of his second book, Profiles in Courage, for some youthful admirers.
The Kennedy brothers on vacation in Palm Beach, Florida, in April 1957. Both Robert and Edward would be vital contributors to John’s presidential campaign and both would go on to important political careers of their own.
Kennedy had a delicate relationship with Eleanor Roosevelt, a living icon of New Deal liberalism who was initially critical of his candidacy for president. With assiduous effort—evident in a long exchange of letters—he earned her support. Here he visits her in early 1960. (United States Information Agency)
Those who opposed Kennedy’s presidential candidacy because he was Catholic focused mainly on a single charge. If he was elected president, they proclaimed, his actions would be governed not by the U.S. Constitution but by the pope.
Kennedy’s presidential campaign strategy included reaching out personally to as many voters as possible. Here he presses the flesh in a New Hampshire diner.
The torch is passed. President Dwight Eisenhower and president-elect Kennedy meet on the eve of the latter’s inauguration, January 19, 1961.
Jacqueline Kennedy chats with Robert Frost at a White House dinner for Nobel laureates. Frost read at Kennedy’s inauguration, and the two mutual admirers shared a warm correspondence.
John F. Kennedy was sworn in as president of the United States on January 20, 1961. More than fifty years later, his inaugural address is still regarded as among the greatest ever delivered.
Creating the Peace Corps was one of Kennedy’s greatest triumphs. Here the president meets with Peace Corps trainees in the Rose Garden.
“We do not want our children to become a generation of spectators. Rather we want each of them to be a participant in the vigorous life,” wrote Kennedy. Many schoolchildren wrote to the president with sharp comments about his physical education program.
Astronaut John Glenn shows Kennedy the inside of space capsule Friendship 7. Glenn’s orbital flight moved the United States closer to achieving Kennedy’s goal of landing a man on the moon and bringing him safely back.
Harry Truman entertains Kennedy and other guests at a White House dinner in Truman’s honor. Although Truman would initially question Kennedy’s presidential qualifications, he would become a great supporter and admirer.
Kennedy was a longstanding admirer of another gifted writer-statesman, Winston Churchill, shown here with his wife and daughter in 1963. The aging Churchill was touched when JFK led Congress to bestow honorary American citizenship on him. (Associated Press)
John Kennedy was an early supporter of Martin Luther King Jr. and helped arrange his release from custody after a 1960 jailing in Atlanta. But King, like many African American leaders, felt Kennedy was too cautious and constantly pressed the president to take stronger action on civil rights. (Library of Congress)
Jackie Robinson, who broke the color line in the major leagues, was an outspoken advocate for equality after leaving baseball. He wrote bluntly to President Kennedy, warning that if he neglected civil rights greater turmoil would follow. (Associated Press)
As racial tensions continued to rise, Mississippi’s segregationist governor Ross Barnett attempted to obstruct African American student James Meredith from enrolling at Ole Miss in September 1962. In a sternly worded telegram, Kennedy questioned Barnett about his interference with federal court orders. (Associated Press)
Kennedy meets in the Oval Office with several civil rights leaders assembled for the March on Washington. (He did not attend the march, perhaps a reason for the air of awkwardness in the photo.) Martin Luther King Jr. and John Lewis are at left, next to Kennedy is A. Philip Randolph, and at right is Whitney Young.
The crises in Birmingham, Mississippi, and elsewhere persuaded Kennedy to take bolder steps on behalf of racial equality, beginning with a major civil rights bill. Here, Kennedy addresses the nation on his proposed legislation. African American leaders hailed the president’s action as a historic step forward.
One black public figure who praised Kennedy’s progress on civil rights was singer Josephine Baker. Baker lived in France but had long been outspoken on American racial issues; here (at center) she appears at a public protest over the acquittal of Emmett Till’s murderers. (Corbis)
Kennedy delivers his now-famous speech to thousands of Berliners in June 1963. “Freedom is indivisible,” he told the crowd, “and when one man is enslaved, all are not free.”
Kennedy meets with West Berlin Mayor Willy Brandt. The president’s “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech did much to repair the once strained relations between the two leaders.
Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev meet in Vienna in June 1961. During their meetings, the Russian leader dominated the novice president—emboldening him, many believe, to install offensive nuclear missiles in Cuba.
A meeting of the Executive Committee, or “ExComm,” convened to deal with the Cuban missile crisis in October 1962. In an atmosphere of unrelenting tension, Kennedy and his advisers gingerly groped for a way to face down the Soviet Union without provoking nuclear war. At right, President Kennedy leans over the table with Secretary of State Dean Rusk; Robert Kennedy, the attorney general, paces at left.
Each of the ExComm members had his own opinion as to how to respond to the presence of nuclear missiles in Cuba. Kennedy (with back to camera) talks with Special Assistant McGeorge Bundy, Assistant Secretary of Defense Paul Nitze, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Maxwell Taylor, and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara.
Kennedy and Arthur Schlesinger Jr. meet in the Oval Office. Schlesinger would prove to be one of the president’s most informed and trusted advisers.
Kennedy calls on a reporter during one of his many regular press conferences. No president has ever welcomed these exchanges with the press more than Kennedy.
Throughout his presidency, Kennedy regarded British prime minister Harold Macmillan as his most valued ally. He regularly counted on him for advice and support.
Kennedy signs the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in October 1963. Speaking of himself and his Soviet counterpart, Nikita Khrushchev, Kennedy said, “It is insane that two men, sitting on opposite sides of the world, should be able to decide to bring an end to civilization.” The letters exchanged by Kennedy and Khrushchev were a vital part of the process by which their understanding was achieved.
Linus Pauling earned the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1954; eight years later, for his ardent antiwar advocacy, he received the Nobel Prize for Peace. He wrote passionately to President Kennedy urging nuclear disarmament—and later to thank him for achieving the test ban treaty.
A public speech by Kennedy on the conflict in Indochina, March 1961. The growing war in Vietnam and the ineffective, corrupt government of South Vietnam’s Ngo Dinh Diem bedeviled the Kennedy administration.
Diem in a 1957 photo. In letters Kennedy expressed support for the Vietnamese leader but carefully made few military commitments. (U.S. Air Force)
Jacqueline Kennedy was an indispensable asset to JFK both as a candidate’s wife and even more so as first lady. Here she charms French culture minister André Malraux.
John Kenneth Galbraith was both a key presidential adviser and a close friend of the Kennedy family. Here, as U.S. ambassador to India, he escorts Jacqueline Kennedy during her trip to that country.
JFK at the helm of the Coast Guard yacht Manitou, August 1962.
A characteristic Kennedy pose from a speech in Pennsylvania, October 1962. Kennedy believed in “vigor” and showed it as an orator.
JFK in the Oval Office with his children, Caroline and John (John-John), in October 1962. Kennedy described this shot, taken by White House photographer Cecil Stoughton, as his favorite picture.
Kennedy had always relished his Irish heritage. But even he was overwhelmed by the extraordinary welcome he received during a presidential visit to his ancestral home in June 1963.
Kennedy meets with Israeli premier David Ben-Gurion in 1961. The two would exchange highly charged letters over Israel’s nuclear program, which the United States tried strenuously, and unsuccessfully, to hold back, fearing its effect on Middle East and cold war tensions. (Corbis)
Jacqueline Kennedy, flanked by the president’s brothers Robert and Edward, walks in her husband’s funeral procession, November 25, 1963. To the right of Edward Kennedy is their brother-in-law, Peace Corps director Sargent Shriver.
