I.

Introduction

John F. Kennedy (1917-1963), 35th President of the United States (1961-1963). John F. Kennedy was the youngest person ever to be elected president. He was also the first Roman Catholic president and the first president to be born in the 20th century.

Kennedy was assassinated before he completed his third year in office; therefore his achievements, both foreign and domestic, were somewhat curtailed. Nevertheless, his influence had spread worldwide, and his handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 is widely accepted to have prevented a nuclear confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union. Perhaps no other president has been as popular, with young people in particular admiring him. He brought to the presidency an awareness of the cultural and historical traditions of the United States and an appreciation of intellectual excellence. Because Kennedy so eloquently expressed the values of mid-20th-century America, and of the post-World War II world in general, his presidency had an importance and an aura beyond its immediate legislative and political achievements.