The Life of JFK, before the Assasination
When you hear about John F Kennedy, you would usually and almost immediately think about his untimely assassination on 22nd November 1963 but his life was much more than that. In fact, let's look into his life up to his 1963 assassination here.
Born on 29 May 1917 in Brookline, Massachusetts, John F Kennedy spent a lot of his young life in hospital but that didn't stop him from having a lot of love for life, always smiling and constantly living his life to the fullest. The F initial in his name stood for Fitzgerald, his mother's maiden name. He was of Irish ancestry and was the first Catholic to become US President. He was always smiling and making jokes despite having numerous illnesses.
He had a club during his school years called the Muckers (once a derogatory term for those of Irish descent, especially those who worked in the stables) where he and other members pulled pranks.
He had summer jobs in the American Embassy in London and during World War 2 worked on a torpedo ship in the Pacific and as the strongest swimmer on the team, he saved his men after an enemy attack. His family helped him moved up through the House of Representives, something the Kennedys would've done if his brother, Joseph Kennedy Jr hadn't been killed in action. The only reason why the Kennedys were interested in politics was because of JFK's mum Rose's dad who served two terms as Mayor of Boston. In fact, JFK was named after him. His name was John F. "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald (the F initial stood for Francis). JFK became the democratic nominee for the presidency when he was just 43-years-old.
He gave the impression that he genuinely enjoyed his job as president very much. John was known for smiling in the middle of a question from a journalist, because he had already thought of a witty comeback. He treated his press conferences almost like an audience for the jokes he wrote in his spare time. One day, he was holding a piece of paper as if he was about to say something incredibly serious to the crowd. He then looked up and said,
He loved spending time with his two children, John Jr and Caroline whom he had with his wife Jaqueline Kennedy (née Bouvier). His friends said that the oval office was always filled with the kid's toys and the first thing he did every morning was watch cartoons and eat cereal with them. The youthful enthusiasm the Kennedys had is often credited for pushing America through the Space Race and JFK would help bring America to the moon even if it happened almost 6 years after his death.