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John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 35th President of United States, was born in Brookline, Massachusetts on May 29, 1917. His father, Joseph Kennedy Sr., was a wealthy investor who wanted his sons to be important figures in American politics. Joseph Kennedy Sr. always favored his oldest son, Joseph Jr., to achieve his family's long time ambition to become a President of the United States. However, his eyes turned to John, after Joseph was killed in battle during World War II. John knew he was going to be the replacement for his brother; only way to make his father happy was to become an important figure in American politics. In November of 1946, JFK was elected to the House of Representatives from the State of Massachusetts. He served in the House for the next 6 years, and then in 1952 he was elected as a Senator of Massachusetts. In 1960, he ran for the presidency against the Republican nominee Richard Nixon and won the presidency. His administration pushed and accomplished many things.

During his presidential election, many Americans fear that Kennedy would have a Pope's direct influence over American politics because Kennedy was Catholic. Before this time, no Catholics ever won the presidential election. When groups of 150 Protestants in Houston, led by Rev. Norman Vincent Pale proclaiming about this issue, Kennedy flew to Houston and made this famous Speech. "'Nobody asked if I was a Catholic when I joined the United States Navy...Nobody asked my brother if he was a Catholic or a Protestant before he climbed into an American bomber to fly his last mission." This was certainly the first biggest accomplishment Kennedy has made during his time in politics. Kennedy showed that anyone who loves this country could run and win the presidency.

During his early years in office, the CIA gave him a briefing that they were planning an invasion of Cuba to overthrow Castro. CIA director Allen Dulles ensured to Kennedy that this was going to be the perfect invasion. On April 17, 1961, the invasion of Bay of Pigs had begun. The invasion was a total failure, since nobody in the island showed any interest of joining the coup against Castro. Castro's men captured 1189 prisoners and ransomed them for ten million dollars. It was the first major step for Kennedy during his administration, which gave him total humiliation. Later in his term, Kennedy refers to Bay of Pigs "Cuba was a hell of a time." This convinced Kennedy never to trust anyone ever again. Moreover, maybe perhaps, this was why he was successful during the Cuban missile crisis.

Kennedy focused on what he called "Five Must Bills." The plan included federal assistance to public schools, hospital insurance for the aged, legislation for housing, aid to depressed areas, and increasing minimum wages. Kennedy knew that dealing with Congress could be difficult, since 21 Democrat seats in the house had been lost in the 1960 election. Although Democrats were still a majority, the South contributed 108 seats in the House, and 21 seats in the Senate. This was very hard for Kennedy since he wanted to focus more on the social changes that were happening in the country such as civil rights movement.

In February of 1961, Kennedy submitted the minimum wage bill proposing to raise the hourly wage to $1.25. He also submitted a school-assisting bill in February of 1961. He requested $2.3 billion for over a three-year period to construction, operation, and maintenance of public schools. Even though the Senators passed the education bill, the House of Representative rejected it. Medical insurance for elders ran into trouble during his proposal. Kennedy's proposal would have increased .25% increase in Social Security taxes. Kennedy eventually became frustrated with the response he received from Congress, and he therefore abandoned the Medicare bill.

Kennedy created the Peace Corps in 1961. He first mentioned about the ideas of Peace Corps during his presidential campaign in 1960. Talented young men and women would serve a three-year tour as an alternative to military service. They will help the third world counties with an every possible help they can give to impoverish these nations. Kennedy believed that Peace Corps will get rid of the image of "Ugly Americans", and bring these third world countries away from the communistic ideas. During his presidential election, 71% favored his idea of the Peace Corps. Today, many talented and devoted young Americans in the world are still carrying out the Peace Corps' primary mission.

During his meeting with Khrushchev at Vienna in 1961, Khrushchev treated the young president like a child whom he could push around like a bully. However, Kennedy wanted a longer conversation with Khrushchev, the Soviet Premier simply refused after the smart answers from the Kennedy. At the end of the meeting Kennedy simply declared, "We're not going on time. I'm not going to leave until I know more." After the meeting, Kennedy increased military spending, tripled the draft call, and activated many reserve military components. In August of 1961, the Berlin Wall was built by the Soviets. Many of his military advisors wanted to challenge the Berlin Wall, but Kennedy disagreed, because this ended the years of confrontations around Berlin. Kennedy later told his advisor, "This is his way out of his predicament. It's not a very nice solution, but a wall is a hell of a lot better than war."

In October of 1962, US U-2 spy plane took the various photos of Cuba confirming Intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBMs) were being built in Cuba. This was the beginning of the famous "Cuban Missile Crisis." Right away, many military advisors wanted the invasion of Cuba. Learning from the Bay of Pigs, Kennedy did not listen to any of his advisors. Instead, he simply discussed it with his younger brother Attorney General Robert Kennedy

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