John F. Kennedy Events

1917 May 29 John F. Kennedy is Born
Kennedy was born at 83 Beals Street in Brookline, Massachusetts on Tuesday, May 29, 1917, at 3:00 p.m., the second son of Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., and Rose Fitzgerald; Rose, in turn, was t...
1920 Feb 20 A Young John F. Kennedy Contracts Scarlet Fever
On February 20, 1920 when Jack was not yet three years old, he became sick with scarlet fever, a highly contagious and then potentially life-threatening disease. His father, Joseph Patric...
1930 Sep At age 13, John F. Kennedy is sent away to Canterbury School for 8th grade
For 8th grade in September 1930, the 13-year old Kennedy was sent fifty miles away to Canterbury School, a lay Roman Catholic boarding school for boys in New Milford, Connecticut. In late...
1935 Jun John F. Kennedy Graduates from The Choate School
At 13, John Kennedy went to the Canterbury School, a private school in New Milford, Connecticut, but he fell ill and never returned. He later graduated from Choate Preparatory School in W...
1937 President Roosevelt Appoints Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. Ambassador to Britain
Late in 1937, Mr. Kennedy was appointed United States Ambassador to England and moved there with his whole family, with the exception of Joe and Jack who were at Harvard. Because of his f...
1938 Jun John and Joe Kennedy Travel to England to Work for Their Father During His Tenure as Ambassador
In late June 1938, Kennedy sailed with his father and his brother Joe on the SS Normandie to spend July working with his father, recently appointed U.S. Ambassador to the Court of St. Jam...
1940 Jun John F. Kennedy Graduates from Harvard University
In September 1936 he enrolled as a freshman at Harvard College, where he produced that year's annual Freshman Smoker, called by a reviewer "an elaborate entertainment, which included in i...
1940 Jul John F. Kennedy Publishes His Senior Thesis, "Appeasement in Munich", as a Book Entitled 'Why England Slept'
In 1940, Kennedy completed his thesis, "Appeasement in Munich," about British participation in the Munich Agreement. He initially intended his thesis to be private, but his father encoura...
1941 Oct John F. Kennedy Appointed an Ensign in the US Navy
Despite having a bad back, Kennedy was able to join the U.S. Navy through the help of Captain Alan Kirk, the Director, Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) who had been the Naval Attache in...
1942 Sep 29 John F. Kennedy Writes To Clare Boothe Luce
In 1942, John F. Kennedy entered the United States Navy to join American forces fighting in World War II. Prior to his departure, playwright Clare Boothe Luce, a close friend of the Kenne...
1943 Aug 2 John F. Kennedy's Boat, the PT-109, is Sunk by the Amagiri
Conflicting statements have been made as to whether the destroyer captain had spotted and steered towards the boat; author Donovan, who interviewed members of the destroyer crew, believed...
1944 Aug 12 Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. is Killed While Serving in World War 2
Operation Aphrodite was a series of bombing runs by explosive-laden aircraft piloted by a skeleton crew who would parachute from the aircraft before detonation. After U.S. Army Air Forces...
1946 Nov John F. Kennedy Elected to Massachusetts' Eleventh Congressional District
After World War II, Kennedy had considered the option of becoming a journalist before deciding to run for political office. Prior to the war, he had not strongly considered becoming a pol...
1952 Nov John F. Kennedy is Elected to the U.S. Senate
When he returned home, Jack was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for his leadership and courage. With the war finally coming to an end, it was time to choose the kind of work he wa...
1953 Sep 12 John F. Kennedy Marries Jacqueline Bouvier
Kennedy married Jacqueline Lee Bouvier on September 12, 1953. Charles L. Bartlett, a journalist, introduced the pair at a dinner party. Kennedy underwent several spinal operations over th...
1956 Jan 1 'Profiles in Courage' is Published
Profiles in Courage is a 1955 Pulitzer Prize-winning book attributed to John F. Kennedy, describing acts of bravery and integrity by eight United States Senators from throughout the Senat...
1957 Sep 9 President Eisenhower Signs the Civil Rights Act of 1957
The Civil Rights Act of 1957, primarily a voting rights bill, was the first civil rights legislation enacted by Congress in the United States since Reconstruction. After it was proposed t...
1957 Oct 4 Soviet Union Launches Sputnik 1 Satellite
Sputnik 1 was the world's first Earth-orbiting artificial satellite. It was launched into a low altitude elliptical orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957, and was the first in a ser...
1957 Nov 3 Soviet Union Launches Sputnik 2
The Soviet Union went on to launch a series of additional Sputnik satellites. Sputnik 2, for example, carried a dog into space, named Laika. Sputnik 2 weighed 1120 pounds. It was launched...
1957 Nov 27 Caroline Bouvier Kennedy is Born
A year after her parents had a stillborn daughter, Caroline Kennedy was born in New York City, and is named after her maternal aunt Caroline Lee Radziwill and a maternal great-grandmother...
1960 Sep 26 Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy Appear in First Televised Presidential Debate
The 1960s were a significant changing of the guard in U.S. leadership and also in how Americans chose their leader. During the 1960 debates between the two candidates, Americans for the ...
1960 Oct 21 Final Debate Airs Between Vice President Richard M. Nixon And Senator John F. Kennedy
On October 21, 1960, American viewers were riveted to their television sets for the broadcast of the fourth and final debate between Vice President Richard M. Nixon, the Republican presid...
1960 Nov 8 John F. Kennedy Elected 35th U.S. President
On Tuesday, November 8, Kennedy defeated Nixon in one of the closest presidential elections of the twentieth century. In the national popular vote Kennedy led Nixon by just two-tenths of ...
1960 Nov 25 John F. Kennedy, Jr. is Born
Born at Georgetown University Hospital sixteen days after his father was elected to the presidency, Kennedy was in the public spotlight from his father's inauguration as President of the ...
1961
to 1975
NASA's Apollo Program
The Apollo Program was a human spaceflight program undertaken by NASA during the years 1961–1975 with the goal of conducting manned moon landing missions. In 1961, President John F. Kenne...
1961 Jan John F. Kennedy Appoints Edward R. Murrow Head of The United States Information Agency
Murrow's appointment as head of the United States Information Agency was seen as a vote of confidence in the agency, which provided the official views of the government to the public in o...
1961 Jan 20 Kennedy's Inauguration
On January 20, 1961, John F. Kennedy distinguished his inaugural ceremony with a poetry reading by fellow New Englander Robert Frost. Blinded by the sun's glare on the snow-covered Capito...
1961 Mar 1 President Kennedy Establishes the Peace Corps by Executive Order
On March 1, 1961, Kennedy signed an Executive Order 10924 that officially started the Peace Corps. Concerned with the growing tide of revolutionary sentiment in the Third World, Kennedy s...
1961 Apr 15
6:00AM
 United States B-26B Invader Bombers Attack Three Cuban Airfields
At about 06.00 Cuba local time on 15 April 1961, eight Douglas B-26B Invader bombers in three groups, simultaneously attacked three Cuban airfields, at San Antonio de Los Baños and at Ciu...
1961 Apr 15
7:30AM
 United States Flies B-26 Bomber in Deception Flight Near Cuba
About 90 minutes after the eight B-26s had taken off from Puerto Cabezas to attack Cuban airfields, another B-26 departed on a deception flight that took it close to Cuba but headed north...
1961 Apr 16 CIA/Brigade 2506 Invasion Fleet Converges on "Rendezvous Point Zulu" South of Cuba
Following the air strikes on airfields on April 15, 1961, the FAR managed to prepare for armed action at least four T-33s, four Sea Furies and five or six B-26s. All three types could be ...
1961 Apr 18 Second Day of Bay of Pigs Invasion
By about 10.30 on 18 April, Cuban troops and militia, supported by tanks, took Playa Larga after Brigade forces had fled towards Girón in the early hours. During the day, Brigade forces r...
1961 Apr 19 Third Day of the Bay of Pigs Invasion
The final air attack mission (code-named Mad Dog Flight) comprised five B-26s, four of which were manned by American CIA contract air crews and pilots from the Alabama Air Guard. One FAR ...
1961 Apr 20 Fourth Day of the Bay of Pigs Invasion
From 19 April until about 22 April, sorties were flown by A4D-2Ns to obtain visual intelligence over combat areas. Reconnaissance flights are also reported of Douglas AD-5Ws of VFP-62 and...
1961 May 25 President Kennedy First Announces Goal of Landing a Man on the Moon
President Kennedy was also eager for the United States to lead the way in exploring space. The Soviet Union was ahead of the United States in its space program and President Kennedy was d...
1961 Jun 24 John F. Kennedy Assigns Lyndon Johnson The Task Of Unifying The U.S. Satellite Programs
On May 25, 1961, President Kennedy declared to a joint session of Congress his belief that the nation should commit itself to landing a man on the moon by the end of the decade. This miss...
1961 Aug 17 Alliance for Progress is Signed at an Inter-American Conference in Uruguay
" ...we propose to complete the revolution of the Americas, to build a hemisphere where all men can hope for a suitable standard of living and all can live out their lives in dignity and i..." —John F. Kennedy
1961 Nov 30 President Kennedy Authorizes Operation Mongoose
The Cuban Project (also known as Operation Mongoose or the Special Group or the Special Group Augmented) was a program of CIA covert operations developed during the early years of US Pres...
1962 United States Military Plans Operation Ortsac to Disrupt Castro's Rule in Cuba
Operation Ortsac was the project name of a possible invasion of Cuba planned by the United States military in 1962. The codename was derived from former Cuban President Fidel Castro by sp...
1962 Feb United States Economic Blockade Against Cuba Becomes Near-Total Embargo
The United States Embargo against Cuba (described in Cuba as el bloqueo, Spanish for "the blockade") is a commercial, economic, and financial embargo partially imposed on Cuba in October ...
1962 May 19 Marilyn Monroe sings "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" to John F. Kennedy
Approximately 17,000 people filled Madison Square Garden on the evening on May 19, 1962 to take part in this gala which featured Jack Benny and a host of stars, among them Maria Callas, E...
1962 Sep 8 First Nuclear Ballistic Missiles Arrive in Cuba
The first consignment of SS-3 MRBMs (medium range ballistic missiles) arrived on the night of September 8, followed by a second on September 16. The Soviets were building nine sites — six...
1962 Sep 12 John F. Kennedy Delivers "Moon" Speech at Rice University
"We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard." —John F. Kennedy
1962 Oct 1 James Meredith Becomes First Black Student at the University of Mississippi
Meredith was born in Kosciusko, Mississippi of Native American (Choctaw) and Black American heritage. He enlisted in the United States Air Force right out of high school and served from 1...
1962 Oct 16 President Kennedy Assembles EXCOMM Upon Viewing Photographs of Soviet Missiles in Cuba
Kennedy saw the photographs on October 16; he assembled the Executive Committee of the National Security Council (EXCOMM), fourteen key officials and his brother Robert, at 9.00 a.m. The ...
1962 Oct 17 U-2 Photograph of First IRBM Site Under Construction is Taken
U-2 flights identify the first of three Soviet SS-5 missile sites. The SS-5s have ranges of up to 2,200 nautical miles. The military estimates that as many as 32 medium range missiles cou...
1962 Oct 18 Kennedy Meets with Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko
On October 18th the President ordered a build up of arms along the southern border of the United States, just in case war breaks out. No one suspected anything because training exercises ...
1962 Oct 21 John F. Kennedy Decides to "Quarantine" Cuba in Response to Nuclear Threat
On October 21st, ExComm, and President Kennedy decided that a quarantine was the best course of action. The administration called it a quarantine, because the term "blockade" would symbol...
1962 Oct 22 President Kennedy Delivers First Speech on the Nuclear Buildup in Cuba
"It shall be the policy of this nation to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere as an attack on the United States, requiring a full ret..." —John F. Kennedy
1962 Oct 23 Joint Chiefs of Staff Instructed Strategic Air Command to go to DEFCON 2 for the Only Confirmed Time in History
On the night of October 23, the Joint Chiefs of Staff instructed Strategic Air Command to go to DEFCON 2, for the only confirmed time in history. The message, and the response, were delib...