After college, John volunteered for the U.S. Army but was rejected due to health problems. He was, however, accepted into the U.S. Navy, and enlisted in September 1941. While serving as a PT boat commander in the Pacific during World War II, John saved the life of one of his crew members by dragging him to safety after their boat sank. For his act of heroism, Kennedy was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal. He was also awarded the Purple Heart, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal.

On September 12, 1953, John married Jacqueline Lee Bouvier. The couple had two children; Caroline, born in 1957, and John Jr., born in 1960. On August 7,1963, Jacqueline gave birth to another son, Patrick, who died two days later.

After the end of World War II, John entered the world of politics. On November 8, 1960, he won a close victory over Richard Nixon in the presidential election. On January 20, 1961, JFK was sworn in as the 35th president of the United States, making him the youngest U.S. president in history and the nation’s first Catholic president. In his inspirational inaugural address, John encouraged Americans to take a proactive stance in the betterment of their country, uttering the famous words, "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."

During his presidential term, which is sometimes referred to as the "New Frontier," John approved the failed Bay of Pigs invasion; forced the Soviet Union to remove missiles from Cuba, whose president was Fidel Castro; and established the Peace Corps, advocated civil rights reform, and promised to send an American to the moon by the end of the decade.

On November 22, 1963, the president was assassinated by a sniper in Dallas, Texas, while riding in an open-car motorcade. Lee Harvey Oswald was quickly arrested for the assassination, but within two days, he himself was assassinated on live television in the basement of Dallas police headquarters by Jack Ruby, a nightclub owner with connections to the Dallas police and the mafia.

The presidential assassination was met with shock over the world, and is considered to be a significant part of American history, particularly for the baby boomer generation who experienced the beginning and end of the New Frontier during their formative years.

John’s permanent resting place, which is memorialized with an eternal flame, is located at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. He is buried alongside his wife, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, who died of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 1994: and John F Kennedy Jr, his son, who died in a plan crash in 1999.

The legacy left behind by John is often referred to as the era of Camelot, a time in which Americans were optimistic about the future of their country and trusting of its government. His impact is also evident from the hundreds of schools named after him, as well as the John F Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

YUDDY