Best known for his charismatic personality and captivating public speaking ability, John Fitzgerald Kennedy was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. Born in 1917 in Brookline, Massachusetts, Kennedy’s family was a prominent political presence in the nation, and Kennedy and his three brothers were groomed from an early age in preparation for lives in politics. After graduating from Harvard University in 1940, Kennedy enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserve after the outbreak of World War II, serving as a commander in the Pacific and rising to prominence as a war hero. Following the end of the War, Kennedy returned home before launching successful campaigns for a seat in Congress, and later the Senate. After a mere thirteen years in the political sphere, Kennedy ran a successful campaign for the presidency in 1960, defeating Republican Richard Nixon in the general election.
A seminal figure in the nation during the peak of the Cold War, Kennedy detailed his political views in three different books, all of which explored America’s contemporary political problems through a historical lens, relating contemporary issues to similar ones which the nation had faced in the past. The best known of these books, 1958’s Profiles in Courage, was a bestseller and went on to win the Pulitzer Prize, garnering Kennedy valuable notoriety during his career in the Senate. It was within his speeches, however, that Kennedy’s abilities as a galvanizing writer were made most famous, as he inspired Americans to unite around a common mission and placed a heavy emphasis on the nation’s foundational values. Despite being widely admired and holding a high approval rating during most of his presidency, Kennedy was assassinated in November, 1963 at the age of 46, during a campaign trip in preparation for a reelection bid.