John F. Kennedy Assasination

November 22nd, 1963, it was the end of November for the nation, but for President John F. Kennedy it was the end of his life. It all happened in downtown Dallas, Texas, as John F. Kennedy and Jackie Kennedy were riding in their open-topped limousine as three shots were fired at John F. Kennedy’s head and throat. The killer, Lee Harvey Oswald, was seen in the “Texas School Book Depository” holding a rifle, ready to kill. Rushed to the hospital, John F. Kennedy was pronounced dead 35 minuets after being shot. On that day, the entire nation was heart-broken, as the news was spread rapidly. But Lee Harvey Oswald did not get away with this assassination, two days later while being transferred from one federal building to another, someone from the angry crowd shot him to death. The killer then shot himself in the head, which ends the chain of assassination in the JFK investigation (BBC: 1963). But the real question is why should people, especially teens, care about John F. Kennedy and his assassination, after all it is a historical event and it is still under investigation on who was behind his murder.
Though John F. Kennedy is missed and honored all around the world, he has a unique background and plenty of achievements throughout his life-time. John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born in Brooklyn, Massachusetts on May 29th, 1917, being the second of nine brothers and sisters to Joseph Patrick Kennedy and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. The Kennedy family was very wealthy, because at the age of 30, John’s father became a very successful business man. John F. Kennedy attended a variety of different schools throughout his life such as Canterbury School (a private school), Choate Preparatory School, and he continued at Princeton University then eventually transferred to Harvard University. Frequently illness came upon him and put his health at risk which forced him to leave the attending school. During his university years he was a great athlete and focused a lot of his attention on swimming and football, but eventually gave up football because of back problems. While at Harvard he wrote a book called “Why England Slept” in 1940 about the prior actions of World War II which showed his interest in international affairs. As World War II started to unravel John F. Kennedy wanted to be apart of the war in 1949 but because of his back injury he was denied by the U.S Army. As time passed, he still wanted to be apart of the military service and eventually passed the Physical Examination and was approved. By 1943 he had become the commander of Boat 109, but the Japanese army destroyed their boat, leaving the men shipwrecked for a couple of days, they came upon and small island and were then rescued (Encarta).
Later, John F. Kennedy switched careers and entered politics because of his brother’s death, Joe Kennedy, who planned on being a part of politics. John F. Kennedy had very strong political goals and deep aspiration because his grandfather had been the ultimate politician. His father dreamed of his sons becoming politicians, which encouraged and gave John F. Kennedy even more ambition. He became a congressman at the age of 29 and then moved up and became the senator of Massachusetts. Then in 1953, John F. Kennedy married Jacqueline Kennedy which led to the birth of four children, two of which perished. His daughter, Caroline was born in 1957 and is still living to this day and his son John was born in 1960, the same year of the election. John F. Kennedy had a couple of health problems with his spinal disk and back and had to undergo surgery and operation.
During this period he wrote another book called “Profiles in Courage” about American politicians. The public had an excellent reaction after reading this book, “Many people who had known little about Kennedy came to admire him, both for his literary skills and for his understanding of the great issues of American History” (Encarta 3). Because of the support that was given to John F. Kennedy he decided to run for the 1960 Democratic presidential nomination, he began working on his campaign as soon as 1956, right after the election. He had a couple of problems along the way, people told him he was “too young and too inexperienced” (Encarta 4). He was a Roman Catholic, which was another problem regarding the election. But during the four very important televised debates against Vice President Richard Nixon, he had proven to everyone that these obstacles shouldn’t affect his campaign. In the end, John F. Kennedy won the election with 49.7% of the popular vote and the opposing candidate, Richard Nixon had 49.6% of the popular vote (Encarta).
After officially being named President of the United States of America (1960), John F. Kennedy and his family felt a lot of relief. He knew he had a lot of global and presidential issues and problems to work on and solve. For example, the Civil Rights Movement, the “Bay of Pigs” (Cold War), Cuban Missile Crisis, the problems in Southeast Asia, and the “Test Ban Treaty.” During the Civil Rights movement John F. Kennedy was a big part of that situation and asked the Congress to pass the Civil Rights Bill that would allow all races the opportunity to vote, to have equal job access, to use any public facilities, and to attend any public schools they would like. John F. Kennedy once stated, “Now the time has come for this nation to fulfill its promises ... to act, to make a commitment it has not fully made in this century to the proposition that race has no place in American life or law”(Encarta 4). John F. Kennedy also wanted to solve the many problems going on in Communist Cuba; he wanted to help make the Cuban Democratic forces stronger on the island so they would overthrow Fidel Castro, the president of Cuba. He planned on achieving many goals throughout his presidential career; sadly it ended early (Investor).
Nobody was expecting the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and November 22nd, 1963 is considered one of the saddest day’s in our nation’s history. Unfortunately, this was the forth president to be assassinated. John F. Kennedy was the youngest president, and because of that he was loved by most of the nation and after the news about his death was spread many felt “their hopes had been dashed” (Gale). Some witnessed the bullets go through John F. Kennedy as he was riding around the Dealey Plaza in Texas, with his wife and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson riding in a car behind him. The killer, Lee Harvey Oswald was 24-year old male set out to kill John F. Kennedy for an undiscovered reason, standing on the sixth-floor of the warehouse with the rifle ready to be fired. After John F. Kennedy was rapidly driven to Parkland Hospital, Lee Harvey Oswald was charged and arrested at the Dallas Movie Theater. Only two hours later Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was then officially sworn to be the next President of the United States of America. Two days later, on November 24th, while being transferred from one jail to another, Jack Ruby, a Dallas night-club owner and known for having gangster connections, shot Lee Harvey Oswald to death and then shot himself in the head. Lee Harvey Oswald was taken to the same hospital as John F. Kennedy. President John F. Kennedy will forever remain remembered in America’s history (Observer 8A).
Why should the future president of the United States of America care about this historical event? Why should anyone care about the assassination of John F. Kennedy? This is a very critical event in the U.S History, because not only was the United States affected by his death, but the whole world. For the future President, John McCain or Barrack Obama, it’s important to know what their getting into. It is all about making choices, sometimes it is hard to make the right choice and every decision that’s made will have a good or a bad consequence. It is no longer about what’s best for you and your family, it is about what is best for the whole entire nation, and everything that’s done counts. Bravery and taking risks is the key to being successful, take for example John F. Kennedy he took a lot of risks, for example running for president, does he regret them, who really knows? Most Presidents risk a lot, they even risk their life because they publicize everything about themselves nationally and sometimes even globally. It important to be careful and cautious because every friend that is made is also an enemy, and in politics it is unsure whether there friends or enemies. Being president is a very dangerous and risky situation but achieving important accomplishments and helping our nation is worth it. John F. Kennedy became President and risked his life, and even today there is still a lot of controversy regarding the assassination of John F. Kennedy because they still cannot completely prove who was behind the death of JFK.
There are conspiracy theories such as maybe the Cubans, the Mafia, the CIA/government, or the KGB/Soviet Union planned on assassinating John F. Kennedy. After being thoroughly investigated, it has been proven that the Soviet Union was not behind this incident because even though Chairman Khrushchev and John F. Kennedy had their differences and opinions, there was evidence they had mutual respect for each other (JFK Report 255). They both knew that a ruler of a nation has a lot of responsibility and, “special responsibility for the general peace of the world” (JFK Report 255). The CIA/ U.S government was also questioned and investigated, as many rumors went around saying that Oswald possibly could have been working for the CIA. The theory was that he was a paid undercover agent for the FBI or CIA, but there is no proof that he had an official or unofficial relationship with the government and federal agency (JFK Report 326). Cuba was also part of another conspiracy theory, it was known that Lee Harvey Oswald was constantly taking trips to Cuba and had a lot of business to take care of over there. Lee Harvey Oswald took a trip to Mexico and Cuba eight weeks before the assassination and the commission thought he was an agent for the Cuban government. The commission has tried to find out the reasons for his trip, supposedly he wanted to meet up with Fidel Castro (the Cuban President) and talk about confidential business (JFK Report). The last conspiracy issue that was investigated was the possibility that Jack Ruby was part of the mafia and wanted to kill John F. Kennedy. There were thoughts that maybe Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald so he would be silenced. Jack ruby was gang affiliated and John F. Kennedy and the mafia were not in good relations at the time, so it is a possibility that maybe Jack Ruby and the mafia were behind this assassination. Who planned the assassination of John F. Kennedy? After so many years of questioning there still is no final answer, controversy is still is a big factor, and different people have different opinions on who really sent Lee Harvey Oswald to assassinate John F. Kennedy.
Finally, it’s important to learn and understand U.S History and John F. Kennedy’s assassination because it was a very important event in U.S history, and everyone should know about this historic memory. It teaches the future Presidents of the United States of America, to be careful, because sometimes Presidents get assassinated for no real reason, so it is very risky. Overall, it is not all about the assassination and death of John F. Kennedy but his many accomplishments and achievements throughout his life-time. Little did he know he was going to die so quick, he would have set his goals and achieved even more. He had the will and drive to keep going, and never give up. John F. Kennedy (1917-1963), is a legend and will be remembered historically for centuries to come.


Works Cited:
1.)All, E. W. (1964). Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy. Retrieved 10 15, 2008, from The National Archives: http://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/warren-commission-report/

2.)Daily, Investor's Business. How Kennedy's Camelot Came Up Short. 15 10 2008. 1 10 2008 http://www.investors.com/editorial/editorialcontent.asp?secid=1501&status=article&id=305852297674757

3.)Encarta, MSN. John F. Kennedy. 15 10 2008 http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761576731/John_F_Kennedy.html

4.)On this Day, BBC: 1963: Kennedy shot dead in Dallas. 15 10 2008 http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/22/newsid_2451000/2451143.stm

5.)Student Resource Center - Gold. Gale:"Kennedy, John F. (1917-1963)." Presidential Administration Profiles for Students... HIGH TECH CHARTER HIGH SCHOOL. 2 Oct. 2008 http://find.galegroup.com/srcx/infomark.do?&contentSet=GSRC&type=retrieve&tabID=T001&prodId=SRC-1&docId=EJ2304100024&source=gale&srcprod=SRCG&userGroupName=sand07018&version=1.0

6.)The Athens Observer. Kennedy Killing: Who did it? 17 11 1983. 1 10 2008 http://www.lawsch.uga.edu/academics/profiles/dwilkes_more/jfk_1kennedy.html