History UsefulNotes / JohnFKennedy

On November 22, 1963[[note]]Aldous Huxley and Creator/CSLewis died on the same day.[[/note]], Kennedy visited Dallas, Texas as part of campaigning for his upcoming run for re-election. As his motorcade passed the Texas Book Depository at Dealey Plaza, shots were fired; Kennedy was hit in the head and torso, and rushed to hospital where he was later pronounced dead. Although a single gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald, was later arrested and identified as the main suspect of the assassination, numerous irregularities in the record -- not to mention Oswald's ''own'' murder two days later, by a distraught mob-connected nightclub owner from Chicago named Jack Ruby -- soon gave rise to numerous conspiracy theories about who had ''really'' killed Kennedy, and did more to set off unanswered questions. Meanwhile, Kennedy's assassination was recorded in what is known as the UsefulNotes/ZapruderFilm, which gives him the tragically sad distinction of being the only president to ever be murdered on camera.[[note]]UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan was hit by a ricocheting bullet while being filmed, but survived.[[/note]]

A youthful-looking [[labelnote:*]]Kennedy at 43 was eleven years younger than the average median age for an American president[[/labelnote]], glamorous and invigorating figure, JFK -- along with his intelligent, attractive, and stylish wife [[UsefulNotes/JacquelineKennedy Jacqueline Bouvier]] and their two young children -- was seen as introducing a new and liberating era to American political and cultural life after the stifling and stuffy days of TheFifties, and his time in office was dubbed "Theatre/{{Camelot}}" soon after his death. Despite this, his short term was filled with crises and political upheaval, such as the CIA-directed 'Bay of Pigs' invasion of Communist Cuba, which went belly-up. This failed invasion soured relations with Cuba (never that strong to begin with) and eventually led in 1962 to the [[UsefulNotes/HistoryoftheColdWar Cuban Missile Crisis]], a two-week standoff between the US and USSR that, in hindsight, is widely considered to be the closest humanity has come to a nuclear war. Meanwhile, and similarly to UsefulNotes/FranklinDRoosevelt's bout with a paralytic illness, JFK was constantly struggling to [[HidingTheHandicap hide and cope]] with his Addison's Disease and hypothyroidism, which almost jeopardized his 1960 election campaign. He had his successes as well, such as when he called for the formation of a small maritime unit that would be known as the UsefulNotes/NavySeals. He is the reason US Army special forces wear green berets. Also similarly to FDR, Kennedy was at home talking with the press like almost no other president before or since -- the difference being that JFK's weekly press conferences and displays of immense charisma were all [[https://youtu.be/Hn14Wbe1v1Y caught on film]].

Kennedy was in truth a HandicappedBadass on par with (and possibly even surpassing) FDR, and a {{Determinator}} on the same scale, as he [[https://drzebra.com/prez/g35.htm possibly suffered from an autoimmune disorder]].[[note]] Now hypothesized to be Type-2 Autoimmune Polyendocrine Syndrome, known for short as APS-2, a symptom of which is Addison's Disease, with which he struggled as an adult[[/note]] He was incredibly sick as a child and frequently hospitalized, which continued through his adolescence and into adulthood. This, coupled with chronic lower-back problems and being permanently underweight, led to his being medically disqualified when he attempted to enroll in the US Army's Officer Candidate School. However -- thanks to his father’s connections and a grueling, months-long exercise regimen to strengthen his back -- he managed to join the US Naval Reserve in 1941, a few months prior to Pearl Harbor. Ultimately he would serve aboard a handful of Motor Torpedo Boats in the Navy, most famously aboard PT-109, due to his successful effort to rescue his crew after that vessel was rammed and broken in twain by the Japanese Destroyer [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_destroyer_Amagiri_(1930) Amagiri]]. The ramming killed two crew but Kennedy managed to get all the surviving hands to an island, including one he had to tow while swimming with a life-jacket strap clenched between his teeth. He re-injured his back while performing that rescue. He later underwent spinal fusion surgery as a Senator in order to continue walking, almost dying from an infection afterwards. In the White House he needed a rocking chair in the Oval Office to deal with the pain, as well as a DrFeelgood pharmaceutical regimen, and he could not bend over to pick up his own children.[[note]] In a MathematiciansAnswer, having to wear a back brace due to the steroids he took to treat Addison's Disease causing issues with the bones in his back is exactly the explanation to why JFK died in Dallas -- it meant he was quite literally a sitting target who couldn't ''duck''— or even crumple forward -- after Oswald's first shot.[[/note]] There is a good bit of modern speculation as to just how long JFK would have lived, and/or been able to cope with the rest of his presidency and a potential second term, had he not been assassinated -- his health was ''that'' bad. His Catholicism illustrates [[NearDeathExperience just how often he danced with death]] -- he was [[https://www.cbc.ca/radio/undertheinfluence/john-f-kennedy-was-given-last-rites-5-different-times-1.6362855 given the Last Rites]] four times prior to Dallas.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials of JFK,[[note]] (to his friends, family, and in any less formal setting, he was "Jack", as Creator/FrankSinatra pointed out [[https://youtu.be/QCd_fuOyuA8 in a 1960 campaign song]], and as Lloyd Bentsen [[PretenderDiss memorably reminded]] UsefulNotes/DanQuayle in 1988)[[/note]] was the 35th President of the United States ([[TheSixties 1961–63]]), succeeding UsefulNotes/DwightDEisenhower and followed in office -- after his assassination, [[WhoShotJFK which gave rise to a million conspiracy theories]] -- by UsefulNotes/LyndonJohnson. The first president to be born in the 20th century[[note]]As measured by term in office. Of the five presidents who succeeded JFK, four were already alive when he was born, with UsefulNotes/JimmyCarter the only exception.[[/note]] and the 12th from the Democratic Party, he was known for his particularly inspirational turns-of-phrase in his speeches and overseeing an era of American history rife with social and political turmoil. Kennedy was not only the youngest-elected president, at the age of 43 (the youngest to ''become'' President was UsefulNotes/TheodoreRoosevelt, who was 42 at the time), but also the first Irish-American and the first Roman Catholic to hold the office (and the only one until UsefulNotes/JoeBiden, just over 57 years later), as well as the last US president (thus far) to die or be killed in office. His presidency lasted for just over one thousand days.[[note]]1,036. Although a book by historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr. chronicles it as ''A Thousand Days''.[[/note]]

John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials of JFK[[labelnote:*]] (to his friends, family, and in any less formal setting, he was "Jack", as Creator/FrankSinatra pointed out [[https://youtu.be/QCd_fuOyuA8 in a 1960 campaign song]], and as Lloyd Bentsen [[PretenderDiss memorably reminded]] UsefulNotes/DanQuayle in 1988)[[/labelnote]], was the 35th President of the United States ([[TheSixties 1961–63]]), succeeding UsefulNotes/DwightDEisenhower and followed in office -- after his assassination, [[WhoShotJFK which gave rise to a million conspiracy theories]] -- by UsefulNotes/LyndonJohnson. The first president to be born in the 20th century[[note]]As measured by term in office. Of the five presidents who succeeded JFK, four were already alive when he was born, with UsefulNotes/JimmyCarter the only exception.[[/note]] and the 12th from the Democratic Party, he was known for his particularly inspirational turns-of-phrase in his speeches and overseeing an era of American history rife with social and political turmoil. Kennedy was not only the youngest-elected president, at the age of 43 (the youngest to ''become'' President was UsefulNotes/TheodoreRoosevelt, who was 42 at the time), but also the first Irish-American and the first Roman Catholic to hold the office (and the only one until UsefulNotes/JoeBiden, just over 57 years later), as well as the last US president (thus far) to die or be killed in office. His presidency lasted for just over one thousand days.[[note]]1,036. Although a book by historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr. chronicles it as ''A Thousand Days''.[[/note]]

John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials of JFK[[labelnote:*]] (to his friends, family, and in any less formal setting, he was "Jack", as Creator/FrankSinatra pointed out [[https://youtu.be/QCd_fuOyuA8 in a 1960 campaign song]], and as Lloyd Bentsen [[PretenderDiss memorably reminded]] UsefulNotes/DanQuayle in 1988)[[/labelnote]], was the 35th President of the United States ([[TheSixties 1961–63]]), succeeding UsefulNotes/DwightDEisenhower and followed in office -- after his assassination, [[WhoShotJFK which gave rise to a million conspiracy theories]] -- by UsefulNotes/LyndonJohnson. The first president to be born in the 20th century[[note]]As measured by term in office. Of the five presidents who succeeded JFK, four were already alive when he was born, with UsefulNotes/JimmyCarter the only exception.[[/note]] and the 12th from the Democratic Party, he was known for his particularly inspirational turns-of-phrase in his speeches and overseeing an era of American history rife with social and political turmoil. Kennedy was not only the youngest-elected president, at the age of 43 (the youngest to ''become'' President was UsefulNotes/TheodoreRoosevelt, who was 42 at the time), but also the first Irish-American and the first Roman Catholic to hold the office (and the only one until UsefulNotes/JoeBiden, just over 57 years later), as well as the last US president (thus far) to die or be killed in office. His presidency lasted for just over one thousand days.[[note]]1,036. Although a book by historian Arthur Schlesinger chronicles it as ''A Thousand Days''.[[/note]]

On November 22, 1963[[note]]Aldous Huxley and Creator/CSLewis died on the same day.[[/note]], Kennedy visited Dallas, Texas as part of campaigning for his upcoming run for re-election. As his motorcade passed the Texas Book Depository at Dealey Plaza, shots were fired; Kennedy was hit in the head and torso, and rushed to hospital where he was later pronounced dead. Although a single gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald, was later arrested and identified as the main suspect of the assassination, numerous irregularities in the record -- not to mention Oswald's ''own'' murder two days later, by a distraught mob-connected nightclub owner from Chicago named Jack Ruby -- soon gave rise to numerous conspiracy theories about who had ''really'' killed Kennedy, and did more to set off unanswered questions. Meanwhile, Kennedy’s assassination was recorded in what is known as the UsefulNotes/ZapruderFilm, which gives him the odd distinction of being the only president to ever be the subject of a SnuffFilm.[[note]]Lee Harvey Oswald himself is also the only presidential assassin to be the subject of a snuff film, as his murder took place during a jail transfer on live television.[[/note]]