John F. Kennedy - TLS May 20, 1954

Description

TLS, May 20, 1954, on United States Senate letterhead, 6 x 9, poor condition, heavy staining and creasing,
John Fitzgerald Kennedy
(May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials
JFK
, was an American politician who served as the 35th
president of the United States
from 1961 until
his assassination
near the end of his third year in office. Kennedy served at the height of the
Cold War
, and the majority of his work as president concerned relations with the
Soviet Union
and
Cuba
. A member of the
Kennedy family
and a
Democrat
, he represented
Massachusetts
in both houses of the
U.S. Congress
prior to becoming president.
Kennedy was born into a wealthy, political family in
Brookline, Massachusetts
. He graduated from
Harvard University
in 1940 before joining the
U.S. Naval Reserve
the following year. During
World War II
, he commanded a series of
PT boats
in the
Pacific theater
and earned the
Navy and Marine Corps Medal
for his service and war
heroism
. After a brief stint in journalism, Kennedy represented
a working-class Boston district
in the
U.S. House of Representatives
from 1947 to 1953. He was subsequently elected to the
U.S. Senate
and served as the junior
senator for Massachusetts
from 1953 to 1960. While in the Senate, Kennedy published his book,
Profiles in Courage
, which won a
Pulitzer Prize
. In the
1960 presidential election
, he narrowly defeated
Republican
opponent
Richard Nixon
, who was the incumbent
vice president
. Kennedy's humor, charm, and youth in addition to his father's money and contacts were great assets in the campaign. Kennedy's campaign gained momentum after
the first televised presidential debates
in American history. Kennedy was the first
Catholic
elected president.
Kennedy's administration included high tensions with
communist states
in the Cold War. As a result, he increased the number of
American military advisers
in
South Vietnam
. The
Strategic Hamlet Program
began in Vietnam during his presidency. In April 1961, he authorized an attempt to overthrow the Cuban government of
Fidel Castro
in the failed
Bay of Pigs Invasion
.
[2]
Kennedy authorized the
Cuban Project
in November 1961. He rejected
Operation Northwoods
(plans for
false flag
attacks to gain approval for a war against Cuba) in March 1962. However, his administration continued to plan for an invasion of Cuba in the summer of 1962.
[3]
The following October, U.S. spy planes discovered Soviet missile bases had been deployed in Cuba; the resulting period of tensions, termed the
Cuban Missile Crisis
, nearly resulted in the breakout of a global thermonuclear conflict. He also signed the first
nuclear weapons treaty
in October 1963. Kennedy presided over the establishment of the
Peace Corps
,
Alliance for Progress
with Latin America, and the continuation of the
Apollo program
with the goal of
landing a man on the Moon
before 1970. He also supported the
civil rights movement
, but was only somewhat successful in passing his
New Frontier
domestic policies.
On November 22, 1963, he
was assassinated
in
Dallas
.
Vice President
Lyndon B. Johnson
assumed the presidency
upon Kennedy's death.
Marxist
and former
U.S. Marine
Lee Harvey Oswald
was arrested for the
state crime
, but he was shot and killed by
Jack Ruby
two days later. The
FBI
and the
Warren Commission
both concluded Oswald had acted alone in the assassination, but various groups contested the Warren Report and believed that Kennedy was the victim of a
conspiracy
. After Kennedy's death, Congress enacted many of his proposals, including the
Civil Rights Act
and the
Revenue Act of 1964
. Despite his truncated presidency, Kennedy ranks highly in
polls of U.S. presidents
with historians and the general public. His personal life has also been the focus of considerable sustained interest following public revelations in the 1970s of his chronic health ailments and
extramarital affairs
. Kennedy was the most recent
U.S. president to have been assassinated
as well as the most recent U.S. president to die in office.