60 Fun Facts About JFK

John F. Kennedy was which number president of the United States?

He served from January 1961 until his assassination in November 1963. His vice president, who became the 36th, was sworn in that same afternoon.

In which Massachusetts town was JFK born on May 29, 1917?

His birthplace on Beals Street is now a National Historic Site.

JFK graduated from which university in 1940?

He had earlier attended Choate, a boarding school in Connecticut.

What was the title of Kennedy's first book, published in 1940 from his senior thesis?

It examined why Britain was so slow to rearm against Hitler.

In August 1943 the patrol boat JFK commanded, PT-109, was cut in half by what?

Kennedy towed a burned crewman to an island with the man's life-jacket strap in his teeth.

Stranded after the PT-109 sinking, Kennedy carved a rescue message into what?

Solomon Islands scouts Biuku Gasa and Eroni Kumana carried it to the PT base at Rendova, and the crew was rescued on August 8. He kept the coconut in a glass paperweight on his Oval Office desk.

Which decoration did Kennedy receive for his actions after the PT-109 sinking?

His injuries also qualified him for a Purple Heart.

Kennedy's older brother Joseph Jr., killed in 1944, was serving in what role?

Joe had been the son groomed for politics; after his death the family's ambitions passed to Jack, who won a House seat in 1946 and a Senate seat in 1952.

How many US senators does Kennedy's Pulitzer-winning Profiles in Courage profile?

It was not even among the finalists the selection committee sent to the board. Speechwriter Ted Sorensen later admitted he wrote the first draft of most chapters.

Who did Kennedy narrowly defeat in the 1960 presidential election?

The popular-vote margin was just 112,827 votes, 0.17 percent, though the Electoral College split 303 to 219.

How old was Kennedy when he was elected president in 1960, the youngest person ever elected to the office?

Theodore Roosevelt was younger when he took office, but he succeeded an assassinated president rather than winning an election. Kennedy was also the first Catholic elected president.

Who was Kennedy's running mate in 1960?

The Texan helped carry the South.

What did Robert Frost end up doing at Kennedy's inauguration on January 20, 1961?

Glare from the sun and fresh snow made it impossible for him to read the new dedication he had written, so he recited 'The Gift Outright'. Eight inches of snow had fallen overnight.

Which line comes from Kennedy's inaugural address?

The 1,366-word address was delivered in bitter cold after an overnight snowstorm. Contrary to legend, Kennedy did wear a top hat that day, taking it off only to be sworn in and speak.

Kennedy signed the executive order creating which volunteer organisation on March 1, 1961?

He had floated the idea in a late-night campaign speech at the University of Michigan in October 1960. His brother-in-law Sargent Shriver became its first director.

The failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in April 1961 was carried out by whom?

Brigade 2506 was defeated within three days and surrendered on April 20. The plan had been drawn up under Eisenhower; Kennedy approved it but withheld further air support.

At the June 1961 Vienna summit, which Soviet leader did Kennedy admit had 'beat the hell out of me'?

Berlin dominated the talks. Two months later East Germany began building the Berlin Wall.

In his May 25, 1961 address to Congress, Kennedy set the goal of landing a man on the Moon by when?

He returned to the theme at Rice University in September 1962, telling 40,000 people the nation chose to go to the Moon 'not because they are easy, but because they are hard'. Apollo 11 landed in July 1969.

Where did Kennedy give his famous 'We choose to go to the Moon' speech on September 12, 1962?

About 40,000 people packed the stadium in Texas. Two weeks after his death the Florida launch complex was renamed the John F. Kennedy Space Center.

How many days did the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 last?

It is widely considered the closest the Cold War came to nuclear war.

To end the Cuban Missile Crisis, the US secretly agreed to pull its Jupiter missiles from where?

Publicly, Kennedy pledged not to invade Cuba in return for the Soviet withdrawal. The scare led directly to the Moscow–Washington hotline.

Kennedy declared 'Ich bin ein Berliner' in June 1963 in front of which West Berlin building?

An estimated 120,000 people heard him at the city hall. The story that he accidentally called himself a jelly doughnut is a myth: Berliners call the pastry a Pfannkuchen anyway.

What did Kennedy sign in 1963 that was the first agreement of its kind?

The Partial Test Ban Treaty with Britain and the Soviet Union came just months after the missile crisis, and only months before Dallas.

Which serious illness of the adrenal glands did Kennedy hide from the public throughout his career?

His health was so poor at times that he received Catholic last rites more than once while a senator. He also wore a back brace, which some believe kept him upright after the first shot in Dallas.

Kennedy married Jacqueline Bouvier in which year, the year after he won his Senate seat?

At 31 she became the third-youngest First Lady. Her televised 1962 tour of the White House won her a special Emmy, the only First Lady ever to receive one.

What colour was the Chanel suit Jacqueline Kennedy wore in the Dallas motorcade on November 22, 1963?

She paired it with a pillbox hat and refused to change out of the blood-stained suit for hours afterwards. She died in 1994 and is buried at Arlington beside her husband.

Jacqueline Kennedy likened her husband's presidency to what in a Life interview after his death?

She quoted the closing line of the Lerner and Loewe musical to correspondent Theodore White in November 1963. In 1968 she married Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis.

Which star sang 'Happy Birthday, Mr. President' to Kennedy at Madison Square Garden in 1962?

The gala marked his 45th birthday. Her rhinestone-covered dress sold for $4.8 million in 2016 and was controversially worn by Kim Kardashian at the 2022 Met Gala.

Which post did Kennedy's younger brother Robert hold in his administration?

He served from 1961 to 1964, staying on briefly under Johnson. He was himself shot by Sirhan Sirhan in Los Angeles in June 1968, hours after winning the California primary.

Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963 while riding in a motorcade through which Dallas location?

He was in the back of a 1961 Lincoln Continental convertible. Governor John Connally, riding in front of him, was wounded but recovered.

From which building did Lee Harvey Oswald fire at the presidential motorcade?

He fired a Carcano rifle from a sixth-floor window. Abraham Zapruder's 26 seconds of silent 8 mm film became the most studied home movie in history.

Who shot Lee Harvey Oswald in the basement of Dallas police headquarters on November 24, 1963?

Ruby was a local nightclub owner. The shooting, at 11:21 am as Oswald was being moved, was broadcast live on television.

Where was the new president sworn in at 2:38 pm on the day of the assassination?

Jacqueline Kennedy stood at his side, still in her blood-stained suit, as Judge Sarah Hughes administered the oath before the plane left Love Field.

Who chaired the commission that investigated the assassination and concluded Oswald acted alone?

The Chief Justice lent the commission his name. Johnson created it on November 29, 1963; its 888-page report, delivered in September 1964, advanced the contested 'single-bullet theory' that one shot hit both Kennedy and Connally.

What burns continuously at Kennedy's grave in Arlington National Cemetery?

Jacqueline requested it after seeing the flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier under the Arc de Triomphe in 1961, and lit it herself at the burial on November 25, 1963.

JFK Jr. famously saluted his father's casket outside St. Matthew's Cathedral on what personal occasion?

He was born on November 25, 1960, and the state funeral was held on November 25, 1963. He later founded George magazine and died piloting a plane off Martha's Vineyard in 1999.

Which US coin has carried Kennedy's portrait since 1964?

Congress authorised it just over a month after his death, replacing Benjamin Franklin. The 1964 coins were 90% silver and were hoarded almost as soon as they appeared.

What was New York's JFK Airport commonly called before its December 1963 renaming?

It opened in 1948 as New York International Airport, but everyone used the name of the golf course it had displaced. The renaming came on December 24, 1963.

How soon after JFK's assassination was NASA's Florida launch complex renamed for him?

The executive order came on November 29, the same day the Warren Commission was created.

Who designed the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, dedicated in Boston in 1979?

It stands on Columbia Point in Dorchester overlooking the harbour. Jimmy Carter dedicated it on October 20, 1979; the PT-109 coconut is on display inside.

What was JFK's father, Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., doing in London in 1938?

He was Franklin Roosevelt's ambassador to the Court of St. James's, and brought Jack and Joe Jr. over to work at the embassy that summer.

Kennedy's 1960 campaign broke new ground with the first televised what?

Four debates with Nixon were the first ever held between presidential nominees. Viewers who watched thought Kennedy won; many radio listeners disagreed.

What was the name of the rebellious clique Kennedy formed at his boarding school, Choate?

The headmaster used the word 'muckers' in chapel after the boys exploded a toilet seat with a firecracker.

Which enemy warship rammed and cut PT-109 in half in August 1943?

Two crewmen died; the rest swam to Plum Pudding Island, 3.5 miles away.

Whose 1944 magazine account of the PT-109 rescue was mass-mailed by Kennedy's first campaign?

Hersey portrayed him as a modest, self-deprecating hero, and the piece followed him into politics.

Kennedy narrowly lost the 1956 Democratic vice-presidential nomination to which senator?

Adlai Stevenson let the convention choose his running mate, and the loss gave Kennedy valuable national exposure.

Which labour leader did Robert Kennedy want JFK to pick as running mate instead of Johnson?

Kennedy chose Johnson because he believed the Texan could deliver the South.

Which false-flag proposal against US targets, to be blamed on Cuba, did Kennedy reject in 1962?

He had authorised the covert Operation Mongoose against Castro a few months earlier.

What was the name of the ad-hoc group of advisers Kennedy formed during the Cuban Missile Crisis?

It met secretly from October 16 to 28, 1962.

What euphemism did Kennedy use for the naval blockade of Cuba he announced on television?

A blockade is technically an act of war, so the softer word was chosen deliberately.

Kennedy called a June 1963 trip to which country 'the best four days of his life'?

He visited his ancestors' cottage at Dunganstown and became the first foreign leader to address the Irish parliament.

To what hourly figure did Kennedy's 1961 bill raise the federal minimum wage?

A Georgia congressman's amendment exempted laundry workers from the increase.

Which company's president infuriated Kennedy in April 1962 by quietly announcing a price rise?

Kennedy pressured rival firms until the company was isolated and backed down.

Kennedy's Executive Order 10925 introduced which phrase into federal contracting?

It required government contractors to hire and treat employees without regard to race, creed, colour or national origin.

Which Alabama governor stood in a university doorway in June 1963 to block two Black students?

That same night NAACP leader Medgar Evers was murdered in Mississippi.

Who chaired the commission Kennedy created in 1961 to study the status of women?

Its report came out in October 1963, months after Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act.

Whom did Kennedy appoint to run NASA, on his vice-president's recommendation?

The Webb space telescope is named after him.

Which two justices did Kennedy appoint to the Supreme Court in 1962?

White had been an NFL running back before his legal career.

Kennedy married Jacqueline Bouvier in September 1953 in which Rhode Island city?

They honeymooned in Mexico and settled at Hickory Hill in Virginia, later sold to his brother.

Roughly how many US military personnel were in South Vietnam by November 1963, up from Eisenhower's 900?

In October 1963 Kennedy signed NSAM 263, ordering 1,000 of them withdrawn by year's end.