John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Birth-Death: (1917 - 1963 ) Term: (1961-1963 )

In the United States, civil rights movements grew more pronounced. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech, while Kennedy continued to pass civil rights legislation. The Cold War reached a peak with the Cuban Missile Crisis and the construction of the Berlin Wall. Lt. Col. John H. Glenn, Jr. became the first American to orbit the Earth.

Major Events with John Kennedy

1962 - Cuban Missile Crisis

    On October 22, 1962, President Kennedy announced that the USSR was using Cuba as a strategic missile base. Routine U2 flights over Cuba showed the development of underground bunkers and storage sites for medium and intermediate range ballistic weapons. President Kennedy immediately demanded the removal of the offensive weapons and the jet bombers. He established an air-sea blockade around Cuba and sent Khrushchev an ultimatum. For the next five days the two super countries stood toe to toe on the brink of war. In the end, the U.S.S.R. backed down, and Khrushchev removed all of the missiles from Cuba in return for the United States promise not to invade Cuba in the future.

1963 - Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty

    This treaty, signed in 1963, prohibited nuclear testing in the atmosphere, in space and underwater. The only tests that were not banned were the underground tests because there were no reliable ways to detect those. France and China were the only two nations that failed to sign the treaty. Over a hundred nations signed the treaty soon after the US and the USSR had reached an agreement.

1963 - President Kennedy's Assassination

    On November 22, 1963, President Kennedy and Mrs. Kennedy were being driven from the Dallas airport to Dallas downtown. On the way, they had the car top down and the President was saluting the people. At 12:30pm two shots were fired, both hit the President, causing death within half an hour.

    About an hour and a half after the assassination a suspect Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested. But before he was extensively questioned, only two days after the violence on the streets of Dallas, Oswald was shot at point blank range and killed by Jack Ruby. Before he was killed, however, he consistently stuck to his story of being absolutely innocent.

    Shortly after 2:30pm on the 22nd, Lyndon B. Johnson took the oath of office as the President of the United States. The ceremony took place in the the airplane about to take off for Washington with Kennedy's body.