15 Facts You May Not Know About JFK

"He said his goal was to truly do God's work here on Earth. For me, it was a very powerful message because he was somebody who helped lift our gaze to the constellation of possibilities." - Ed Markey, U.S. Senator commenting on JFK’s presidency.

John F. Kennedy was elected to the presidency in 1960 after a close election race with Richard Nixon. Today, he’s known for his charm and good-looks, but most notably for having his life ended much too soon. Only 1000 days into his presidency, Kennedy was assassinated by Harvey Lee Oswald in Dallas, Texas. Despite his short reign, JFK continues to rank highly in the hearts of Americans. In fact, had John F. Kennedy lived, he would have turned 100-years-old on Memorial Day 2017. To celebrate his centenarian birthday, here are 15 facts you may not know about JFK.

1. He was born on May 29, 1917, in the Boston suburb of Brookline, Massachusetts.

2. He was only 43-years-old when he was elected to the presidency, making him the youngest man to ever be elected to the presidential office.

3. He was the first Roman Catholic president.

4. He was often so sick as a child that his family teased him about the great risk any mosquito took in biting him. With some of Jack’s blood, a mosquito was sure to die.

5. His full name was John Fitzgerald Kennedy, but he went by his nickname Jack.

6. Jack loved to read. When he was an adolescent in boarding school, he had his own subscription to the New York Times.

7. Jack went to Harvard where he played on the football team for the Crimson. He played aggressively and ruptured a disk in his spine.

8. His college thesis about why England was not prepared for war with Germany was eventually published as a book: Why England Slept.

9. JFK joined the Navy after college. While he and his crew were patrolling the waters in their PT-109, they were hit head-on by a Japanese destroyer. Two men died in the collision, but JFK managed to rescue the rest of his men and led them to a small island.

10. Six days after arriving on the island, Kennedy and his men were discovered by two native islanders who went for help and delivered a message JFK had carved into the shell of a coconut.

11. JFK used this coconut husk on which he had scratched his PT-109 rescue message as a paperweight on his Oval Office desk.

12. Shortly after his marriage to Jackie Onassis, he had to have back surgery. While recovering, he wrote another book called Profiles of Courage which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize.

13. “Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country,” was a key phrase from JFK’s inaugural address.

14. One of JFK’s first acts as president was to create the American Peace Corps.

15. Born into a wealthy family, JFK donated his $100,000 year salary as president to charity.

Sources:
History.com
JFKlibrary.org