John F. Kennedy struggled with various diseases all his life. Three days before his third birthday, he contracted malignant scarlet fever. From the autumn of 65438 to 0930, he suffered from an undiagnosed disease, which was later diagnosed as Edison's disease. This disease made his endocrine disorder and his immunity decreased. Because he was worried that his health would affect his political future, Kennedy kept his medical history strictly confidential, even after his assassination. He has been using steroids to resist the debilitating effects of Addison's disease, and relies on a large number of sedatives, painkillers, testosterone, antibiotics and sleeping pills to deal with other complications. On the other hand, his health problem has always been one of the topics concerned by the public and the media.
John F. Kennedy entered Edward Dedication School at the age of five. During the period of 1922~ 1924, he attended kindergarten there until the third grade. 1924, 7-year-old Kennedy and 9-year-old brother joseph patrick kennedy were sent to Dexter school to study.
Later, Kennedy was sent to Canterbury Boarding School in Wallingford, Connecticut to continue his study and life. 1In the autumn of 935, he asked to transfer to Princeton University, but the school refused. Later, after hard work, his father arranged for him to enter school at the beginning of 1 1. Due to illness, he only stopped studying until 65438+February. 1936 In July, Kennedy applied to enter Harvard University and was successfully admitted.
During his study at Harvard University, he visited Europe twice. 1In the summer of 937, he spent two months traveling in France and England. This paper discusses the development of the United States and Europe under the New Deal of Roosevelt administration, and whether Nazi Germany and fascist Italy make people worry that the European war will break out again. 1in the spring of 939, he visited London and Rome again and received the Eucharist of Pope pope pius xii, the supreme leader of Catholicism. Between these two visits, he also arrived in London after graduating from his sophomore year in July, 1938, spent his summer vacation working in the American embassy, and returned to the United States after the holiday to attend the third-year course of Harvard University.
The main achievement of John F. Kennedy's trip to Europe and course study is an excellent paper for senior students who discuss the root of British appeasement policy. He spent two months writing a paper with a page of 148: Munich appeasement policy-the inevitable result of the slow transition of British democracy from disarmament policy to rearmament policy. Arthur Crocker, a columnist in The New York Times, helped him to revise his style and recommended a title: Why England Sleeps, which is based on Winston Churchill's When England Sleeps. After Kennedy finished writing this paper, his father encouraged him to publish it as a book, which was very popular in the United States and Britain and sold well. From June 65438 to June 0940, he graduated from Harvard University with honors and obtained an honorary degree in international relations.
1940 September, Kennedy went to stanford graduate school of business to study. To restore California's health. His postgraduate courses (only one semester, from 1940 to 12) should be business and international finance, but he is still very interested in political science and international relations. Health problems once again led him to return to the eastern United States at the beginning of 194 1, and he was busy looking for someone to write his father's memoirs. Kennedy considered applying for admission to Yale Law School, but he later gave up the plan because he accompanied his family to travel to South America. He visited Argentina, Brazil and Chile and made short stops in Uruguay, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and Panama. /kloc-in the autumn of 0/940, John F. Kennedy became the first group of young people selected to join the US Army. Because he was admitted to Stanford University 1940~ 194 1 year, he won't be recruited until the end of the school year. However, in the spring of 194 1, he was not admitted to the officers reserve school of the army and the navy at that time. The main reason is his back, colon and abdominal diseases.
Later, with the help of Colonel Allen G. Alan Kirk, Kirk served as the naval attache of Kennedy's father Joseph Patrick Kennedy in the US Embassy in Britain, and was in charge of the Naval Intelligence Office (ONI) in Washington, D.C. On June 194 10, Kennedy served as a second lieutenant in the Office of Naval Intelligence and Foreign Intelligence, and became an information carrier. His job is to check and summarize the reports of foreign intelligence stations for data compilation in the Naval Intelligence Office. Since the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on February 7, 65438, Kennedy's department has been working around the clock. His shift is night shift, from 22:00 to 7:00 the next day, with no rest day.
It was during this period that he met Inga Alvard and began a romantic relationship. However, it was later revealed that Ingo, as a reporter of the Morning Herald, gained the privilege of contacting Nazi high-level officials including Hitler in a news activity in Germany, so Ingo was suspected of being a Nazi spy. When their relationship was revealed, Kennedy was transferred by the Navy from the Intelligence Bureau to the Naval Shipyard in Charleston, South Carolina to do paperwork. Later, his relationship with Ingo ended, but he still kept correspondence and friendship for three years.
1in July, 942, the navy approved Kennedy's request to go to sea and arranged for him to study at the naval school of a branch of Northwest University in Chicago. Kennedy's wish is to command a torpedo boat (that is, PT boat, patrol-torpedo). This wish came true at 1943+0. He left his training job and received
Life took four boats to Jacksonville, Florida, where he got a new mission and was assigned to patrol the Panama Canal. Because he didn't want to be "trapped in Panama before the end of the war", he requested to be transferred to the South Pacific.
1943 In March, he embarked on a journey to Solomon Islands, where the United States and Japan were fighting fiercely. Become the captain of PT- 109 (mobile torpedo boat PT- 109). In June, Kennedy's ship was sent to Russell Islands in the southeast of New Georgia, and in July, it was sent to Lombari Island in the west of New Georgia in the middle of the war zone. On August 1 day, his ship went to blackett Strait to intercept a Japanese fleet that escaped the interception of American destroyers.
1on August 2, 943, John F. Kennedy's ship took part in a night attack mission to intercept a Japanese fleet. In the battle, his PT- 109 boat was hit in two by a Japanese destroyer and sank. Two people were killed on board, 1 1 man fell into the water. Kennedy and other six people grabbed the hull floating on the water and led the other five survivors back to the wreckage of the floating torpedo boat. The engineer on board was badly burned, and Kennedy had to drag him against the strong current. On the same day 14:00, after floating for 9 hours, the wreck of the torpedo boat began to sink. Kennedy bit the life jacket strap of the injured crew with his teeth and finally swam to an island more than 60 meters wide after 5 hours. Because the island is located in the south of Ferguson Waterway, which is a common passage for torpedo boats, Kennedy decided to set off immediately in order to send a signal to intercept the ship and wait for rescue. At that time, he had not rested for 36 hours. As he didn't meet any ships, he had to swim back to the island.
1On August 4th, 943, Kennedy swam to the nearby lassana Island with other crew members. On August 5th, 1943, he swam to Yokoshima with another officer. On August 6th, 1943, the crew was found by two local islanders. Kennedy carved a paragraph on the coconut shell: "The local people know the location and can lead the way. 1 1 People need a boat to live. Kennedy. " The islanders were asked to take them to the island of Rendova, where the torpedo boat base is located. On August 7, 1943, the islanders brought back a reply from the New Zealand infantry lieutenant, which wrote: "I strongly suggest that you bring these locals to us. At the same time, I will contact your superiors on the island of Rendova by radio, and then try to pick up the rest of your crew. " 1On August 8, 943, Kennedy arrived at the residence of New Zealanders. After seven days of difficult escape, all the crew members were sent to the island of Rendova for treatment in less than 24 hours.
Kennedy's courage and determination in this incident made him the headlines of major newspapers. He was awarded the Purple Heart Medal of World War II, the Asia-Pacific Campaign Medal, the Victory Medal of World War II, the Navy Medal and the Marine Corps Medal. Later, due to physical reasons, 1944 first went back to the United States for medical treatment, during which he worked as an instructor at Miami torpedo boat base. March 1945, 1, his name is on the list of retired personnel of the US Navy. Only a few months later, Japan surrendered and the Second World War ended. In May 2002, an expedition organized by the National Geographic Society of the United States found the wreckage of PT- 109 in the waters near Solomon Islands. After the Second World War, John F. Kennedy entered American politics (largely because his brother Joseph Kennedy died unfortunately while on duty in the British battlefield. His brother was highly expected by the whole family and would be trained as an American presidential candidate in the future. In this way, the family put the important task of maintaining the family reputation on Kennedy. 1946 participated in the election of the house of representatives. In that year's election, the situation of the Democratic Party was not optimistic, and it lost control of both houses of Congress for the first time since 1930. However, Kennedy's performance is still good, because Congressman James Michael Curley from Massachusetts will be the mayor of Boston, leaving a vacancy in Congress. Kennedy won the election through hard work.
1947~ 1952, MP
1947 65438+ 10, John F. Kennedy took office in Washington, D.C., when the economic situation of the Democratic Party changed greatly, the whole country began to worry about the threat of production, and President Harry Truman was severely criticized at that time.
In the House of Representatives, he opposed Taft Hartley's labor law (Hartley proposal) and initiated the National Veterans' Housing Conference. He was re-elected as a member of the House of Representatives. During this period, he proposed low-rent housing and assistance to public and private schools, and suggested cutting wasteful assistance to Africa and the Near East.
1952~ 1960, senator
1952, he ran for the Senate seat under the slogan that Kennedy would do more for Massachusetts, and defeated his powerful rival henry lodge to win a Senate seat in Massachusetts, leading Rocky by 70737 votes out of a total of 235323 1 votes, with a vote rate of 5 1.
After being successfully elected as a senator, John F. Kennedy's first consideration was to set up an office to meet the needs of Massachusetts where he worked. It is an indisputable fact that Kennedy regards entering the Senate as a springboard for himself to gain higher power. 1955 In September, President dwight eisenhower had a heart attack, and it was rumored that he could not run for re-election. Kennedy planned to win 1956.
The nomination of vice presidential candidate became the prelude to his eight-year vice presidential career, and then he ran for the White House in 1954, when he was just 37 years old.
But at the Democratic National Convention, Tennessee Senator estes Kefuer won the party nomination for the vice presidential candidate. After the failure of the nomination competition, Kennedy formulated a strategy from 1956 to 1957 to take care of the democratic parties on civil rights issues. 1956, the debate on the amendment of jury trial caused considerable concern, and Kennedy voted for jury trial.
On September 1953 and 12, John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Lee Bouvier got married in Rhode Island, and their union was described as "Celebrity Marriage of the Year". Since July 1953, his back disease has become serious. 1April, 954, X-ray examination showed that his fifth lumbar vertebra had been fractured. 101October 2 1 day, he had an operation lasting more than three hours. He inserted a metal plate in the lumbar spine to fix the spine, but it was taken out again in February 1954 because the inserted metal plate was infected.
Kennedy did not return to the Senate until May of that year. During this period and the following two years, Kennedy faced several life-threatening situations and was finally ordained by Catholicism four times. 1956 published an article about my back surgery, "What did my illness teach me?", and finally named it "The Side of Courage." This book tells about the careers of eight famous senators in American history. After its publication, the book became a national bestseller and won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography and Literature with 1957.
The Kennedy family's support for McCarthyism
Since 1950, Joseph Raymond McCarthy's contact with the Kennedy family has become more and more frequent. Before McCarthy became the focus of the Senate, he forged a deep friendship with Kennedy's father Joseph Patrick Kennedy Sr. Joseph Patrick Kennedy Sr. spent thousands of dollars to support McCarthy and later became one of his main supporters.
After the 1940s, Joseph Patrick Kennedy Sr often spent weekends with McCarthy in his villa in Hyannis Harbor. In addition, McCarthy once courted Patricia Kennedy Lawford, Kennedy's fourth sister. In the Senate campaign of 1952, Joseph Patrick Kennedy Sr made a deal with McCarthy: McCarthy supported the Democratic candidate in the Massachusetts vote, while John F. Kennedy would not vote for the resolution when Congress voted to condemn McCarthyism.
1953, Kennedy's father asked McCarthy to hire John F. Kennedy's younger brother Robert Francis Kennedy as his senior staff. 1954 In September, after nine days of hearing, a special committee of Congress suggested "condemning" McCarthy for violating Senate rules. On February 2, 65438, the Senate passed the condemnation by a vote of 67:22. Among the Democrats, the only one who didn't vote against McCarthy (more precisely, didn't vote on this issue) was John F. Kennedy.
1960, he said in his defense: "I never said I was a perfect person. I have seen most people make mistakes. About McCarthy? I'm in a very awkward position. My brother is working for McCarthy. " But Kennedy later regretted his decision, because he did not condemn McCarthy's disgraceful behavior with his Democratic partners and most people in the Senate, which became a long-term political legacy. In fact, in July 1954, when the Senate first considered publicly condemning McCarthy at the end of the military hearing, Kennedy was ready to vote against it. John F. Kennedy believes that because of his youth, Catholic faith, limited support from the leaders of the Democratic Party and his own physical doubts, it shows that he can't run for president with the confidence of 1960. In fact, Kennedy felt that this incident itself was an unprecedented performance of political ability. Although a few candidates in American history will enter the White House when they are less than 50 years old, no one has yet ascended the presidency at the age of 43. After the assassination of President william mckinley, theodore roosevelt succeeded him, but he was 46 years old when he ran for re-election in 1904. More importantly, there was only one Catholic running for president in history-/kloc-Al Smith in 928, and he was defeated by herbert hoover.
Nevertheless, Kennedy announced his intention to run for the presidency of the United States in the 1960 general election.
Kennedy's successful re-election as a senator in Massachusetts and his growing popularity throughout the country since the 1956 Democratic Party Congress made him an attractive candidate for the 1960 presidential election in many people's minds. His vitality is regarded as an advantage in coping with the challenges of the Soviet Union, economic depression, apartheid and "chaotic American life". 1957 There were more than 2,500 speech invitations in the United States, and he agreed to give 144 speeches in 47 States, once every two days on average. 1958 at the beginning, he received an average of 100 such invitations every week. Most Democratic leaders in 48 states said Kennedy was a very likely candidate. 1956 among the 1220 delegates to the democratic party congress, 409 supported Kennedy's participation in the 1960 presidential election. Of all the potential voters who knew Kennedy, 64% thought he had the background and experience as president.
Although Kennedy was widely supported, he was too young. Congressional Democrats ranked him fourth in the presidential nomination, behind lyndon johnson, Adlai Ewing Stevenson II and Missouri Senator Stuart Semin. Inclined to let him run for vice president. Kennedy didn't accept the proposal. He once said, "I'm not interested in running for vice president. My interest is running for president. If I want to be elected president, I will succeed 1960. If I don't succeed this time, then I may have to wait eight years, when some new faces will appear and I will stand aside. "
In order to resist the forces that hindered him, Kennedy publicly denied that he was a candidate from the beginning. In the Democratic primary, he faced major challenges from Senator Hubert humphrey of Minnesota and Senator lyndon johnson of Texas. In the autumn of 1959, although Kennedy had not announced his candidacy, he had already started a tense and tired schedule, running around the country and giving speeches to people of different sizes on various occasions. Increasing Kennedy's support rate is the key to victory. Therefore, his younger brother Robert Kennedy gave up his job in the Senate and became a campaign manager. 1959, 10 At the end of June, a meeting attended by 17 key personnel was held in the villa of Hyannis Port.
1960 65438+1On Saturday, October 2, Kennedy officially announced his candidacy for the presidency to 300 supporters in the secret chamber of the Senate. On April 5, in Wisconsin's primary election, Kennedy won 56.5% of the total 476,024 votes, the highest number of votes for candidates in the state in 57 years. In addition, Kennedy won the majority of votes in six of the 65,438+00 districts, thus winning 60% of the state's delegates.
1960 may 10, Kennedy defeated Hubert humphrey with an overwhelming victory of 60.8%:39.2% in west Virginia. 10 days later, Kennedy defeated with 70%: 17% in Maryland and 565438 in Oregon. By this time, Kennedy had won for the seventh time, paving the way for the presidential nomination. But the form is not optimistic. Lyndon johnson announced his participation in the presidential election on June 5th 1960, and publicly attacked Kennedy on topics such as McCarthy. 1960 July 13, at the Democratic National Congress, Kennedy was nominated as the Democratic presidential candidate. Although lyndon johnson had slandered him before, Kennedy invited him to run for vice president.
Kennedy's Catholic identity has always been regarded as a big question whether he can perform his duties as president fairly. On this question, Kennedy gave a clear answer in a public speech to a group of Protestant priests in Houston, Texas (American Space City) on September 1960: "I am not a Catholic presidential candidate, I am a Democratic candidate, but I happen to be a Catholic. I don't represent my sect in public affairs-sects don't represent me. " I am not a Catholic presidential candidate. I am the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party and a Catholic. I do not represent the public affairs of the church, and the church does not represent me. )
In this speech, he also stressed that there are many issues more critical than religious belief in the 1960 general election. Because war, hunger, ignorance and despair have no religious boundaries, they beg for religious tolerance to serve the well-being of the country. The speech temporarily quelled the turmoil surrounding religious issues.
Win the final victory
In the general election held on1October 8th, 1960, 165438, Kennedy defeated Nixon by a very narrow margin. That night, although Kennedy was completely sure of winning according to the counted votes, he refused to declare victory because the number of people in Pennsylvania, Missouri, Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan and California was too close to make a decision.
When he got up the next morning, he learned that he had won six states. In fact, California is still in a scuffle. Finally fell to Nixon, but this has nothing to do with the overall situation. It was not until noon that he was sure to win after the final result came out. Only after Nixon's press secretary issued a statement admitting defeat did Kennedy agree to meet the media as president-elect.
Among the total 68.837 million votes, Kennedy's advantage is extremely weak, with only 1 18574 votes. Nixon's supporters accused Kennedy of winning because voting fraud occurred in Illinois and Texas almost at the same time as the election results were announced. But this accusation cannot be confirmed. Nixon was openly high-profile and refused to question the election results.
Kennedy can win, there are many reasons, but the main reason is:
1. Economic contraction in an election year.
People are worried that the United States will lose its ability to deal with the threat of the Soviet Union.
3. Kennedy's personal charm and Nixon's poor performance in TV debate.
Lyndon johnson is winning help from seven southern states (Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas).
5. Unity and strong support within the Democratic Party.
6. Strong support from black voters.
7. The strong support of ethnic minority voters, especially Catholics, is far from confined to Catholics (especially new york, Buffalo, Chicago, Newark, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and other big cities).
8. The unwise promises Nixon made during the campaign.