(B. 1917)
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, affectionately known by the public as JFK, is the 35th President of the United States, elected in 1960 and re-elected in 1964. Born into the politically influential Kennedy family of Massachusetts in 1917, he was a decorated war hero and Harvard graduate before entering public office. Elected to the House of Representatives in 1946 and the Senate in 1952, Kennedy rose swiftly through the Democratic Party as a charismatic and eloquent figure, staunchly reformist without alienating conservative influences. Kennedy’s presidency has been marked by high-stakes geopolitical confrontation; he has overseen America's responses to the Oceanykan Revolution, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Black Sand War and has kept American troops in the Vietnam War, hell-bent on defending that corner of the globe from the rising tide of communism. His foreign policy combines firm containment with the occasional detenté, leaving Soviet leaders guessing as to America's next move.
On November 22, 1963, Kennedy narrowly survived an assassination attempt while visiting Dallas. The would-be assassin, later identified as Lee Harvey Oswald, fired a Fucile di Fanteria Mod. 91/38 Carcano into the President's motorcade with great precision. Though wounded in the right shoulder, Kennedy made a rapid recovery, and the incident significantly boosted public sympathy and solidified his leadership image during a precarious phase of the Cold War, with the Cuban crisis fresh in the minds of every American. It also led to sweeping reforms in Secret Service protocols and a renewed legislative push on domestic extremism.
Kennedy was re-elected in 1964 in a landslide victory over Republican candidate Barry Goldwater. His second term saw a deepening of U.S. involvement in the South Pacific—especially through covert and paramilitary operations in Oceanyka and Indochina—as well as the passage of landmark civil rights legislation and expansive welfare programs under what came to be known as the “New Frontier Reforms.” Kennedy could not seek a third term and was succeeded by his political rival and wartime ally, Richard Nixon, in 1969.