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USA: John Fitzgerald 'Jack' Kennedy (1917 – 1963) was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. Official White House photographic portrait, February 20, 1961

USA: John Fitzgerald 'Jack' Kennedy (1917 – 1963) was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. Official White House photographic portrait, February 20, 1961

After military service during World War II in the South Pacific, Kennedy represented Massachusetts's 11th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1947 to 1953 as a Democrat. Thereafter, he served in the U.S. Senate from 1953 until 1960.

Kennedy defeated then Vice President and Republican candidate Richard Nixon in the 1960 U.S. presidential election. He was the youngest elected to the office, at the age of 43, the second-youngest President (after Theodore Roosevelt), and the first president to have been born in the 20th century. Events during his presidency included the Bay of Pigs Invasion, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the building of the Berlin Wall, the Space Race, the African American Civil Rights Movement and early stages of the Vietnam War.

Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas. Lee Harvey Oswald was charged with the crime but was shot and killed two days later by Jack Ruby before any trial. Today, Kennedy continues to rank highly in public opinion ratings of former U.S. presidents.

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